Fanboy vs. First-Timer: Rush Edition Part 2

In our second edition of this run-through of Rush’s large discography, we move on to the band’s second album:

Fly By Night (1975)

rand0m’s take on Fly By Night

Being their second album release, this one showed marked improvement over the self-titled debut, mainly due to the addition of Neil Peart to the band as drummer and lyricist.  You can tell right from the start that the drumming here is a hell of a lot better than Rutsey’s on s/t- that’s not to say Rutsey is a bad drummer- just that Peart is an incredibly good one.  The lyricism, though, at this point is a bit hit-or-miss for me.  On one hand, you have a couple of very well-written songs (Beneath, Between and Behind, Fly By Night, Making Memories).  On the other, we have Anthem, a song based on Ayn Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism, which, to put it nicely, I just despise, then, By-tor & the Snow Dog, while a nice song, has some less-than-stellar lyrical content.  Combine that with the Tolkein based Rivendall, and two obvious hold-overs from the pre-Peart days (Best I Can, In the End) and you have a rather unbalanced effort lyrically, though still a hell of a lot better than what was put on the debut.

Despite my disagreements with it’s lyrical statements, though, Anthem proves to be a wonderful rocker to kick off the album with.  It somehow feels a bit more mature than the more Zeppelin-based blues rock the band had been playing before, and the riffs have begun to differentiate their style from that of their influences quite significantly.  Of course, the Randian lyrical content puts me off, but I can still enjoy the song for what it is.  Often times I’ll just convince myself that the whole Objectivism thing was a tongue-in-cheek effort on Peart’s part, but the 2112 liner notes signal that that is just not the case.  In any event, it’s nice that he got out of this phase relatively quickly.  The next two tracks are quite similar to each other, in that they’re relatively straight-forward, rather angry rockers, though Beneath, Between and Behind gets the upper hand for its more developed lyrical content.

Next up is the centerpiece of the album, arguably the band’s first “epic” and what is nearly unanimously considered the highlight of the album- yes even by me.  Not so meaningful lyrical, but very meaningful instrumentally, especially towards the tail end of the instrumental “battle” section, in which Alex whips out his beautiful mournful solo, showing he can do more than just rock.  As one the first real extensive uses of Peart’s tubular bells, this song brought along a new kind of sound for the band and is the pre-cursor to all of their later progressive works over the next couple of albums.

Next up is the title track, and probably their catchiest song to this point.  Great riff, incredible bass, good lyrics- just an all around great song, well worthy of the album’s title.  Making Memories, a more overlooked gem, follows along afterwards, telling tales of the band’s touring journeys up to this point and their aspirations for the future.  Largely acoustic, this marked a different kind of direction for the band, and this song is followed directly by the fully acoustic, Rivendall, with lyrics inspired by Tolkein’s The Lord of the Rings series.  The song itself is oddly beautiful, and unique, in that it completely lacks drums and bass.  Unfortunately, it’s just a bit too simplistic for its own good and drags out way past its welcome, making it a rather dull song in the end.

Speaking of, In the End, that’s the song that rounds out this album, and it does so magnificently.  The acoustic intro and buildup are just fantastic, and the electric explosion is just wonderful.  This song does go on for a while, but, unlike the previous one, it seems completely warranted by the various dynamic changes and a wonderful solo from Alex, which complements in its back half.  Really, the progression of this song is just beautiful, and everything about it is well done.  You could call it the Here Again of this album, it gives the album a perfect send off.

7/10, Good
Highlights:Anthem, By-tor and the Snow Dog, Fly By Night, In the End

Axel’s take on Fly By Night

It’s almost ridiculous how much Rush improved in just one album. It’s not that they did a complete 180 from hard rock to progressive, either; while they show definite elements of progressive rock starting to creep into their music, by and large this is still a hard rock album. It’s clear they wouldn’t become a full-on progressive band until later on. What’s different about it is how much the songwriting has improved.

The album kicks off with “Anthem”, which grabs your attention immediately with a superb riff. Geddy’s bombastic singing from the last album remains, but it works much better on this song than most of the debut. It also features noticeably better drumming, thanks to the booting of John Rutsey in favor of the virtuosic Neil Peart.

Anthem’s momentum is preserved by the next song, “Best I Can”, which is admittedly not as good as the first track, but still very enjoyable. The wah pedal-heavy guitar solo is also great, as are the tasteful-yet-technically-challenging drum fills.

“Beneath, Between and Behind” is one of Rush’s first experiments with odd time signatures, and it really works because of Peart’s drumming. Of course, the entire band puts on great performances.

Then comes the towering centerpiece of Fly by Night, “By-Tor and the Snow Dog”. While it’s a very good song by itself, it’s even more important in the context of Rush’s career; it paved the way for their future epics like “2112″ and “Cygnus X-1″.  That’s not to discredit the song as merely a historical curio in the Rush canon, as it features really excellent guitar work and a transitional string section in the middle that never gets boring, despite the fact that it’s a transitional string section.

This is followed up by “Fly by Night”, probably the best straight-ahead rocker on the album. While there’s not too much to set it apart from other Rush songs, its strength is the sheer enjoyability of it; the song is really joyous and upbeat, while being very catchy at the same time.

“Making Memories” is a largely acoustic guitar-driven song, with a really great chord progression fueling Geddy Lee’s wonderful vocal performance. When the drums kick in, it feels natural and easy. Just an awesome song overall.

Then comes “Rivendell”, a very atmospheric song featuring little more than soft guitar fingerpicking, flutes, and Lee’s uncharacteristically gentle singing. You always expect “Rivendell” to blow up and become an awesome electric song, but it never happens. But somehow, that’s okay. It does what it does well.

“In the End” is the second-longest song on the album, and definitely one of the most progressive, in that it uses dynamics a lot and doesn’t go with a standard song structure. It’s a very fitting end to a wonderful album.

All in all, it seemed Neil Peart was the magic ingredient that Rush needed to become Rush. His lyrical wordplay (which I haven’t mentioned in the review so far, as I’ve only listened to the album twice and I really wasn’t paying attention to what Lee was saying) and tight drumming went hand-in-hand with Geddy and Alex’s songwriting. The best part? They would only better themselves after this album.

At least, that’s what I’m assuming.

8/10, Awesome

Highlights: Anthem, By-Tor and the Snow Dog, Fly By Night, Making Memories

The results are quite similar to the last one, with the first-timer once again giving the higher rating, though agreed that this was a marked improvement over the debut.  It may be obvious, but here are the current rankings:

random:

1.Fly By Night                                                                                                                                                                                                          2.Rush

Axel:

1.Fly By Night                                                                                                                                                                                                          2.Rush

See you next time!

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