As a once-Rush fanatic growing up, that's a tough question.
But I think I have to go with Hemispheres. That's when I'd got in to Rush most deeply and it's their most complexly layered, ambitious stuff. I had so many nights with the old headphones on just being immersed in the world of Hemispheres. It's still the case that if I put that first side on, I can't help but sit through the whole thing.
If I had to choose a favorite individual Rush song it would probably be Xanadu - the music, the lyrics, the playing, the modulation....that song is just a trip I always love to go on.
I'm in what seems to be the majority who didn't care for anything beyond, say, exit stage left. I did enjoy some of Signals, but they had started off on their other trajectory by then and it just didn't grab me.I found virtually all the albums afterward that I heard (even in parts) seemed to lack the amazing hooks of all their albums up through Moving Pictures. They always managed to make their music "hooky" not in the sense of "pop music-like" (though they did have some hooky songs), but rather in the sense of memorable vocal lines, music changes, and memorable riffs by all 3 guys. For me they had the "dried up band" sound after that, ESPECIALLY when it came to the late 80's/90's onward. Yeah...they still produced some albums with some great energy, but to my ears, nothing that sounded remotely memorable. Geddy's singing was just modulation over the music, nothing memorable, and the music also was just sort of moving here and there with nothing sticking out. I can remember virtually every Peart/Lee/Lifeson part on every song up to Signals...beyond that...nothing stuck.
My friends and I "progressed" beyond Rush and prog rock to "Fusion" (jazz/rock) that had become bigger, and also "real jazz" and then on to a wide array of musical influences. That was the "I'm sort of embarrassed to ever have been so in to Rush" phase, and "jeeze prog rock...remember that? " Kind of squeamish looking back on it, because music was still one's identity, and if you wanted a new identiy you had to shed/reject the old one.
Thank goodness for maturity later in life. Now that I'm a middle-aged fart, I"m not rebelling against the last thing I liked, I have no particular demands of musical progress, and so it's been an absolute BLAST revisiting Rush. It feels like I can fully appreciate them again, with something near the enthusiasm I had when I was a young Rush fan.And damn, those vinyl remasters are killer! I'd had various albums on digital but rarely played them. When I got the vinyl remasters it was a revelation: Rush sounded like Rush again, but perhaps even better.
So, I'm a Rush fan again. With no apologies!
But I think I have to go with Hemispheres. That's when I'd got in to Rush most deeply and it's their most complexly layered, ambitious stuff. I had so many nights with the old headphones on just being immersed in the world of Hemispheres. It's still the case that if I put that first side on, I can't help but sit through the whole thing.
If I had to choose a favorite individual Rush song it would probably be Xanadu - the music, the lyrics, the playing, the modulation....that song is just a trip I always love to go on.
I'm in what seems to be the majority who didn't care for anything beyond, say, exit stage left. I did enjoy some of Signals, but they had started off on their other trajectory by then and it just didn't grab me.I found virtually all the albums afterward that I heard (even in parts) seemed to lack the amazing hooks of all their albums up through Moving Pictures. They always managed to make their music "hooky" not in the sense of "pop music-like" (though they did have some hooky songs), but rather in the sense of memorable vocal lines, music changes, and memorable riffs by all 3 guys. For me they had the "dried up band" sound after that, ESPECIALLY when it came to the late 80's/90's onward. Yeah...they still produced some albums with some great energy, but to my ears, nothing that sounded remotely memorable. Geddy's singing was just modulation over the music, nothing memorable, and the music also was just sort of moving here and there with nothing sticking out. I can remember virtually every Peart/Lee/Lifeson part on every song up to Signals...beyond that...nothing stuck.
My friends and I "progressed" beyond Rush and prog rock to "Fusion" (jazz/rock) that had become bigger, and also "real jazz" and then on to a wide array of musical influences. That was the "I'm sort of embarrassed to ever have been so in to Rush" phase, and "jeeze prog rock...remember that? " Kind of squeamish looking back on it, because music was still one's identity, and if you wanted a new identiy you had to shed/reject the old one.
Thank goodness for maturity later in life. Now that I'm a middle-aged fart, I"m not rebelling against the last thing I liked, I have no particular demands of musical progress, and so it's been an absolute BLAST revisiting Rush. It feels like I can fully appreciate them again, with something near the enthusiasm I had when I was a young Rush fan.And damn, those vinyl remasters are killer! I'd had various albums on digital but rarely played them. When I got the vinyl remasters it was a revelation: Rush sounded like Rush again, but perhaps even better.
So, I'm a Rush fan again. With no apologies!