Expanded from previous posts, this is not part of my book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1).
An infinite number of tracks can each be THE greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. Today, this is THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE!
RUSH: Circumstances
Written by Neil Peart, Geddy Lee, and Alex Lifeson
Produced by Rush and Terry Brown
From the album Hemispheres, Anthem Records [Canada]/Mercury Records [USA], 1978
A girl. A boy. A band.
When we're talking about a band's fanbase and the band happens to be Rush, there's a widespread presumption the circumstances will be Boys Only!, no gurls allowed. But the first Rush fan I ever knew was a young woman I met in college at Brockport in 1979. Allison seemed smart and friendly, and she was from my native stomping grounds in Syracuse. We were, at best, casual acquaintances, but we started chatting when she noticed I had a poster of the Flashcubes on the wall of my dorm suite. The Flashcubes?, she said. The Flashcubes from Syracuse?
Yes, ma'am. We had a pleasant exchange regarding our mutual interest in Syracuse's own power pop powerhouses, and she mentioned knowing 'Cubes guitarist Arty Lenin. Given the current circumstances of me telling you this much, you've already realized that Allison's favorite band was Rush.
Allison and I agreed to disagree. As a pop 'n' punk enthusiast, my cuppa wasn't terribly likely to accommodate Rush's progressive leanings; their ability to mix the heavy and the twee was impressive and accomplished, but squarely outside of my chosen POV. The first Rush song I recall hearing was "The Trees," a less-heavy/more-twee li'l ditty delivered to my ears via Rochester's WCMF-FM in '78. In the years that followed, as Rush got bigger and racked up more and more airplay, I could never warm up to them. Much, much later, my mind was sufficiently open to accept and embrace Rush's pretty-damned-good 2004 eight-song album Feedback, which found Allison's boys executing killer covers of the Who, Buffalo Springfield, the Yardbirds, and Love. I wouldn't have thought Love's furiously sublime/sublimely furious '60s nugget "7 And 7 Is" would be appropriate cover fodder for a band like Rush. Damned if they didn't pull it off anyway. (Of course, they felt the need to spell out the numbers in the song's title as "Seven And Seven Is." Just to be, y'know, Rush about it, I guess.) Beyond Feedback though? My apologies, Allison. Rush is not the band for me.
Well, there was one exception to that. One glorious, transcendent exception.
From Rush's 1978 album Hemispheres, the LP that (like the Lorax) spoke for "The Trees," a song called "Circumstances" just freakin' rocked, and I liked it a lot. The song is unmistakably Rush; singer/bassist/Moogist Geddy Lee is absolutely Geddy Lee at all times, and bandmates Neil Peart and Alex Lifeson bring the respective percussion and guitar (and more Moog) wizardry that you would expect and demand of a proper Rush record. But something about it seeps its way into my world as well, conjuring an agreeable if incongruous hybrid of a progressive Ramones backing Frankie Valli, but a Frankie Valli with a higher voice. To this day, I never get tired of hearing it. Score one for Allison.
At the top of this rant, we mentioned a girl, a boy, and a band. Allison and Rush, please allow me to introduce you to a boy named Kevin, who was a friend of mine in the early '80s. Kevin was a little bit younger than me, in his late teens when I was already in my early twenties. We worked together at McDonald's of Brockport, where I was putting my minty-fresh Bachelor of Arts degree in English to the best use I could imagine. It was...actually, it was a good time. I was young, in love, and learning how to make my way. Also learning how to make Egg McMuffins. Some of my memories of that time of my life retain a glow bright enough to scatter the shadows.
At least sometimes, given the right circumstances..
Decades have passed. I remember the camaraderie of Kevin, me, and another friend and co-worker, Jeff, trading puns as we seared burger patties to the grill, singing TV theme songs as we assembled Quarter Pounders. Outside of work, we occasionally gathered to party, and to listen to music. Our tastes could be disparate, but there was overlap, and there was respect. Jeff played guitar, and he liked Ted Nugent. I played absolutely nothing, and I liked the Ramones. Kevin? Kevin was a drummer.
And Kevin's favorite band was Rush. I don't think he ever met Allison, but I betcha they would have gotten along famously.
Kevin is no longer with us. He passed a few years ago, far too young. I hadn't spoken with him since those Brockport days. But I remember. I'll always remember, for as long as I have memory. I'll remember happier days and troubled days alike, but right now, I'll remember that glow: Of friends and co-workers laughing and joking, being young, being alive, and listening to music. Growing up. The music playing still.
(And as far as Rush's presumed mostly-male demographic goes, I'm told by the hosts of The Spoon podcast that current drummer girl Anika Nilles has been welcomed alongside those boys Geddy and Alex as a worthy successor to the late Neil Peart. That makes me happy. Girls, boys, and a band that goes on.)
So yeah, I remember this boy Kevin. I remember this girl Allison, and I wish her well wherever she is. And of course I remember the band the three of us had in common, even if my share of the commonality totaled just one song.
But all the same, we take our chances. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. We make the best of the circumstances at hand.
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I compiled a various-artists tribute album called Make Something Happen! A Tribute To The Flashcubes, and it's pretty damned good; you can read about it here and order it here.
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