Rush fans on the board ??

Ok, I'm resurrecting an old thread here, but I'm a major Rush fan pretty new to Audiogon, so there it is.

Here's my rating scale:

10. Absolute perfection all the way through - a masterpiece.
9. Excellent, not one weak track and nearly perfect.
8. Great album, a must-own.
7. Very good album - well worth owning.
6. Not thier best, but still pretty darn good.
5. I don't listen that often, but it's a good album.
4. It's not bad, some weaker material.
3 - It's alright, I'll listen and enjoy it occasionally, but will often skip some tracks.
2 - There are a couple of good or great tracks, but generally fairly weak.
1 - Barely listenable, for completists only, only one or two even halfway-decent tracks.
0 - Just really bad, no redeeming qualities whatsoever.

Here's my order of all the studio Rush albums with ratings:

Signals - 10
Moving Pictures - 9.5
Permanent Waves - 9
Snakes & Arrows - 8.5
Hold Your Fire - 8.5
Hemispheres - 8
A Farewell To Kings - 8
Rush - 8
Grace Under Pressure - 8
2112 - 7.5
Fly By Night - 7.5
Power Windows - 7.5
Counterparts - 7.5
Caress of Steel - 6.5
Presto - 4.5
Roll The Bones - 2.5
Test For Echo - 2.5
Vapor Trails - 0.5

All you Rush fans should check the next Neil Peart. He is 11 year old Tyler Hudson and there is a youtube video showing his progress from ages 2 to 11. He actually plays "The Trees" at age 5! You can see it here.

He is now part of a band called MINDWALK whose three members are ages 11 to 15. They cover Limelight and YYZ and make it look easy.

My favorite, though, is their cover of King's X song We Were Born to be Loved.

Moving Pictures without a doubt is my favorite with Witch Hunt and Tom Sawyer.
Next is "Roll the Bones" and then "Test for Echo" an over looked gem I have turned a lot of Rush fans on to that had given up on the band.

Well I have to say I am quite supprised at the responses here. I am a huge fan to and although I like all the old stuff I have to say Vapour Trails was absolutly a "Balls to the Wall" album. Sure the production and mix were not the best but we are rating her for music right? Also I love the new Snakes and Arrows. And if we are speaking of sound qualiy, I suggest the hi rez version. Check out my virtual system in another week as I should have my other prints from Rush done to stick on the other wall.

#1 = Hemispheres.

I've been a huge fan since '78 when I saw them when I was 13. I saw them at least 6 times through Permanent Waves and then didn't like MP or anything after for at least 15 years..

I finally warmed up to the post PW work in about '93. when I was a guitar player in a Rush tribute band for 6 years and we played pretty much all of it.

But to me... Rush IS album side tales of good vs evil and exploration, both lyrically and musically.... The 15 minute epic songs of the 70s and early 80s are the coolest..