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The 50 Greatest RUSH songs of all-time (featuring # 1 from the 1970's) (2 Viewers)

zamboni said:
Then they shouldn't be Rush fans IMO. :shrug:

As for Fly By Night, I was thinking of a different tune rather than the title track.
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Then I guess its a good thing your opinion is wrong.  😀  I'm not sure why you would take away almost 4 decades of great music from someone just because they don't care for the first two albums.  Seems a bit, oh I don't know, Rush fannish.  

But FTR, What You're Doing is my favorite song on the first album and In the End is my favorite on the second.  I just picked the two popular ones as an example.

 
Mr. Ected said:
The Wiki article about HYF mentions Aimee Mann singing on Prime Mover, I listened, but I couldn't hear her.
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So, I've always wondered about that but now I'm curious because several times (not every time) but after Geddy sings ". . .anything can happen" you hear a higher vocal "eeeeee" and I guess that could be Aimee Mann sampled???  I dunno.

 
Caesar said:
Then I guess its a good thing your opinion is wrong.  😀  I'm not sure why you would take away almost 4 decades of great music from someone just because they don't care for the first two albums.  Seems a bit, oh I don't know, Rush fannish.  
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My bad - when you meant “early Rush”, I didn’t know you meant just the first two albums. Was thinking you meant a lot of their pre-Moving Pictures stuff. I will retract my statement if people just don’t like the debut and FBN - they had better material, although I still think the two are really strong outside a few clunker tunes.

 
Mr. Ected said:
The Wiki article about HYF mentions Aimee Mann singing on Prime Mover, I listened, but I couldn't hear her.
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Actually, Aimee sang in Time Stands Still.  From Wikipedia:

"Time Stand Still" is in the key of E major. The tempo is moderately fast. The song starts in 7
4 before going to common time by the first verse.[4] 'Til Tuesday frontwoman Aimee Mann briefly sings in each chorus of the song, marking Rush's first collaboration with another vocalist,[5] with Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson adding that the band thought a female singer "would suit the song".[citation needed] Initially, the band had hoped to recruit Cyndi Lauper to sing the part, then later approached the Pretenders' Chrissie Hynde because, according to Lifeson, "we thought she'd be perfect. But Chrissie was unavailable at the time." Rush later recruited Mann[6] and paid her $2,000 to sing on the track,[7] with Lifeson saying that "her voice blends with Geddy [Lee]'s perfectly and I think it creates the right atmosphere for the song. It's just something new for Rush."[6]

 
Ghost Rider said:
What the heck, here we go! I can't promise my initial write-ups will be long, as I am winging this a bit, but thought this would be fun.  Note that this list is by and large dictated by my personal tastes, so don't expect to see all of the biggies at the top, and expect to see a few deep cuts in here that you wouldn't expect.  How quickly I feature the next song will be dictated by how much interest/feedback there is and whatnot. 

50. Entre Nous (from the 1980 album Permanent Waves)

Always loved this tune from one of my three favorite Rush studio albums, and it was so great to see them finally play it live on the Snakes & Arrows tour in 2007.  This would actually get played from time to time on our local hard rock radio station, KSHE-95, back in the day.  I will throw out a little foreshadowing and say this is my least favorite of the six songs from this record. 
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Thanks for doing God’s work in here. 

 
Jedi Knight said:
Mr. Ected said:
The Wiki article about HYF mentions Aimee Mann singing on Prime Mover, I listened, but I couldn't hear her.
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Actually, Aimee sang in Time Stands Still.  From Wikipedia:

"Time Stand Still" is in the key of E major. The tempo is moderately fast. The song starts in 7
4 before going to common time by the first verse.[4] 'Til Tuesday frontwoman Aimee Mann briefly sings in each chorus of the song, marking Rush's first collaboration with another vocalist,[5] with Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson adding that the band thought a female singer "would suit the song".[citation needed] Initially, the band had hoped to recruit Cyndi Lauper to sing the part, then later approached the Pretenders' Chrissie Hynde because, according to Lifeson, "we thought she'd be perfect. But Chrissie was unavailable at the time." Rush later recruited Mann[6] and paid her $2,000 to sing on the track,[7] with Lifeson saying that "her voice blends with Geddy [Lee]'s perfectly and I think it creates the right atmosphere for the song. It's just something new for Rush."[6]
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I am aware of that, I was referring to this question by Leroy about whether there was another song with an outside vocalist.

Mr. Ected said:
  8 hours ago, Leroy Hoard said:
Was there ever another guest vocalist on a Rush song?
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My answer referred to this quote on that same Wiki page.

The band headed off to AIR Montserrat on March 1 to start producing guitar overdubs,[7][8] and later to McClear Place Studios in Toronto three weeks later to finish the overdubs, record orchestral arrangements by Steve Margoshes for "High Water," "Mission" and "Second Nature," and track additional voice parts,

such as Aimee Mann's vocals for "Time Stand Still" and "Prime Mover," and gospel choir.[7][8][11] Recording was finished by April 24,[11] and mixing took place starting May 7 at William Tell Studio in Paris. Lee mastered the album with Bob Ludwig at Masterdisk in New York City by mid-July.[12]
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crap. now I have ANOTHER "top X" music threads to keep up with. I've seen Rush about 8 times so will have definite opinions here, just like in the New Wave thread.

I can say that I'd never be able to do a top 50 for Rush. Only a top 1 (La Villa) and then "the rest". ;)

 
48. The Anarchist (from the 2012 album Clockwork Angels)

This album, which turned out to be Rush's last, was a beast, and featured some of the best songs of their career, with The Anarchist being one of them.  In fact, this song is so great that it was deemed worthy of being the opening song on nearly every show on their final tour in 2015.  It has an urgency and fury that was unlike anything the band had done in a long time.  Great tune. 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=on3lLcAz4YU

 
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Ghost Rider said:
48. The Anarchist (from the 2012 album Clockwork Angels)

This album, which turned out to be Rush's last, was a beast, and featured some of the best songs of their career, with The Anarchist being one of them.  In fact, this song is so great that it was deemed worthy of being the opening song on nearly every show on their final tour in 2015.  It has an urgency and fury that was unlike anything the band had done in a long time.  Great tune. 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=on3lLcAz4YU
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Love Neil’s drums on this song.  Great tune all around. 

 
I am hoping "Still No Guitar" makes the top 10.

Still No Guitar, Boston

I was actually at this show. Off to Geddy's right as you'd look at the stage. The dawning that "hey stuff is screwed up" through the crowd was pretty funny to watch. I'll admit to not picking up on it straight away.

 
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Ghost Rider said:
48. The Anarchist (from the 2012 album Clockwork Angels)

This album, which turned out to be Rush's last, was a beast, and featured some of the best songs of their career, with The Anarchist being one of them.  In fact, this song is so great that it was deemed worthy of being the opening song on nearly every show on their final tour in 2015.  It has an urgency and fury that was unlike anything the band had done in a long time.  Great tune. 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=on3lLcAz4YU
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Love the album cover.

 
Ghost Rider said:
Feel free to quote this after every song I feature in this countdown. :P
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I'm with ya, GB.  This song in particular just amazes me with his technique and fluidity.  I don't know how you can play so fast and so soft at the same time.  Just amazing.  Plus, I love the rhythms. 

 
IrishTwinkie said:
I am hoping "Still No Guitar" makes the top 10.

Still No Guitar, Boston

I was actually at this show. Off to Geddy's right as you'd look at the stage. The dawning that "hey stuff is screwed up" through the crowd was pretty funny to watch. I'll admit to not picking up on it straight away.
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At the time, I was hopeful that the band would use the “still no guitar” line in some fashion in a joking way on a later tour or something, but it was not to be. Even though he turned it into a comedic moment and was professional about it, I’m sure Alex was fuming on the inside.

”I hate Rush, they are so boring, they played that stupid song, for like 20 minutes.” Lol

 
IrishTwinkie said:
I am hoping "Still No Guitar" makes the top 10.

Still No Guitar, Boston

I was actually at this show. Off to Geddy's right as you'd look at the stage. The dawning that "hey stuff is screwed up" through the crowd was pretty funny to watch. I'll admit to not picking up on it straight away.
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I love the comment that suggests what another band (they used GnR) would do if something like that happened, some would storm off the stage and be gone. The boys had fun with it.

I also like the comment that when they came back for the next show, someone had a sign that said "Play 'Still No Guitar!'"

 
Ghost Rider said:
At the time, I was hopeful that the band would use the “still no guitar” line in some fashion in a joking way on a later tour or something, but it was not to be. Even though he turned it into a comedic moment and was professional about it, I’m sure Alex was fuming on the inside.

”I hate Rush, they are so boring, they played that stupid song, for like 20 minutes.” Lol
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Oh. it's clear he's fuming from his body language throughout the song. He keeps looking off-stage as if something is still wrong with his sound (or maybe monitor volume or something) long after he gets his guitar sound back. But, as you said. professional, sense of humor, roll with it. I think that describes all the men in that band to a tee.

Gotta say, after Neil died, I *Finally* downloaded Clock Angels and Vapor Trails since those were the only 2 I didn't own and folks seemed to rave about them. I listened to each album twice on a ride back and forth from LA (6+ hours each way) and came away with an overall "meh" feeling. I don't think the song writing (both lyrically or musically) is particularly great compared to their other best work. There are a feel really good songs (like Anarchist) but I'm in no rush (ha!) to go back and listen to those records.

 
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joey said:
Gotta say, after Neil died, I *Finally* downloaded Clock Angels and Vapor Trails since those were the only 2 I didn't own and folks seemed to rave about them. I listened to each album twice on a ride back and forth from LA (6+ hours each way) and came away with an overall "meh" feeling. I don't think the song writing (both lyrically or musically) is particularly great compared to their other best work. There are a feel really good songs (like Anarchist) but I'm in no rush (ha!) to go back and listen to those records.
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I think the issues both albums is the sound. I love Clockwork Angels and think it had their best overall songwriting since Counterparts, but it suffered a bit due to the mix, which was far too compressed and made it sound muddy at times.  That album with the production values of their earlier material might have been top 5 for me.  I like Vapor Trails, but it's hard to listen to too many songs from it in a row due to how loud and hot it was recorded; I get major ear fatigue.  If I had to rank Rush albums on sound quality and production alone (leaving aside the actual quality of the songs), those two would probably be right at the bottom.  It was a bummer that Rush became a victim of the loudness wars. 

 
47. The Enemy Within (from the 1984 album Grace Under Pressure)

I listened to this song today on the way home from work and was reminded again of how good it is.  That bass line is just insane, and the lyrics paint a great picture as always.  This was of course Part 1 of the Fear Trilogy (which were recorded and released in reverse chronological order, before Freeze was added as a 4th part in 2002).  I especially love how melodic and textural Alex Lifeson's guitar work in this song.  My love for the synth era will become more and more obvious as this countdown moves along. :cool:  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6-ViPrEeFk

 
Ghost Rider said:
47. The Enemy Within (from the 1984 album Grace Under Pressure)

I listened to this song today on the way home from work and was reminded again of how good it is.  That bass line is just insane, and the lyrics paint a great picture as always.  This was of course Part 1 of the Fear Trilogy (which were recorded and released in reverse chronological order, before Freeze was added as a 4th part in 2002).  I especially love how melodic and textural Alex Lifeson's guitar work in this song.  My love for the synth era will become more and more obvious as this countdown moves along. :cool:  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6-ViPrEeFk
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Excellent choice. I’m obviously partial to this album. All 8 songs are fantastic, IMO. Thank you for bringing up some great memories for me, thinking about this song and album.

 
zamboni said:
If this is the case, it’s going to be a much different countdown than I would have, but to each his/her own.
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I know the 1976-1981 is the most popular era the band had, and would dominate for many, but while I love that era, I love too much other stuff for any one era to dominate.  The synth era will be well represented, but so will the classic 1976-1981 era. 

 
Ghost Rider said:
47. The Enemy Within (from the 1984 album Grace Under Pressure)

I listened to this song today on the way home from work and was reminded again of how good it is.  That bass line is just insane, and the lyrics paint a great picture as always.  This was of course Part 1 of the Fear Trilogy (which were recorded and released in reverse chronological order, before Freeze was added as a 4th part in 2002).  I especially love how melodic and textural Alex Lifeson's guitar work in this song.  My love for the synth era will become more and more obvious as this countdown moves along. :cool:  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6-ViPrEeFk
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Great pick. And you’ll be able to copy/paste the bolded for the remaining 46 songs ;)  

as for the Fear series: was I the only one who kept frantically searching the liner notes and fine print of every album before Moving Pictures when I saw that Witch Hunt was part 3?  "Part 3?!?? How the hell did I miss parts 1 and 2?!?!??" 

 
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Caesar said:
Then I guess its a good thing your opinion is wrong.  😀  I'm not sure why you would take away almost 4 decades of great music from someone just because they don't care for the first two albums.  Seems a bit, oh I don't know, Rush fannish.  

But FTR, What You're Doing is my favorite song on the first album and In the End is my favorite on the second.  I just picked the two popular ones as an example.
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I may have to revise this statement.  Making Memories just rolled across the shuffle on my way in to work and HOLY CRAP, I forgot how freakin good that song is. 

 
Grace Under Pressure said:
Excellent choice. I’m obviously partial to this album. All 8 songs are fantastic, IMO. Thank you for bringing up some great memories for me, thinking about this song and album.
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I'm with you in Rush's favorite time 7/8.  I can't endorse Red Lenses, but the other 7 would likely all be in my top 50, or at least pretty damn close to it.  

If you replace Red Lenses with Analog Kid, it might be my perfect Rush Album.  I've already claimed Kid Gloves as my favorite Rush song (probably more like top 5), but the other 6 are incredible as well.

 
Ghost Rider said:
I know the 1976-1981 is the most popular era the band had, and would dominate for many, but while I love that era, I love too much other stuff for any one era to dominate.  The synth era will be well represented, but so will the classic 1976-1981 era. 
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76-87 for me. The absolute prime of Rush and their progressive prowess. 

 
Do any of you hardcore Rush fans own the Rush N Roulette demo album? I just found out about it while researching albums for this thread. It has 4 2 minute samples on it and  where you drop the stylus determines which track you hear- had never heard of such a thing.

 
Ghost Rider said:
I think the issues both albums is the sound. I love Clockwork Angels and think it had their best overall songwriting since Counterparts, but it suffered a bit due to the mix, which was far too compressed and made it sound muddy at times.  That album with the production values of their earlier material might have been top 5 for me.  I like Vapor Trails, but it's hard to listen to too many songs from it in a row due to how loud and hot it was recorded; I get major ear fatigue.  If I had to rank Rush albums on sound quality and production alone (leaving aside the actual quality of the songs), those two would probably be right at the bottom.  It was a bummer that Rush became a victim of the loudness wars. 
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I really didn't like Vapor Trails initially because of the sound production but have since downloaded the Vapor Trails remix version and the songs are cleaned up and sound a lot better.

 
dhockster said:
I really didn't like Vapor Trails initially because of the sound production but have since downloaded the Vapor Trails remix version and the songs are cleaned up and sound a lot better.
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I need to do this.  I like a few of the songs, but the sound just makes me skip em most of the time.  

 
dhockster said:
I really didn't like Vapor Trails initially because of the sound production but have since downloaded the Vapor Trails remix version and the songs are cleaned up and sound a lot better.
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I disliked the remix. Yeah, it “sounded” better and less noisy, but it sucked the energy out of too many songs. 

 
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46. Available Light (from the 1989 album Presto)

Presto is kind of the whipping boy of Rush's discography, and while it is not their best album, it is still a good record with a lot of good songs, and a few standouts, one of them being Available Light.  While a massive deep cut, it is pretty popular with the hardcore fanbase and seems to always rank high on the list of songs they wish the band would have played on one of their tours in the 21st century.  Such a great melodic tune, and one that has to be one of the highlights of Geddy's career from a singing standpoint.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orse-YCQaXg

 
Ghost Rider said:
46. Available Light (from the 1989 album Presto)

Presto is kind of the whipping boy of Rush's discography, and while it is not their best album, it is still a good record with a lot of good songs, and a few standouts, one of them being Available Light.  While a massive deep cut, it is pretty popular with the hardcore fanbase and seems to always rank high on the list of songs they wish the band would have played on one of their tours in the 21st century.  Such a great melodic tune, and one that has to be one of the highlights of Geddy's career from a singing standpoint.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orse-YCQaXg
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Available Light is such a great song I barely know where to begin. Excellent solo by Alex on this one. Super excited to see this make the list and another great call. 
 

Oh the wind can carry

All the voices of the sea

Oh the wind can carry

All the echos home to me

 
the something for nothing podcast just did their counterparts review and I agree with gerry that its one of their worst albums if not their worst

I know your top 10 will probably be all counterparts tunes though

thanks for doing this. fun read

 
Grace Under Pressure said:
Available Light is such a great song I barely know where to begin. Excellent solo by Alex on this one. Super excited to see this make the list and another great call. 
 

Oh the wind can carry

All the voices of the sea

Oh the wind can carry

All the echos home to me
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freaking love this song.  always wished they would do an album of cuts similar. 

 
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