Different Stages

I have always broken the Rush catalog into different periods as a way to help some of my friends who don’t really know them as well as I do to understand their evolution from a Zep clone band to the prog rock powerhouse they would eventually become and their evolution into what they eventually ended up being.

I break their catalog down thusly:

1. Finding Their Way

a.Rush

b.Fly By Night

c. Caress Of Steel

2. Inventing Conceptual Metal (a farewell to Zep)

a.2112

b.Farewell to Kings

c.Hemispheres

3. Sticking it to the “man”

a.Permanent Waves

b.Moving Pictures

4. Finding Their Way: The Sequel (That weird middle period)

a.Signals

b.Grace Under Pressure

c.Power Windows

d.Hold Your Fire

5.Getting Back To Basics

a.Presto

b.Roll The Bones

c.Counterparts

d.Test For Echo

6. The Phoenix Rises (Sticking it to the man: The sequel)

1. Vapor Trails
2. Snakes and Arrows
3. Clockwork Angels

I simply used my years of learning and studying their music as the basis for the different stages. Each stage represents a change of some kind in how they approached their writing and arranging over the years. You all may see it differently than I do and that’s fine.