Fly By Night

New life ahead, indeed. Fly by Night signifies the beginning of Rush as nearly every fan would come to know it: A potent band comprised of Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, and Neil Peart. Recorded only four months after Mercury picked up the band’s eponymous debut for international distribution and distinguished by the piercing yellow eyes of the owl on its illustrated cover art, the 1975 album hints at the ambitious pursuits, emotional contrasts, heady complexities, and involved storytelling that soon became trademarks of the Canadian trio. 

Sourced from the original analogue master tapes, pressed at Fidelity Record Pressing,  housed in a Stoughton gatefold jacket, and featuring a bonus photo print, Mobile Fidelity’s numbered-edition 180g 45RPM 2LP set presents the group’s platinum-certified sophomore effort in definitive sound and in 45RPM speed for the first time. Benefitting from superb groove definition, an ultra-low noise floor, and dead-quiet surfaces, this collectible reissue captures the music’s rhythmic acumen, pacing, and architecture with palpable grip and solidity. The wider grooves of the 45RPM pressing also lend to improved tracking and high-frequency preservation. 

All the better for an album that Rush found satisfying to make with the same person (Terry Brown) and at the very studio (Toronto Sound) the group turned to rescue its debut from a host of production shortcomings. The kinship between Brown and the band is evident in how coherent everything sounds and feels. 

Witness the instrumental detail, body, size, and separation — conveyed here with exceptional realism and presence. Soundstaging dimensionality, imaging accuracy, and frequency extension also benefit from Mobile Fidelity's sonic restoration. Rush fanatics can appreciate details such as Lee’s bass’ de-tuned E-string sent through a Fuzz-Tone pedal and repeated through an Echoplex on “By-Tor and the Snow Dog” like never before. 

Working within tight deadline frameworks, Rush seized the momentum it gained after “Working Man” lit up radio airwaves and Peart joined the ensemble weeks before it went back out on the road after a short break in August 1974. While touring non-stop and through North American cities big and small through the end of November, the collective established a chemistry that transferred to Fly By Night. And in Peart, the band not only found a virtuosic drummer but a storyteller whose literary wordsmithing matched its musical aspirations.

The newcomer had a hand in penning six of the eight songs on Fly by Night. They include the beloved title track based on his experience as a teenager of flying to England on his first trip away from home as well as the J.R.R. Tolkien-influenced “Rivendell,” a mellow ballad notable for the lack of percussion and Lee’s turn on classical acoustic guitar. 

Written by all three members, the folk-rock tune “Making Memories” transpired after Rush took a wrong turn on the way to a gig on that all-important fall ‘74 trek. The prophetic opening couplet epitomizes the lasting bonds and all-for-one, one-for-all spirit that the group would harness en route to changing music history: “There's a time for feeling as good as we can/The time is now, and there's no stopping us.”

Come hell or high water, Peart and company wouldn’t be halted. Two of Peart’s most revered narratives — coupled with Lee and Lifeson’s striking arrangements — demonstrate why. Based on the novel of the same name by Ayn Rand, “Anthem” surges with assertiveness and self-empowerment. The band locks into the riffs it played with Peart during his original audition; his desire to suss them out told Lee and Lifeson they had their man.

Offering a peek into the insider humor that would follow Rush throughout its career, the four-part suite “By-Tor and the Snow Dog” boasts sophisticated progressions and fantasy themes that set it apart from anything on the band’s debut. The multi-structured sci-fi excursion didn’t escape the attention of a few suits at Mercury, who expressed alarm at the trio’s evolution from a straightahead hard-rock band. Little did they know. 

With Fly by Night, Rush starts a new chapter, doing the best it can. And then some.