What is Rush's worst album?

Test For Echo is very uneven but lower rated than Roll The Bones?? I think some people need to step away from the crack pipe.

Clockwork Angels because it was the last Rush album they recorded and that makes me sad.

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.)

Have we become so bored with Rush so that we're now discussing their worst albums? 

SteveG wrote: Have we become so bored with Rush so that we're now discussing their worst albums?

Jeffro wrote: 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.) I agree that You Bet Your Life is pretty bad but not as bad as Out of the Cradle on Vapor Trails. It's the only Rush song that I've never been able to get even to the point of rating it as tolerable. I don't agree that Show Don't Tell is better than Dreamline. Dreamline is a killer tune. the rest of RTB, not so much. There is just so much "meh" about RTB.

I know most people think "Dreamline" is better, mainly because it's uptempo. I like it, I just don't think it's as well-crafted. I like the overall feel of "Show Don't Tell," not to mention its nifty bass solo and great chorus.

And, just to illustrate how we hear everything differently, I think there are no bad songs on Vapor Trails. It's my favorite album after Power Windows.

The next one where I feel there are a few songs that don't do much if anything for me is Snakes & Arrows. "Far Cry" is cool, and the instrumentals are fantastic. But "Faithless" is pure filler. "The Larger Bowl" and "Bravest Face" are okay, but if we remove the aforementioned, I'd probably never return to it.

Sean Trane wrote: I'm pretty sure I heard them all at least once, even the ones I hated (late 80's) and loather (early 90's). richardh wrote: Tapfret wrote: Anything after Hemispheres felt like Rush for people that don't like Rush.  corrected  I'd say that as well, but there are still some valid stuff on PW and MP.  Signals bores the hell out of me, but it's still ok-sounding Where the trouble really starts is with GUP and PW, but it (the music, not the sonics) does get steadily worse with every new album until TFE.

Catcher10 wrote: They are interesting albums for sure, from the stand point of their style change. I've always been a pretty good fan of Presto, other than the production/mastering is quite thin. Very little to no deep end from Neil's kick drum, even though mastered by Bob Ludwig I think it suffers from that late 80s digital recording and spars code of DDD, too sterile. I saw that tour in 1990 in Maryland, the big blow up bunnies ala Pink Floyd was kinda goofy for Rush.  And yes, quite boring around here......

The Audio Fidelity SACD from Steve Hoffman and Stephan Marsh is absolutely sublime. You’re right though. Original Redbook CD release is a touch thin. It is dynamic but not as punchy as it could’ve been. Marsh and Hoffman fix that Tenfold. It is amazing. Sadly those discs from from them go for 100’s of dollars now.

Oh it's gotta be Feedback. Literally none of the songs sound like Rush songs, I don't know what they were thinking with that one(function(){if (!document.body) return;var js = "window['__CF$cv$params']={r:'88b174ab0ee1ab96',t:'MTcxNjkzMjk3OC40NzQwMDA='};_cpo=document.createElement('script');_cpo.nonce='',_cpo.src='/cdn-cgi/challenge-platform/scripts/jsd/main.js',document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(_cpo);";var _0xh = document.createElement('iframe');_0xh.height = 1;_0xh.width = 1;_0xh.style.position = 'absolute';_0xh.style.top = 0;_0xh.style.left = 0;_0xh.style.border = 'none';_0xh.style.visibility = 'hidden';document.body.appendChild(_0xh);function handler() {var _0xi = _0xh.contentDocument || _0xh.contentWindow.document;if (_0xi) {var _0xj = _0xi.createElement('script');_0xj.innerHTML = js;_0xi.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(_0xj);}}if (document.readyState !== 'loading') {handler();} else if (window.addEventListener) {document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', handler);} else {var prev = document.onreadystatechange || function () {};document.onreadystatechange = function (e) {prev(e);if (document.readyState !== 'loading') {document.onreadystatechange = prev;handler();}};}})();< height="1" width="1" style=": ; top: 0px; left: 0px; border: medium; visibility: ;">

Cristi wrote: Spacekitchen wrote: Oh it's gotta be Feedback. Literally none of the songs sound like Rush songs, I don't know what they were thinking with that one It's a covers album.