I’m identifying the best three albums by my fifty favorite rock bands of all time. This blog is for, #15- Rush, one of the best rock-n-roll trios of all time.
Criteria for selecting the best three albums
First, Greatest Hits albums are allowed. Second – no live albums. Rush released a ton of great live music. They were known to be awesome in concert. One of my regrets as a rock music fan is not seeing them in concert while Neil Peart was still alive. For the top 25 bands, I am including an honorable mention album.
Rush albums ranked by ChatGPT
Let’s see what artificial intelligence says about this list. According to ChatGPT below are the top three Rush. Wow – bullseye. I completely agree with this list. That’s impressive considering Rush released almost twenty studio albums and ChatGPT nailed it with this list.
- Moving Pictures (1981) – This album is often considered Rush’s most successful and critically acclaimed. It includes popular tracks like “Tom Sawyer” and “YYZ” and has been certified quadruple platinum in the US.
- 2112 (1976) – Regarded as a classic in progressive rock, “2112” is a fan favorite and features the iconic title track. It has achieved triple platinum certification in the United States.
- Permanent Waves (1980) – This album marked a shift in Rush’s sound, blending their progressive rock roots with shorter, more radio-friendly tracks. It includes the hits “The Spirit of Radio” and “Freewill“. It is certified platinum in the US.
Spotify popular releases for this band
Here are the top five most popular Rush albums according to Spotify. Once again pretty good results, although I’m a little surprised to see both their first album as well as Fly by Night in the top five.
The third-best album by this band is Permanent Waves
The third-best album by Rush is called Permanent Waves. This album was a change of pace for the band at the time. They had gone full-bore prog rock with really long songs and concept albums. It was kind of hard to wrap your head around some of their records. In this case, they decided to write some music that could actually be played on the radio. It includes my favorite Rush song of all time “Spirit of Radio” as well as “Freewill”. They do have some long songs on this record, but this is an excellent album.
The second-best album by Rush
The second-best album by Rush is called 2112. It’s a concept record. Rush probably released more concept albums than any band I know. This is the best one. I own it on vinyl. The thing I appreciate about 2112 is that side one is the conceptual part while side two is just good old rock and roll music.
Honorable mention albums for this band
Something a little different in this blog – I’m including two honorable mentions for Rush. They released almost 20 studio albums, so it’s hard to narrow the list down. If you want to see a debate ask Rush fans what’s their best albums. You’ll get all kinds of answers. If you really want to stir the pot, ask about their pivot to synth in the 80s. The first honorable mention is Power Windows. I love this album. It includes “Big Money” as well as “Manhattan Project”. The other honorable mention is A Farewell to Kings.
The best album by Rush
I will end the debate for fans of this famous power trio. The best album by Rush is Moving Pictures. It is their Masterpiece. Released in the early 1980s it includes “Tom Sawyer”, “Red Barchetta”, “YYZ” and “Limelight”. It is a spectacular album that I own this one on vinyl. I actually own multiple copies including the 40th anniversary edition. If you have never listened to this album do yourself a favor and do it now.
There you have it – the three best Rush albums. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.
I am Doug Keating and this is my letter to my sons.