This album featured far less synthesizers than any Rush record in years…but I was a fan who happened to like the synths in Rush songs. But overall the album features mostly lesser cuts, especially the weak title track. Test For Echo has some favorite Rush songs of mine…”Driven” is Rush at its excessively large prime-numbered time signature best, and “Half The World” shows Geddy’s talent for great melodies…something the band became much better at in their later years. Still, there are some solid cuts, like “Bastille Day” and “The Necromancer”. They got it right with the next album, but the band went a little too far out here. But it’s a little too ambitious, and Geddy’s voice is grating on certain songs, like the otherwise excellent “No-One At The Bridge”…which features one of my favorite Alex solos. It’s an important point in the band’s career (and I’ll talk about that sometime), because it showed a willingness to experiment into artsy-type rock that had an audience then. But overall a decidedly un-Rush record, and one I don’t put in the player often (although my kids love the title cut). And as with every Rush album, Neil drums his rear end off. “Dreamline” is a live classic of course, and there are some inspiring lyrics, like “Heresy”, a song about so many lives being wasted under communism. I was really disappointed in this one, following up the excellent Presto with an album of less memorable songs, several of which are among my least favorites in the Rush catalogue. Not quite a proper Rush album per se, but it’s a fun record to listen to, with Neil’s drumming (as always) boosting all the cuts. And yes, I rank it above Hold Your Fire, because it contains some booty-kicking covers, especially “Summertime Blues” and “Crossroads”…which my four-year-old son loves to bang his toy drums to. Still, “Force Ten” and “Turn The Page” are vintage Rush classics, so the album does have some merits.įorget about this one fans? Hey, it counts…an album of the band covering many of the songs they played in Ontario garages before the band even had a name. But the songwriting on this record may be Rush’s weakest, with several songs (“Mission”, “Second Nature”, “Open Secrets”) based around a similar, unexciting two-chord progression. Neil’s drums (Ludwigs!) in particular sound fantastic. The production on Hold Your Fire is as great as any Rush album. It’s not a bad record, but without Neil, it isn’t Rush. But “Working Man” was so much better live, with Neil adding his thunderous fills. It’s an energetic effort from a young raw band with aspirations of being Led Zeppelin, but it has its moments, like “Here Again” and “Before And After”, and of course, the concert staple “Working Man”. The debut album, but with all due respect to the competent but rudimentary drummer John Rutsey, it’s not a proper Rush album. (All album cover images are courtesy of – SRO Management said I could use them.) Without further ado, the best Rush albums ranked worst to first by a ridiculously dedicated fan. Just note that just because I rate an album low doesn’t mean I hate the album. Drop a line and take issue with my rankings if you want…I’d love to hear what you think. Since I am as devoted a Rush fanatic as anyone out there, and I spent thousands of dollars on records, concert tickets, T-shirts, posters, and tour programs, I feel like I’m at least partly qualified to share an opinion on the best to worst Rush albums. My brother (who is every bit as much of a fan) and I send lists to each other all the time ranking albums of our favorite artists…but I hadn’t realized that Rush fans publish blog posts targeting “best Rush albums ranked”. Here it is, a list of all the studio albums from rock’s greatest artist, ranked by a “get a life!” level fan.
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