The album that made Geddy Lee a prog musician: “I was mesmerised”
Sometimes, when you hear a musician play, you have to wonder whether they were born to specifically play the genre they’ve chosen due to how innate their understanding and technical mastery appear to be. When it seems so effortless, one really has to question whether it was divine intervention that guided them in this direction or whether it was the usual case of developing a taste and an interest during adolescence. In the case of Rush frontman Geddy Lee, you have to wonder if the man was simply born to be a prog rock legend.
Of course, he didn’t just come out of the womb playing incredible bass licks. Funnily enough, the first instrument he picked up at the age of ten was an acoustic guitar, and he dabbled in several other instruments throughout his teenage years, such as drums, trumpet, piano and clarinet, before realising that none of them appeared to be his true calling, despite his clear musical aptitude.
It wasn’t until he developed an interest in classic rock in his late teens that he realised the bass guitar was calling his name, wherein he showed a particular interest in the style employed by Cream’s Jack Bruce. A heavy, bass-led power trio, he realised that the bass wasn’t simply a rhythmic instrument, but could be utilised in a way that created melodic hooks, and to this day, Lee still credits Bruce as being one of his primary influences.
But when exactly did he turn his attention towards becoming a titan of prog rock, and how exactly did that journey start? With Rush having started life in the late 1960s as nothing more than a run-of-the-mill hard rock band, there had to have been a catalyst that took them down the path of creating the more expansive and progressive sounds that they’re best loved for today.
When drummer and lyricist Neil Peart joined Rush in 1974, shortly after the release of the band’s debut album, the trio of him, Lee and guitarist Alex Lifeson began to head down this swirling prog road. While Peart’s style of drumming offered something far more erratic and complex than previous drummer John Rutsey, Lee attributes this shift in style to his infatuation with one progressive rock group in particular, who he had long found himself admiring from afar for their true uniqueness.
Speaking to The Quietus in 2012, he explained that Jethro Tull’s Thick as a Brick album from 1972 left a massive impression on him, and that the band dramatically altered the way he perceived the creative process. “I was mesmerised by Ian Anderson,” he told the publication. “His presentation was simply magical and he delivered it with such a sense of humour and great style. There really wasn’t anyone else who looked or sounded quite like them and that holds true to this day.”
Lee continued by explaining how Jethro Tull collectively drove Rush to strive to create more challenging and cerebral music, and that their ambitions increased after seeing how expertly their British counterparts could do things. “We saw it as a huge challenge to try and create something that can seem so dynamic onstage,” he continued. “They are probably best regarded as a live band although their series of albums around that period were exceptional. This still sounds fresh, and it is great to see that interest in Tull is still growing.”
