Fly By Night Review

FLY BY NIGHT

RUSH

1975

Anthem/Mercury

Prod. by Rush and Terry Brown

It’s obviously worth noting that I come into these Rush reviews with a slightly predetermined mindset. In any review of the band Rush’s music, I will do my best to displace my previous distaste for the band, but I will repeatedly make it clear that, in the past, Rush has most certainly not been my thing, and I am here to challenge that idea and try to enjoy a band millions around the world revere.

Sound the alarm; I really, really like parts of Fly By Night. As an album, it’s as deeply flawed as Moving Pictures, and the highs aren’t quite as high as “Tom Sawyer.” But Fly By Night exposes a Rush that is more interested in other people’s music than their own; only a couple of the songs on Fly By Night sound like definitive Rush anthems, while the rest seem to be Rush taking on other people’s sounds. Some of these experiments turn out really, really awesome; others work less well.

First, what works; “Anthem” and “Best I Can” are a rollicking force that is undeniable. “Anthem” is more mathematical than most of what appears on this album, but like “Limelight,” the band mostly stays together, letting guitarist Alex Lifeson take the lead instrumentation on the song. Geddy Lee and Neil Peart keep their rhythm in check, but the vocal by Lee is still grating on “Anthem.” It’s not enough to ruin the slick, somewhat blues-y ride, but a performance with a better vocalist would be highly engaging. Peart, in particular, manages to produce a drum beat that is fun to listen to without being overwhelming, a task Peart can find difficulty accomplishing. It’s moments like “Anthem” that let me remember Peart’s talent rather than find myself aggravated with his arrogance.

Honestly, though, I don’t think there’s a band that would top Rush’s performance of “Best I Can,” a song that is so non-definitively Rush that I wish, wish, WISH this had been their direction all along. “Best I Can” absolutely reeks of a fusion of blues-driven hard rock and pop rock at the same time; think the world’s best fusion of AC/DC and Elton John’s “The Bitch Is Back,” however anachronistic that may be. Lee is singing a harder, deeper vocal than usual as well, with a voice echoing Bon Scott and Brian Johnson on their best days. In case you can’t tell, I’m absolutely floored by how much I like “Best I Can,” down to its very Joe Perry riffs, its absolutely killer instrumentation on the hook, and a sweet guitar solo by Lifeson. While I can understand that it’s lacking in iconic moments (see “Tom Sawyer” drum fills, “Spirit of Radio” opening, etc.) it’s a fun, fun song.

There are a couple other songs that work, though not nearly as well as “Best I Can.” The third track, “Between, Beneath, and Behind,” is a fun (if overly mathematical) high-tempo jam. Moments of it remind me of “Ballroom Blitz,” but I would definitely rather listen to the Sweet classic every time; the hook’s attack is repetitive very, very quickly, leaving me indifferent every time. And “Making Memories” contains some quality guitar work as an attempt to take on the style of southern rock outfits like Lynyrd Skynyrd; Lifeson really nails that impression in the solo, which is highly technical and filled with twang. The rest of the song is a pretty fun acoustic jam with some great bass work by Lee.

Now, while half the impressions work shockingly well, the rest struggles to excite or entice me. “By-Tor And The Snow Dog” begins with a relatively unimpressive and standard Rush jam, which is too calculated and mathematical for my tastes; Lee’s vocal is shakier on this song than any other, as well. The second half of the song contains a long psychedelic jam, perhaps an attempt to capture what fellow “prog” outfit Pink Floyd had been up to on Meddle and Dark Side of the Moon, but it fails miserably to sound like anything other than aimless noodling. Considering there’s plenty of Pink Floyd that sounds the same way, I can’t blame them for failing, but it is still a failed experiment. Unlike some of these other songs, no member manages to do anything especially memorable or impressive, leaving “By-Tor” bloated and flaccid. These same words, bloated and flaccid, would probably describe my feelings on the rest of the album.

Of course, most people are probably surprised I’m not very into “Fly By Night,” the album’s lead single and title track. And it’s not bad, it’s just very, very boring. It’s distasteful to me for many of the same reasons I didn’t like “Vital Signs” or “Witch Hunt”; the song is aimless math gone awry, never really letting itself find an identity or escape the confines of its prison. The guitar solo is fine, but it fails to impress much more than your average Journey guitar solo, a comparison that is not complimentary.

“Rivendell” intrigues me, though. Now that there’s Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings to define that saga, perhaps it’s impossible for me to truly sift back into the world of Tolkein’s imagination, but “Rivendell” does momentarily evoke a very small amount of the energy I remember feeling towards The Hobbit. That said, it’s miserably performed by Lee’s weak vocal, it’s excessively long at almost 5 minutes, and nothing changes after the first chorus is reached. But if “Rivendell” were one of the few windows into Tolkein’s world, I could imagine that it’s a relatively decent success in that department.

Overall, Fly By Night is an interesting sonic collection, especially for fans of Rush. It’s this moment in musical history when Rush didn’t really know who they wanted to be. This is the moment just before Rush became one of the most ego-centric, sonically self-feeding bands in the world; this is when they were listening to everyone else and putting together anything that stuck. It’s exciting for the same reason Rubber Soul is a fascinating hinge in the career of The Beatles, or for the same reason we should all be excited for Green Day’s ¡Uno!/ ¡Dos!/ ¡Tres! trilogy, or Muse’s electro-heavy The 2^nd Law. And while Rush’s impressions mostly pale in comparison to the originators of the style, some of these impressions are worth hearing on their own merits.

3/5

HIGHLIGHTS: “Anthem,” “Best I Can,” “Making Memories”
MISSED OPPORTUNITIES: “By-Tor And The Snow Dog,” “Fly By Night,” “Rivendell”
NEXT STOP: Aerosmith, “Toys In The Attic”
AFTER THAT: Elton John, “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road”