Tuesday 24 October 2017

My Mental Jukebox Part 3


'The Trees' by Rush has had a prominent position in my mental jukebox ever since I first heard the song back in the late 1970s.  

Moreover, this was the first Rush tune I ever heard (over the years, Rush have been my favourite band for a whole plethora of reasons:  excellent, unique-type musicianship; intriguing lyrics; the Ayn Rand influence in some of the earlier tunes ('Anthem'; '2112'; 'Free Will'; 'Tom Sawyer' etc.); seeing the band live numerous times (in Britain, Germany and the Czech Republic) etc.

Can still remember 'the evening' some time in 1978 when I heard 'The Trees' being played on the BBC Radio 1 album chart which was down to the 'Hemispheres' album selling well in the UK.  I was only 11-12 years old back then but needless to say I was immediately blown away.  At the time, I was already aware of Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Led Zep etc., but with Rush, it was immediately noticeable that something really special was going on, something to be deeply explored over many upcoming years.

Not long after hearing 'The Trees' on the radio (on an old, brown, wireless set) on Shaw Street in the East Ward district of Bury, Lancashire, a good friend led me to buy '2112', the big beakthrough (Ayn Rand-inspired) Rush album from 1976.  Soon after, I had 'Hemispheres' and 'A Farewell To Kings', and I was truly hooked  . . .

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