RUSH

You know how Journey replaced Steve Perry with the new young guy. They still sound almost as good as Journey with Steve Perry, but they're not nearly as cool and they don't get nearly as much press. This analogy applies to the Rush debut as well, but replace Steve Perry with Robert Plant and the new young guy with Geddy Lee. In 1974, Rush sounded almost as good as Zeppelin did, but they weren't nearly as cool, and they certainly weren't getting as much press.

Lucky for us, the album is still good in places and great in others and showed enough potential for Rush to keep recording. It's also important to note that this is the only Rush album sans Neil Peart, and it's noticeable in terms of drumming and lyrics. The lyrics lack any meaning beyond what they say on the surface, which is fine; it's just not typical of later Rush.

"Finding My Way" and "Working Man" get most of the attention, and they are great, but my favorite here is "Before and After," which has a great acoustic intro and build up. "Here Again" is also underrated. The other four are pretty average rockers, and could be b-sides on any early Zeppelin album, which is a compliment in itself.

All in all, the debut showed that they could certainly handle their instruments and write great songs, and more importantly, it set the stage for things to come. More at www.rushmusicreveiws.com