Fly by Night [Remaster] - Rush (CD 1997)

A month ago now, in anticipation of the new Rush album Snakes and Arrows, I went to Rush's website and gave a listen to their new single Far Cry. After doing this, I did the exact same thing I did five years ago when I first heard the single One Little Victory from Vapor Trails....went back and listened to Fly By Night.

Why? I just love the sound and the overall simplicity of this album. By simplicity, I'm not referring to the playing, but the straight forward and clean production and the song arrangements, which were not too complex back then. And, of course, I absolutely love the songs. I doubt that Rush could ever make an album as hard hitting and immediate, yet as simple and charming as Fly By Night ever again...but wouldn't it be nice if they could?

The original record sleeve (reproduced for the remastered CD) has the song lyrics hand written out, with little drawings by Neil Peart to go along with each song. Peart even draws and hand writes the words for the two songs he DIDN'T write the lyrics for, Best I Can and In The End. The drawings give this album a charm and a sort of innocence that is missing from most of their other albums.The lyric sheet for the song Fly By Night includes a prologue which is not sung. There are also photos of the road crew and producer Terry Brown.

The first half of the album was a continuation of the heavy rock of the first album, but the songs were a little more complex and the musicianship had moved up a notch or three, mainly due to the acquisition of drummer Neil Peart, who would also supply most of the lyrics. With Peart on board, Rush now had one of the busiest and most musically proficient rhythm sections in hard rock and/or progressive hard rock. Rush never could have done a song like the album's Ayn Rand inspired Anthem with original drummer John Rutsey, for both the music AND the lyrics.

Geddy was still singing and screeching in that unbelievably high falsetto of his, coming up with some catchy and sing-alongable vocal melodies, pitched so high that nobody else could sing along with him. His voice was not for everyone back then....neither (in my opinion) was Alex Lifeson's lead guitar playing, with his extensive use of the wah-wah pedal, which I found annoying at times. He did come up with some fine guitar solos, though, especially on the title track, the slow, dirge-like section of Bytor and the Snowdog and the album's closer In The End.

Geddy Lee writes both the music AND the words for the album's second cut, the straight forward, both musically and lyrically, hard rockin' Best I Can. It is a rare opportunity to hear a young Geddy talking or singing about himself (with a 'this is me and you can kiss my butt if you don't like it' attitude) and it is all the more better for it. Heck, Neil Peart could never write lyrics like "Got an itching to rock..", or "Rock and rollin's a scream, making million's my dream, well I do that alot". Then again, maybe that's just WHY he started writing most of the words....

Beneath, Between & Behind is a rare Lifeson/Peart collaboration and it rocks out about as heavy as anything from the first album, though, once again, the playing is much improved. I particularly like the danceable rhythm Peart tosses in during the last verse..he would do that a lot during future Rush songs.

When people pick on Rush, they usually go after Bytor and The Snow Dog, probably for the lyrics (Rush's first trip into the world of fantasy) and the instrumental section in the middle, where Alex and Geddy make their instruments sound like yapping and growling dogs (all they are actually saying is "hey!"). Clocking in at nearly 9 minutes long, it was not only Rush's longest song to that point, but also their first real foray into progressive rock. I've always liked the song...my brother John and I used to act out to this when we were still young little lads. The live version of this on the DVD Rush/In Rio has a hilarious cartoon to go along with it, showing that the band realized the silliness of the tune, which was inspired by a true story!!@~

As much as I love the heaviness of the first four songs, I actually prefer the more acoustic songs from the second half of the album. When I listen to this album, I always listen to the last four songs first...even though I do admit that I usually skip over Rivendell, the most mellow song Rush has ever done. I think it also one of the most boring songs they have ever done, and it feels much longer than it is. Still, it is rather relaxing and showed off a more mellow side of Geddy's singing. Ged also plays classical guitar on it.

The other three songs, however, are amongst my favorite that Rush have ever done. The second half of the album kicks off with the title track, which I think is one of the catchiest Rush tunes of all time and outer space. I love the main guitar riff (written by Geddy, not Alex), the bass line beneath it, the vocal melody for both the verses and the refrain, the guitar solo, and the overall happy feeling of the song.

That same happy feeling continues on in the next cut, the acoustic guitar driven Making Memories. Lifeson strums out a rhythm on his acoustic guitar that is harder to play than I thought it would be. Just a great song, with Geddy singing with a slight country twang lyrics about being in a rock band and being on the road and traveling from town to town. Some relatively simple rhymes, for Rush, that is, which is one of the reasons I find the song so appealing. I love Neil Peart's drawing for this, which shows a car full of people waving goodbye.

Fly By Night concludes with an another strong, satisfying number, In The End. The first minute and a half are acoustic, with Lee singing in his lower register (which is still pretty high at times), then the band modulate for the second part of the song, with Lifeson playing the same riff on electric guitar. I like Lee or Lifeson's simple and easy to understand lyrics (sample lyric..."I can see what you mean, it just takes me longer, and I can feel what you feel, it just makes you stronger" ), love the riff (of course) and I think Lifeson's guitar solo is one of his best on the album. I have some very nice memories associated with this song...my brothers and I had discovered some old, abandoned houses next to some woods above a highway, and to get there, we used to crawl through some culverts that went underneath the highway. For the picture on the lyric sheet, Peart draws just two headstones...where's the third?

Fly By Night, despite it's tiny little flaws, is one of my favorite Rush albums. If you decide to visit or revisit this album, just try to stay away from Rivendell (unless you're suffering from insomnia) and watch out for that snow dog. I heard his bite is much worse than his bark....