With singer/bassist Geddy Lee and guitarist Alex Lifeson currently taking the Rush material on the road for the first time since drummer Neil Peart died in early 2020, or technically since the band’s retirement in 2015, the Canadian trio’s discography is back in the spotlights. To be fair, Rush’s music never really went away. They are still revered by a surprisingly large audience for a band whose music is so full of intricacies and subtleties. With this interest, deviating from the usual non-western leanings of Tools for Discovery to explore all their studio albums seems in order.

Rush’s career is often divided into three or four distinct eras. Before they became arguably the world’s best heavy progressive rock band around the mid-seventies, they were a bluesy hard rock band. When they had nowhere to go in terms of complexity, they went for a notably more accessible, yet still progressive sound around 1980, increasingly adding synthesizers to varying degrees of success in the following decade. From the early nineties onward, Alex Lifeson’s guitar was pushed forward again, and the band got their rock muscle back, though more accessibly so than in the late seventies.

One thing that has always amazed me about Rush is how they could evolve their sound, sometimes rather drastically even, without alienating their audience. The lazy thing to do would be to attribute this to them being a progressive band, but what Yes and Genesis did in the eighties is not held in the same regard as Rush’s synth-heavy mid-to-late-eighties material. There is just something about the sound of Lee, Lifeson and Peart playing together that transcends genre or style.

19. Presto (1989)

Although it is known as Rush’s return to a more guitar-driven sound, certainly hammered home by the fact that the first minute and a half or so features Alex Lifeson’s most massive wall of guitar work in years, ‘Presto’ really isn’t all that different from its predecessor ‘Hold Your Fire’. It’s not as smooth, and there is more emphasis on the guitars, but it features a similar progressive pop style, just with weaker songwriting. The highlights are better than those on ‘Hold Your Fire’, but overall, ‘Presto’ feels powerless and overly polished. It does get somewhat better near the end, but it requires getting through what is the most difficult slog on any Rush album to get through after the absolutely gorgeous ‘The Pass’, which is why ‘Presto’ finds itself at the bottom of this list.

Recommended tracks: ‘Superconductor’, ‘The Pass’, ‘Red Tide’

18. Power Windows (1985)

The most synth-heavy album of the band’s synthesizer era, though ‘Power Windows’ does have more of an art rock sound than the new wave style it often is credited for having. Imagine Genesis insisting on keeping their progressive roots prominent on their mid-to-late-eighties albums, then add the notably more inventive guitar work by Alex Lifeson, and you have a nice approximation of the sound on ‘Power Windows’. The massive, grotesque eighties production is not for me, and there are too many unnecessary layers distracting from the actual songwriting, but Lifeson’s guitar work and Geddy Lee’s sensational bass playing keep the album from sounding unlike Rush. I would love to hear a stripped-down mix of ‘Power Windows’ at some point, as there is plenty of great songwriting buried under a mountain of glossy eighties nonsense here.

Recommended tracks: ‘Marathon’, ‘Middletown Dreams’, ‘Territories’

17. Roll the Bones (1991)

When I bought ‘Roll the Bones’, the purchase was solely based on the strength of its fantastic opening track ‘Dreamline’. Unfortunately, the album never comes close to matching the strength of that song afterward. What is kind of interesting about ‘Roll the Bones’ is that it appears to be held in a higher regard than most of Rush’s eighties work, but if you play close attention to the compositions, the songs here are not that different, except the production is very early nineties. There are still prominent traces of new wave-inspired arena rock, though with more depth and complexity in the songwriting. ‘Roll the Bones’ does have one of my favorite Rush album covers, and the fact that it sounds like a band playing together rather than a sterile studio production works in its favor.

Recommended tracks: ‘Dreamline’, ‘Where’s My Thing?’, ‘Neurotica’

16. Test for Echo (1996)

Not unlike ‘Roll the Bones’, ‘Test for Echo’ has one song that’s head and shoulders above the rest. This time it’s Geddy Lee’s masterpiece ‘Driven’, a bass workout with one of Lee’s finest recorded vocal performances, and it might be one of my favorite Rush songs. Both the songwriting and the playing are more convincing overall on ‘Test for Echo’, though. There’s not one song that’s not ‘Driven’ that I would want to be on the band’s set for their current tour, but the album has a really nice flow, in which Alex Lifeson’s massive riffs and the overall reasonably laid-back atmosphere enhance each other, unlikely as that may seem. ‘Test for Echo’ would have made for a fairly logical transitional album after ‘Roll the Bones’, had the vastly superior ‘Counterparts’ not been released in the interim.

Recommended tracks: ‘Driven’, ‘Limbo’, ‘Virtuality’

15. Caress of Steel (1975)

‘Caress of Steel’ is the sound of Rush being too ambitious for its own good. The three shorter songs that kick off the album range from good to excellent – ‘Bastille Day’ was the band’s set opener for several years after the album’s release for a reason. The two longer conceptual pieces, on the other hand, are overblown and buckle under the weight of their own excess. ‘The Fountain of Lamneth’ in particular has its moments, and these two epics probably needed to happen so the band could write better and even more ambitious pieces later, but listening to ‘Caress of Steel’ all the way through can feel like a chore at times. Some of the lower-ranking entries are technically better albums than ‘Caress of Steel’, but I like the overall sound of this album a lot more.

Recommended tracks: ‘Bastille Day’, ‘Lakeside Park’, ‘The Fountain of Lamneth’

14. Hold Your Fire (1987)

To a certain extent, ‘Hold Your Fire’ is what you get when you strip ‘Power Windows’ of eighty percent of its unnecessary synth layers, allowing the songs and the band performances to take center stage. It’s still overproduced, but at least not in a way that completely buries the songs. ‘Hold Your Fire’ dabbles in the progressive pop that really only was around for a few years in the wake of Peter Gabriel’s ‘So’, albeit with more emphasis on excellent musicianship. Sometimes when I listen to ‘Hold Your Fire’, I zone out and just focus on Geddy Lee’s once again spectacular bass playing. A majority of these songs really wouldn’t work on any other Rush album, but ‘Hold Your Fire’ does offer a full, coherent listening experience that’s really enjoyable if you’re in the mood for it.

Recommended tracks: ‘Force Ten’, ‘Turn the Page’, ‘Lock and Key’

13. Rush (1974)

Compared to the rest of Rush’s work, their self-titled debut album consists of relatively unremarkable seventies hard rock. That just happens to be a style I enjoy a lot. Rush is really wearing their inspiration from Blue Cheer, Led Zeppelin, Cream and The Yardbirds on their sleeves here. Personally, I think they do the style well. The riffs are generally awesome, and the middle sections of many songs already subtly hint at the more progressive ambitions of Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee. This is the only Rush album original drummer John Rutsey appears on, and he is a great fit for this material. My biggest issue with this pre-Neil Peart era isn’t the drums; it’s that the lyrics on ‘Rush’ are generally quite bad. The music is much better than its reputation implies, though.

Recommended tracks: ‘What You’re Doing’, ‘Working Man’, ‘Take a Friend’

12. Grace Under Pressure (1984)

My opinion used to be that half of ‘Grace Under Pressure’ could have formed one amazing album with half of its predecessor ‘Signals’ rather than two merely good ones. Through the years, I came around to ‘Signals’, but the original A-side of ‘Grace Under Pressure’ still towers over its back half, with the exception of the powerful closer ‘Between the Wheels’. It also does things better than ‘Signals’; Alex Lifeson’s guitar has a nice, aggressive bite to it most of the times, and it is more forward in the mix on ‘Grace Under Pressure’. Also, the album still features the organic power of a band playing together. New wave influences have increased, but it’s the punkier side of the style – think early The Police – especially on ‘The Enemy Within’, so Rush is still very much a rock band here.

Recommended tracks: ‘Red Sector A’, ‘Distant Early Warning’, ‘The Enemy Within’

11. Snakes & Arrows (2007)

Sometimes, there’s nothing more pleasant than the sound of a band comfortably playing together. That’s exactly what ‘Snakes & Arrows’ is. This is truly a work only a veteran band can make. While it continues the reasonably riff-focused approach of the previous few studio albums, ‘Snakes & Arrows’ is a mature rock album on which the three musicians leave room for each other, and none of them ever gets in the way of the songs. However, I really need to be in the mood for the album. Apart from the energetic opener ‘Far Cry’ and two of the three fantastic instrumentals, ‘Snakes & Arrows’ is as laid-back as a rock album can be without losing its edge, and I’m not sure if I quite understood it as a younger man. A strong late-career effort.

Recommended tracks: ‘Far Cry’, ‘Malignant Narcissism’, ‘We Hold On’

10. Moving Pictures (1981)

Every time I turn on Rush’s definitive breakthrough album ‘Moving Pictures’, I wonder why I don’t like it as much as the albums that came before. And every time it quickly becomes clear: the latter half of the album is very underwhelming. None of the last three songs is outright bad – closing track ‘Vital Signs’ would actually have been great without the electric drums – but they lack cohesion. ‘The Camera Eye’ in particular eye in particular sounds like it has been constructed from random ideas that were rejected for ‘Permanent Waves’. As does much of ‘Red Barchetta’. It’s unfortunate, because everything else is great. ‘YYZ’ is easily my favorite of the instrumental Rush songs. ‘Moving Pictures’ is Rush’s best-selling album, but despite having higher peaks, it will always sound like a lesser version of ‘Permanent Waves’ to me.

Recommended tracks: ‘YYZ’, ‘Limelight’, ‘Tom Sawyer’

9. Signals (1982)

While Rush’s synth-heavy era isn’t exactly my favorite of their career, ‘Signals’ kicks it off in style. First off, the songs are great, more consistently so than those on ‘Moving Pictures’. The only one that doesn’t really resonate with me is ‘Losing It’, and even that one is quite good. Secondly, much like ‘Grace Under Pressure’, ‘Signals’ still sounds like a band playing together rather than an album that was meticulously arranged in the studio. The new wave influences also had not quite taken over Rush’s music yet at this point. At times, I wish Alex Lifeson’s guitar was a little more prominent in the mix, and the keyboard sound choices make ‘Signals’ sound more dated than any prior Rush album, but since it’s such a well-paced collection of great songs, those really only are minor issues.

Recommended tracks: ‘Subdivisions’, ‘The Analog Kid’, ‘Countdown’

8. Vapor Trails (2002)

Maybe it’s because of the relatively long breaks before and after the album, but ‘Vapor Trails’ is quite a unique entry into Rush’s discography. Although it’s as guitar-driven as all of their post-eighties material, it has a very earthy nineties rock vibe, which gives it a sound that has traces of grunge and stoner rock, though there still is plenty of the nuance and the complexities that make the band so unique. ‘Vapor Trails’ may just have my favorite vocal arrangements on any Rush album, and all of the songs have a recognizable hook and excellent instrumental interplay. It might have been even better if the band had decided to keep it under an hour long, but it’s also an excellent piece of evidence to argue against anyone who claims that progressive rock bands can’t write songs.

Recommended tracks: ‘Earthshine’, ‘Ghost Rider’, ‘Vapor Trail’

7. Fly By Night (1975)

Rush’s sophomore album is their first with Neil Peart on drums, and his impact is immediately felt on the fantastic opener ‘Anthem’. It seems like Peart’s joining was the last push the band needed to go all-in on the progressive side of their sound, though ‘Fly By Night’ does still have a lot of residual straightforward seventies hard rock; ‘By-Tor and the Snow Dog’ does a lot of the heavy lifting as far as the album’s prog credentials go. My minor gripe with ‘Fly By Night’ is that the original A-side of the album is significantly better than its back half. Especially the two back-to-back folky songs really stifle the album’s momentum. There is no denying that ‘Fly By Night’ is Rush’s first exceptional album, though, and it holds up very well.

Recommended tracks: ‘Anthem’, ‘Best I Can’, ‘By-Tor and the Snow Dog’

6. Hemispheres (1978)

It surprises me very little that Rush decided to explore less intricate avenues after the release of ‘Hemispheres’, because the album finds the band on the verge of collapsing under the weight of its own pretentiousness. And it’s not like the band isn’t aware of this; the subtitle of the lengthy instrumental ‘La Villa Strangiato’ clearly alludes to it. ‘Hemispheres’ is really good at what it does, and it might just be the best-produced of Rush’s seventies albums. It’s always a pleasant listening experience. But I remember very little of the eighteen-minute title track once it is over. It didn’t need to be that long either; the first twelve-ish minutes are great, and then it loses focus. The shorter songs are quite good, however, and there is about half an hour of fantastic music here.

Recommended tracks: ‘Circumstances’, ‘La Villa Strangiato’, ‘The Trees’

5. Permanent Waves (1980)

‘Permanent Waves’ was the first Rush album I ever heard as a teenager, and at the time, I didn’t get it. These days, it’s one of my favorites. It certainly is an album that needed to happen. The three albums before it took Rush to the logical extreme in terms of complexity, and ‘Permanent Waves’ sees them deliberately taking a turn towards more concise, accessible songwriting. It still is very much a progressive album, even if you don’t take the two longer tracks into account. The song structures are just given more room to breathe, Geddy Lee singing an octave or two lower makes the vocal lines more memorable, while Alex Lifeson’s guitar sound suggests he had been listening to The Police a lot. ‘Permanent Waves’ proves that progressive doesn’t necessarily mean impenetrable.

Recommended tracks: ‘Natural Science’, ‘The Spirit of Radio’, ‘Freewill’

4. Counterparts (1993)

Sure, the guitars returned to the forefront of Rush’s music with ‘Presto’, but the riffs didn’t return to their rightful place until ‘Counterparts’. Interestingly, the album is more straightforward and accessible than its predecessors, at times sounding like a cleverer version of what Pearl Jam was doing on ‘Vs.’, which came out the same week and was actually the only album that kept it off the number one spot in the Billboard 200. Even the more progressive pop-inclined moments like ‘The Speed of Love’ and the excellent ‘Cold Fire’ just sound better because there is more band and less production on ‘Counterparts’. It rocks harder, even if the songs are relatively melodic. Add all of these things together and you have an album full of spirited instrumental interactions that ebbs and flows supremely.

Recommended tracks: ‘Animate’, ‘Leave That Thing Alone’, ‘Cold Fire’

3. 2112 (1976)

Rush’s all-or-nothing album ‘2112’ saw them taking some risks they maybe should have taken on its predecessor. The opening title track is likely my favorite side-long epic any band has ever released. Its riffs are absolutely incredible, the music moves along with the story developments exceptionally well, the performances by all musicians are sensational – this may be my favorite Neil Peart performance of all time – and the composition is ambitious without losing sight of the band’s heavy rock roots. My only issue with the album is that out of the remaining songs, only the dynamic closer ‘Something for Nothing’ comes close to the grandeur of ‘2112’. ‘A Passage to Bangkok’ is a crowd favorite, but I think it’s kind of dull. Well over half the album contains some of the greatest heavy prog ever released, though.

Recommended tracks: ‘2112’, ‘Something for Nothing’, ‘The Twilight Zone’

2. Clockwork Angels (2012)

When ‘Clockwork Angels‘ was released, I could not believe Rush had an album this good left in them. It became my album of the year, and in subsequent years, I only started liking it even more. ‘Clockwork Angels’ is my favorite progressive rock album of this century by a considerable margin. While it is a reasonably logical follow-up to ‘Snakes & Arrows’, it is a lot more riff-heavy and memorable, as well as notably less laid-back. It combines the accessible, earthy nineties-and-beyond rock sound Rush has had since ‘Counterparts’ with obvious nods to the beefed-up hard rock riffs of their late-seventies output, just in more concise packages that are no less adventurous than their early prog stuff. ‘The Garden’ is honestly the perfect closing chapter to an incredible career. To top that all off, all three musicians deliver the performance of a lifetime here.

Recommended tracks: ‘Headlong Flight’, ‘The Garden’, ‘Caravan’

1. A Farewell to Kings (1977)

There isn’t a single Rush album that combines all the elements I love so much from the band as well as ‘A Farewell to Kings‘. The heavy rock roots of the band are still prominent, and the epic, progressive ideas are worked into somewhat shorter, more digestible packages on the album. Also, the first subtle hints of a more song-focused Rush are found in ‘Closer to the Heart’, despite it still being quite proggy in structure. The band just sounds laser-focused on ‘A Farewell to Kings’, creating a tight, powerful listening experience that doesn’t take anything away from their characteristic adventurous songwriting. There are so many great riffs on the album that I don’t know where to start, and Geddy Lee’s slightly more subdued vocal performance makes the songs surprisingly catchy for being as complex as they are. Essential heavy progressive rock.

Recommended tracks: ‘A Farewell to Kings’, ‘Xanadu’, ‘Cygnus X-1’