RUSH STARTED LIFE AS LED ZEPPELIN CLONES BEFORE CATCHING THE NEIL PEART CONCEPT BUG

Okay i might be a bit biased writing this, i was born in 1974 and so too was the debut self titled RUSH album. What can i say, 1974 gave birth to a couple of priceless gems (laugh). RUSH, a progressive rock trio from Canada that never quite outgrew minority appeal status and has recorded a number of groundbreaking concept albums over the past 37 years, started life in 1974 with ALEX LIFESON (guitar), GEDDY LEE (bass/vocals) and JOHN RUTSEY (drums). Due to health problems arising from diabetes, Rutsey amicably resigned from the band before the band's second album CARESS OF STEEL was recorded, and was replaced by the man who took RUSH in the concept album direction - NEIL PEART. Rock critics have always been a strange herd of cattle, and many of them in america have proven that over the years by throwing brickbats at the debut RUSH album, often maligning it as a boring and uninventive bunch of songs that rips off LED ZEPPELIN and BLACK SABBATH. Whenever i listen to this album, i always think of australian rock band WOLFMOTHER, and how that band is always being accused of the same thing - ripping off the style of LED ZEPPELIN and BLACK SABBATH and being copycats. The leader of that band ANDREW STOCKDALE should take that as a compliment, WOLFMOTHER is the closest thing you'll ever get to classic early 70`s Zeppelin. The debut RUSH album has so many similiar dynamics to the two WOLFMOTHER albums, self titled (2005) and COSMIC EGG (2009), and despite the overwhelming negative assessment of the album music critics have given it for nearly 40 years, in my opinion it's one of the greatest riff based power rock albums ever recorded. Later RUSH albums like 2112, HEMISPHERES and MOVING PICTURES were a lot more imaginative in lyrical terms, but if you want a RUSH album simply for the purposes of headbanging, look no further than the debut. The final track WORKING MAN is my favourite, it rocks man, and also check out the hard rock masterpiece FINDING MY WAY, the album's ripsnorting opener.