Good news, Geddy-heads: Rush will be reissuing their self-titled debut album with a 40th anniversary release. In a new interview with Globe And Mail, Universal Music Canada executive Ivar Hamilton confirms that the prog-rock power-trio are “very involved” in the upcoming reissue. “It’s very important,” Hamilton says of the band’s influence. “We want their blessing. It’s paramount that they participate in the project for the sake of authenticity.”
Rush was originally released on March 1st, 1974. Though the album does feature a handful of classics (including the Zeppelin-esque “Working Man”), it’s generally an overlooked item in the band’s catalogue — partly because it features original drummer John Rutsey instead of behemoth Neil Peart. (Poor, poor Rutsey: The late percussionist was the Pete Best of Prog-Rock.) It’s unclear what kind of bonus material this reissue will include.
Meanwhile, Hamilton also dropped some knowledge about other possible reissues for 2014. Candidates include Supertramp’s masterful Crime of the Century and Elton John’s classic Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.
Damn, 1974 was a great year for music — they don’t make years like that these days. Here are some more awesome LPs that came out in ’74:
Genesis – The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
Steely Dan – Pretzel Logic
King Crimson – Red
Kraftwerk – Autobahn
Roxy Music – Country Life
Stevie Wonder – Fulfillingness’ First Finale
Frank Zappa – Apostrophe
3 Responses
King Crimson “Red” just got a super deluxe edition in the form of a new boxed set called “The Road to Red.” https://www.burningshed.com/store/kingcrimson/multiproduct/313/3884/
Ahh, good call, Neil. I completely forgot about that — need to get a copy.
Ah, Crime of the Century…truly a great album. Always have been particularly interested in who the songwriters are behind the songs in band groups, in this case I was curious about Supertramp, looked around and came across info that Roger Hodgson composed many of the great songs that brought Supertramp worldwide recognition as a band, although Roger had written and composed separately from the others in the band (some even while he was a teen before co-founding Supertramp in 1969). Got to see my first live show of his recently, and WOW hardly explains how awing it really was. I couldn’t believe that his voice and musical energy was even stronger now than the Supertramp vinyls. I can’t even begin to explain how it feels to hear every song of your life one after the other (just imagine, Dreamer, The Logical Song, Give a Little Bit, Breakfast in America, Take the Long Way Home, Fool’s Overture) it wasn’t just a concert, I would better describe it as a journey of music and Roger made the experience feel warm, genuine and personal like we were in a large family living room together. Exceptional and unforgettable…