Rush

While virtually unknown in the U.S., pop singer Jennifer Rush achieved superstar status as an expatriate in Europe, selling millions of records and releasing a string of hit singles notable for their booming, dance-rock arrangements and Rush's powerful voice. Born Heidi Stern in New York City, Rush's father was an opera singer and her mother was a pianist. At the age of nine, she moved to Germany with her family, returning in her teens to the States. In 1982, she returned to Germany with her father to pursue a singing career, signing a deal with CBS/Columbia. Changing her name to Jennifer Rush, she released a series of songs that made her a star in Europe, including "Into My Dreams," "Come Give Me Your Hand," "25 Lovers," and "Ring of Ice."

Bobby Rush was a journeyman blues singer, most famous for the novelty hit "Chicken Heads." On this album, however, he took his decades of his experience and his close study of Howlin' Wolf and made an urban blues album for his times, incorporating touches of Philadelphia soul, street-corner harmonies, and the rhythms of the pulpit. He tackled modern injustice ("Evil Is") alongside Seventies sexual mores ("I Can't Find My Keys"); Rush Hour was the first album in a sequence of ever-stranger "folk-funk" explorations. What We Said Then: "Rush Hour is so weird that it's a wonder George Clinton didn't think of it first. . .What emerges is outrageous and stunning. . .In a time when most black pop music sounds machine crafted, this record is more than an anomaly. Rush Hour is a tribute to resilience–a sign that the lessons Howlin' Wolf and his peers learned and taught have been neither lost nor forgotten. You're going to need something like this to get you through the Eighties".

Bobby Rush got dirty on 2013's Down in Louisiana but with 2014's Decisions, he returns to his slick blues-funk ways, but this doesn't mean it's a rote affair by any means. He has teamed up with the band Blinddog Smokin' and, for the first time in his career, recorded with fellow Louisiana legend Dr. John. Mac Rebennack shows up on the opening "Another Murder in New Orleans," a deeply soulful and searching portrait of the violence that often plagues the Big Easy but, really, that's the only instance when good times aren't on Rush's mind. He leers about being a "Funky Old Man" and winks about what happens on "Bobby Rush's Bus," two songs that set the pace and attitude for much of the rest of Decisions.

Otis Rush and Buddy Guy were hot young Chicago guitar slingers in the 1950s, when legends like Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf ruled the Second City. Rush was renowned for his nasty, over-amplified guitar sound, and songs like "All Your Love" and "Double Trouble" were seminal touchstones for such `60s British guitarists as Eric Clapton and Peter Green. Rush has lately been known more for live shows than records, and 1994's Ain't Enough Comin' In succeeded because it was programmed like a great concert set, with fat guitar solos that suggested Albert King in a sweat, and songs that drew from both the blues and soul songbooks. Rush sounds great singing Sam Cooke's good-news gospel ("Somebody Have Mercy" and "Ain't That Good News") and pays his propers to Ray Charles on "A Fool for You." Exciting takes on epic tunes associated with B.B. King ("It's My Own Fault") and Albert King ("As the Years Go Passing By") also leave no doubt that Rush hasn't forgotten how to burn down the house.

Whereas Rush's first two releases, their self-titled debut and Fly by Night, helped create a buzz among hard rock fans worldwide, the more progressive third release, Caress of Steel, confused many of their supporters. Rush knew it was now or never with their fourth release, and they delivered just in time – 1976's 2112 proved to be their much sought-after commercial breakthrough and remains one of their most popular albums…

Moving Pictures, Rush’s eighth studio album, was originally released on February 12, 1981, and its adventurous yet accessible music catapulted the forward-thinking Canadian band to even newer heights as it began navigating the demands of a new decade. The album’s seven songs expertly blended Rush’s intrinsic prowess for channeling its progressive roots into radio-friendly arrangements, a template the band had mastered to a T all throughout its previous album, 1980’s deservedly lauded Permanent Waves. Moving Pictures was also the second of many Rush recording sessions at Le Studio in Morin-Heights, Quebec, which was ultimately nicknamed the trio’s own personal Abbey Road recording studio.

Not only is 1981's Moving Pictures Rush's best album, it is undeniably one of the greatest hard rock albums of all time. The new wave meets hard rock approach of Permanent Waves is honed to perfection – all seven of the tracks are classics (four are still featured regularly in concert and on classic rock radio). While other hard rock bands at the time experimented unsuccessfully with other musical styles, Rush were one of the few to successfully cross over. The whole entire first side is perfect – their most renowned song, "Tom Sawyer," kicks things off, and is soon followed by the racing "Red Barchetta," the instrumental "YYZ," and a song that examines the pros and cons of stardom, "Limelight."

Rush is a Canadian rock band composed of Geddy Lee (bass, lead vocals, keyboards), Alex Lifeson (guitars, backing vocals) and Neil Peart (drums, percussion, lyrics). Forming in 1968, the band went through several configurations until arriving at its current line-up when Peart replaced original drummer John Rutsey in July 1974, two weeks before the group's first United States tour…