What is Rush's worst album?

richardh wrote: Tapfret wrote: Anything after Hemispheres felt like Rush for people that don't like Rush.  corrected

verslibre wrote: Necrotica wrote: For me, definitely Presto. That was when Rush were getting back into more guitar-driven (and of course, less synth-driven) music, and to me they sounded pretty rusty on that one. (Possible) hot take, but I think Roll the Bones is a vastly superior version of what they attempted on Presto -- despite a pretty weak production job. With the exception of maybe 2 or 3 songs (I LOVE Available Light), the tracklist of Presto just doesn't stick out to me much  I disagree with regard to "vastly." RTB is a bit more consistent than Presto, but: 1 – The best song on Presto ("Show Don't Tell") is better than any song on RTB by a country mile. In lieu of spinning their wheels, they etched a line between new and familiar with that song, "Chain Lightning," "Scars" and "Available Light." 2 – RTB's last song is one of the worst they ever recorded, while others like "The Big Wheel" and "Neurotica" are serviceable if underwhelming (and, yes, the production feels plasticky). (IMVHO, of course.)

Edited by Jeffro - May 21 2024 at 05:53

Not listened to Presto in full in many years, but my favourite was "Superconductor".

For me, definitely Presto. That was when Rush were getting back into more guitar-driven (and of course, less synth-driven) music, and to me they sounded pretty rusty on that one. (Possible) hot take, but I think Roll the Bones is a vastly superior version of what they attempted on Presto -- despite a pretty weak production job. With the exception of maybe 2 or 3 songs (I LOVE Available Light), the tracklist of Presto just doesn't stick out to me much 

I'll stick with my crack pipe then because I probably prefer RTB over T4E. T4E has grown on me a bit over time though which is something I can't really say about VT which I still struggle with. My vote for worst Rush album probably goes to VT.

verslibre wrote: ^I don't have any problem with Rush being the lowest rated. I never listen to it. (For that matter, I never listen to FbN, either.) However, T4E is better than Roll the Bones. Here's why. (I'm going to cheat and post a live performance. )

dr wu23 wrote: Since the thread is still ongoing I'll toss this out.....the lowest rating on PA is Test For Echo at 2.89 with Rush-ST at 2.95. The people have spoken.

Edited by Cristi - April 21 2024 at 15:40

Ziggy C wrote: I remember when HYF first came out, not too long after I saw Powerwindows in Costa Mesa. I remember thinking, "A new album? Already??" I was excited about it. My friend bought the CD and we had a listen. Force Ten rocked! Cool!! This is gonna be awesome! Time Stand Still was great, too. But then,....the album took a nosedive. I remember we were sitting there laughing at it after a few more songs. The lyrics were so hokey and cliche. Mission was the song. We turned it off. I still can't get through that album. Hands down the worst Rush album.

I hope you eventually finished the album, as the song that follows "Mission" is "Turn the Page," which quite a few Rush fans rate as the album's best. The live versions are usually better since the bassline is more audible (HYF's production wasn't as kind to Geddy's bass as the albums immediately before it).

Ziggy C wrote: Up to that point, pretty much every album had my attention. Only COS seemed weak. But I regained faith in the band with Presto, an album that many here seem down on.

Presto (which I played a lot when it was new) is a bit uneven, but has some killer songs, like "Show Don't Tell" (an honest-to-goodness rock song with a bass solo got FM airtime), "Chain Lightning," "Scars," "Available Light." But overall a solid Rush album.

Roll the Bones is a big step down and hasn't aged as well, at least not for me. But they recovered brilliantly with Counterparts. And that was a great concert, too.

Ziggy C wrote: That's OK. The thing about Rush is that they were certainly not "one-note." Their heavy reliance on synths was a bit challenging. But their guitar-heavy albums really pump. Signals remains my favorite Rush album of all time.

Their heavy reliance on synths was challenging but your favorite album is Signals?

(Mine was Signals, too, for many years. It's now Grace Under Pressure.)


P.S. Welcome to the forum! Lots to discuss here.

Steve Wyzard wrote: Atavachron wrote: It was a lot more than that (they were getting that bogus 'synth-band' critique back for Signals and even Pictures)--- It was clear something severe and quite disruptive had happened. And of course much had indeed occurred with Terry Brown, the commercial expectations of the time, even the image the band had of itself.   Just look at the band photo for that record and it's like "Yeesh-- what the hell happened, boys?!" Around the time of Grace Under Pressure, there were continuous rumors about the band taking a "solo album sabbatical" due to all of the "record biz" frustrations they were dealing with at that time. No, they didn't hate each other, nor were they considering breaking up, but all three members also had growing kids and were concerned that the "album - tour - album - tour" cycle was becoming too hard on their families. So with all the "nuclear war" headlines, the record biz issues, and the personal issues, it's no wonder the resulting album is really kind of a downer and more difficult to listen to than the other albums from that same decade.

Good insights.   It was a difficult time.

On Presto 'the Heavy Prog Midi Orchestra' Rush had run out of ideas, the chemistry was gone, Rush started to sound boring, who had expected that with albums like A Farewell To Kings, Moving Pictures and Power Windows ...?!