Rush-Fly By Night (1975)

"Fly By Night" is the first of two releases by the Canadian band Rush in 1975, the second chronologically, and the first to feature drummer and principal lyricist Neil Peart, which in many ways makes it the band's first "real" album. Peart contributed literary allusions, deeply personal and philosophical lyricism, and dynamic, technically virtuosic percussion. Furthermore, the band began to introduce a more sophisticated, progressive musicality into their songs. The production quality improved noticeably. The raw blues-hard-rock of the first album expanded with a more varied musical palette of sounds and styles. The resulting album is in line with the evolutionary path Rush followed in their subsequent recordings. Here we find the band's first epic melody, the eight-and-a-half-minute "By-Tor & the Snow Dog", their first odes to classical objectivism and celebration of the individual with the avant-garde "Anthem", their first radio hit "Fly By Night", and allusions to the narratives and fantastical settings of J.R.R. Tolkien in "Rivendell". Interspersed among these are glimpses of their recent past with the hard rock track "In The End" and the energetic and solid "Beneath, Between & Behind". "Fly By Night" is considered by many to be the true beginning of the Canadian trio, the album that laid the foundation for their legendary career as one of the most important rock bands of the 20th century.