In not much more than a year, they'd gone from writing a blue-collar anthem like Working Man to crafting a trippy tale of Hades to close out side one of their second album.

In retrospect, it was Rush's creative tipping point. And in 1975's Fly By Night, they had not only created a Juno Award-winning, platinum-selling record, but also found themselves in the elevated position of the next Canadian band 'most likely to.'īut Rush, not least Lee and guitarist Alex Lifeson, were becoming constrained by the more pointed - some might say inhibited - writing that populated their debut and were keen to push the creative envelope with the weighty, atmospheric battle of the underworld also known as By-Tor & The Snow Dog. Gene Simmons and Kiss had taken Rush under their wing, and they'd lost one drummer only to gain another who, as Geddy remembers, 'knew a lot of fancy words'. Lee's been batting away break-up rumours all afternoon when Prog sits down with him to talk about a time within Rush when it wasn't their fans or the media who thought they were calling it day, but the band themselves - though not by choice.īetween March 1974 and April 1976, Rush had released four studio albums and in doing so had careered between bluesy bar band and theatre headliners, at least in some parts of Canada and the US. He's here to talk about the band's latest, and possibly last, concert DVD, Rush: R40 Live, amid rumours of his band's demise and on the day when drummer Neil Peart appears to have dropped a bombshell via an essay for Drumhead magazine that suggests he's finally retired from the band. We just figured it was going to be our last hurrah, the one last time Rush got to make an album.' Geddy Lee is sitting in the Milestone Hotel overlooking the swish Kensington Court in West London. 'I think it's fair to say we didn't I feel defiant doing it. Lee, Lifeson and Peart talk about 2112, as the classic album turns 40. The album that turned Rush into prog superstars - but which could have destroyed the band. Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, and Neil Peart talks us through the creation of 2112,

One part hard rock, two parts progressive ambition, and the band was off in a prolific and singular direction.By Philip Wilding, Dave Everley, Geddy Lee

'Beneath, Between and Behind' sounds like a drag race between drummer, guitarist and singer to see who can twist and turn with greater dexterity. Peart's unusual sensibility can be heard in the nearly nine-minute epic 'By-Tor and the Snow Dog,' the extra flicker driving 'Anthem' and the graceful, jazzy touches of 'Making Memories.' Singer Geddy Lee pushes his voice to the upper reaches of his range. Mostly, this was the result of new drummer Neil Peart, whose inquisitive lyrics and extra polyrhythmic emphasis would make them arena-rock superstars before decade's end. This Canadian trio's self-titled debut proved the band was adept at the heavy blues-rock of the era, but it was with its second album, 1975's Fly By Night, that Rush established its signature sound: a mix of studio wizardry and athletic musicianship coupled with a desire to break past conventional songforms.

By tor and the snow dog