LogFAQs > #933299410

So, doing this is something that's been in the back of my mind for a very long time. I wanted to do songs, but actually compiling the list even to just a point where I can say "I'm happy with this even if it may not be perfect" (even if I cut it to, say, 50) would be a large undertaking for me and frankly I would to not leave the list undone, nor take fucking forever to finish it.

At any rate, anybody who's a fan of the band knows that drummer, primary songwriter, and all around great guy Neil Peart died on the 10th. And since then, I have listened to a ton of Rush (even relative to how much I usually listen to them) and thought that this was a good time to do it.

I got into this band about 12 or so years ago. While that seems like a little late to be saying this, it really does feel like I grew up with this band's music and really found myself throughout my high school and college years with their music. I also had the absolute pleasure of getting to see them live twice (2011 with the Time Machine tour and 2015 with R40), and one of my biggest regrets will probably always be that I wasn't able to see them when they came to town in 2013. I fucking love this band more than just about anything else in the musical sphere.

Regardless, I don't really intend to use this space for full-blown reviews of the albums, I'm not a music critic, etc etc. But I do want to take this chance to talk about a topic that means a fair bit to me, honor my favorite musician and band, and maybe use that as a chance to share and discuss with you guys. And since this is Board 8, the list format is pretty obligatory tbqh. This topic is basically going to go as quickly (or as slowly) as I write about the topics. I have no idea what pace I'm going to go at here, as I haven't pre-written anything beyond this post LOL

For now, I'll just jump right in and get the least-good one out of the way.

19. Test for Echo
What's Great: About half the album
What's not great: The other half

For the band, Test For Echo is pretty famously the last thing they did before various circumstances drove them into hiatus in the mid-90s. For me, this was the last pre-Clockwork Angels Rush album I actually got and listened to, just because as I was exploring the rest of their discography, pretty much everything from the 70s and 80s had a song or three that gave a good reason to prioritize checking it out, and Snakes and Arrows/Vapor Trails were the latest. So 90s Rush kind of fell by the wayside, and Test For Echo more than Roll the Bones or Counterparts, which probably hurts it a lot here. It just didn't have the same impact pretty much anything else I heard from them did. And in retrospect, this album also 'feels' really 90s to me. Like if I were to imagine the stereotypical 90s rock album, it probably wouldn't be far from Test For Echo.

Ultimately, this album is most notable for having most of the very few Rush songs I actively do not like - Virtuality, Dog Years and Driven are the negative standouts here. On the flip side though, the title track and Resist stand out as notably good among the band's work, with the acoustic guitar versions of Resist that were played live definitely elevating that song to another level. Meanwhile, Test For Echo is just flat out a fun listen, with the lyrics being a relatively on-point commentary even now, though they also occasionally feel pretty cheesy to me. And honestly, being fun is the best way to win my heart, whether it's music, books, games, whatever. Once you get past those two tracks though, you just wind up with an album that is ultimately very forgettable and mediocre when put up next to literally everything else the band did, and I find it hard to envision what kind of reception this album would get if it was done by some other band without the legacy and sheer amount of great stuff Rush has done.