Rush Fan Central

Personally, I would rank my favorites from modern times as...

1) Clockwork Angels
2) Snakes & Arrows
3) Vapor Trails (remixed or not)

Clockwork Angels is quite awesome in my opinion. I also really like Snakes & Arrows, but Clockwork Angels eclipses it by just a bit. Vapor Trails definitely narrowed the gap with the remixed edition, but I still prefer Snakes & Arrows over it. Also, to be quite honest, I can't even listen to the original Vapor Trails anymore, not with the way the remixes turned out.

Queen By-Tor wrote: For me it's Snakes & Arrows Clockwork Angels Vapor Trails I love everything about S&A, it's very heavy and humble. CA to me sounds like Rush reaching into unfamiliar territory and though seeing them with an orchestra actually brought tears to my eyes live it just doesn't sound like the Rush I know. Might age well though! I loved the story and the first time I heard The Garden it brought me to tears. Errm... Rush makes me cry a lot, kay!? They really know how to demand an audience's attention and play with emotion in their music! That order might change if I heard Vapor Trails Remixed. I love the writing in VT but it sounds like mud

So judging from recent comments it would seem most would rank 2000s Rush as

1. Clockwork Angels
2. Vapor Trails
3. Snakes & Arrows

Or would you flip 1 and 2?

I've only heard Clockwork...which has taken me quite a bit of time to bond with (still trying). The first few spins I found it impenetrable and a bit leaden/wooden/relentlessly thick...almost...sludgy?

People laugh at me for "trying" to like some music...haha...but I know myself...if it clicks right away I usually forget it a month later. If it takes some time...it rewards for a lifetime in some cases. ;)

anyone else like that?

Ambient Hurricanes wrote: Metalmarsh89 wrote: Catcher10 wrote: Well I do enjoy S&A quite a bit....Workin Them Angels is a pretty hard heavy tune that resonates well with me and Far Cry is a killer song even The Larger Bowl, I know most are not fond of that album but for me it works and plays well.   Very good musicianship, really not too overtly conceptual....just a good hard rocking album. But yes, going back a bit Counterparts is a beast of an album! I tend to wonder why people dislike Snakes & Arrows. I agree it's a good album, though maybe not quite as good as Clockwork Angels, if only because it lacks that awesome strong concept. I would put 'Workin' Them Angels' as my favorite from that album too. S&A is a very good album that is a bit too long.  Like some other of Rush's late-period albums (well, RtB especially), it could have benefited from the elimination of a few weaker tracks (Good  News First, Bravest Face) but some of the songs on the album just kick ass.  I love the multi-layered nature of the album; even though the band themselves thought they overdid it I personally felt like it really added to the appeal of the record, although I am glad they stripped it down for Clockwork Angels, also.

Metalmarsh89 wrote: Catcher10 wrote: Well I do enjoy S&A quite a bit....Workin Them Angels is a pretty hard heavy tune that resonates well with me and Far Cry is a killer song even The Larger Bowl, I know most are not fond of that album but for me it works and plays well.   Very good musicianship, really not too overtly conceptual....just a good hard rocking album. But yes, going back a bit Counterparts is a beast of an album! I tend to wonder why people dislike Snakes & Arrows. I agree it's a good album, though maybe not quite as good as Clockwork Angels, if only because it lacks that awesome strong concept. I would put 'Workin' Them Angels' as my favorite from that album too.

S&A is a very good album that is a bit too long.  Like some other of Rush's late-period albums (well, RtB especially), it could have benefited from the elimination of a few weaker tracks (Good  News First, Bravest Face) but some of the songs on the album just kick ass.  I love the multi-layered nature of the album; even though the band themselves thought they overdid it I personally felt like it really added to the appeal of the record, although I am glad they stripped it down for Clockwork Angels, also.

Well I do enjoy S&A quite a bit....Workin Them Angels is a pretty hard heavy tune that resonates well with me and Far Cry is a killer song even The Larger Bowl, I know most are not fond of that album but for me it works and plays well.

^hmmm most of those songs are from Presto and RTB which I've never listened to...so given my love for Virtuality I may be pleasantly surprised when I do!

I enjoy the lyrics, which some find corny...especially this part

"Like a pair of vagabonds who wave between two passing trains
Or the glimpse of a woman's smile through a window in the rain
I can smell her perfume,
I can taste her lips
I can feel the voltage from her fingertips"

A couple of very cool snapshots in there... and something kind of sexy also (rare for Rush)

I do agree with you on Stick It Out though...that's one I never really enjoyed that much...and tend to skip.

I am a tad older than you snot nosed kids .....PW is one of my fav Rush albums. Even though I grew up with Hemis, AFTK, 2112....I still spin it often, I still have the original vinyl issue and I think it is one of the best sounding vinyl they have.

Clockwork Angels The Comic Book.  http://www.classicrockmagazine.com/news/rush-to-launch-comic-book-series/

Crumple wrote: I'm currently giving PW a serious listen for the first time since it came out. I've spun it 7 or 8 times all the way through in the last week. When it came out it was the final departure for me for Rush for a while (until 1999 actually). Rush was my first love, and I preferred them heavier. I stuck with them through Signals and GUP (both of which I enjoyed a lot) but PW was a big let down for me. At the time Priest, Maiden, VH, Metallica and so on were putting out the metal I loved. And the "mainstream" rock was covered by the Police, U2, Bruce, John Cougar etc etc New wave an anomaly and while I could find songs I enjoyed, it was never my preferred genre. I didn't expect Rush to have all these keyboards everywhere and it was disconcerting. that said Manhattan Project I ALWAYS loved...what a gorgeous song. As I listen now, I can say that it is growing on me. It does sound very dated...very 80s. I have visions of Alex in a button down shirt and skinny tie dancing around playing these wimpy rhythm guitar parts (not that I ever saw him do that or even know if he did, lol). Or Molly Ringwald and company dancing like this: breakfast club clip But that aside, I am finding the textures and nuances to be enjoyable on repeated listens. I read somewhere about it being a "cold" album and I agree wholeheartedly...very electronic, very techno. To me it will never, ever be close to Moving Pictures (which I consider to be one of the greatest albums of all time, by anyone) but I am slowly enjoying it. Perhaps I'll move on to HYF in the coming weeks. It's really cool to uncover old music from a band I've always loved and have the pleasure of discovering it as new