I agree that Vapor Trails is far from one of Rush’s best, but “How it is” strikes me as an odd one to pick as a favorite. Though I suppose it’s as good as any since most of the songs blend together cus the whole album is sonically so similar. This is one album that would have really benefited from keyboards and guitar solos. One Little Victory and Ghost Rider are probably my picks from the album I guess. These songs sound MUCH better in their live versions without the production smothering them, and I wish they’d played more of the album live than they did. the Rush In Rio versions of the songs are pretty solid.
Geddy’s account of how much of a trainwreck the recording of the album was one of the more interesting parts of his Autobio.

Shazam is such a bizarre record. I like it, but the songs are extended in such bizarro ways. Its like prog by people who’d never heard prog before. It depends on the edition of each album you have but almost every Move album has better bonus tracks than album tracks. Message From The Country is probably my fav album of theirs, and even that one has bonus tracks better than the album.

Francis the Mute is probably the MV album I would be most curious to revisit since I think I would be more primed to be able to digest it now than I was back when i was younger. But the band’s sound in general isnt too appealing to me so idk if or when I’ll get around to it.

using the phrases “one note crap” and “padded out” to describe some of Pink Floyds best songs is certainly a choice.