Woaahh we have a gigantic debate here. At this point in rock history it’s been universally accepted that Rush kicks ass and is one of the most influential bands of all time. In more than one way. And we all know how dedicated and widespread the Rush fan base is. They are united in Rush! But if there’s one debate that has and always will go on it’s whether 70’s or 80’s Rush reigns above the other.
Personally I think that 90′ Rush and onward is the best. So I’m just getting that out of the way. But this debate is about the previous two decades. And they couldn’t be any more different from one another. It’s almost like two different bands. Yet still always undeniably Rush. One era more focused on the progression and instrumentation. The other more about the song itself. Yet it’s always progressive and influential to many bands that would grace the music world for years to come.
70’s Rush starts in early ’74 with the self titled debut and goes through ’78’s ‘Hemispheres’. That may seem like a short period of time but the band released six studio albums and a live record in that time. That’s just amazing to me. It’s one thing for a band like KISS to do that. But a band like Rush? That amount of output is staggering if you ask me. Especially when you factor in songs such as ‘Xanadu’, ‘Cygnus X-1’, ‘Cygnus X-2’ (an 18 minute masterpiece.) and ‘La Villa Strangiato’. Not to mention the entire ‘2112’ album and ‘By Tor and the Snow Dog’. Those are all songs tracking in over 9 minutes. There is however an element that takes some getting used to in the 70’s era of Rush. You guessed it, Geddy Lee’s banshee voice. I’m at a point where I think it’s pretty bad ass actually. Especially his performance on the live ‘All the World’s A Stage’. But it does take some getting used to. And also, Rush has an ability to write a four and half minute song of pure bad assness. Not just 10 minute plus prog adventures. ‘Bastille Day’ and ‘Anthem’ are perfect examples. And the one two punch of the delivery of those songs on ‘All the World’s A Stage’ is legendary. And Geddy’s vocal wail is pretty sweet if I do say so myself. Despite there being a lack of strong vocal melodies. But that’s understandable when you factor in writing vocal melodies to Neal Peart’s early lyrical work. It took them a few years to figure out how to find more of a balance between their unbelievable progressive chops and melody.
Also, personally I’m not a big fan of sci-fi and fantasy lyrics. And those are the predominant subjects of the first six albums. It’s certainly not a deal breaker by any means, I just prefer more third dimensional issued lyrics that are in the 80’s albums and onward. Issues such as a greedy wall street (‘The Big Money’), the hypocrisy of manifest destiny (‘Territories’) and a world becoming increasingly dependent on electronics (‘Digital Man’). I’m a pretty political person and those are all political issues. There’s a lot of that in the 80’s and onward Rush. And I really dig that subject matter. Plus after the incredible difficulty of recording 1978’s ‘Hemispheres’, which I would consider to be one of their most adventurous and strong records, the band needed to slow it down for health reasons. So when ‘Permanent Waves’, ‘Moving Pictures’ and ‘Signals’ came around the band found a balance between their original sound and keeping it within four to six minutes. Then the hits started happening: ‘Spirit of Radio’, ‘Freewill’, ‘Limelight’, ‘Tom Sawyer’ and ‘Subdivisions’. Those were all released within two years of each other on the span of those three albums. But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t awesome progressive, heavy moments. ‘Natural Science’ and ‘Red Barchetta’ are excellent with pretty dark and heavy riffing at moments. And the instrumental ‘YYZ’ is regarded by many to be the greatest rock instrumental.
As the 80’s continued the band continued to reform their sound. Now I understand that a lot of people really hate the keyboard dominance that really started with ’84’s ‘Grace Under Pressure’. But quite honestly, I dig it. Rush were always a fairly keyboard oriented band. Especially ‘A Farewell to Kings’ onward. So is it really that out of context for the band to have a lot keyboards in an era where people loved them? Something they helped create. Plus, Geddy Lee started writing vocal melodies on the keys and it really shows. The vocal melody improvement in the 80’s material from the 70’s is night and day to me. Also the production quality improved really rapidly. I always thought Neil Peart’s snare was fairly thin sounding on the 70’s Rush material. Even though it they didn’t have the technology to make it really phat, they still could have done a better job of mixing the snare. But Neil’s drums sound amazing on ’85’s ‘Power Windows’ and 87’s ‘Hold Your Fire’. So crisp and tight. But they also fill the entire speaker with their sound. And the banshee vocals are pretty non-existent. And I prefer Geddy’s voice when he’s not screaming to the high heavens. He actually has a really underrated voice in my opinion.
So for me I’m defiantly going with 80’s Rush over 70’s Rush. Yes, it’s true that there isn’t an album in their 70’s material as weak 89’s ‘Presto’. But there isn’t an album as strong as ‘Moving Pictures’ or ‘Power Windows’ either. The latter I believe being their most underrated album. And as I said before, I love the keyboards of the 80’s. I think they’re well mixed into the Rush sound. And the melodies are original, strong and progressive. And it’s not like we totally lose Alex Lifeson’s guitar. And Geddy Lee still plays plenty of bad ass bass lines. Such as ‘The Big Money’, ‘Digital Man’ and ‘Force Ten’. So it’s not like he just put the bass down and played only keys for ten years. Like I’ve heard some people claim. Anyways, 80’s RUSH ALL THE WAY!
Showing their ability to write a bad ass four minute tune in the early years.
Sci-Fi and as progressive as they come. But Rush always wrote catchy music. It’s progressive, but always accessible.
But then more of a balance was discovered. Note: The song is recorded in mid-late 1981.
And then refined into higher quality melodies and all around song writing. Love the live recording of this song.
So like I said above. I favor 80’s Rush over 70’s. That’s not to say there aren’t great songs from the 70’s era of Rush. It’s all good. But I just prefer the more melodic side of the band. What do you prefer? 70’s or 80’s Rush?
