Cheap Fly by Night (Music) (Rush) Price

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Customer Reviews of Fly by Night

No sophomore jinx here with Peart's arrival
Rush's second album entitled Fly by Night was released in February of 1975. The album was the first since the departure of original drummer John Rutsey and the addition of rock drummer supreme and chief lyric writer to this day Neil Peart. Peart's membership helped guide the band to a more progressive, powerful sound than they had with the Zeppelin influenced debut. His contributions musically and lyrically were and still are huge. It's important to note that in being an important album, Fly by Night is a great one. The album begins with Anthem, a fiery-played rocker with Peart's first lyrics written for the band. Rivendell sounds like a medieval minstrel's song somewhat. Gentle classical guitar accompanies Lee's vocals which were at his lowest singing range for the first time ever on a Rush track. The track is great despite the fact many fans despise it. The title track is the most recognized song on the album and is still played on rock radio today. The closing epic In the End starts off with great acoustic playing from Alex that leads into a great rocker to close this masterpiece. The best song on this album hands down is the epic By-Tor and the Snow Dog, which was the band's first epic and was resurrected on the Vapor Trails tour in 2002 as documented on Rush in Rio. The band play their instruments in superb ways to convey the battle between By-Tor, the prince of the underworld, and the Snow Dog, a beasty-monster-thing. Rush were still maturing but they were on the road to success. Eventually, this album would go Platinum in later years after they achieved mass stardom. This album is recommended!

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No followup jinx for Canada's finest
Rush's second album entitled Fly by Night was released in February of 1975. The album was the first since the departure of original drummer John Rutsey and the addition of rock drummer supreme and chief lyric writer to this day Neil Peart. Peart's membership helped guide the band to a more progressive, powerful sound than they had with the Zeppelin influenced debut. His contributions musically and lyrically were and still are huge. It's important to note that in being an important album, Fly by Night is a great one. The album begins with Anthem, a fiery-played rocker with Peart's first lyrics written for the band. Rivendell sounds like a medieval minstrel's song somewhat. Gentle classical guitar accompanies Lee's vocals which were at his lowest singing range for the first time ever on a Rush track. The track is great despite the fact many fans despise it. The title track is the most recognized song on the album and is still played on rock radio today. The closing epic In the End starts off with great acoustic playing from Alex that leads into a great rocker to close this masterpiece. The best song on this album hands down is the epic By-Tor and the Snow Dog, which was the band's first epic and was resurrected on the Vapor Trails tour in 2002 as documented on Rush in Rio. The band play their instruments in superb ways to convey the battle between By-Tor, the prince of the underworld, and the Snow Dog, a beasty-monster-thing. Rush were still maturing but they were on the road to success. Eventually, this album would go Platinum in later years after they achieved mass stardom. This album is recommended!

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4.5 stars - The classic Rush lineup is born
Fly By Night (1975.) Rush's second album.

Over the years, Rush has become a worldwide progressive rock sensation. No matter how many years pass, this band will always have a large fan following. Hard as it may be to believe, there was a time when Rush's fan following wasn't very large. Their first album (featuring original drummer John Rutsey), while very good, was deemed a Led Zeppelin rip-off by many a rock and roll fan. Following the release of the 1974 debut, drummer John Rutsey was replaced by the more popular and better-received Neil Peart. Peart's songwriting is one of the things that shot the band to such great heights, and this was his first album with the band. Peart, along with guitar genius Alex Lifeson and bassist/vocalist Geddy Lee, released their second album in 1975. How does Fly By Night measure up? Read on for my review.

This was only Rush's second album, but already, you can see a pretty large change in their sound. Geddy Lee's vocals sound better here than they did on the first album. Likewise, Alex Lifeson, though he played excellent guitar on the debut, plays even better on this album. This guy is SO underrated! Admittingly, this album does NOT feature a full transition of the band's sound, though. You might call this album the "halfway point" in the band changing their sound from straight-up rock to progressive rock. In a lot of ways, this album does resemble the stylings from the debut, but in more ways, it seems like something new. Peart, unlike his predecessor John Rutsey, participates heavily in the band's songwriting, and it really shows. The title track from this album was the first Rush song I ever heard, and it hooked me almost instantly. From the moment I heard that song, I knew I would grow to love this band. While the title track is the only popular song, it's far from being the only excellent song on here. There are a series of rockers that, while similar to one another, all manage to maintain a sense of individuality. There are even a few softer, slower-paced songs toward the end, confirming the band's progressive rock tag. In the end, this album is a true masterpiece of classic rock. Not Rush's finest hour, but damn fine nonetheless.

In 1997, Mercury Records remastered and rereleased the Rush catalogue. At long last, Mercury made these masterpieces readily available to the public once again. The remastered sound sounds great, and the liner notes are nice, recapturing the original cover art excellently. I wish they would have included some bonus tracks, but I guess we can't have everything. Oh, well.

Fly By Night is the album that truly marked Rush's transition towards the sound that would make them rock and roll legends. Following the release of this album, the band would take their sound in an even more progressive direction, and succeed beautifully at it. And this is where the progression all began. Whether you're the Rush completist who is trying to fill in the missing spots in your collection, or you're the Rush newbie who is trying to find an excellent introduction to the band, this album is strongly recommended.