Favorite song from Rush- A Farewell to Kings

Cygnus is mine.

Closer To The Heart is my vote.

The Title track.

Closer to the Heart

Title track.

Cygnus for me.

This is the album where Rush started to lose me.  I thought with "Moving Pictures" they'd returned to the style I enjoyed but that turned out to be a one-off.



This is the last Rush album I own apart from MP.

Toho, you don't like any of their post 80's stuff? Not even like a Vapor Trails?

Nope.  Too many synths and the music is too proggy for me.

This one is quite solid and the first half of the record, well the back half too is quite tasty. A little more radio friendly on the front 9 however so for me it will be Closer TO The Heart, but, well, yep.

This album is relatively new to me. I grew up in a Rush home. We lived in Michigan when I was a kid and one of my older brothers had the first the albums on one album called Rush - Archives. So I was always exposed to them. Picked up Permanent Waves, Moving Pictures, etc as I got older. But somehow I missed Hemispheres and Farewell. By that time the brother that owned these was married and still in Michigan and we were in Tennessee. So I no longer had access to all his Rush albums.

When Rush reissued the catalog a few years ago on vinyl I picked up Hemispheres. I had only heard the tracks that appear on Exit. I think it is probably my favorite album now and it is cool that I was exposed to it in the 21st Century on vinyl.

So that had me wanting to track down another I was missing, Farewell. Found a used copy for about 3 bucks on eBay so I ordered it. Not the greatest (meaning the record, not the music) but I gave it a good washing in the Spin Clean and I had myself a new Rush album I had never heard. For me it is a toss up with the title track and Xanadu. I picked Xanadu for the poll. As for Closer To The Heart, I'm tired of it. by no means will I skip it when it plays (it's hard to skip tracks anyway on a record) but I worked in classic rock radio for ages so I am burned out on 90% of classic tunes like that that are played daily on radio.

Good solid album and still pretty new to me. I still haven't heard Signals either but I started to lose interest in them around the keyboard era but I enjoy Subdivisions and New World Man. I assume that album is less keyboard heavy than the next 3 releases.

A Farewell To Kings with Closer To The Heart right behind it.

I didn't vote on this? For shame. Cygnus. One of their unheard masterpieces. A great, underrated transitional album, IMO.

(shouts) HEY TOHO! Give their later material a second chance. Start with Counterparts and tell me what you think. I hope for an enjoyable experience.

If you want an album with no keys, pick up Vapor Trails. Just be sure to get the 2013 remixed version, because the original was mixed like Death Magnetic and the sound quality is just horrible.

Cygnus X-1 Book One