s e a n

Fly By Night was the first Rush album to feature Neil Peart, and shows a band still finding its feet. Musically, they are still deeply rooted in the heavy metal style of the first album, although Peart's superior drumming gives Lee and Lifeson more to work with than they may have had before. Lyrically this isn't exactly a stunning triumph, falling into the trap of crossing Ayn Rand and Gary Gygax too often, although even these forays into the Tobes of Hades are preferable to stuff like "Best I Can", which is a Zeppish throwback (throwaway) to the first album, or "Rivendell", which is just a snoozefest. I actually have to admit to enjoying the over-top silliness of "By-Tor and the Snow Dog", but it's not something I can take too seriously. There are more worthwhile moments here, with the anthemic "In The End" and the critical-of-America "Beneath, Between and Behind" probably being my favorites. All the same, this album is still very formative and balances out the good with generous helpings of bad and ugly. The best material was to come much later. review by Sean McFee — 9-3-00 —

j o e

With their second studio release, musically Rush were still drawing from the well of Led Zeppelin, but were also increasingly flirting with those idioms commonly associated with progressive rock. The electric songs are full of meaty riffs a la Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones, though everything moves with a more sprightly touch. The E minor riffing doubled-down on guitar and bass that made Zeppelin legendary by their first two albums is particularly noteworthy on the opening "Anthem," an early expression of Peart's interest in novelist-philosopher Ayn Rand. In fact, he would very soon take the novella from Rand that gave the track its name and use it to form the plot basis of their side-long epic on 2112. But what would those objectivism references be without a good dose of fantasy references to balance them out? "Rivendell" is obviously a paean to that usually conveniently assigned but in this case glaringly true stalwart of prog rock influence, novelist J.R.R. Tolkien. By 'glaring,' we're talking Elvin script spelling out English words (giggle giggle) in the lyric sheet. "By-Tor and the Snow Dog," an early stab at a prog rock EPIC [echo echo], features subtitles like "7/4 War Furor" and lyrics like "By-Tor! Knight of Darkness! Centurion of Evil!" with Geddy Lee's vocals shattering glass at ten paces. For the lyrics of these two, as well as "Beneath, Between, & Behind" (opening lines: "Ten score years ago, defeat the kingly foe..."), if you can hold back your laughter at the adolescence of it all, you are a better man than I. The best moments the album has to offer can be found in the title track, which has rightly become a radio classic of the band's repertoire. Also good is "Making Memories," where the band drops the kimonos (oh right, we're not quite there yet...) to groove along with acoustic rhythm and slide guitars, singing about life on the road rather than where the banshees live and they do live well. Fly By Night is neither spectacular nor atrocious, but in any case the band would soon deliver much better fare much more consistently. review by Joe McGlinchey — 11-25-07 —

m a t t

The addition of drummer/lyricist/conceptualist Neil Peart had an immediate impact on Rush. They were still basically a hard rock band, but they also began to incorporate some diversity into their sound and the sci-fi/fantasy content of "By-Tor and the Snow Dog" and "Rivendell" hinted at things to come. The overall change in the band's style isn't dramatic, though, and obvious traces of Rush's influences still abound on much of this album. I think that Fly By Night is an improvement over the band's debut, but it's still nothing to write home about. I would say that the better material here is stronger than the best stuff on the band's first album, even if the weaker songs sound worse — resulting in an overall impression of mediocrity. Two songs — "Anthem" and "Beneath, Between, Behind" — stand out to me as the best stuff that Rush had recorded to this point. "Anthem" starts the album off with a bang. It's a high-energy rock song that is the first Rush tune to really take advantage of Geddy Lee's unique, high-pitched wail. "Beneath, Between, Behind" follows suit; it's almost as raw but it's more melodic and it has a more memorable chorus. Neil Peart's wild drum fills and Alex Lifeson's speedy guitar riffing work well on these songs. Also of note is the title track, a hard rock pop song which would go on to become a staple of classic rock radio. There isn't a whole lot else that I like about the album, though. "Making Memories" is OK, if somewhat slight, and there are some passages in the "By-Tor" suite where Alex Lifeson shows that he definitely had arrived as a major guitar player. Ultimately, however, I think that "By-Tor" is more significant insofar as what it portended for Rush's future, rather than for what it is. The whole piece is on shaky conceptual ground to begin with, but once the growling starts (the musical depiction of By-Tor and the Snowdog fighting, I guess) it becomes so unintentionally funny that I don't know how anyone can help but laugh; surely, this is not the reaction that the band was going for. "Rivendell" — an interminable acoustic dirge with Lord of the Rings subject matter — is downright putrid. Fly By Night finishes with "In the End," a generic, Led Zeppelin-inspired rocker that could have been an outtake from the band's first album. On the plus side, Fly By Night does have a bright, punchy production that suits the music. Most of Rush's earlier albums sound poorly produced to my ears, but Fly By Night is definitely an exception. review by Matt P. — 8-1-06 —

g a r y v

From the very first bars of "Anthem" ­ a tribute to Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism ­ it's apparent that new member Neil Peart brings a new dimension to Rush: lyrics that can mean something, as well as monstrous drumming that will prove legendary in the annals of rock. And the Lee/Lifeson/Peart formula will remain completely stable, at least through the time of this writing a quarter century later. Fly By Night reveals that the band had one foot in their imminent sci-fi/fantasy future and one foot still in their primitive Rush past. But the musicianship has been ratcheted up a few notches: Lee's basswork begins to raise a few eyebrows and Peart's drumming is infinitely more interesting than his predecessor's. The music is still very guitar-heavy ­ approaching metal ­ and the band dips its collective toe into unfamiliar waters with the drawn-out fantasy epic "By-Tor and the Snow Dog", featuring Lifeson's growling guitar noises and a few time sig shifts. But for every "Anthem" powerhouse or "By-Tor" experiment there's a "Rivendell" (the less said about which the better) or a "Best I Can" (with the garish AC/DC-like lyrics,"I got an itchin' to rock!"). If you become a fire-breathing Rush fan you'll want to collect Fly By Night eventually. But for the initiate, mine other Rush territory before venturing here; the payoff is much greater elsewhere. review by Gary Varney — 8-16-00 —