My love of Prog Rock comes from my dad. There is no question about it. He's the one that got me into Jethro Tull, Frank Zappa and most importantly Rush.
When my parents were still together the only Rush album my dad had was Fly By Night. At least it was the only one I remember having a cassette for, and being able to listen to in the car. My mom was a bitch when it came to music, so it was rarely on in the house. That's why I always talk about listening to music in the car with my dad. My mom was also a bitch here too, because if she was in the car the radio had to be on a country station, even though she was the only one that wanted to listen to it. However, Fly By Night always captured my imagination. Each song was like a magical journey, that was brought on by the Snow Owl that was on the front cover. I loved that cover, and still do.
Now take into consideration that this album opens with one of Rush's heaviest riffs. Anthem comes flying out of the speakers with ferocious power, and only slows down briefly during the verses. Sure Alex Lifeson's guitar is beautifully melodic, as well as some heavy riffing, and Geddy Lee's bass just drives the song, but listen to Neil Peart's drums. No one plays drums like that on a song like this. Then again no one plays drums like Peart. I've been hooked on his work since I was a kid listening to this album. Oh yeah, he writes all the amazing words that Geddy releases in his high pitched wail. The man is like a banshee.
Next up is Best I Can. This is a little more of a straight forward song. It's a nice bring down, but no where near a mellow out, after such a powerful intro. I must admit that I don't listen to this track often, but that comes from the fact that it's one of the weaker songs on the album. However, when I say weaker I mean that it's not as musically intense as most of the other tracks on this album. Alex's solo is pretty cool though.
Beneath, Between and Behind is musically crazy. It has this backwards Jazz sounding feel. It's like the song was written to throw the listener off, and that's cool. This is another song I don't listen to much on it's own, but I really enjoy when I'm listening to the full album.
My first real experience with an epic length song was By-Tor And The Snow Dog. The song is only 8:37, as well as the longest song on the album, but this song has multiple parts. One might refer to them as movements, like classical music has. First up is At The Tobes Of Hades, which sets up the song. Then it's Across The Styx which features Alex performing some of his best pre 2112 guitar work, while Geddy does some really crazy stuff with his bass. Part three is Of The Battle, which has four parts of it's own, Challenge And Defiance, 7/4 War Furor, Aftermath, and Hymn of Triumph. These sections are mind blowing. It's like walking out onto the battle field, watching the carnage ensue, and then standing broken looking out over all the death, but being happy to be alive. And finally it's on to the Epilogue. The lyrics, which tell the parts of the story that the music doesn't, are only sung in the opening part and the end part. "Tobes of Hades, lit by flickering torchlight / The netherworld is gathered in the glare / Prince By-Tor takes the cavern to the north light / The sign of Eth is rising in the air / By-Tor, knight of darkness / Centurion of evil, devil's prince / Across the River Styx, out of the lamplight / His nemesis is waiting at the gate / The Snow Dog, ermine glowing in the damp night / Coal-black eyes shimmering with hate / By-Tor and the Snow Dog / Square for battle, let the fray begin". This is where the song goes all awesome instrumental before coming bck to finish with the last of the lyrics. "The battle's over and the dust is clearing / Disciples of the Snow Dog sound the knell / Rejoicing echoes as the dawn is nearing / By-Tor, in defeat, retreats to Hell / Snow Dog is victorious / The land of the Overworld is saved again ".
If you own the vinyl copy of this album, or the cassette, the album's title track doesn't appear until the second side. On the CD it's jammed in the middle, which I find really cool. I'm not big on the cliche of opening an album with the title track. Now I know that many people find this song cheesy and/or weak, but I have no clue why. I love everything about this song. It's spiritually moving, and contains some great music, and arrangements. Not to mention I have many warm, fuzzy memories of singing this one with my dad. "Why try? I know why / The feeling inside me says it's time I was gone / Clear head, new life ahead / It's time I was king now -- not just one more pawn / Fly by night, away from here / Change my life again / Fly by night, goodbye my dear / My ship isn't coming and I just can't pretend / Moon rise, thoughtful eyes / Staring back at me from the window beside / No fright or hindsight / Leaving behind that empty feeling inside / Fly by night, away from here / Change my life again / Fly by night, goodbye my dear / My ship isn't coming and I just can't pretend / Start a new chapter / Find what I'm after / It's changing every day / The change of a season / Is enough of a reason / To want to get away / Quiet and pensive / My thoughts apprehensive / The hours drift away / Leaving my homeland / Playing a lone hand / My life begins today / Fly by night, away from here / Change my life again / Fly by night, goodbye my dear / My ship isn't coming and I just can't pretend".
Making Memories follows that up. I love the accoustic guitar work in this one. The best part is that it's not a soft folky kind of accoustic either. It's fast, powerful and very downhome sounding, but not in a lame way. Then there's the electric guitar work, which is equally impressive.
The softest and prettiest song on the album is Rivendell. This song is clearly inspired by the famous Elven city of the same name, in the Lord Of The Rings series, and I think more specifically from Bilbo Baggins' perspective. The only down side to this song is Geddy's vocals, which at times tries to hit notes, he really shouldn't try to hit.
The album ends with the second longest song on the album, In The End. This song has some great depth, and dynamics to it, but musically I find it a bit lacking. It's like they took pieces from the more straight ahead tracks on this album and strung them all together for this song. The most impressive part of this song is Lifeson's solo, which is really cool. He really is one of the most underrated guitarists in music. I really think they should have ended the album with a different song, but it's easy to understand why they went with this one.
I'm not going to say that you should rush out and buy this album (no pun intended). But, since only two of the tracks, Fly By Night and Anthem, are easily found on compilation albums I would suggest that you should pick up a copy. I would also suggest getting the digitally remastered copy, which wasn't available when I picked up my copy. The sound on this is good, and everything is crystal clear, but it could be better.
7/10 - content
7/10 - production
7/10 - personal bias
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