We kick off 25 Days of Rush with a look at the band’s first album, Rush, a collection of songs where the band sounds more like their musical influences than the band we know today. Musically, it’s a pretty bare bones album. The music is what you would expect a 1970s rock band to sound like and the lyrics are not reflecting any profound or deep themes that the band would be known for when drummer Neil Peart takes on lyric writing duties in 1975. They’re songs about sex, friends, having a good time and rocking out. Pretty straight forward, as we’ll soon see.
Rush came out in 1974 and was the only album to feature the band’s first drummer, John Rutsey. Rutsy worked with Jeff Jones (who left shortly after the band’s incarnation and was replaced by Geddy Lee) and Alex for the years building up to the band’s first album and first album. Rutsey parted ways with the band shortly after the tour in support of Rush’s first album because of health complications leaving him unable to tour and commit long term to the band.
For this album, Rush was a hard hitting rock band. Rush showcased their influences pretty brazenly. The Who, Cream, and Led Zeppelin, YES and many others, are all present in one form or another. Rush sounds so similar to their influences that if you listen closely to the second song off the album, ‘Need Some Love’ and you can hear the band trying not to fall into ‘Good Times Bad Times’ right around the 1:23 mark in the song:
The third song on the album ‘Take a Friend’ is an anthem to friends and the good times that come with friendship. It’s almost shocking how distinct the changes are between Neil’s writing style and Geddy’s writing style are hearing ‘Anthem’ right after something on this album. While some lyricists and frontmen of the time turned such ordinary ideas about friendship, love, sex and women into metaphors Geddy lays it out pretty straight for the listener to hear in this song: Take yourself a friend/Keep ’em till the end/Whether woman or man/It makes you feel so good…/So good.
The showcases of this album are the bookend songs to the album: ‘Finding My Way’, ‘Before and After’ and ‘Working Man’. ‘Finding My Way’ kicks you hard in the chest musically and is one of the 3 songs on this album where Geddy’s voice actually seems to compliment the arrangement rather than work against it. ‘Before and After’ seems like the band’s earliest crack at multi-part songs ala Yes, late Zeppelin or even Kansas. The song begins with an acoustic guitar and ends with a good ol’ guitar battle between Alex’s guitar and Geddy’s bass full of fire and energy.
Last on the album is ‘Working Man’, the band’s tribute to blue collar working families all around the world and one of the few songs from the band’s early days that would see some live play time many, many years later. Musically, you’re hooked instantly. The grinding, chugging fuzzed out guitars grab your attention before kicking into a full blown rock number. Then song breaks into part 2: the progressive rock number, an extensive solo/scripted musical segment with some Geddy’s most interesting bass playing on the whole album with quick, noisy fills.
Overall, it’s very clear this is Alex and Geddy’s band. The songwriting and the lyric writing belong to Geddy and Alex and it’s these two who we think of when we think of this album. Rutsey is there to be a drummer and, unfortunately, nothing more. Rutsey holds it down and is a role drummer without a whole lot of flash or technical display.
At the end of the day, for what this album is at the time it was released, this was a great rock album, but in the Rush discography this album is a weird animal. Hardcore Rush fans know that this was the band’s awkward album and therefore stick to the band’s more listenable, refined and unquestionably Rush-y music. Someone new to Rush will be shown Moving Pictures, Signals, Permanent Waves or 2112 well before this album and be told to go ooo and ahh over these picks. And they will. Even their next album Fly By Night will be revisited more than this album because that album has more to offer musically and foreshadows what the band will be in years to come.
Rush (1974)
- “Finding My Way” 5:03 (Lee, Lifeson)
- “Need Some Love” 2:16 (Lee, Lifeson)
- “Take a Friend” 4:27 (Lee, Lifeson)
- “Here Again” 7:30 (Lee, Lifeson)
- “What You’re Doing” 4:19 (Lee, Lifeson)
- “In the Mood” 3:36 (Lee)
- “Before and After” 5:33 (Lee, Lifeson)
- “Working Man” 7:07 (Lee, Lifeson)
Michael J. Ade: Assistant Engineer
James Barton: Engineer
Ken Blair Assistant: Engineer
Terry Brown: Engineer, Remixing
Philippe Cusset: Mixing Assistant
Jon Erickson: Pre-Production
Andrew Jackman: Arranger, Conductor
Brian Lee: Mastering
Geddy Lee: Arranger, Bass, Composer, Guitar, Keyboards, Producer, Vocals
Martin Lee: Assistant Engineer
Alex Lifeson: Arranger, Composer, Guitar, Producer, Vocals
Bob Ludwig: Mastering
Steve Margoshes: Conductor, String Arrangements
Robin McBride: Executive Producer
Rush: Arranger, Primary Artist, Producer
John Rutsey: Arranger, Drums, Producer, Vocals
Reynold Swan: Assistant Engineer
Hugh Syme: Art Direction
Paul Weldon: Cover Design
Glenn Wexler: Photography
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