3/22: Garden Road (LIVE)

Weeks after joining the band, Neil rocks this Rutsey-era original.

Passin’ down this garden road,
I’ve passed it many times:
Beauty flashing in the air,
Garden’s many vines.

“Garden Road” is a Rutsey-era original that never appeared on any Rush album except ABC 1974, a super-rare recording of Rush’s first radio broadcast. The show, recorded by WMMS on August 26, 1974 in Cleveland, Ohio’s Agora Ballroom, took place just weeks after Neil had joined the band.

As of this recording, “Garden Road” had been part of the original Rush setlist for at least three or four years, and I think you can hear that familiarity in the recording. In particular, I love how Alex digs into the bouncy riffs; he sounds like he’s having the time of his life, as if rocking this hard was the easiest thing in the world.

I’m even more impressed with Neil—like I said, he’d only been with the band for about a month by this point, but he so seamlessly blends into the band’s vibe that I honestly thought it was Rutsey on drums, not Neil. It wasn’t until I looked up the video on YouTube that I learned differently.

But then there’s Geddy. He doesn’t sound particularly comfortable here; his voice has a strained quality that all but fades in a year or two playing with Neil. I’m not sure if it’s because he was doing more drugs or fewer, but in this recording he doesn’t sound as settled in his own skin as he does in, say, “Closer to the Heart.”

Fun fact—apparently an excerpt from “Garden Road” was played during “Working Man” during the R40 tour. I don’t remember hearing it myself, but I’m not sure I would’ve been able to identify it back then even if I had heard it.