Fly By Night by Rush
The album that ignited my love for music was Fly By Night by Rush. In many ways, this album helped shape the rest of my music tastes. Not only did Rush become and still is my favourite band, but it also bean my love for both prog and heavy rock music.
Fly by Night was the second album by Rush and the first album with drummer and lyricist, Neil Peart. The first Rush album was good, but Fly By Night took Rush to a whole new level.
Yes, Neil Peart was one of the greatest drummers in rock history and that could only improve the already talented band. But Peart also took over the writing of lyrics and this would take Rush in a different direction (Geddy Lee wrote two of the songs on this album). Their first album positioned them as a great new heavy rock band. Fly By Night put them firmly in the prog world, without losing their heavy rock edge.
There are many albums that have two or three good songs with the rest being filler. Fly By Night is not one of them. It is a good solid album from start to finish.
The album starts off with Anthem, named after the novella by Ayn Rand. Rand was an influence on Peart at the time and would continue to be so for some time. Even those unfamiliar with Rand’s thoughts can appreciate this catchy rock tune.
All of the songs are great but there are a few that stand out for my. By-Tor and the Snow Dog really captures the mythical direction Rush was heading. These kind of fantasy-based songs would serve them well throughout the 1970s. This is a favourite and always gets cranked up.
The title song, Fly By Night, is the song on this album that gets the most radio play. While a great song, it is so overplayed that it is no longer one of my favourites.
Rivendell gets very little radio play, but as a J.R.R. Tolkien fan, I am drawn to this. I had not yet read Lord of the Rings when I first heard this album but once I became a fan of both Rush and Tolkien, this song could do no wrong.
One of my favourites on this album is In the End, one of the two songs whose lyrics were written by Geddy Lee. I love how the songs build and the lyrics really speak to me. Great tune.
Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, and Neil Peart. Three Canadian guys that ended up making some of the best music in the rock genre. This is the album that chartered their path forward and I am thank that I was introduced to it.
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