The Rush album Geddy Lee said “didn’t connect” with fans
Even the most revered figures in rock music aren’t immune to missteps along their journey. Despite their commitment to pushing boundaries and defying conventions, Rush found themselves grappling with the reception of certain albums. Reflecting on his life in music, even Geddy Lee candidly acknowledged that Caress of Steel may have been a misstep in their otherwise illustrious career.
If you were listening to the band’s first jam sessions, there’s a good chance that none of them seemed like the future prog superstars they are known as today. Compared to the progressive acts of the time, Rush sounded like a feeble attempt at the blues rock coming out of England on their debut, almost feeling like a more loose version of Bad Company.
Once they ditched their first drummer, John Rutsey, due to his complications caused by diabetes, new recruit Neil Peart would become one of their greatest strengths. Since he was able to write lyrics, Fly By Night became a major turning point in the group’s career, taking them from that one outfit that could lay down a bluesy jam to prog rock legends.
Although the band could work with different time signatures across pieces like ‘Anthem’ and even break out the acoustics on ‘Rivendell’, ‘By-Tor and The Snow Dog’ was their greatest departure. Being their first “story” song, the track is an eight-minute exercise talking about the two titular figures fighting.
While Peart wasn’t giving Dylan a run for his money in the lyrical department yet, the success of the album was enough for him to reach farther on Caress of Steel. If Fly By Night helped pave the way for their career going forward, though, their third effort did enough damage to potentially kill them for good.
Instead of the bite-sized prog rock songs of its predecessor, the album only had a handful of semi-major hits before making side-long epics on the back like ‘The Fountain of Lamneth’. Although Peart remembered being so proud of pushing themselves further, Lee recalled just how poorly it went over with the public.
Speaking with Louder, Lee said that the project never really struck the right chord, saying, “Our third album, Caress Of Steel, just didn’t connect with people. It was so experimental, with our first venture into a side-long story, ‘The Fountain Of Lamneth’. It was all too obscure. Caress Of Steel did not do well, and the record company was not pleased with us.”
Instead of doing their job and releasing a more commercial record, Rush was determined not to be defeated, going even further on 2112 and turning in one of the most celebrated records of their career. Even though Rush’s trajectory towards stardom seemed to take every wrong step from a logistical standpoint, some of the biggest success stories usually come from reaching massive lows like Caress of Steel.
