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Rush: Fly by Night

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s


Label: Mercury Records
Released: 1975.02.15
Time:
 37:38
Category: Progressive Rock, Hard Rock
Producer(s): Rush, Terry Brown
Rating:
Media type: CD
Web address: www.rush.com
Appears with:
Purchase date: 2015
Price in €: 1,00





 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] Anthem (Neil Peart, Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson) - 4:26
[2] Best I Can (Geddy Lee, Geddy Lee) - 3:24
[3] Beneath, Between & Behind (Neil Peart, Alex Lifeson) - 3:00
[4] By-Tor & the Snow Dog (Neil Peart, Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson) - 8:37
    I: At The Tobes Of Hades - 0:36
    II: Across The Styx - 0:35
    III: Of The Battle - 6:23
        a. Challenge And Defiance - 0:36
        b. 7/4 War Furor - 2:44
        c. Aftermath - 1:59
        d. Hymn Of Triumph - 1:04
    IV: Epilogue - 1:03
[5] Fly by Night (Neil Peart, Geddy Lee) - 3:20
[6] Making Memories (Neil Peart, Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson) - 2:56
[7] Rivendell (Neil Peart, Geddy Lee) - 5:00
[8] In the End (Geddy Lee, Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson) - 6:51

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


Geddy Lee - Lead Vocals, Bass Guitar, Classical Guitar, Producer
Alex Lifeson - Guitars, Producer
Neil Peart - Drums, Percussion, Priducer

Terry Brown - Arranger, Engineer, Producer
John Woloschuk - Assistant Engineer
Gilbert Kong - Mastering
Bob Ludwig - Re-Mastering
Brian Lee - Re-Mastering
Jim Ladwig - Art Direction
Joe Kotleba - Design
Eraldo Carugati - Paintings
Richard Fegley - Photography

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


Recorded in December 1974 – January 1975 at Toronto Sound Studios in Toronto, Canada.



Fly by Night was recorded at Toronto Sound Studios on Overlea Boulevard in Toronto, where they recorded parts of their first album as well as their next two albums, Caress of Steel and 2112.

John Rutsey left the band, and with one week’s notice, Neil Peart joined the band for Rush’s first American tour. In addition to drumming duties, Neil also took on the job of lyricist, leading the band to adopt a more literary lyrical style that differed significantly from their self-titled debut album.

    “We’re very happy with It. We recorded it as an album. Singles would be nice, but that’s incidental.” – Geddy Lee, 1975

“By-Tor & the Snow Dog” was inspired by Rush roadie Howard Ungerleider’s story of staying at manager Ray Danniels’ house, where Danniels’ German Shepherd growled at him and his other small dog tried to jump on him. Ungerleider told Rush about it and they thought it was hilarious.

© 2015 RUSH



Prior to one of Rush's first U.S. tours, original drummer John Rutsey split from the band, since he wasn't prepared to commit to the band's rigorous touring schedule. And it proved to be a blessing in disguise, since his replacement was to become one of the most respected rock drummers of all time, Neil Peart, who would also steer the band towards success with more challenging material - starting with Fly by Night. While the title track and the album-closing ballad, "In the End," still had Zeppelin roots, the album isn't as straightforward as the debut. Rush's first bona-fide classic, "Anthem," is included, while the over eight-minute "By-Tor and the Snow Dog" helped pave the way for the group's future epics ("2112," "Cygnus X-1," etc.), and introduced the fans to Peart's imaginative lyric writing, often tinged with science-fiction themes. The reflective and melodic "Making Memories" is an underrated early composition, while "Beneath, Between, & Behind" is a furious heavy rocker. Fly by Night may not be one of Rush's finest albums, but it is one of their most important - it showed that the young band was leaving their Zep-isms behind in favor of a more challenging and original direction.

Greg Prato - All Music Guide



Fly By Night is technically the second Rush album — though, from a creative standpoint, it’s the true starting point of the band’s genius. With the addition of lyricist-drum god Neil Peart, bassist-frontman Geddy Lee and guitarist Alex Lifeson were finally able to propel their music to its proggy peaks.

Peart joined Rush on July 29, 1974, following the departure of original drummer John Rutsey and the release of the band’s self-titled debut LP. In December, Rush Mach 2.0 entered Toronto Sound Studios with producer Terry Brown, pursuing a more complex — and, overall, more satisfying — musical direction.

Peart’s drumming brought focus and zest to the band’s arrangements, best evidenced by the frenzied tom-tom fills the shapeshifting title-track and the propulsive assault of opener “Anthem.” But he made as much of an impact as a lyricist, adding another dimension to their style with his fanciful images and compelling narratives. (Lee and Lifeson, who’d disinterestedly written the words on their debut, quickly saddled the newbie with this new role after noticing his prolific reading.)

On the wintry acoustic ballad “Rivendell,” Peart earned further prog credentials by romanticizing the titular elven utopia (the “elven songs and endless nights”) from The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. But “By-Tor & the Snow Dog” was a true breakthrough for the band, marking their first attempt at a pseudo-longform prog-rock epic. Manic riffs, tumbling drum solos, ambient textures: This track, with its four stitched-together sections, crammed all of the band’s musical ambition into one eight-minute blast.

Its beginnings were far less grandiose. “People think we’re such a serious band,” Lee told Prog Magazine in 2013, “but really, we’re just your typical idiots. ‘By-Tor and the Snow Dog’ was a joke that got out of control. Our manager Ray had two dogs, and Howard Ungerleider — our lighting guy — called them Biter and Snow Dog. We must have been high one day, imagining a song about these two dogs. And then Neil went ahead and wrote it.”

Lee says that this sudden shift in direction — toward nerdy mythology and winding song structures — worried the record company brass, who’d expected the band to continue cranking out simple, hard-rock tracks like their breakout regional hit “Working Man.” “They said, ‘This is not the same,” he continued. “What is this ‘By-Tor’ sh–? You were talking about ‘Working Man,’ and now you’re talking about this crazy stuff.’ It was a bit of hiccup in the plan they had for us.”

But even back in 1975, Rush knew Fly By Night represented a re-birth — and they were dead-set on chasing their expansive vision wherever it took them. “It showed a progression from the first album,” Lee told Circus Raves that same year. “We’re very happy with it. We recorded it as an album. Singles would be nice, but that’s incidental.”

Released on February 15, 1975, Fly By Night cracked the Billboard 200 at No. 113 — a slight dip from the performance of their debut, which made it to No. 106. But it was clear Rush weren’t interested in bowing down to label demands. In interviews, Rush was already emphasizing Peart’s talents as an unconventional lyricist — particularly on “By-Tor.” “All the music in that relates to the story,” they told Circus Raves. “It has visual sounds, monsters, screeching animals. It’s where we want to head.”

Meanwhile, “Anthem” has become more than the true sing-along classic from Fly By Night. It’s the turning-point moment when everything came together for Rush.

“This song has one particular memory for me that supersedes all: the first time we ever jammed with Neil, first time he auditioned for us,” Lee told Rolling Stone in 2013. “Alex and I had written this riff, and we had written it back in the day when Rutsey was in the band, and Rutsey wasn’t into playing it. It was too complicated, and it wasn’t his thing. He was more into straight-ahead rock and roll. Among the other things, we jammed with Neil the first day we met him on this opening riff. When he started playing, we looked at each other and were like, ‘Yeah, this is the guy. He can play. He’ll do.’ I can’t even ponder what would have happened had we not met him. Life is bizarre. Twists and turns. Fate brought him to our doorstep that day, and, quite happily, we are still hanging out together.”

Lifeson also noted the significance of “Anthem” in a 2013 career overview with Guitar World. “We were trying to be quite individual with Fly by Night, which was the first record that Neil, Geddy and I did together,” he said. “That song was the signature for that album. Coincidentally, the name of our record company, which is Anthem Records in Canada, came from this song. Neil was in an Ayn Rand [author of The Fountainhead] period, so he wrote the song about being very individual. We thought we were doing something that was different from everybody else.”

In 1975, Rush were still forming their identity as a trio. Tellingly, the album’s writing credits remain a bit scattered: Lee wrote the lyrics for the straight-ahead, by-numbers rocker “Best I Can” and the music on “Rivendell” and the title-track, while Lifeson is solely credited for the music on the pogoing “Beneath, Between & Behind.” As arrangers, Rush were miles away from the majestical sprawl of 2112 or Hemispheres — and they hadn’t quite shed their early Led Zep-Cream obsession.

But Rush’s second album proved they were more than simple-minded “Working Men.” They were sonic and lyrical dreamers on the verge of becoming progressive rock icons. Decades later, the explosive energy and charm of Fly By Night make it just as vital.

Ryan Reed - February 15, 2015
ultimateclassicrock.com



Fly by Night is the second studio album by Canadian rock band Rush, released in February 1975.

This was the first Rush album to feature drummer Neil Peart in place of original drummer John Rutsey, who retired from the band due to diabetes and dislike of touring. Peart also became the band's main lyricist, leading the band to adopt a more literary lyrical style that differed significantly from their self-titled debut album. The songs "By-Tor & the Snow Dog" and "Rivendell" are examples of the inclusion of fantasy themes into Rush's music. The line-up of Peart, bassist and singer Geddy Lee, and guitarist Alex Lifeson has remained the same ever since.

"By-Tor & the Snow Dog" was inspired by Rush roadie Howard Ungerleider's story of him staying at Anthem records manager Ray Danniels's house, where Danniels's German Shepherd growled at him, and a tiny dog also owned by Danniels tried to jump on him. Ungerleider told the band members about the incident, which they found hilarious.

"Anthem" features lyrics inspired by elements of the philosophy of Ayn Rand, whose influence on Peart's writing would reach its apogee on Rush's 1976 album 2112. The autobiographical title track is based on Peart's experience of moving from Canada to London as a young musician (before joining Rush). The original hand-penned lyrics for both "Anthem" and "Fly by Night" include different or additional lyrics not sung in the original songs. The original lyrics to "Fly by Night" include a prologue which is not found in the recorded version of the song.

On the original vinyl release, the chimes heard at the end of "By-Tor & the Snow Dog" continue into the locked groove, and thus play indefinitely on manual record players.

Fly by Night was recorded at Toronto Sound Studios on Overlea Boulevard in Toronto. Rush also recorded parts of their first album at the same studio. Since the first album sessions, the studio had upgraded its equipment from a Cadac console with an Ampex MM-1000 two-inch 16-track and a MM-1000 8-track, to a two-inch analog 24-track master tape recorder. Pictures shown on the album artwork indicate that the studio used a 24-track recorder made by Studer and a Neve mixing console, a combination that was widely considered to be state-of-the-art by audio engineers. These were the preferred brands by many top studios worldwide up through the mid-1990s when digital recording equipment became the standard. Fly by Night is the band's first album to be produced by Terry Brown, who had remixed the band's debut album. Brown would maintain this role through 1982's Signals. The high fidelity recording of Fly by Night helped move the band forward in a direction that piqued the interest of audiophiles, who would seek out this type of recording while also getting familiar with the band's material. It set an early standard of excellence in this area not often prioritized by the harder rock bands of the mid-1970s rock era.

Wikipedia.org
 

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