I'd been a Rush fan for about a year before I got around to buying this, their first, album. i'd been listening to Moving Pictures which I'd picked up based on the radio play of Tom Sawyer. After listening to Moving Pictures the first time, I realized here was something that I needed as a human being. This band, Rush, was unlike anything I'd ever experienced in music before. The feeling was so powerful, I realized that if Rush did not exist, I would wander the world looking for them, creating them out of the ether. Luckily they did and after Moving Pictures, I quickly purchased Signals and after saving my allowance, (c'mon, I was 13!) I decided to purchase the album that started it all - Rush. The name of the band exploding off of the album cover in a "flash of silver trees (to have) you rockin' in the breeze...yeah".
Although my friends had told me that Rush was a Led Zeppelin knock off, I listened to it the first time unbiasedly. And if they sounded like Zep...how bad could that be? What I heard was not so much Zeppelin as the roots of where Rush would go over the next 27 years. Like Rock and Roll itself, Rush starts out with the hard rock music spawned from the blues.
"Finding My Way" is the first track on the album and explodes off the turntable like a rocket. Geddy Lee's unmistakable voice warning you "oooo yeah...comin' out to get ya....ooo yeah..comin' out to find ya...findin' my way....yeah!". The distortion is heavy and Geddy's voice full of youth and vigor.
"Need Some Love" is the second song and sounds like a precurser to the band Boston. Melodic harmonies driven by guitar, bass and drums. The rough edges of this song has the vocals way up front, but you can't miss the inspired playing of Alex Lifeson's gibson guitar.
"Take Yourself a Friend" is definitely a song for the hardcore Rush fan. It's a bit goofy in it's chorus of Take yourself a friend/ Keep them til the end/ Whether woman or man/ Makes you feel soo good/ Soooo Gooood!. But the fills provided by Lifeson are so heavy with metal that the song is enjoyable for me even 27 years and three kids after hearing it the first time. I imagine the feeling I get listening to this one, must be like the aging hippies listening to their Woodstock albums. Your feelings run from...how did i ever think this was good...to...well..it's still kind of cool..to..effit...this rocks!
If you're searching for the roots of grunge, make sure to check out the next track, "Here Again". Alex's guitar is laced with flange and the full sound of his gibson is a direct line to the heavy wash of Pearl Jam most notably. Listen to Here Again and then throw on Pearl Jam's Yellow Ledbetter. See if you can hear the difference in the guitars. This song rocks. Most folks find Working Man the highlight of this album, but without Here Again, you might not have the familiar power ballads from Guns n Roses or the Heavy Ballads of the 80's (maybe that might not have been a bad thing).
Okay, so track 5, "What You're Doing", is pretty much Led Zeppelin's Heartbraker note for note, you have to admit, that much of the music at the time was also (check out the two best "Zeppelin" songs every Crazy on You and Magic Man by Heart and you'll see what I'm saying). Still What You're Doing rocks and when capture live on All The World's a Stage you can see the boys from Rush could easily keep up with Zeppelin of Heart or anyone in a battle of the bands.
(If anyone is still reading this please call me.)
"In the Mood" is the Album's drift into the funk that was popular at the time of the album's release in 1974. While not funky enough to be covered by the Bee Gee's on the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, you can actually dance to this Rush track. One of the few. Also of note, is the subject of the song is apparently groupies. While we're not talking about Motley Crue here, it's a gem among the band's catalog to hear Geddy singing about how "...the hour is late and he feels he's in the mood".
"Before and After" is a nice little track that paves the way for some of the instrumental work done on 2112 and following albums when the band is really hitting on all cylinders and wants to slow things done with a liquidy guitar-led transition.
Finally, the song that put Rush on the map, "Working Man" tears across the sky and leaves you no doubt that Canada's best export is Rush.
I would recommend this album to any fan of Rush. While John Rutsey on drums instead of Neil Peart does give the album a little different feel, you cannot afford to be without this album if you are a true Rush fan. Also, the days before Neal joined on as lyricist shows a much different feel on this first album. Most notably, "Need Some Love" and "In the Mood" treat love and woman in the manner these young rockers from Canada probably did while they were trying to make it big. The Rush songs dealing with love on later releases treat the subject with a maturity and respect different from these two earlier efforts. It seems the early Rush efforts were more easily pigeon-holed into the popular paradigm of the time.
While I very infrequently put this classic on the turntable when I'm cleaning the garage, I don't think a month has gone by since I first bought the record, that I haven't listened to it at least once.
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![Rush [Remaster] by Rush](http://di1.shopping.com/images1/pi/86/65/35/2005408642-177x150-0-0.jpg)
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