Released: 1975
Tracks: Bastille Day; I Think I’m Going Bald; Lakeside Park; The Necromancer (Into Darkness / Under the Shadow / Return of the Prince); The Fountain of Lamneth (In the Valley / Didacts and Narpets / No One at the Bridge / Panacea / Bacchus Plateau / The Fountain)
Best track: Fountain of Lamneth (the whole thing)
Tracks to skip: Going Bald, Necromancer
Strange, I’m actually not enjoying this one too much. I used to love it, but it’s not doing anything for me right now. I think it’s just this track, The Necromancer. Is that a dude who romances dead people? Ew, I hope not! This song isn’t too impressive; the band sounds like they’re out of ideas and just doing anything that sounds OK. They really wouldn’t get their stride until the Kings album, so I guess I can’t expect too much from this early stuff.
Besides the horrible By-Tor from the previous album, this was Rush’s first real attempt at doing some long songs that told stories. Necromancer is a sort of Part 2 for By-Tor, and maybe that’s why it’s not too hot. Side 2 (Fountain of Lamneth suite) is a lot better than side 1 and the whole Fountain thing is really cool. There are some great riffs in here and Panacea is a gorgeous piece of music.
If the album was just Bastille Day, Lakeside Park and The Fountain of Lamneth then it’d be very good, but very short. The bad songs in the first half drag it down, but the album is eventually redeemed by Lamneth. Rush fans should dig this, but I don’t think that Rush’s music has reached a ‘mass popularity’ quality yet. They’d get there, but just not yet.
Rating: 84
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