FLY BY NIGHT

Rush's second album, "Fly By Night" shows evolved songwriting and a more mature sound. That's pretty cool considering it was released a year after their debut. Neil Peart joined the band as the divinely-appointed drummer, just cementing the ultimate lineup for at least the next 33 years. Anyway, the Zeppelin influence is still there, but it's obvious their eyes are firmly looking forward, not back.

The album opens with the explosive "Anthem", a loud and fast rock tune. Neil Peart lets everyone know within the first 30 seconds of the song that he's the best drummer ever. "Best I Can" and "Beneath, Between & Behind" are slightly reminiscent of the debut album, but not quite as bluesy. "By-Tor & the Snow Dog" shows the band starting to explore with more progressive and epic songwriting. It's not as refined as they would later get, but it's quite a start. The title track, a radio staple to this day, is a reflective, simple but quite catchy rock song. "Making Memories" is an acoustic-driven song that has a good riff, even if it gets repetitive. Guitarist Alex Lifeson lays down a pretty sweet guitar solo at the end, though. "Rivendell" is an interesting classical guitar ballad. It's quiet and nostalgic, and really an underrated gem. "In the End' closes the album in an epic fashion. The first part of the song is mellow, with only Lifeson's acoustic guitar and Geddy Lee singing and then the electric guitar kicks in with sweet riffs. It's really a rockin' tune that really shows a fledgling band showing everyone what they're made of.

One thing that's obviously better with Rush's second album are the lyrics. Neither Lifeson nor Lee expressed much desire to write them, so it kind of fell on Peart by default. That's okay thought, because they're awesome. Covering topics such as rigors of touring, elves and Ayn Rand, it's rather eclectic but a million times better than hearing Geddy chipmunk-screeching about wanting women. Overall "Fly By Night" is a solid album. The band would continue to get better with each release, but this album shows that they're not messing around.

Standout songs: "Anthem", "By-Tor and the Snow Dog", "In the End"