Dave,

i'm sure Howard will educate you, he's their biggest fan. 

Steve

I gave up on Rush after "Signals", but I still love their early work in all its kimono-clad pomp silliness.

The best tracks for me are the epics:

Xanadu + Cygnus X-1 (Farewell to Kings)

La Villa Strangiato (Hemispheres)

Working Man + 2112 + By-Tor & The Snow Dog (All The World's A Stage)

Caress of Steel and Fly by Night back in the days. Afraid they don't rock my boat anymore but those were great albums.

Sorry to hear that Kevin - Motorhead have had the same problem, fans gave up after the first three albums but they've produced some great stuff since.

The new Rush album Clockwork Angels is really very good, seeing them live recently with an orchestra was impressive, have a listen to it you might be surprised.

Dave Test for Echo saw them come back to form after a few wandering years in the late 80s early 90s.

Snakes and Arrows (2007) is definitely worth having in your collection - Far Cry great track.

From their latest album Clockwork Angels listen to The Anarchist and The Garden - great album artwork on the vinyl.

For some reason I can't get 2112 off the playlist this year. Almost forgotten and now seemingly rediscovered in this house. Their history has been so varied that it's difficult - for me - to nominate best tracks. Signals is my favourite albun but I think Permanent Waves is their best album. I also rate Snakes And Arrows and Clockwork Angels as stand out works for a band of their age but both are blighted by awful sound quality, which has never been particularly kind to Rush but started falling down the brick walled hole from Counterparts and shows no sign of abating. Vapour Trails is the celebrated nadir of sound quality but actually I think they're all duffers from Counterparts, some are just more awfully produced than others.

But if there's one thing that kicks any Rush album into touch it's seeing them live. The footage on Disc from the last two tours, Snakes and Time Machine (with a few predictable and understandable duplicates) forms an excellent back catalogue. Not complete, but what could be, given their output? Really looking forward to the Angels tour Bulray.

I was looking at the extras on the Film "Beyond The Lighted Stage" (which I highly recommend) and the sound quality of the songs featured on the Snakes tour sounded better to me than the full length releases. I finished watching the extras and flipped the DVD player off, and would believe it, the time was 21:12. It's a sign!

Dave

Favourite Rush track would be Fountain Of Lamneth, although calling it a track is stretching it.

Favourite album Power Windows. Don't be put off by it not being one of their first 10 albums.

 Some superb songs and the production is top notch. Your ears deserve to hear it.

Spot on Harry - Rush live nothing better, and its the only place you will hear a truly great drummer in full flow. Snakes and Arrows tour took the drum solo into another dimension with Mr Peart creating aural art.

I have a big soft spot for Power Windows, the first Rush Album I bought, although I quickly filled in backwards. It benefits from a system with honest tonal balance and good coherence and if the chain is up to it, will give a system one hell of a work out. Over the years, the unmasking of yet more layers and details, not to mention the true (probably) tonality of the bass and drum kit have come with successive upgrades. Gotta give it up for Moving Pictures of course. The 24/96 rendering is a big treat. I suppose it's been so over played in the non Rush Nerd universe that it's almost become a cliche for me. I don't mean that in a derogatory way. It's just, well, a bit obvious. I know it's become fashionable to speak about Rush in terms of awesome technical ability, in writing, arranging and playing, but the fact remains that even on an album I wouldn't put in my top five, there is not a wasted note from start to finish.

Steve Wilson has started work on their back catalogue . Close To The Edge is in progress. The current 24Bit versions of their albums are worth having IMO but we are told that the best is yet to come.

I really like Permanant Waves and Moving Pictures.

Xanadu is pretty amazing in terms of the intro and full on bombast when the song kicks in.

Easiest answer is ALL of them! I'd be less wrong that way. For me most albums have something to offer. First album just a rock band, 2nd album onwards a prog/rock band emerged.

Up to Moving Pictures is regarded as their core work, the later albums "suffer" from the synth phase of 80/90s music, still some good stuff Roll the Bones,Test For Echo.

I can't "get" Vapour Trails and despite my just ignore annoyances policy, the brick walled sound on Snakes and Arrows, really makes it difficult to listen to and therefore enjoy.

Is there a HD version of S & As ? Can anyone compare it to the CD version?

Hello Dave,

I'm more of a fan of their earlier-middle music. Favourite tracks (album) include:

1. Limelight

2. The Camera Eye

Notice they are both from Moving Pictures. That album is one of my favourites.

There's so much to sample from Rush so enjoy. Seeing them live is a real treat. 

Arun

Rush recently released a chunk of their catalog in 24/96 format.  It can be had in five-album groups (named Sector One, Sector Two, and Sector Three) with each one running about US$35.  I have Sector One (the early stuff) and the sound is amazing.  Moving Pictures is probably my favorite album overall (and "The Camera Eye" my favorite song), but listening to the early stuff in high rez format has been a revelation.

There is a HD version of Snakes.  It's on the digipack release of Snakes containing the audio CD and a DVD. The DVD contains a nice documentary on the making of, 5.1 mixes and a 24/96 Stereo mix. The HD version sounds better than the CD for resolution and HiFi stuff IMO, but is still awful to listen to because the lack of dynamic range and audible distortion is clearer still. But when I stream if from my NAS into my little office B&W A5 it sounds excellent. Which I suppose is the whole point. The CD sounds good in the car too. Shame I can't bear to hear it on my proper system.

I'm either going to have to retire from this discussion or become rather boring. Every time someone cites a track or album I'll be in praising it. Howard has nailed it - they're all rather good.

The Sector box sets were resampled/upsampled/rendered/I don't know really at 24 bits for the remastering. Each box set contains one DVD-A of an album. So I've had Fly By Night (excellent in HiRes), Kings (also excellent in HiRes) and Signals (better in HiRes but the cracks show in places) for some time in addition to the earlier HiRes release of Moving Pictures - which is one of the best HiRes albums I currently have.As is 2112 which came out in DVD-A about a years ago. I have been waiting for Hemispheres, Waves and Power Windows to fulfill my want list. Qobuz duly delivered and I threw in Hold Your Fire for good measure. That just left Counterparts, which I also now have. So job done. I think all the HiRes stuff sounds good. Counterparts has been pumped up a bit but it's on the right side of dynamically acceptable. Just.

Everything from Varour Trails on (or at least what they have played live of it) is best watched on DVD/BD because you can actually hear what everyone is playing and it sounds like instruments as opposed to sound effects. IMHO.

Great advice, thanks everyone I'll be working my way through your recommendations. Tonight I'm starting off with Moving Pictures in Hi-Def downloaded from Linn as Qobuz would not let me.

The Hi-Def versions are rather good aren't they . 

The Camera Eye

Qobuz will lift the IP block if you ask them politely. 

Have fun. i don't think you'll feel short changed.

Should you feel inclined to pay Linn's ridiculous asking price for 2112 I recommend that you save a huge slab of money and buy the DVDA-A as part of the deluxe box set from the likes of Amazon. They really are taking the wasname. 

Re. Steve Wilson; I stumbled across a thread yesterday on Computer Audiophile and having done some online research I think it's considerably more than a rouour. Oh rapture. I hope!

Already splashed out on 2112 from Linn - they did rather well out of my impatience last weekend....

It's next on this evening's playlist.

I'm sure you were impressed. The recording has a lot of space in it which adds to the illusion of a live performance. It's a good example of what I refer to as a "time travel" album. You almost feel like you are standing in a studio watching them play on the floor. It's easy to mentally peel away the overdubs and add ons and visualise the three players banging out the primary arrangement. And when you take into consideration how long ago it was recorded, it's (for me at least) a kind of magical experience.