Imperfections have always been the foundation of rock and roll. Every great prog-rock epic seems to have a line that doesn’t belong. These epics are accompanied by songs that, when listened to properly, can be an absolute shitshow. Despite this, they still make sense as a whole. However, Rush were more conscientious of their work. When Geddy Lee listened to some of his masterworks again, he was not impressed.
However, Rush consistently raised the bar relative to practically every other band. Even though they were just three musicians, the amount of music they could play on their own was impressive. Half the time, it was enough to confuse five-piece rock bands. This was especially true when it came to songs that were longer than ten minutes.
In fact, judging by the trajectory of their career, it’s almost astonishing to witness a group mature so quickly. While it is possible for anyone who has listened to Jimmy Page for more than a few months to come up with something along the lines of “Working Man,” only God knows what they were smoking to produce an album such as Caress of Steel or something as intricate as “La Villa Strangiato.”
Rush’s back catalogue has a distinct flavour to it. However, Lee was never particularly fond of how he came across on some of the classic tracks. In an interview with The Guardian, he said, “I never finished a record I was totally happy with. But, I think it’s a fool’s errand [to redo it].” I wouldn’t want to do anything over again. Allow it to remain as it was, warts and all.
Those warts, then, encapsulate some of the most fortunate mishaps in the history of rocks. If punk rockers had only used the most formulaic power chord songs to fill their tracks, most people would need advanced degrees in music theory to even begin to understand what the power trio were doing on their album.
And as self-deprecating as he can be there, a lot of that inventiveness has to do with the way Lee performs each song. Although his vocal performances were not to everyone’s taste, he was far superior to most lead guitarists when it came to playing the bass, keyboards, and even using his feet to operate bass pedals once they started playing stadiums.
If anything, their 1980s fashion choices are the only thing that don’t look good in hindsight. Hearing them sound like the most accomplished new-wave musicians this side of A Flock of Seagulls was bound to be an acquired taste for some fans. For others, it was pure musical vomit. This reaction was unsurprising because they had previously admitted that they had no idea what made something trendy.
However, Rush never let that stop them from pursuing their goals throughout their whole career. While some of their catalogue may be more difficult to view through rose-colored glasses, very few bands that survived for several decades managed to maintain their creative independence for as long as they did.
