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Fly By Night
Rush
Mercury Records, 1975
REVIEW BY: Christopher Thelen
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 05/12/2001
Chances are, if you're a casual Rush fan, the only thing you
know about their 1975 release
Fly By Night is the title track. What you might not know is
that this was the first disc to feature drummer Neil Peart (who
replaced John Rutsey), or that this was the first Rush album to
feature a story told in different musical parts... or that this
would be the second Rush album released in a 13-month period.
But, you don't really need to know all of that trivia. All you
need to know about
Fly By Night is that it took the lessons learned from
Rush and built upon them. The trio of Peart,
bassist/vocalist Geddy Lee and guitarist Alex Lifeson was clicking
well, and, for the most part, firing on all cylinders.
Interestingly enough, while
Fly By Night might be one of the least-known of Rush's
albums, it is also one which features the band taking some real
chances. Where else will you hear Lee put down the bass and show
off his guitar skills, as he does on "Rivendell"? (It's also one of
the first Rush songs which doesn't feature Lee's vocals in
banshee-wail mode.) And while I honestly don't count "By-Tor And
The Snow Dog" as one of my favorite Rush tracks over the years, one
does have to admire the band for taking on an obscure story line
like is featured in this song and crafting some challenging music
to go with it. (This doesn't mean you'll understand what's going on
in the story itself; I've owned this particular record for about 12
years now, and I still don't quite grasp it.)
Fly By Night features a little of the straight-forward rock
that was the bulk of
Rush; "Beneath, Between And Behind" is one such example -
and if you know your Rush, you might hear the beginnings of
"Lakeside Park" (from their next album
Caress Of Steel floating in this one). Likewise, "Making
Memories" and "Best I Can" feature the boys crafting their chops,
even if they weren't 100 percent sure which direction they wanted
to take them.
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