i know they have out a greatest hits album but its like 40 bucks. there are like 5 or 6 rush songs they play non stop. (98 rock in baltimore if interested) what album from there 20 plus studio albums has the most radio friendly songs or did they do like 1 single per album

Well you have 24+ albums to choose from, and I hear Mercury is releasing another greatest hits album in November...

If you want their best albums:

Moving Pictures---- The most radio friendly of all their albums, I've heard every song on this album played on the radio at least once.

Permanent Waves --- Probably their most recogonized song The Spirit of Radio.

2112--- Title track is 20 minute Rush jam, how can you not like that.


You could also buy any of their greatest hits albums:

Chronicles

Or

Retrospective I
1. Spirit Of Radio, The
2. Trees, The
3. Something For Nothing
4. Freewill
5. Xanadu
6. Bastille Day
7. By-Tor And The Snow Dog: I. At The Tobes Of Hades / II. Across The Styx / III. Of The Battle / IV. Epilogue
8. Anthem
9. Closer To The Heart
10. 2112 Overture
11. Temples Of Syrinx, The
12. La Villa Strangiato
13. Fly By Night
14. Finding My Way


Retrospective II

1. Big Money, The
2. Red Barchetta
3. Subdivisions
4. Time Stand Still
5. Mystic Rhythms
6. Analog Kid, The
7. Distant Early Warning
8. Marathon
9. Body Electric, The
10. Mission
11. Limelight
12. Red Sector A
13. New World Man
14. Tom Sawyer


I would suggest the Retrospectives because the songs are remastered, and you get a litte from each of their stages. (Except from PResto--1989 through Vapor Trails 2002)
All of which can be found at half.com for under $10.00

Oh yes, one more thing, take a road trip to Hershey. PA on Friday.(Tomorrow) They play the Giant Center, and there are still some tickets left.

ill either wait until i know about a gh in november or get moving pictures and permanent waves. amazon has a pre order up for chronicals and a dvd set for 29.99 but i dont know what that is

Here is the track listing for Chronicles:

DISC 1
1. Finding My Way - (with John Rutsey)
2. Working Man - (with John Rutsey)
3. Fly By Night
4. Anthem
5. Bastille Day
6. Lakeside Park
7. 2112: Overture / Temples Of Syrinx
8. What You're Doing - (live)
9. Farewell To Kings, A
10. Closer To The Heart
11. Trees, The
12. La Villa Strangiato
13. Free Will
14. Spirit Of Radio, The
DISC 2
1. Tom Sawyer
2. Red Barchetta
3. Limelight
4. Passage To Bangkok, A - (live)
5. Subdivisions
6. New World Man
7. Distant Early Warning
8. Red Sector A
9. Big Money, The
10. Manhattan Project
11. Force Ten
12. Time Stand Still - (with Aimee Mann)
13. Mystic Rhythms - (live)
14. Show Don't Tell

A lot of the songs are also on the Retrospective abums.

The Chronicles DVD has the videos for some of the songs on the CD

1. Closer to the Heart - Album: Farewell to Kings
2. The Trees - Album: Hemispheres
3. Limelight - Album: Moving Pictures
4. Tom Sawyer - Album: Moving Pictures (DVD Version)
5. Red Barchetta - Album: Exit...Stage Left
6. Subdivisions - Album: Signals
7. Distant Early Warnings - Album: Grace Under Pressure
8. Red Sector A - Album: Grace Under Pressure
9. The Big Money - Album: Power Windows
10. Mystic Rhythms - Album: Power Windows
11. Time Stand Still - Album: Hold Your Fire
12. Lock and Key - Album: Hold Your Fire
13. The Body Electric - Grace Under PRessure
14. Afterimage -Grace Under Pressure

*Warning--- Rush was never known as a good video producing band*

I kept this post from someone long ago, I hope its useful to you.

Rush (1974) - Led Zeppelin junior

Fly By Night (1975) - band starts to experiment with fusing their hard rock with prog rock

Caress of Steel (1975) - band continues venture into heavy prog rock; first side-long epic

2112 (1976) - break thru album for Rush; side long epic makes them popular

All the Worlds a Stage (1976) - first live album; very raw in sound

A Farewell to Kings (1977) - band continues further into prog rock; starts to experiment heavily with keyboards; contains first "hit" song (Closer to the Heart)

Hemispheres (1978) - band's pinnacle in heavy prog rock; last side-long epic; contains first instrumental track (9 minute long La Villa Stragiato) and The Trees

Permanent Waves (1980) - band deliberately begins writing shorter songs; contains two "hits" The Spirit of Radio, Freewill

Moving Pictures (1981) - biggest album to date for Rush and streamlines the style they started with PeW; contains the "hits" Tom Sawyer, Red Barchetta, YYZ (instrumental) and Limelight

Exit Stage Left (1981) - second live album; good song selection but stuffy production; focusing on pop-ish prog-rock material of last 4 albums

Signals (1982) - analog keyboard heavy style to this one; contains "hits" Subdivisions and New World Man

Grace Under Pressure (1984) - heavy guitar approach (in retaliation to keyboards on Signals) but still has keys; first album Neil experiments with electronic drums

Power Windows (1985) - heavily influenced by 80's style pop music (Rush style) with grandiose layering of sounds and various kinds of keys, guitars and drum sounds; lyrically focuses on types of "power"

Hold Your Fire (1987) - continuation of PoW style; contains "hit" Time Stand Still; lyrically focuses on "time" and "instinct"

A Show of Hands (1989) - third live album with good mix (halfway between ATWAS and ESL) focusing on key-heavy material of last 4 albums

Presto (1989) - first album to return to more of a bare-bones approach (way less emphasis on keys than last two albums); seems to have a lot of songs that are IMO good but nothing terrible/nothing awesome

Roll the Bones (1991) - continues approach of Presto; seems to have songs that IMO either suck or are great; lyrically focuses on "chance"

Counterparts (1993) - huge bump up in guitar sound; influenced by alternative scene but with Rush style; still has keys but play diminutive role; lyrically focuses on "relationships"

Test for Echo (1996) - continuation of approach on Counterparts; IMO seems to be like RtB in that either songs are great or are pretty weak

Different Stages (1998) - fourth album which is a triple CD set; first two discs from last two tours; roughly half the material on these two discs focuses on last 4 albums and the rest is from older parts of their catalog; third CD is taken from early 1978 show which has stuff from first 5 albums; mix is a bit more raw, but still refined (fits between ATWAS and ASOH)

Vapor Trails (2002) - album released May 14th with much less melodic approach; almost no keys whatsoever(vocal effects, patterns used instead); stripped down sound with some influence from Tool, Neil finds an early influence of Keith Moon, experiments with snares, Alex eschews solos for more creative guitar patterns, use of mandola. Album recorded at blistering levels common with current bands. Lyrics more personal and reflective. Welcome back.

Hannibal ==== Good Post That does a really good job summing up all the Rush albums...

Most of their videos are laughable, they're pretty much only for the hardcore fans. I'd either get the Retrospective albums (since they're remastered) if you want a sampling of their hits, or just get Permanent Waves and Moving Pictures, which you'll probably like all the way through.

Or join BMG and get all their albums for $5 each.

I would say go pick up Retrospective I and II first to get a taste of what you like. You can usually find each one for around 13 bucks, also the versions on the Retrospectives are remastered, the Chronicles versions are not.

If you just want to go with one actual album so far, I would say go with Moving Pictures.

Their best album would have to be "Permenant Waves". I don't even like Rush and I think it's great.

Chronicles is the collection that got me into Rush. If you end up loving it like I did, you'll probably buy the other albums anyway. If you're looking for single albums, I'd recommend:

--2112 (no explanation necessary)
--Moving Pictures (most recognized)
--Signals (my favorite)
--Roll the Bones (first "new" Rush album I purchased)

I was introduced to Rush via Chronicles. Now a few years down the road, I have all of their official releases.

It's a good place to start, allthough some of their best songs (IMO) were not put on the greatest hits cds

Welcome to the forum... I'm always glad to see Rush fans here..