RUSH

Rush's debut album as many have already noted is not a progressive rock album. But then again, when one really analyzes Rush's discography, one realizes that Rush has never been a firmly rooted progressive act either (despite being one of the best). They simply had too many influences to stick to one particular style. A key element of Rush's sound has been their hard rock influences and these influences were clearly demonstrated on their first album. There is nothing remotely progressive about this: it's your standard 70s blues rock album. BUT, in spite of its somewhat different sound from future releases, it's a pretty good album. Upon approaching this album, I was hesitant to listen to it: I worried it would be mediocre, and only able to yield a few hits (like working man etc.). I was actually very pleasantly surprised. The album, though hard rock, does have a certain unique feel to it, and Lifeson's guitar solos are somewhat atypical for blues solos. I was glad to find hidden gems throughout the album. The best song is definitely Here Again, a nice slow and agonizingly powerful blues ballad, rooted in a much more rootsy type of blues that I've always preferred. Rush could have easily adopted the boring, stale Clapton-esque type of blues rock that so plagued the 1970s, but no, they opted for something much more raw.

It's not their best album but it's definitely a rewarding listen, and it's surprisingly very good. I would argue actually that it's not a "completionist's" album because many of these songs were actually played on Rush's set lists for a long time. There are plenty of future albums that have long been forgotten from Rush's set list (like Caress of Steel etc.) but this one seems to have endured despite being often considered a sub-par album. If you're getting into Rush, this is definitely NOT the place to start as it does not accurately capture their definitive sound, but if you picked this one, it wouldn't have been a terrible choice.