Rush Working Man Original Drummer John Rutsey 1974 Live

[phretbored]

 

[Heinz57Pep]

They've been on a steady decline since he left.

 

[gag halfrunt]

They've been on a steady decline since he left.

Typical TGP troll.

Come back to reality.

 

[teefus]

great song, one of my favorites from their early years. john rutsey was certainly a good drummer. iirc, he left because of medical (diabetes?) reasons. touring was very difficult for him because of his condition.

 

[paranoid70]

Typical TGP troll.

Come back to reality.

Or could be sarcasm?

 

[magdream]

Or could be sarcasm?

Or gag halfrunt is really Sheldon Cooper

 

[RickC]

Love that tune and that clip is gold. Thanks

 

[Glowing Tubes]

Very cool clip. Did the song speed up when the drums kicked in?
Thanks for posting.

 

[SnidelyWhiplash]

The drumming sounds pretty damned good to me!

 

[Heinz57Pep]

Typical TGP troll.

Come back to reality.

Sorry. I meant lyrically.

 

[redchapterjubilee]

I love Rutsey's playing. I'm a Peart dude but I can't handle how he plays the stuff from the first album live. I always felt like Neil put a little too much of his stamp on it and wouldn't just let those songs groove like they did with Rutsey. Understandable, but for my taste I prefer Rutsey's playing on the first album songs.

 

[clint]

Thanks for posting!
I wish that they would have done more stuff in this stripped down style. It seems heavier than the popular stuff they are more known for.

 

[NorCal_Val]

Very cool clip. Did the song speed up when the drums kicked in?
Thanks for posting.

Yeah. There were some "tempo variances".

 

[erksin]

Yeah. There were some "tempo variances".

I think that's putting it diplomatically.

I think Rutsey was always the weak link - the diabetes stuff while a valid reason to boot him (because he was alcoholic and life on the road was going to do him a lot more harm than good), they needed a better drummer if they were gonna be anything more than a watered-down Led Zeppelin/Bad Company type band.

 

[BallisticGuitars]

Funny how Rutsey was the "crowd banter" guy in the band back then. Must've been tough for Ged to pick that up after Rutsey was gone....

 

[custom53]

Nothing against Neil Peart, But I liked RUSH a lot more with John Rutsey.. I just wanted to see a hard rocking, hard charging Bar Band.. After they switched, they got a bit to "Artsy" for me..

 

[Sean French]

I first got into Rush in the late 70's when I was 13. 2112 and Hemispheres were what got me turned on.
Much respect for John. The first album was great and a straight ahead rocker it was. He was replaced for health reasons. No shame in that.
Neal took them to a way more progressive place. He was their missing link IMO.

Really. Can anyone imagine Rush without Neal?
Forty years later they are still touring/recording and on top of their game.

 

[erksin]

Can anyone imagine Rush without Neal?

I can, and it ain't good. They'd have been done by their third record, tops.

Listen to the lyrics from the first record. Better yet - read them out loud.

 

[joek86]

As good as the first album was, I think Rush would have faded into obscurity if they hadn't recruited Peart and evolved as they did. They were kind of a Zep derivative originally.

 

[CharAznable]

Nothing against Neil Peart, But I liked RUSH a lot more with John Rutsey.. I just wanted to see a hard rocking, hard charging Bar Band.. After they switched, they got a bit to "Artsy" for me..

They would have faded away like a million other bar bands with nothing original or special.