Rush - the First Four

[Jerjo]

I hadn't played the early stuff for a long time so I put together a playlist on the PC of all my faves from the first four. I supposed I could just play ATWS but that excludes those Caress of Steel epics. Anyway, this playlist is kicking my ass. Is anyone else revisiting the early albums?

[carlmarx38]

i love the first 4. first album i ever had was ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE. Listened to side 1 endlessly, but the live 2112 didn't grab me right away.

then got FAREWELL TO KINGS and the ARCHIVES collection of the first three around the same time. Archives was quite a lot to digest at one time (for a 13-yr old).

FLY BY NIGHT stands out for me as the best overall album of the first 4...(2112 side one is the best side of course, but side 2 is a bit weak). Lots of great deep tracks on FBN such as "Making Memories" and "Between, Beneath, and Beyond". if i had to rank them:

1. FLY BY NIGHT
2. 2112
3. CARESS OF STEEL
4. RUSH

COS is such an interesting, album.....probably deserves a thread of its own. Necromancer is a deep track classic, and Fountain of Lamneth, of course, is the RUSH equivalent of Topographic Oceans....you either love it or hate it!

[Paulrus]

"By Tor and the Snow Dog" will pop into my brain unbidden probably every few days or so. It never gets old.

I like all of them, but overall Fly By Night is the most consistent and my favorite from that period. Caress comes in at no. 2, and the debut is always better than I remember it being. 2112 is a bit overrated, but there's no denying it's importance in the catalog.

All IMO, of course.

[Progatron]

There are some great forgotten gems on some of those, I'm thinking of tracks I've always really liked like Making Memories, Before And After, The Twilight Zone...

I don't listen to those albums often anymore, but of course they are burned into my memory, I could run through them from beginning to end in my head! Occasionally I'll throw on the epics from Caress Of Steel (never felt the three short songs on that one were particularly great, to be honest... some will call that sacrilege.)

[Nearfest2]

overall Fly By Night is the most consistent and my favorite from that period.

If only it weren't for "Rivendell."

[carlmarx38]

We had a long discussion thread over at YESFans recently on "Caress of Steel", and someone dug up this rare gem, footage of Dream Theater covering "Necromancer" :

[Steve983]

Love those albums, solid music all the way.

[chalkpie]

[Rarebird]

We had a long discussion thread over at YESFans recently on "Caress of Steel", and someone dug up this rare gem, footage of Dream Theater covering "Necromancer" :

Did I hear a small piece of Yes just before 8 minutes?

[carlmarx38]

Did I hear a small piece of Yes just before 8 minutes?

I didn't hear it first time, but yeah the ending is obviously the riff from "Heart of the Sunrise"......pure genius !

[Bytor]

Did I hear a small piece of Yes just before 8 minutes?

Yep

[Yodelgoat]

I have to agree that FBN is really an underrated album. I like the entire thing. Rivendell included. Just an awesome and unique collection of songs that have withstood the test of time IMO. I love the production on that album as well. Neils drums - and composition sound just great throughout that album. I even think the band seems to under rate it. They give it limited attention, even in their own comments in the histories. cant wait to see how it is treated in wandering the face of the Earth. As far as 2112 goes, the first side totally obliviates what's on the second side. The second side was for the label. I almost wish they'd have done a "Benny the bouncer" type joke track that they could have told the label "this is the hit song on this album" just shove that that middle finger a little harder up their collective asses...

But the guys are just too nice to do that... Good for them. I'm a bad Yodelgoat...

[Paulrus]

Yeah, John Rutsey wasn't a bad drummer, but stuff like this must have made people in 1975 sit up and go "holy fuck!"

And I love how they inserted a Jethro Tull homage in at 4:19.

[Soc Prof]

Also known as Sector 1, at least if you add ATWAS.

While I don't love these albums as much as Sectors 2 or 3, I still love them. Caress of Steel is my favorite of the bunch. Commercially, it bombed. But Rush fans seem to have embraced it later. The remastered CD is rated almost 4.5 stars on Amazon.

[flowerking]

Not much of a Rush fan these days but I did listen to Fly By Night (the album) just a few days ago. Usually if I listen to any Rush at all, its one of the second set of 4 albums.

[proggy_jazzer]

Yeah, John Rutsey wasn't a bad drummer, but stuff like this must have made people in 1975 sit up and go "holy fuck!"

And I love how they inserted a Jethro Tull homage in at 4:19.

As someone who was 14 at the time and had a drummer as a best friend, I can definitely say yes it did!

This kid does a really nice job - especially with the slow tempo section and the transitions in and out of it. Not easy!

[hFx]

CoS is my favourite pre FtK, partly because it was my first Rush album, but also because I tend to revisit a few of the songs when I noodle on guitar or bass (the first song I wrote for my junior high school hard rock band was... quite inspired by Bastille Day). Also love the long jams in The Necromancer! FbN grew on me the most, while 2112 hasn't really. The first one was good party rock and good energy but I have always preferred AC/DC for such

[mozo-pg]

2112 - both sides. I think this release is the pinnacle of the early period of Rush's history.

[Trane]

Despite their early career being cut in between double live albums creating the illusion that the band was working on four album cycles, I never considered 2112 as part of the "first four", but rather the first of their second trilogy (2112-aFTK and Hemlispheres).

From the first trilogy, clearly FBN is the better one by a mile.
I never cared for and warmed to COS, despite that it had everything (especially two epics) in it for the enjoyment of this 12/13 yo proghead. And the short tracks always made me cringe.
Never owned the debut album (but heard it many times at friends' houses), and I was always content of whetever was present on World's A Stage. Working Man is clearly the stand-out track on that one.

2112 - both sides. I think this release is the pinnacle of the early period of Rush's history.

Well it has its share of weaker moments (Rush never made a "perfect" album, anyways), namely Tears and Lessons ion the flipside but it opens so excellent and closes in magnificent form. As for the epic tt, it's still quite naive (almost as much as COS) and borders at times on the ridiculous (I'd probably hate it if I hadn't discovered it as age 13), but it is totally iconic to my eyes (and many others).

[ronmac]

^^ I cannot think of what's not perfect on AftK.

[Trane]

^^ I cannot think of what's not perfect on AftK.

I can sooooo totally do without Madrigal and Cindarella.

[ronmac]

I can sooooo totally do without Madrigal and Cindarella.

Both great songs.

[dropforge]

I can sooooo totally do without Madrigal and Cindarella.

Rush has no song titled "Cindarella."

[dropforge]

(Rush never made a "perfect" album, anyways)

You never heard Grace Under Pressure, huh?

[chalkpie]

Both great songs.

Absofruitly.