Oakland's Vinyl Vault - Rush

Work has finally gotten less busy, so it's time once again to reach into the vault. The randomizer once again spit out an appropriate album for the occasion: it's Rush, with their self-titled debut album.

Release date: March 1, 1974
Singles: Finding My Way, In the Mood

So for everybody (read: nobody) reading this who is not named Joe U, you may be confused as to why this album is appropriate. Well, it's because it notably includes the song, "Working Man," and that certainly describes my life over the past month or so. You may notice that "Working Man" is not one of the singles released for this album, which I think is an odd choice because it is quite clearly the best track. I assume it was not a single because it is too long (just over 7 minutes).

The first thing I think about when I see this album is: why in the hell is "Rush" not centered on the album cover? I cannot be the only one bothered by this. It just looks wrong. The second thing I note is the fact that this album is the only Rush album without the man, the legend, Neil Peart. Peart didn't join the band until after this album. The drummer on this one is John Rutsey. Rutsey was not unceremoniously ousted in favor of Peart a la Pete Best, but rather left the band because of health problems related to diabetes.

Even without Peart, Rush managed to put together a nice debut album. It's still got Geddy Lee's screeching vocals and what's-his-name's strong guitar playing. Peart's absence is most noticeable in the style of music. Unlike future Rush albums, there are no grand multi-part songs with fantasy novel inspired lyrics, but rather pretty straight-forward rock numbers. As I mentioned earlier, the highlight of the album is the last track, "Working Man," but songs like "Need Some Love," "In the Mood," and "Before and After" are also pretty good.

Rating: 5 drum-set pieces - While it's technically a Rush album, this is really a different band without Peart's influence. Other than "Working Man," it's fairly forgettable, but if you're a fan of Rush and you see it in the bargain bin, it's worth it to add to your stacks. Hey, it costs $0.99 to buy just that one song on iTunes, right? (I really don't know, I haven't used iTunes in around 5 years. It's very possible the prices have changed.)

Now you're probably thinking that I'm going to play "Working Man" down here because it's all I've talked about and it's not a single, but I'm going to go off the board here and play "Need Some Love." Enjoy!