![]() There’s no way in hell anyone would mistake this for some obscure Led Zeppelin track, as many radio listeners did when they first heard “Working Man”. It still falls into the realm of hard rock with noticeably bluesy touches, but the riffs are much more technical and distinct. “Anthem”, the opener, demonstrates this bridging quality. It acts as something of a bridge between their debut and their future progressive explorations. Fly by Night marked a massive shift in Rush’s sound, away from the blues-oriented hard rock of their debut and toward something much more complex and sonically varied. The band recorded their second album, Fly by Night, in early 1975. Most of the lyrics on Rush are insipid, trite regurgitations of hard rock clichés. And Geddy Lee is not a particularly good lyricist. I’ve admitted on many an occasion that I don’t pay attention to lyrics in most instances, but bad lyrics can definitely detract from an otherwise good song. In addition to taking over drumming duties, Peart also took over the lyrics from Geddy, who had penned most of the lyrics on their debut. (Look, I know “Finding My Way” is off their debut, but the wordplay was too obvious not to go with.) Subdivision II: Finding Their Way (1975-1976) This would be the last lineup change the band ever went through. Rutsey left the band in mid-1974, due to health reasons and a distaste for touring, and Neil Peart was brought on as his replacement. Much of this record could have easily been recorded by any number of early hard rock acts, to no appreciable difference. However, outside some instrumental flashiness, there’s not a lot to mark this record as distinct. “Finding My Way” is a strong opener “Here Again” is the first instance of some of Lifeson’s distinctive clean guitar tones and “Working Man” is an unassailable classic. ![]() While the individual musicians in Rush may have been flashier than many of their contemporaries in the blues-rock world, structurally, most of the songs are straightforward. Rush is firmly in the same musical lane as early Led Zeppelin: high-energy, melodic, bluesy hard rock. In 1974, Rush released their self-titled debut album. It’s an unimpressive, by-the-books cover of an early rock standard, but Geddy’s aggressive bass stands out. Their early sound drew heavily from blues, hard rock, and classic rock ‘n’ roll, as demonstrated in their 1973 debut single, a cover of the Buddy Holly song “Not Fade Away” (b/w “You Can’t Fight It”). Jones left shortly after the band formed, soon replaced by Geddy Lee, and even Geddy was briefly out of the band in 1969.īy 1971, the lineup had stabilized as Lee, Lifeson, and Rutsey. These early years saw a high degree of volatility in the band’s lineup, with Lifeson remaining the one constant. Rush formed in 1968 and originally consisted of guitarist Alex Lifeson (born Zivojinovich “Lifeson” is an English translation of his Serbian name), bassist/vocalist Jeff Jones, and drummer John Rutsey. Subdivision I: The Early Years (1968-1974) Over the years, Rush became one of the best-known and most-successful rock acts of all time, particularly in their native Canada. Even once Rush moved past their prog rock heyday, their music was mostly inventive, energetic, and-above all-distinct. In the early 1970s, acts like Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Atomic Rooster had demonstrated that trios could produce excellent progressive rock, but Rush pushed the capabilities of that limited format to its extreme with complex suites containing massive tonal variation. Originally, this Deep Dive was slated to be a look at Genesis, but Neil Peart’s unfortunate passing earlier this year prompted me to push off the Genesis entry for a later date. I’d made no firm plans as to when, exactly, but they were undoubtedly on the docket. Rush is a band I’d always planned to eventually cover in this series. The context in which albums were made is important, and that is an element often missed in a ranked list. ![]() I’m opting to explore albums chronologically, as opposed to a ranked-list format. Welcome to the fourth installment of Deep Dive, where I take an in-depth look at the studio discographies of some of the giants of progressive rock and progressive metal.įor those who don’t feel like reading this massive entry, I’ve included a TL DR and ranking of albums at the end.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |