Rush (Rush album)

Untitled

Rush is the eponymous debut studio album by Canadian rock band Rush, released in 1974, and remastered in 1997. Rush's first release shows much of the heavy metal sound typical of many of the popular rock bands emerging from Britain earlier in the decade. Rush were fans of such bands as Led Zeppelin and Cream, and these influences can be heard in most of the songs on this debut. Original Rush drummer John Rutsey performed all drum parts on the album, but was unable to go on extended tours because of diabetes and left the band after the 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

Originally the recording sessions were produced by Dave Stock at Eastern Sound in Toronto. They were scheduled late at night during the 'dead' time in studios because of the band's low budget and the rates during this period was the cheapest. 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 song's 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 its management formed their own company, Moon Records, and released the album in Canada. Only 3,500 copies of the original Moon Records LP (catalog number MN-100) were pressed. The first version of the LP has a cream-coloured label with a blue Moon Records logo and black type.

The album 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. Every time the song was played the station received phone calls asking where to buy the record. Copies of the Moon Records album were imported to the Cleveland area and quickly sold out. In the 2010 documentary film Rush: Beyond The Lighted Stage, Halper says that "Working Man" was the perfect song for the Cleveland rock audience, as it was still mostly a factory town in 1974.

The record's popularity in Cleveland quickly led to the re-release of the album by Mercury Records. The first Canadian Mercury release on the standard red Mercury label is nearly as rare as the Moon version. It also had the Moon number 'MN-100' between the run-out groves, indicating that it was pressed from the same metal parts as the Moon disc. A special thank you to Donna Halper was added to the album credits of this and all later versions.

At this point manager Ray Danniels scraped together an additional $9,000 for producer Terry Brown to professionally re-mix all of the recordings for better sound quality. This remix version was used for later releases most of which used the Mercury "skyline" record label instead of the red label.

A later Moon Records version of undetermined origin has a pink label with gray moon craters.

The original album logo was red, but a printing error made it appear more pink in colour. [1] This is one of two Rush albums where the cover artwork had printing errors (the other album is Caress of Steel).

Track listing

All tracks by Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson, except where noted.

1. "Finding My Way" – 5:05
2. "Need Some Love" – 2:18
3. "Take a Friend" – 4:24
4. "Here Again" – 7:37
5. "What You're Doing" – 4:22
6. "In the Mood" (Lee) – 3:33
7. "Before And After" – 5:34
8. "Working Man" – 7:11

Personnel

• Geddy Lee – vocals, bass, keyboards
• Alex Lifeson – guitars
• John Rutsey – drums, percussion

Chart positions

Country	Chart	Position
U.S.	Billboard 200	105

Sales certifications

Country	Organization	Sales
U.S.	RIAA	Gold (500,000)

Singles

All chart positions are U.S. Billboard - Mainstream Rock Tracks unless otherwise stated.

Information
"Finding My Way" Released: August 1974 Written by: Alex Lifeson & Geddy Lee Produced by: Rush Chart Position:
"In the Mood" Released: Written by: Geddy Lee Produced by: Rush Chart Position:

Discography

Country	Label	Format	Catalog	Year
Canada	Moon	Vinyl	MN 100	1974
U.S.	Mercury	Vinyl	SRM 1-1011	1974
Canada	Anthem	Vinyl	ANR 1-1011
U.S.	Mercury	CD	534623
Canada	Anthem	CD	ANC 1-1001	1977
Canada	Anthem	CD	WANK 1001
Canada	Anthem	CD	ANMD 1001
Canada	Anthem	CD	ANMD 1075	1997
Canada	Mercury	8 Track	MC8 1-1011
Canada	Anthem	8 Track	8AN 1-1001	1977
Canada	Mercury	Cassette	MC4 1-1011
Canada	Anthem	Cassette	4AN 1-1001
Canada	Anthem	Cassette	4AN 1-106

Remaster details

A remaster was issued in 1997.

• The tray has a picture of the star with man painting (mirroring the cover art of Retrospective I) with "The Rush Remasters" printed in all capital letters just to the left. All remasters from Rush through Permanent Waves are like this.