Rush 1973 to 1982 On Track

Rush. In their own words, ‘The World’s Biggest Cult Band’, started from humble beginnings: three suburban teenagers. Alex Lifeson, Geddy Lee, and John Rutsey formed a Led Zeppelin-influenced trio, eventually scratching a living playing the bars and clubs of their native Toronto. A hard work ethic, no small amount of talent, and a slice of good fortune enabled their first, self-financed and distributed album to gain a foothold in the American market.And then, on the eve of their first American tour, drummer Rutsey quit. Fortune smiled on them again when auditions for a replacement shed builder produced Neil Peart, who could not only drum like a demon but was adept at lyric writing. Sharing a love of the then emerging progressive rock scene, the trio embarked on crafting a series of albums from the ‘second’ debut, Fly By Night, to the career-defining and best-selling masterpiece Moving Pictures; records which would secure them a permanent place in the rock hierarchy.This book reviews all these albums up to Signals, their 1982 release, which saw the band embracing keyboard technology and severing their connections with long-time producer Terry Brown, the unofficial fourth member of the trio.