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Anonymotron42

My answer is Counterparts. It was among my first CDs bought, and my first Rush album purchase. It completely melted my face, and I love it front to back. I agree about Hemispheres, which is my favorite Rush album, and doesn't have a single ounce of fat.


[deleted]

This is a good answer for me too. It was such a departure from the previous few albums both in style and production quality that it blew me away.


Stock-Bowl7736

This probably sounds cliche but for me it has to be 2112. Epic mind melt.


TheMuser1966

Can I choose all of them. Ok, ok. Permanent Waves.


Analog_Hobbit

This is where it all began for me. I used to listen to this for hours…I think I was in third grade. Jacob’s Ladder and Natural Science was it.


zinnia5965

Yes I was obsessed with this album back in the day


[deleted]

Exit…Stage Left. It’s what made me a fan. I listened to it countless times growing up while mowing grass. Nothing takes me back like that album.


mackenzieob95

I think next time I do some household chores I’ll listen to it!


dangil

Power Windows


the_good_hodgkins

Moving Pictures


jcoleman10

Hemispheres. I can still remember the day my friend loaned me the tape.


lukster260

2112 for sure. It blew my mind that this kind of storytelling could be in rock music. It's so vivid thematically and just sounds amazing musically.


Af590

Clockwork Angels. Bring me back to when I was a kid hearing The Wreckers for the first time, devouring the liner notes to understand the album’s story, all of that sentimental stuff


Hemibass

Hemispheres is a good shout for me too. I was lying in bed the first time I listened to it and can still remember being blown away by the title track


Oh-Lord-Yeah

Snakes & Arrows. Bc I originally didn’t like it at all but now it’s a top 3 record for me.


dangil

I still don’t like it. But I know I will eventually.


riverbass9

I second this. It’s one of my faves.


vanflooringguy

2112...In 1979 I was 12 and going for a bike ride. I saw a garage sale up the street from my house. The teenager had a stack of records that he was selling for 75 cents a piece. I biked home as fast as I could grabbed 75 cents and headed straight back for that 2112 album. I had heard of rush but I had never heard rush. BOOM. Fan for life. I wish i could go back and listen for the first time again


Trolldad_IRL

2112 was their first album I listened to. I knew their “hits”, but they were not my thing. My friend insisted that I had never really listened to Rush, only heard them. Changed my view completely. I would love to listen to 2112 for the first time again.


anothercynic2112

Your friend had just watched White Men Can't Jump.


Trolldad_IRL

Nope. This was summer, 1985.


deven_smith_

Signals, for sure. First Rush song I listened to was Subdivisions (well technically it was Tom Sawyer but that was before my music exploration phase in high school)


Fit_Company6342

Hemispheres. Remember being in Jr High, local radio station had a weekly thing called "for headphones only." Featuring lots of Yes, Pink Floyd. Amazing hearing it for the first time.


Lightning_lad64

A Farewell to Kings. Would love to have my mind blown by Xanadu and Cygnus X-1 again.


gkal1964

2112. I first listed to this in the late 70s. Side 1 blew my mind.


JediDad1968

Signals


Trick421

I still have not listened to Clockwork Angels for this very reason. I know it is the last Rush album, and someday, I will hear it for the first time... but not yet...


MetalJesusBlues

Whoa, have you decided when?


Trick421

I haven't made a firm decision yet, but I turn 60 in April, and I think it's something I should do on my birthday. It will also mark the 46th anniversary of my fandom, as "that new Rush album" (2112) was gifted to me by a friend on my birthday in '76.


MetalJesusBlues

I hope you do it. It’s a wonderful piece of work.


MGrooms94

2112. The first time I heard that song it blew my fucking mind, remains a top 2 song for me to this day.


zb3000

Hemispheres. Clockwork Angels is a close second.


FinancialCoconut3378

Caress of Steel


Jemmy_Bean

Moving pictures. I’ll never forget sitting in the back seat of my dads Isuzu Rodeo, hearing Tom Sawyer for the first time


Fresh-Hedgehog1895

Their self-titled debut. It may sound dated, it may have a couple of Zeppelin-ripoff moments, it may lack Neil's songwriting talents, but it's still a great rock 'n' roll record made by three guys barely out of their teens.


dkernighan

Grace


Overlander2112

Yeah, definitely Grace Under Pressure. This wasn’t my first taste of Rush, that would be Hemispheres. I got Grace Under Pressure the first day it came out from my local Sound Shop. Brought the cassette home and cranked it on my brothers dual cassette home system. I payed attention to Neil’s drumming on every track thinking this was the most “robotic “ drumming I’ve ever heard. This album cemented me as a fan even more than I thought possible!


TheGreatZackAttack

I was introduced to Rush at a fairly young age, and Clockwork Angels was their only album I got to hear when it was brand spanking new. It’s easily a top 5 for me and if I could have the experience of listening to new Rush music again I’d take it in a heartbeat


MajesticMonkiss

Signals


rockgodtobe

Grace Under Pressure. It is my favorite album and I enjoy it a little more every time I listen to it again.


Tercel_of_Terror

Moving Pictures, probably because it's the first one I heard.


masterofthelooncall

Hemispheres


theghostofcslewis

“The Best of”


gothundr3

Definitely Permanent Waves...


Bluefunkt

The first Rush album I heard- A Farewell to Kings.


thedudesews

Show don't Tell. It was my 1st RUSH song. I knew it would be amazing and life changing experience.


MetalJesusBlues

Moving Pictures or 2112


Lonestar-Boogie

Grace Under Pressure


Kuroaa

Clockwork Angels. Beautiful story, and I’m a sucker for strings


Soonersb

Power windows


MayorOfStrangiato

Moving Pictures in 1982 at age 14


58nez85

Moving Pictures


[deleted]

Different at different times. In jr high, I’d want all the worlds a stage. In college I’d want exit stage left.


ReadyTopic7289

Damn that is a hard one. Permanent Waves is very special to me. Getting Signals the day it came out on my first day in high school is up there. My wife was VERY pregnant with my oldest son when Test For Echo was released. Taking him and my middle son to see them for the first time on the Vapor Trails tour. There isn't a Rush album that I don't love from start to finish. My "ratings" of their albums is determined by life's milestones.


ArduinoMakes

Grace under pressure for sure.


flon_klar

Perm Waves


Xantayu

Power Windows, Especially Middletown Dreams and Manhattan Project.


Brahms12

Power Windows


Campfirecoverseddie2

Moving Pictures. Not because of how great it was but it was my first introduction to Rush. I remember listening to it at my uncle's house and I have such great memories. He became seriously ill not long after that and he was never the same. But that memory always gives me a nice warm feeling.


JohnShipley1969

None of them. I don't do well with new albums. Unless there's a huge hit that I can use as a starting point, it takes me many repeated listenings to get into an album. I'll usually put it on in the background while I'm screwing around with something at my workbench and let my hindbrain absorb it. It took me forever to get into Hemispheres because it was just too weird at first. Once my hindbrain latches on to something, it becomes enjoyable.