My Impression of Rush

It’s Rush

I recently managed to complete my collection of Rush studio albums and I decided to listen to them in the car in release order. I’m playing each CD about 7 to 10 times to get familiar with the songs I don’t already know, and just enjoy those I do know.

Part of what I’m trying to accomplish is to hear how their music evolved over the past 39-1/2 years. (The 40th anniversary of their first album “Rush” is March 1, 2014.)

Rush

I obviously started with “Rush.” Their first album had John Rutsey as drummer. Neil Peart doesn’t enter the picture until Rutsey quits the band for reasons of health and musical direction, so it’s a different sounding Rush.

John Rutsey was a John Bonham style drummer, which isn’t a surprise considering Alex Lifeson pretty much wanted Rush to be Led Zeppelin. That shows throughout the album and Rutsey’s style works for what it is. But the world didn’t want another Led Zeppelin as we still had the real thing in 1974.

That said, the music is pretty good, and if you imagine Neil Peart’s drumming style some of the cuts could become true Rush songs, but this 1974 band is not the Hall of Fame Rush we know today. That becomes very obvious upon listening to about five seconds of the first track of “Fly By Night,” but that’s a subject for a future blog post.

The Tracks

1. Finding My Way 5:05

Lyrics | Rush lyrics – Finding My Way lyrics

This is a song very heavily influenced by Led Zeppelin, with Geddy Lee shreaking Jimmy Page Oooh yeahs all over the track. I didn’t care for the song at first, but it grew on me the more I heard it. (That’s pretty common for me with Rush in general.) The lyrics are weak, though. I give it a C.

2. Need Some Love 2:19

The guitar and bass line have some of the Rush sound, and it’s not hard to imagine Neil Peart’s drumming style with this song. The song’s weakness is lyrics, which are pedestrian and a bit low brow. Although the song is credited to Lee and Lifeson, I suspect Alex Lifeson was responsible for most of this one. Keep in mind this was before they met Peart, whose lyrics elevated the song writing of not only the band, but of Lee and Lifeson as well. I give the song a C.

3. Take a Friend 4:24

This song has a little bit of the flavor of later Rush songs, opening with some hard drumming from Rutsey, who foreshadows Peart’s style a bit throughout the song. I think Geddy Lee is a better lyricist than he gets credit for. Again, this song is credited to both Lee and Lifeson, but the lyrics feel like Lee’s. We get some Geddy Lee songs from time to time throughout the 20 studio albums. I give this song a B+.

4. Here Again 7:34

This song has a very bluesy feel in what sounds like a minor key. That’s another thing Geddy Lee likes to do, and the lyrics again feel like Lee’s. The drumming in this song isn’t as important as the bass line driving the blues feel. It’s one of the best cuts on the album, reminiscent of some of the songs on the B side of “2112.” I give the song a B+

5. What You’re Doing 4:22

This is another song that sounds like Led Zeppelin. You can hear strains of “Whole Lotta Love” and other Zeppelin classics throughout the song. I don’t get a sense of the lyricist on this one, so I suspect Lee and Lifeson both did about the same amount or work on it. A lot of the lyrics feel like Lifeson’s, and I don’t think he was that great a lyricist before he met Peart, but the structure and rhyming have Lee’s fingerprints. I give the song a C-.

6. In the Mood 3:33

This song is the only one on the album credited only to Geddy Lee, so his style is pretty clear on this one. The song grooves pretty well, and again, I can easily imagine Neil Peart’s drumming. Not only that, Geddy Lee’s vocals have more of the typical Geddy lilt we expect in later albums, something he didn’t display much on most of the other tracks. The lyrics are a little shallow for Rush, but overall, this one is a win. I give it a B+.

7. Before And After 5:34
With some foreshadowing of what would come later, there are long instrumentals in this song, a bit slower than the pure instrumentals that come later, but Alex Lifeson’t guitar skills are very clean. It picks up the tempo in the second half. Again the song is mainly about women, but Rutsey gets in some good drum fills in. The lyrics aren’t what make this song, it’s the interaction of Lifeson’s guitar and Lee’s bass, with enough Keith Moon drumming to make it sound like later Rush in segments. I give the song a B-.

8. Working Man 7:10
Of course, this is the song Donna Halper of WMMS in Cleveland gave a lot of airtime, and that’s what really launched the band on their path to success. It’s the song with the most true Rush sound on this album, with Rutsey playing hard, much the way Peart would play. Without this song, I think Rush probably finishes their contract with Mercury and breaks up. This is the song that really held Rush’s potential in the spotlight. It’s the sound people liked, and interestingly enough, it’s the song that sounds the least like Led Zeppelin. To be successful, a band needs a sound all its own, and “Working Man” captures it. The lyrics are probably Lee’s, but even so, there are a few dumb lines. Getting to work at nine and coming home at five for an ice cold beer isn’t “working all the time.” But whatever, it’s a classic song and the accelerating guitar riff at the end is unique, or it was in 1974 anyway. I give the song an A-.

Conclusion

For a first album, it’s pretty good, even if there was only one hit. Not everyone can bust out of the gates with a debut album like Boston, where everything gets airplay. A lot of Zeppelin influence that remains to this day, and a lot of Zeppelin sound-alike that is suddenly gone when Peart enters the picture. Even with Working Man, I don’t think Rush makes it big with Rutsey drumming. The sound isn’t unique enough.

Still, there is a lot to like here. I give the album a C+.