| Rush is the first studio album by Canadian rock band Rush, released in 1974 (see 1974 in music) and remastered in 1997. Rush's first release shows much of the hard rock/blues sound typical of many of the popular rock bands emerging from Britain earlier in the decade. Rush were fans of bands such as Led Zeppelin and Cream and these influences can be heard in most of the songs on this debut. Original drummer John Rutsey was unable to go on extended tours due to diabetes and left the band after the first album was released. Rutsey wrote some lyrics for the debut, but never submitted them to the band and some new lyrics had to be thrown together. He was soon replaced by Neil Peart.
Recording and production
Due to a limited budget, the sessions were scheduled during the late night 'dead' time in studios which, due to lack of activity at those times, had lower rates. Originally the sessions were produced by Dave Stock at Eastern Sound in Toronto. Stock had also worked on the band's debut single (a cover of Buddy Holly's "Not Fade Away" with an original composition "You Can't Fight It" on the B-side). These songs (plus original songs "Fancy Dancer" and "Garden Road") were to be included on the album but were scrapped. Two of the Eastern Sound recordings, "In the Mood" and "Take a Friend" were included on the final album.
However, the band was unhappy with the quality of the first sessions. They moved to Toronto Sound Studios and produced the next sessions themselves while achieving a significant improvement in recording quality. The group added new overdubs to existing backing tracks of "What You're Doing", "Before and After" and "Working Man." The tracks with the most advanced production were recorded entirely at Toronto Sound, "Finding My Way", "Need Some Love", and "Here Again." These new songs took the place of recordings from the earlier sessions. Both studios used 8-channel multitrack recorders which was quite primitive for 1973, but the group quickly learned to make the best use of the technology that was available.
In July 2008, the band discovered an old version of "Working Man" with an alternate guitar solo. They allowed the makers of the popular rhythm game Rock Band to use the master tapes for the songs inclusion. This version of the song, known as "'Working Man' (Vault Edition)", was released as a downloadable song for the game, and later, on July 22, 2008, it was made available to the public through iTunes.
Distribution and release
The band and their management formed their own company, Moon Records, and released the album in Canada. Only 3,500 copies of the original LP were pressed. It was soon picked up by WMMS, a radio station in Cleveland, Ohio. Donna Halper, a DJ working at the station, selected "Working Man" for her regular play list. Copies of the Moon Records album were imported to the Cleveland area and quickly sold out. The song's blue collar theme resonated with hard rock fans and this new found popularity led to the re-release of the album by Mercury Records. At that point manager Ray Danniels scraped together an additional $9000 for producer Terry Brown to professionally re-mix all of the recordings for better sound quality. The remix version was used for later releases.
The original album logo was red, but a printing error made it appear more pink in colour. This is one of two Rush albums where the cover artwork had printing errors (the other album is Caress of Steel). There appears to be two different label designs for pressings on Moon Records. One is a cream colored label with a blue logo and black type. The other is a pink label with black type and gray "moon craters." The pink Moon Records label appears to be a later pressing. Some early Mercury label pressings have standard Mercury red labels, but the majority have the later "skyline" Mercury labels.
"Finding My Way" – 5:06
"Need Some Love" – 2:19
"Take a Friend" – 4:24
"Here Again" – 7:37
"What You're Doing" – 4:22
"In the Mood" (Lee) – 3:34
"Before and After" – 5:34
"Working Man" – 7:10
Personnel
Geddy Lee – Lead vocals and bass
Alex Lifeson – Guitars and vocals
John Rutsey – Drums and vocals
Chart Positions
Country Chart Position
U.S. Billboard 200 105
Sales Certifications
Country Organization Sales
U.S. RIAA Gold (500,000)
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