ETTORE SALATI

This month's Artist in Spotlight is Ettore Salati from Italy. Ettore is a sought after session guitarist by many prog musicians not just in Italy but all around the world. He started playing piano at a very young age (mostly classical music) but when he became a teenager and discovered the world of Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Genesis and 70's rock in general, he was immediately fascinated by guitar... more

KAT EPPLE (Emerald Web)

KAT EPPLE, flautist and composer, is our interview guest this month. She has won 8 Emmy awards, was nominated for a Grammy and she has released 18 albums internationally. Most of you know her as the other half of the legendary ambient/new age duo EMERALD WEB. She has a very large collection (over 200) of flutes that she gathered from all around the world during her travels. Kat composes original New Age/Jazz/World/orchestral music and has produced film scores and television soundtracks for National Geographic, Nova, CNN, Carl Sagan, Another World, The Travel Channel, Turner Broadcasting System, History Channel, HGN, The Guiding Light, PBS, and NASA among others, and was Music Director for the feature-length film, Captiva Island. She also owns a record company and works on both sides of the music industry as a musician and as a business woman... more

New Grass Revival / On The Boulevard

New Grass Revival are one of the pioneers of progressive bluegrass. Formed in 1971 by Sam Bush (mandolin/vocals), Curtis Burch (guitar), Ebo Walker (bass) and Courtney Johnson (banjo), they immediately got the attention from the industry both in a good and bad way. First of all, they were often told that their music was not bluegrass, and they knew it wasn’t “bluegrass” in its traditional sense, and it wasn’t what they were trying to achieve anyways. They were blending rock, soul and blues rhythms with the traditional bluegrass music. They were not wearing suites, but instead they had a more casual style along with long hair... more

Fly By Night / RUSH 1975

I know I will get critiques from some progsters for doing this review in the “Classics Revisited” section mainly for two reasons: 1. Fly By Night is not really a progressive album and 2. Fly By Night is not “thee” Rush album to review in this context when there are “Hemispheres” or “A Farewell to Kings”. I agree with both, however, I still think it is a very important album in the band’s history. First of all, there is the departure of John Rutsey following the release of their first album, second of all, the band makes a big effort kicking off the Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath influences.

After the release of their first album in 1974, Rush co-founder Rutsey decides to part with the band due to heavy touring affecting his health. He is diabetic. Neil Ellwood Peart joins Rush and tours with them before they record the second album together. At this point, he is a young drummer who recently got back from England where he lived for a short while. In fact the song that gives the album its title “Fly By Night” talks about this experience: “Why I try? Why now?/ This feeling inside me says this time I was gone / Clear head, new life ahead / It’s time I was king and not just one more pawn.” The addition of this drummer and lyricist extraordinaire makes Rush shift their direction completely. Peart is heavily influenced by Ayn Rand’s philosophy as well as science / science-fiction. Right from the opening song “Anthem” the lyrics that were written by Peart are unusual compared to the ones on the first album. “Anthem” takes its title from Rand’s novella Anthem, in which she talks about a world, in an undefined future time where the word “I” does not exist in the language anymore, and where the individuals live under advanced technology controlled to “control”. Her philosophy is called “objectivism” and Peart puts it out in his own words this way: “Live for yourself – There’s no one else worth living for / Begging hands and bleeding hearts / Will only cry out for more (…) Well I know they’ve always told you / Selfishness is wrong / Yes, it was for me, not you, I came to write this song”. Peart’s style however, is still in its beginning stages and still personal, and not till after the 2112 he starts writing in a more “apersonal” way.

Geddy Lee’s vocals are very high pitch and hard, just like they were on the first album. Although some like to think he is very much influenced by Robert Plant, I would never say he was an “imitator” of Plant’s, even during the early Rush years. Lee always had his own unique way of singing, unlike any other rock vocalists, still to this day

“Fly By Night”, in many ways, is a transitional period for the band from being a hard rock/metal band to become a progressive rock band. Lee’s lyrics on “Best I Can” combined with the album cover, always seemed to me as a message to the world saying ”hey, we are about to change the face of rock music for good”. Some think the lines “You can tell me that I got no class / Look around, you’ll see who’s laughing last / Don’t give me speeches ‘cause they’re oh so droll / Leave me alone and let me rock and roll” are very simple, but they reflect, in my opinion, how much they are determined to do things “their way”. In fact in later years, when Lee was asked to describe their music, he simply said “it’s Rush rock”.

Neil Peart’s lyrics give the band a somewhat political image as well. “Beneath Between and Behind”, in this sense, is a song that criticizes America. A place once a virgin land, invaded by the white man, and in his hands, turned slowly from a glorious place to a land where people lived in fear: “Beneath the noble bird / Between the proudest words / Behind the beauty, cracks appear / Once with heads held high / They sang out to the sky / Why do their shadows bow in fear?”

“By-Tor and The Snow Dog” is the song that makes this album semi-prog. It was written after a story told to the band by one of their roadies who, at the Anthem Records owner’s house had a scary experience with his german shepherd and a small dog. The band finds the story very funny and Peart writes the lyrics, making some sort of a mythological battle scene out of it. The time changes during the song with the beginning, the climax, the ending and the victory after the war are amazing. But the most genius part of it all is Lifeson’s “growling guitar” during the battle between By-Tor and the Snow Dog. In addition to this the many layers of guitar are perfectly put together. And Peart’s drums are like a wild warrior.

For those who still want to talk about British rock influences, these next two songs, I shall say, are the ones that still have them: “Making Memories” however, with a little bit of southern rock spice, and "Rivendell" with more Zeppelinesque medieval approach. “In The End” is the last song and it has interesting time changes that show the prog rock future the band is leading towards.

All these facts put together, “Fly By Night” becomes a stepping stone for the Canadian trio, and opens up new doors both for them and the many bands that followed. I do believe this is a must have Rush album to see “how it all began”.