Release Date: March 18, 1974
Label: Moon
Length: 39:51
Produced By: Rush
Rating: 6.5
Review by: Alexander Hellene
Highlights: “Finding My Way,” “What You’re Doing,” “Need Some Love,” “Before and After,” “Working Man”
Fifty years ago this year, a prog-rock legend was born.
Actually, not quite. while Rush’s self-titled debut did hit stores in 1974, the three lads from Canada—bassist/vocalist Geddy Lee, guitarist Alex Lifeson, and drummer John Rutsey—yes, you read that right—played an energetic style of blues-rock more akin to Led Zeppelin, Cream, The Who, Blue Cheer, and Aerosmith than the Yes-, Genesis-, and King Crimson-inspired works Rush would soon become known for.
No ten-minute story-Songs or side-length epics here! Rush features lyrics about rocking, rolling, working, and getting some, courtesy of Lee when Rutsey, originally in charge of lyrics, decided to toss out his lyrics shortly before recording was to commence. Lee, not really a poet at the age of 21, did his best, leaving us with gems like “Hey baby, it’s a quarter to eight/I feel I’m in the mood” and “Well I get up at seven, yeah, and I go to work at nine/I got no time for livin’, yeah, ‘cause I’m workin’ all the time.” A far cry from the mouthfuls of big words and big ideas Lee would be singing mere months later when Neil Peart replaced Rutsey on the drum stool and lyric sheet.
But that was later. Rush is rock, plain and simple.
Note well, though, that Rush was not Rush’s first recorded output. That honor goes to the band’s 1973 debut single, an amped-up cover of Buddy Holly’s “Not Fade Away,” a part of Rush’s setlist during its club-playing days, backed with the original “You Can’t Fight It.” “Not Fade Away” is all right; just somewhat anemic compared to how the band surely intended it, with Geddy’s wailing vocals and Rutsey’s drums sounding tentative and Lifeson’s solo fading out before it really gets a chance to take off. “You Can’t Fight It” actually fares better, displaying more energy, swagger, and creativity in arrangement despite being a pretty simple blast of chugging blues rock. I give both A/B sides together a 5.8.
Back to Rush. There are some fans of this album, and the band generally, who claim that this is their best work, that it all went downhill one Peart joined. While I respect people’s opinions, some, like this, are just wrong. Rush is a fun album, showing a lot of promise. Had the band done nothing else, it would remain an interesting footnote in rock history—Canadian youths being discovered by Cleveland-by-way- of-Boston DJ Donna Halper,1 whose support2 launched the band’s career in the United States and kickstarted their touring days with support slots for groups like ZZ Top and Uriah Heep . . .
. . . but Rutsey left Rush few months after the album's release,3 with his final show being July 25, 1974, leaving Lee and Lifeson scrambling to find a drummer before their first U.S. tour began that August. And boy did they! But that’s a story for another day.
Ultimately, the legacy of Rush is a legacy of what ifs—What if Rutsey didn’t quit? What if the band found a different drummer than Neil Peart? What if they just all packed it in then and there?—and of what came next.
That said, difficult as it is to judge Rush on its own merits in isolation from the band’s monumental legacy, we shall try. What might strike those who know the band from albums like 2112 or Moving Pictures or Roll the Bones or Clockwork Angels is how ordinary Rush sounds, how conventional. Sure, Lifeson’s furious riffing on opener “Finding My Way” does provide a, pardon the pun, head rush, and the band plays with undeniable energy and abandon, chops honed through years of hard gigging in Toronto and surrounding areas, but their Cream-meets-Zeppelin songwriting definitely won’t win any awards for originality.
And yet, Rush shows promise in the songs and, particularly, the arrangements; even here, Rush demonstrates their ability to add new wrinkles to their songs to keep the boredom at bay. And of course, one cannot talk about Rush without discussing the band’s instrumental prowess . . . well, two-thirds of the band’s, at least. Even at age 21, Lifeson’s playing displays an aggressive, inventive fluidity, and his refusal to play only basic chords is manifest. Lee’s bass playing is dexterous and prominent, while his vocals, always a love-them-or-hate- them proposition, are so high and screechy that I doubt Robert Plant or Ozzy Osbourne could’ve matched them in their heydays. And Rutsey . . . well, his drumming does what it needs to do: his beats and fills don’t stand out, but they do fit the songs and propel them forward.
“Working Man” was the hit, the song from this album everybody knows, the one that made Ms. Halper’s ears perk up one day at WMMS. The thunderous riff, mid-tempo stomp that gave way to a freewheeling, lengthy instrumental passage, and lyrics of blue-collar lament made it the perfect blues-rock-proto metal for music fans in gritty blue-collar Cleveland. Many later Rush hallmarks are also present in the song: strong bass work, long guitar solos that stay interesting, abrupt shifts in tone and tempo, and furious unison riffing. More importantly, even on small-scale drama like “Working man,” Rush displayed their ability to connect with listeners. There never was any artifice or condescension with Rush: they always met listeners where they were, because Rush was there too. There’s a reason “Working Man” remained a staple of the band’s setlist up until their final show in 2015.4
None of Rush’s other songs quite reach such heights, though a few try mightily. Fan favorite “In the Mood,” another long-time concert favorite, features a cock-rock riff worthy of any 1970s mainstay along with lines that got about as horny as Rush ever did. It’s dumb, but it’s played with such infectious enthusiasm you can’t help but have fun with it. “Need Some Love” is an up-tempo boogie with typically creative Lifeson flourishes, drum breaks that aren’t quite John Bonham-esque, and a Zeppelin-inspired breakdown under the guitar solo. Nervy “Take a Friend” could be by Bad Company, but with for more energy and swagger then that band could ever muster.
It’s not all loud guitars, though, just mostly. “Before and After” offers stylistic diversity with pleasant, country tinged acoustic guitars that give way to a mellow instrumental—you think you’re in for a ballad before the band launches into a driving Aerosmith-style riff some two minutes in. I do appreciate the spacious groove during the song's guitar solo. Creative stuff. Lastly, “What You're Doing” is a true highlight, an ascending riff and lockstep groove coupled with the linear, unison guitar/bass runs Rush would later become known for. Only “Here Again” really drags; it’s a turgid bluesy number with an interesting vocal melody and an almost rebetiko (“Greek blues”) vibe they’d expand to better effect on later work, notably the “No One at the Bridge” section of 1975’s multi-part epic “The Fountain of Lamneth.” and the “Soliloquy” section of 1976’s 2112. Here, it just sounds stuck in second gear.
All in all, Rush is not a bad start to a career, despite how derivative it is. But you must remember that these guys were barely into their 20s at the time, and grew up listening to all the bands they sounded like. Still, Rush shows a lot of promise, and the years have been kind to Halper’s trust in them, plucking the album from the audio slush pile and giving the good folks of Cleveland a band they could call their own. So thanks, Donna! And thanks Cleveland! You do, indeed, rock.
Rutsey would leave the band in the summer of 1974, Lee and Lifeson would recruit Peart, and the band would enjoy a long, storied career. But without Rutsey and his vision for the band—according to Lee, Rutsey was very much the leader in those early days—Rush might never have left the Toronto suburbs. Rutsey passed away in 2008, but his legacy lasted far beyond his time in the limelight. For that, much thanks is owed.
Rush
Finding My Way
Need Some Love
Take a Friend
Here Again
What You’re Doing
In the Mood
Before and After
Working Man
Shameless self-promotion time: I had the pleasure of interviewing Ms. Halper by telephone back in 2020 for my book Dreamers & Misfits: The Definitive Book About Rush Fans. She is an incredibly gracious and interesting lady, generous with her time and full of great stories involving rock and roll legends. Donna, if you ever read this, I still owe you that coffee.
Here’s another testament to Rush’s do-it-yourself attitude and why it’s so endearing to so many fans: after footing the bill for recording Rush and failing to find a label, the band created their own, Moon, and managed to distribute some 3,500 copies in Canada. A pressing of the original Moon release made it’s way to Donna Halper when she was working at WMMS in Cleveland, Ohio, and its popularity led Mercury Records, a subsidiary of Universal, to sign the band.
Both Lee and Lifeson have been a bit cagey regarding Rutsey’s departure from the band, with Lee’s otherwise excellent 2023 memoir My Effin’ Life only providing slightly more insight. However, across all discussion of the matter, (a) Rutsey’s health issues due to his diabetes and (b) his general distaste of the touring lifestyle and the damage the party hard rock n’ roll lifestyle id to his health due to said diabetes, are consistent rationale. Although Lee describes the slightly older Rutsey as being a very moody guy, with behavior that struck this reader as textbook bi-polar depression, the important thing is that Rutsey knew that his physical and mental health were more important than his rock n’ roll dreams, and managed to live life on his terms before sadly passing away due to diabetes-related complications at the tender age of 55. RIP John Rutsey.
When I saw Geddy Lee in November of 2023 on his book tour for his memoirs, a fan asked him if Alex Lifeson and the late Neil Peart could join him right then and they could play three songs, what would the songs be? Lee, without hesitation, said “The Garden” and “Headlong Flight,” both from Rush’s final studio album, 2012’s Clockwork Angels, and then “Working Man,” because it was the song that started it all.
Love this.
I'd be happy to read your thoughts on the entire Rush discography!
"What if" questions are always fun. I always wonder what would have happened if Green Day didn't sell out with American Idiot and actually made the Foxboro Hottubs album their real follow-up to Warning like it was originally supposed to be. (Now that's a suggestion for an album to review. "Stop, Drop, and Roll!" is a legitimately great rock n roll album)
This album used to be inescapable in Canada back in the 90s and 00s. Every CD store that had a classic rock or Rush section (or both) ALWAYS had this album out front. For whatever reason, Canada really thought this one represented the band the best. I don't know why. It's a good rock record and a good debut but it's hard to believe some people think it's their best. Maybe it's just the striking logo cover, I don't know.
Anyway, great look back!