So, with the departure of John Rutsey happening right after the recording of the first album, and the band in need of a new drummer for the upcoming shows, Alex and Geddy quickly got to auditioning drummers. After a few that did nada for them, a fella named Neil Peart showed up one day. During the audtion, they even jammed on a rhythm that eventually became Anthem. While Alex wasn't sure if he was the guy for them, Geddy knew right away and convinced Alex that this Neil Peart character was their guy; after some apprehension, Alex agreed. And with that, Neil Peart joined Rush in the summer of '74, establishing the lineup that still exists today!
Two weeks later, after getting money from the record company to buy new gear and all of the trinkets, they were on tour and off the races, heading into the studio at the beginning of '75 to record Fly by Night, which was released shortly thereafter. Geddy had done most of the lyrics on the debut record, but had little urge to keep doing them. Neal, meanwhile, was pretty well-read and liked experimenting with words and whatnot, so they convinced him to give it a try. They loved what he came up with, and with that, the band not only had a new drummer, but a new lyricist. Neil even joked that he became the lyricist because "no one else wanted to do it."
From the very start, the presence of Neil Peart is in your face, as he kills it during the Anthem intro, and then later melts your face off during the extended instrumental section of By-Tor and the Snow Dog. While Rutsey's playing was solid on the first album, Peart's was immediately far better and enabled the band to do start getting a little out there with different time signatures and progressive ideas. A song like By-Tor..., a very early Rush classic with the diehards, is a good example of them having new ideas of where they wanted to take their sound. The title track, of course, is still somewhat of a classic rock mainstay, even if the band themselves aren't overly wild about it anymore. Other favorites of mine are Making Memories and Beneath, Between and Behind, both of which rock and have some nice melodies. In the End is another early fan favorite, although it has never been a favorite of mine. I like it, but I don't love it. Rivendell was an attempt at having a laid back acoustic number. It misses the mark pretty badly, but at least it was an attempt at something different at the time. To me, the obvious classics from this record are Anthem and By-Tor and the Snow Dog. They stand up well when compared to songs from any Rush era.
Overall, I like this album quite a bit. It retains the fire and youthful energy of the debut record, but with better playing, more diversity and better songs. Considering where they were to go as the 70s moved along, this sounds like a natural progression from the debut, and sets up nicely where they went later that year...
Topic: The History of Rush v. Discography Thread: Epilogue (Read 85470 times)
