Hemispheres
by Rush

Album
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Hemispheres by Rush
Year: 1978
Release date: 1978-10-24
Overall rank: 662nd   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
81/100 (from 603 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top 20 albums of 1978 (12th)
Award Top albums of of the 1970s (145th)
Award Top 1,000 albums of all time (662nd)

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Rush bestography

Hemispheres is ranked 4th best out of 38 albums by Rush on BestEverAlbums.com.

The best album by Rush is Moving Pictures which is ranked number 163 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 8,528.

Rush album bestography « Higher ranked (577th)
Permanent Waves This album (662nd)
Hemispheres Lower ranked (1,060th) »
A Farewell To Kings

(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).

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Hemispheres track list

  Track ratings The tracks on this album have an average rating of 86 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).

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#
Track
Rating/Comments
1.
Track pick (850 - 165 votes)
Cygnus X-1 Book II: Hemispheres
Average Rating: 85 (165 votes)Comments: View 5
2.
Circumstances
Average Rating: 82 (139 votes)Comments: View 3
3.
Track pick (860 - 178 votes)
The Trees
Average Rating: 86 (178 votes)Comments: View 4
4.
Track pick (900 - 203 votes)
La Villa Strangiato (An Exercise In Self-Indulgence)
Average Rating: 90 (203 votes)Comments: View 8

Track pick (1000 - 100 votes) Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.

Hemispheres rankings

Hemispheres rankings summary
Overall rank: 662nd | 1970s rank: 145th | 1978 rank: 12th  Overall chart history
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings).Help Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 2 hours ago)

Hemispheres collection

Hemispheres ratings

Average Rating: 
81/100 (from 603 votes)
  Ratings distribution Help Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AV
where:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.

Showing latest 3 ratings for this album.  | Show all 603 ratings for this album.

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RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
100/100
 !		10/24/2026 18:00 Jackjansen  Ratings distribution  37380/100
 
95/100
 !		10/14/2026 23:24 FrancK  Ratings distribution  57583/100
 
70/100
 !		10/02/2026 03:30 Philly28  Ratings distribution  96869/100

Rating metrics: Help Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)
This album is rated in the top 1% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 80.8/100, a mean average of 79.8/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 80.9/100. The standard deviation for this album is 16.4.


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Hemispheres favourites

Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite  | Show all 118 members

abbolton
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Hemispheres forum mentions

This album has been referenced 57 times on the forums, Explore the wider forum discussion to see what members have said about it.
From BestEverAlbums 09/17/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5438): By luigybetis
“Today's chart of the day Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by luigybetis () 1. by (2015) 2. (1977) 3. by by (1975) 5. by by (2015) 7. (1997) 10. by by (1973) 12. (2005) 13. by (1996) 14. by by (1969) 16. by by (1995) 18. by (1968) 19. by (2018) 20. by (1969) 21. by (2003) 23. by (2017) 24. by by by by…”
(3 mentions across Chart of the Day topics)
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From abbolton 07/01/2026 22:32 in What album are you listening to? (cont.)
“What album are you listening to? (cont.)”
View topic (2 mentions) →

From BestEverAlbums 09/28/2025 20:00 in Album of the day (#5397): Hemispheres by Rush
“Today's album of the day Hemispheres by Rush ( | ) Year: 1978. Country: Overall rank: 639 Average rating: 81/100 (from 594 votes). Tracks: 1. Cygnus X-1 Book II: Hemispheres 2. Circumstances 3. The Trees 4. La Villa Strangiato (An Exercise In Self-Indulgence) About album of the day: The…”
(5 mentions across Album of the Day topics)
View latest topic →

View all forum mentions

Hemispheres comments

Showing latest 5 comments | Show all 34 comments |
Top Comments First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
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Rating:  
100/100
From 06/23/2017 07:32 | #193082 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
The first song dictates the whole concept of the album, which is the constant battle we fight inside ourselves; the battle of heart and mind. It's a psychological study about the complexity of human beings in form of an album. I don't even have to say it's the most progressive rock influenced album of Rush, and thanks to Neil Peart lyrics everything fits perfectly.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) · 8
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Rating:  
85/100
From 06/22/2016 15:39 | #169470 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
Just the four tracks here, firstly Cygnus X-1: Book II follows on from the final track on A Farewell To Kings, it is suitably epic. Circumstances is ok but possibly the weakest track here while The Trees is excellent and one of my faves. Finally we have the 9 minute instrumental La Villa Strangiato, not being a fan of instrumentals in general, I do have to confess that this is pretty good and well worth a listen.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) · 5
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Rating:  
95/100
From 12/14/2016 22:14 | #180158 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
Side one is another epic, but side two is what really makes this album. There's the very cool and thoughtful 'Circumstances' followed by the brilliant metaphor in 'The Trees,' all topped off by the ultimate Rush instrumental, 'La Villa Strangiato.' A+
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From 09/21/2018 22:40 | #221456 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
The first side of this album is so obviously goofy with its complex made up story about gods and space adventures, but it doesn't matter because it still manages to be epic. Rush at their finest. La Villa Strangiato is a masterpiece. So much feeling and virtuosity, here. This is probably Rush's best, but I prefer Caress of Steel because it was the first album I really fell in love with by Rush.
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Rating:  
75/100
From 03/14/2021 16:22 | #267371 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
As a prog fan I expected to like Rush more than I do. Even in this (supposedly the proggiest) album I am not too fond of side 1, and side 2 is OK, technically great, but it doesn't get to my heart. (Edited)
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) · 3
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Best Albums of  1978
1. Darkness On The Edge Of Town by Bruce Springsteen
2. Parallel Lines by Blondie
3. The Cars by The Cars
4. This Year's Model by Elvis Costello
5. Die Mensch·Maschine by Kraftwerk
6. Van Halen by Van Halen
7. Music For 18 Musicians by Steve Reich
8. The Kick Inside by Kate Bush
9. Some Girls by The Rolling Stones
10. More Songs About Buildings And Food by Talking Heads