Wheel of Prog - RUSH Albums Tier List 

Presto is crying out for a Steven Wilson remix.

Caress of Steel is a gem, has grown on me over the years.

Grace Under Pressure was underwhelming upon the first few listens, but I grew to really love that record.

Clockwork Angels is an S for me. It always blew my mind how a 40 year old band could make such a great record. The Garden is such an unappreciated masterpiece, became one of my favorite songs ever since I first listened to it, what a beautiful way to say goodbye!

My soul left my body when Snakes and Arrows when into D tier as it's one of my all time favourite albums. A travesty.

Loving these wheel episodes. Test for Echo is criminally underrated. Totem is a top tier song.

Snakes And Arrows is a great album, for me their best since Grace Under Pressure. Tier A or B for me.

Now we’re talking!!!! ❤️❤️❤️

Great concept. Looking forward to next episodes!

Great ranking! My personal S tier would be Hemispheres, Moving Pictures, Signals and 2112

Great video and concept, I'll look forward to the next one

Great tier list. Kyle and Nick are the well-rounded critics here. Nick's words on Permanent Waves were spot on, and I agree with Kyle that Caress of Steel and Fly by night need to be bumped up a tier.

Absolutely love this series. Keep doing more!

Power windows is peak rush ! The mix is flawless!

No love for snakes and arrows! Hehe I like it a lot. I listen to it more than any of the 80s/synthy/pop ones

I bought Vapor Trails when it was first released and worked at a job where everyone wore headphones and listened to CDs all day while working and this one I played over and over, one of my favorite albums of that year.

Fun video. I would swap 2112 and Permanent Waves. In terms of Kyle's comment on no legacy prog band put out a decent album in the 2000's, I beg to differ. I think King Crimson's Power To Believe is a great album.

S: Moving Pictures, Signals, Hemispheres, Permanent Waves A: Grace Under Pressure, Power Windows, 2112, Snakes & Arrows (Sue Me!) B: A Farewell To Kings, Clockwork Angels, Fly By Night, Hold Your Fire C: RUSH, Roll The Bones, Counterparts, Presto D: Vapor Trails, Caress of Steel, Test for Echo, Feedback

Very fun videos to watch, the wheel of prog is very fun!

I like snakes and arrows :/ ( Far cry is one of my favorites)

Permanent Waves is my favorite and IMO Roll the Bones and Power Windows are under rated.

Thx guys, amazing fun. ❤

Vapor Trails is my favorite Rush album of all time. I just don't get how it's so widely disliked.

The dancing bunnies were used at the Counterparts show I saw in Miami exactly 30 years ago. 🐰🐇

As a comment to the guy saying the 00s gave us no good albums from the big bands.. Well... Jane`s Addiction released "Strays" in 2003..Others are QOTSA. System of A Down. MUSE. Audioslave. Arcade Fire. The Flaming Lips. The White Stripes. Radiohead. U2 also had some kind of a comeback in the early 00s.

Hold Your Fire is underrated. Good ranking overall.

Please do a Jethro Tull (my fav band) or Frank Zappa (official releases from Freak Out through Civilization Phaze 3 ) Wheel for the next episode! Both would be interesting especially Zappa with all those albums! Just became a fan recently because of the wheel :)

Only just discovered you chaps. Great stuff, love the wheel of prog. There are no duff Rush albums. And to finish with Clockwork Angels, wow.

These wheel of Prog videos are great!

Hemispheres, Permanent waves, Caress of steel, 2112, Farewell to Kings, Moving pictures, Power Windows, Signals, Hold your fire, and then whatever else.

Great show and tier list. Absolutely agree with those top 4 albums! Would love you guys to do this on Genesis.

That's a pretty accurate ranking that I think most can adhere to, with a few adjustements here and there maybe :) I really should check out Clockwork Angels. For some reasons I never got around to listening to it. And even though Rush is probably the band I saw live the most often, I so regret not being able to go see them on their last tour... Thanks for this video guys!

Nick's breakdown of Permanent Waves was perfect.

Love to see you guys do a wheel on Genesis!!

I'm a little less harsh than you guys, but basically agree on the flow. S Tier: Moving Pictures Hemispheres A Farewell to Kings Permanent Waves Signals A Tier: Power Windows 2112 Grace Under Pressure Fly By Night Clockwork Angels B Tier: Counterparts Hold Your Fire Snakes and Arrows Roll the Bones Caress of Steel C Tier: Rush Presto Vapor Trails D Tier: Test for Echo

I was at that Signals show in Omaha that Jon went to.

I developed an appreciation for Vapor Trails over time. Secret Touch and Freeze are bangers.

50:33 Q: "Did any legacy band make a good album in the early 2000s?" A: Kansas

Loving these tier list videos. Generally agree with the general rankings here, and happy to see Grace Under Pressure make A tier. I think the only thing that stands out for me personally is Snakes and Arrows which would probably be B tier for me. I like it a lot, but I get why it was ranked lower.

I love test for echo ❤ I loved it before social media when we had our own opinions 😀

Saying Vapor Trails has no memorable songs is ridiculous. The title track, the beautiful Ghost Rider, Earthshine, Secret Touch, and more.

this is why rush is so great. somebody’s worst is somebody’s best. Personally, I LOVE Vapor Trail. So many great songs. A tier for me. To each their own!

My take: Best: Hemispheres. My God. Done. Worst: Snakes and Arrows. My only D tier Rush. Armor and Sword then.... Underrated: This is the toughy. Two awesome/different albums. Peart roll... Counterparts beats Presto by an Everyday Glory!!!

S tier - Permanent Waves, Grace Under Pressure, Hemispheres, Hold Your Fire A tier - Signals, Moving Pictures, Power Windows, 2112 B tier - Presto, Caress Of Steel, Rush, Counterparts C tier - Fly By Night, Roll The Bones, A Farewell To Kings, Test For Echo D tier - (Feedback) Clockwork Angels, Snakes & Arrows, Vapor Trails

nick that intro. omg . love this content! please keep it going. opeth, devin.

Nice work, gents! Much less fisticuffs than that Dream Theater episode, haha!

Nah not putting 2112 in S-tier should be a crime. Just the raw prog rock edging into metal is amazing, certainly better then something like The Spirit Of Radio. Don't get me wrong I like that song but almost all the songs on 2112 beat Spirit Of Radio IMO.

Great job again!….I’ll second an Opeth wheel

Roie...I agree with you on the late 80's-90's albums. Not their "best" albums, but the ones I listen to the most. I came into Rush min-80's...and it took me a long time to listen to, and like, early Rush. lol.

Total agreement on the S and A tiers, but c'mon Snakes and Arrows isn't THAT bad 🤣

The only "F" is "Vapor Trails." That has always been the turd in Rush's punch bowl. And "Caress of Steel" is absolutely superb.

Would love to see you rank within the Tiers

Not sure the song in the middle of Counterparts that is "So So"... Between Sun and Moon and Alien Shore are two of my favorites...

Love this series! Great conversation as usual. I’m in agreement for most, but I think Snakes & Arrows is woefully under ranked. That’s a B album for me. This discography is so damn strong though, so I get it.

Vapor Trails is awesome! I saw them on that tour. It was so great. I was 13!

Hold Your Fire is my second favorite album in all music history. Second only to Tales From Topographic Oceans.

was Was this posted as a podcast? I don't see any of the 'Wheel of Prog' episodes in my feed...

The ranking should have been S, A+, A, and A-, there are no other letters when it comes to Rush. Ha

I cut my Rush teeth on their Kings album when I was about 10 years old around 1980, spent the next few years buying all the albums and loved all of it to death, then in 84 I hear on MTV about a new Rush release coming up called Grace under pressure and I bought the album and it just didn't grab me like all their previous stuff, and it was pretty much like that for the rest of the 80s releases, then around 1990 I heard Presto and couldn't get enough of it, but the rest of the 90s it was pretty much back to meh, but then Vapor Trails came out around 2002 and I couldn't get enough of it for the next couple of years, and their last couple of releases was back to it was just okay, but over time many of these average Rush albums have grown on me more

Swap Power Windows with Fly By Night. Then swap Counterparts and Presto with Caress of Steel and the debut and the ranking becomes perfect. Well done!

Can't believe the Snakes and Arrows hate. I have it as B tier. Swap it with Presto.

50:30 Iron Maiden’s Brave New World is the only one I can think of

Have any of these guys actually listened to Snakes and Arrows?! So many good songs on that album! Overall, I do think this is a solid list, though.

You guys gonna do a pink floyd and genesis wheel of prog?

"Test For Echo" was the first that I felt the lyric cadence became clunky - previous albums had a better melodic flow.

I limited myself to 4 albums in each ranking. I would have put more in S if I could. Maybe all of the ones in the A tier. The only album I do not like is Feedback and the rest of the D are so so or I have not listened to them enough to put them higher. S- Signals, Moving Pictures, Permanent Waves, Hemispheres A-Farewell to Kings, Grace Under Pressure, Counterparts, 2112 B-Fly by Night, Clockwork Angels, Power Windows, Presto C- Test for Echo, Roll the Bones, Rush, Caress of Steel, D- Snakes and Arrows, Vapor Trails, Hold Your Fire, Feedback.

You should end by ranking the albums in each tier. Also, Hold Your Fire is at least C tier. Counterparts and Hold Your Fire are the two albums I always hope get a good ranking.

I change Presto to A and test for echo to b and it's done for me

Far Cry is amazing, especially live. I don't remember any of the other songs from that album though...

Virtuality's lyrics have aged better than any song in the history of music. Neil HATED this new thing called "the internet". This song was not a celebration of it. It was the exact opposite. To quote him directly in reference to the lyric "let's dance tonight to a virtual song..." He said "It sounds nice and romantic...but what IS a virtual song, and who'd want to dance to it?"

Wow! Snakes and Arrows would be B tier for me. Solid step up from Vapor Trails. My favorite of theirs post Test For Echo.

Presto would go into B tier for me. But maybe I'm a bit biased as that was the first album I bought (on cassette nonetheless) when I started getting into Rush. I prefer Permanent Waves over Moving Pictures. Yet I would still put both of them in the S tier, along with Hemispheres, and Grace under Pressure.

Sorry to be annoying, but I have to comment on every video until OPETH happens😊 Great series!

Okay, A Farewell to Kings over 2112, absolutely needed to be reversed!!

It starts with "all their albums are good" and continues with (mainly Roie) describing most albums as boring with hardly a good song in it, and at times with "bad sound". I think it's mutually exclusive :) Anyway, Counterparts is a great album and is easily a top-10. Hold Your Fire is mostly a great album with amazing lyrics, melodies, bass playing and emotional guitat solos. For me an easy top-10 as well. D tier for me is: Feedback, Presto, Grace Under Presure and Snakes & Arrows.

Test for echo is a great album, just aside from Dog years and Totem. For me it’s a C or maybe B album.

Armor and sword excellent tune

I love Snakes and Arrows!

Well a third or half at best of the list is correct. Snakes and Arrows is a killer album! And I’d put Clockwork Angels in A tier easily

I'm glad Presto got a last minute bump up

You should make the wild card spin your 4 names so one of you gets to move one depending where it lands.

I must be the only one that likes Feedback.

I always listen to A Farewell to Kings and Hemispheres as part 1 and 2 because of Cygnus. Definitely S tier albums. I have to agree with all the S tier stuff. 2112 is fantastic but those 4 albums you put into S tier are more enjoyable. I actually prefer Caress of Steel over 2112. I always thought it was a great album and overlooked.

Faithless is such a beautiful song, how can you guys trash it (and the rest of the album) that way?

Absolutely love these wheel of prog episodes. I think Rush is generally terrible with a few scattered listenable songs and even I loved watching hardcore Rush fans tier these albums. (Donning asbestos suit now). I have done 3 “deep dives” on this band in the last 40 years and I can definitively say 99% of their catalog is not for me. I have downloaded every one of these album and have listened to each of them once and ironically my tier list would have come out nearly identical. 😂 I have “best of Rush” playlist in case I do an urge to listen to the handful of song I like. Interestingly there are only 20 songs in their entire catalog I rated as songs I like. And NONE of them are over 10 minutes and most are in the 4-5 minute range; if that any indication of my musical tastes. Maybe I shouldn’t be subscribed to a channel called “The Prog Report” 😂🤦🏼‍♂️🤷🏼‍♂️🤘🏼

Hot Take: I wouldn't put Moving Pictures anywhere near S Tier

Caress of steel is S tier for me, but it is also a black sheep, a diamond in the rust and a prelude to more masterpieces, has prog, stunning basslines, super heavy breakdown section in necromancer, intense solos, "feeling", randomness without losing accuracy while playing......it is another path Rush could have taken, where "adapting" to an era, using synth and music videos was not necessary.

Why do people not like 'Rivendell' if you're of a certain generation (ahem - Me!) Tolkienesque poetry and imagery was everywhere in the 70's, bloomin' Robert plant didn't have the monopoly on gollum and the depths of Mordor. Fly by Night 'A' list easily. - and discuss...... PS me too would love a Tull list. thanks y'all

Power Windows is totally S-tier. The writing is some of the best they ever did besides Moving Pictures. Not even a debate.

Oh man, the disdain for Snakes & Arrows hurts me! For me it is far better than Vapor Trails, Test for Echo, Counterparts and maybe RTB. Far Cry is a killer track. And S&A has some of Neil's best lyrics! I mean come on, just read the words to Armor and Sword. Love this series guys, please do more!

Agree about 2112, there is a world of difference between Side A and Side B, it’s just that Side A is up there with their best work.

Test For Echo never belongs with those albums in the D Tier. It's a B for me. Other than that, most of the other choices are where I'd put them. Agree that 2112 isn't quite an S.

Awesome episode and great list My ranking: S: Clockwork Angels, Hemispheres, Moving Pictures, Permanent Waves A: Grace Under Pressure, A Farewell to Kings, 2112, Signals B: Fly By Night, Counterparts, Presto, Rush C: Roll The Bones, Hold Your Fire, Power Windows, Test For Echo D: Caress of Steel, Snakes and Arrows, Vapor Trails, Feedback

Also, 50:30, "did any of the classic bands make a good album in the early 2000s"? Camel.

Great Debate! Rush is my favorite band. I know I have controversial picks, but I'm not going to appeal to the masses. S - Hemispheres, Moving Pictures, A Farewell to Kings, Permanent Waves A - 2112, Fly by Night, Caress of Steel, Rush B - Signals, Test for Echo, Snakes and Arrows, Grace Under Pressure C - Power Windows, Presto, Vapor Trails, Counterparts D - Clockwork Angels, Feedback, Rolls The Bones, Hold Your Fire

Vapor Trails is AMAZING!

S: A Farewell to Kings thru Signals A: Power Windows, Clockwork Angels, 2112 B: Fly By Night, Caress of Steel, Grace Under Pressure C: Hold Your Fire, Test for Echo, debut, Vapor Trails D: Counterparts, Presto, Roll the Bones, Snakes & Arrows

damn man...I get that there are a bunch of classics in the Rush catalog, but I always liked test fo echo, it gets such a bad rep

Caress of Steel is an "S" tier for me!

The 1st album IS NOT RUSH. Its a blues rock album. Clockwork Angels is A list.