Most artists will have to go above and beyond to capture the attention of Geddy Lee. Considering the man known for playing multiple instruments at once during a Rush concert is a musical freak of nature. No one is likely to become his next favorite band with an acoustic guitar strumming a song. Lee was still an impressionable teenager. His first encounter with Jethro Tull introduced him to his new favorite guitar player, whom no one had heard of.
Before Lee even knew what progressive music was, rock and roll sounds thoroughly immersed him. Lee picked up the guitar after receiving the money from his mother. He began to parse out any lick he could wrap his fingers around. He initially loved the guitar lick of Roy Orbison’s ‘Oh, Pretty Woman’.
After bands like Led Zeppelin gained popularity, Lee became a rock and roll fanatic, eventually forming a band with schoolmate Alex Lifeson. Lee was developing as a musician, the entire music scene was expanding alongside him. With acts such as Yes and Pink Floyd, he gained popularity due to their exceptional musicianship.
Even among the progressive rock bands of the time, Jethro Tull stood out as a strange anomaly. Unlike the bluesy groups that emerged around the same time, the band quickly began to hone their skills with classical music. For every great artist that claimed to pull off an incredibly fast solo, not too many of them were quoting Bach, as Tull did on their interpretation of ‘Bouree’.
However, the band always had a lighthearted side, eventually mocking progressive grandeur with Thick as a Brick. Telling a story over two sides of vinyl, the majority of the track feels like a parody of what progressive rock was supposed to be. All implemented the most impressive stylistic changes anyone had ever heard.
Although the group was taking a lighthearted jab at their contemporaries, Lee was captivated by what he heard from Martin Barre. Despite having bluesy chops that would have impressed Jimmy Page, Barre was able to translate every aspect of their music into rock and roll. He translated music such as turning the folksy progression of ‘Aqualung’ into a showstopper.
Lee saw them on the Thick as a Brick tour, though Barre went unnoticed by most fans. He told Guitar World, “Their music is so brilliantly written and well put together, what with its hard-to-play parts and odd time signatures.” Not to mention the incredible guitar sounds of the underappreciated Martin Barre. I like how, no matter what influences they used in their music. From classical to folk, they always kept it in a rock context.”
That sense of adventure most likely rubbed off on Rush as they began to experiment with new creative directions. Aside from their stretched-out exercises, Lee guided the group through their most inventive period in the 1980s. He holds onto keyboard sounds while still making them work within the context of the band. Rush had the potential to be a great band from the start. But the inventiveness of Barre and the rest of Jethro Tull may have allowed them to try their hand at their strange experiments.
