Rush (1975) By-Tor and The Snow Dog - LOST 70s GEMS

 Musically Fly By Night is my favourite hard rock album on a stylistic level with Alex Lifeson's ringing power chords played with in terse bursts with a arena ready level of reverb while Geddy Lee's trademark high pitched vocals are appropriately demonic and detached as he shrilly wails away all under the throbbing bombast of their new drummer Neil Peart. Peart's sci-fi futurism would contribute to the album's fantastical Prog lyricism, though I think the conceptual design of the album is a little all of the place but that would soon be improved on 2112. Erivaldo Felix, who would famously paint the Kiss Solo Albums,provided the blue and green album cover of an owl like beats standing in the snow with it's wingspan spread out before us and it's amber eyes lit like gems of Topaz. Best I Can is a highlight with it's rockin and rollin track full of groove broken up by the occasional 'splintering' double-stroke power chord and rollicking vocals and groove by Geddy Lee. another is the slamming power chord progression of the closer In the End which features the dynamics of a Houses of the Holy album track for all you Zepephiles out there.

 By-Tor is the album's centrepiece with it's many unnecessarily named sections, it's ultimately it's own little opera about an epic fight between a dog that was allegedly a 'Biter' renamed to the more futuristic By-Tor and an actual snow dog breed, but it's all about the music in my opinion over Peart's lyrics which could get very descriptive. The song, my favourite by the band alongside What You'e Doing from their debut, starts right out the gate with a roving, circular guitar pattern; Geddy's bass is weighs heavily in the mix alongside is spectacular strained falsetto that adds anotherworldly dimension to the lyrics with his euphoric delivery. Neil Peart's drumming is a focused assault sounding far more hollow and yet harder edged then any drummer before him, while Alex Lifeson's tonal guitar clangs and rings out in all directions with it's echoplex sounding so much grander than the standard chamber reverb effects of the day.
The strong delay of the guitar adds so much sweet grandeur to the crunching hard rock chorus as Lee spits out the title of the song like a children's tale. We get some fairly placid chords and a busy bass line to soothe us before an abrupt Lee 'yelp' leads us into the titular 'battle' of the two giants. Here Lifeson's guitar comes alive with some frantic blues licks to the backdrop of a heavily treated talkbox guitar part made to imitate By-Tor or the Snow dog. We are treated to a cacophony of whining Hendrix space licks in the background and growling talk box upfront that has been slowed to an absolute sludge to indicate a gruelling monster.

 Soon Peart gets involved with his tight drumming snapping us into a series of meaty drum rolls with a hissy phaser effect employed on them before an onslaught of staccato rhythm which is used to suggest combat. It all peters out into a spacey whine instead of a talkbox growl; the mighty Snowdog is the victor! But it's not all over as Lifeson resurrects the tune with some ambient guitar playing sounding like the 2112 discovery section, their are wind chimes to give a empty cathedral like atmosphere. Alex Lifeson's droning chords and Neil Pearts' jaw dropping meaty drum rolls lead us into a scorched blues rock bridge before a final reprise of the opening verse with it's poppy melody and fluid bass guitar riff as Lee's distinctive clear tone voice sweetly soars; we end with some circular fuzz guitar melodies and a final burst of Peart's drums to finish us off and I'm spent!