RUSH

Well, here we are at the very beginning of the band we all know as RUSH. This debut album starts off a period of what I call "Early RUSH". These albums are: Rush I (1974), Fly By Night (1975), Caress of Steel (1975), 2112 (1976), and All the World's a Stage "Live" (1976).

RUSH's debut album was a pretty good effort. The first thing is that all the songs were originals, even if some were weaker than others, especially the lyrics. Most bands have a few "covers" on their debut release, but not RUSH. Just about any Rush fan would probably say this is not the place to start if you're just getting into Rush. Not that it's that bad, it's just not the best. I'm giving this album an honest 3 stars, but that is based on an over-all comparison of the early Rush albums. This album is not Progressive music as we will come to think of RUSH in later years. More Proto-Prog than anything else.

I've been buying and listening to Rush albums since the late '70's, and the Rush debut is just one that I don't listen to very much. Some people just love it, they think it's the greatest thing they have ever done. That's fine. Those individuals are probably big fans of Led Zeppelin and other 70's Blues-Rock acts. Alex Lifeson does play some of his heaviest and most direct, in-your-face guitar licks they ever recorded. This album also contains some of Rush's most popular early songs that they have consistently played for the fans over the decades. These include Working Man and Finding My Way. In fact, Working Man and Here Again, both clocking in at over seven minutes, begins to hint at Rush's direction towards longer, epic length progressive rock that starts to show up in their follow-up albums. The RUSH album is the first and last album to feature drummer John Rutsey, who split with the band due to "differences in musical direction".

Best Tracks: Finding My Way and Working Man