Difficult one to reply to which is why it's taken me so long to get going. I will admit that even though I really like Rush I don't have all their albums but of the ones I do have and those I've heard the three would have to be:

1) Fly By Night

By-Tor...is good but as a whole it doesn't "push my buttons".

2) Presto

Nah!!!

3) Rush

Like the others I've always admired Neil Peart as a drummer of great skill but that's not the reason it doesn't hold up for me. I know it's their first and as such you should give them a little space but it just seems not to hold together to these ears.

Power windows has some decent stuff on it but when I first heard it I wondered if Alex had been listening to Andy Summers' work in The Police. I reminded me SO MUCH of that sound.

On the Plus side however, I don't think that there's a better album to play someone who has never heard Rush before than "Exit Stage Left". That album ROCKS!!!!! and is the one that is never far from my deck.

Interesting thread guys!