By-Tor and the Snow Dog This is an interesting track. It is essentially the first step into the world of epic tracks. We have a sectional piece that has quite a few changes and sections to create the whole piece. Initially I was a little underwhelmed by this track, as I found the lyrics to be a little too goofy. As an ex-stoner I can certainly see the connection to the two dogs at the party and that certainly makes sense in hindsight. The first section is actually a really cool piece of hard rock, and I really like the way the vocal melody works with the rocking track. We move into the somewhat unusual grunting backing sfx section, and that is actually one to grow on me. I went from kind of putting up with it, to enjoying it. When we move into the guitar lead riff, I love it. It is a really playful little piece of music and I think it works really well. The next staccato chord section with plenty of tacet's is also really cool. Across all of this first section, whether one is enamoured with the track or not, the song doesn't lose any momentum, or get bogged down, it flows smoothly, and the sense of continuity isn't interrupted. Then we move to a nice minimal section that is essentially some volume swells. This builds a little musical tension and then we are hit by the drums and move into a really excellent (almost Floydian) lead break section. With the insertion of a nice little riff, we burst back into the vocal section of the song. To me whether one enjoys the lyrics of this song or not, it is a fantastic piece of music, that for me at least, really manages to keep itself coherent. For me it doesn't lose its musical sense in trying to be longer, or more complex .... in fact it doesn't actually sound like it is trying to be longer to me, it just seems like it is the way the song should be. I like the fact that everything is recorded and mixed so well on here. The clarity of all the parts really helps the song pop. Again, for me, the lyrics are sort of novel, but kind of redundant for me when I listen to this. Excellent piece of musical writing.
ByTor. Such a unique song, that’s grown on me a lot over the past 30 plus years. It’s so audacious and singularly Rush. Starting to hear Alex incorporate unique chord voicings that deviate from straight, standard Rock sounds. Neil is a force of dexterity and energy and Geddy’s voice soars in a manner totally complementary to the song. The approach to the concept and performance is sincere and absurd all at the same time. Only Rush could pull this one off. Always great fun to hear this song in their set list.
By-Tor And The Snow Dog Love it, love it, love it! So adventurous and ambitious, but accomplished, on only their second album. What other guitar threepieces were doing this in 1975? It's got everything we loved about Rush, done fantastically well. I love every single damn second, and I'm gonna call it - it's the best track on their first 4 albums. I heard it first on ATWAS, but for me the studio version is the keeper. It's tight, nicely mixed and engineered, and obviously benefits from overdubs and studio trickery By-Tor And The Snow Dog, whoever it was by, just leapt out at me and screamed YES YES YES. Miles better than those deeper cuts that we force ourselves to try and find some enjoyment in just cos we like the band. (Oh, and Todd Rundgren was definitely listening, but I'll come back to that in a couple of albums' time.)
By-Tor & The Snow Dog: The 1st Rush musical suite and it is a powerhouse! I love the bass and guitar SFX during the battle, and also enjoyed watching Alex and Geddy dual onstage during that portion of the song. Neil's drumming - wow ! Great song! This is the sign of Eth: Ð in uppercase, ð in lowercase, pronounced "th" ; it also said to be a sign representing demons. The things I learn from Neil - thanks mate!
There was a point in the 1980s, I think around Grace Under Pressure was released that I bought every single Rush album that existed at the time. So I heard the first two albums at roughly the same time. I did not sense some big leap between the two; they always felt like they fit comfortably side by side. Fly By Night was always a favorite of mine, and right now I think I'd rank it as my second-favorite Rush album of all time. The First ranks somewhere in the middle for me, perhaps top middle.
This song, to me, is a real showcase for Alex. I love so much of what he brings to the table in this song. Fantastic riffage!
Best song on the album easily. Once it gets to the stop start riff/drum fills to that drum break... my god. The main riff before that is absolutely classic, and that bass! Again, if you haven't heard All The World's A Stage find a way to play that version, it rocks harder somehow, don't ask me why they managed to make that happen... This is also neat for the band experimenting with noise/lack of noise for the benefit to the song - this is used on many of longer Rush tracks, but that with the guitar solo and back to the main melody is the biggest look to the future by far. I don't even think Caress of Steel had a track that was more "prog" leaning. Longer songs, but the pacing here would only get matched around 2112 though other parts of their songwriting would improve regardless.
Bytor and The Snow Dog is a dry run for the epics that Rush would become known for over the next few albums. No real intro here. A short drum fill and then the guys come out with all guns blazing. On the whole everything fits together nicely. I have to admit that the ambient section sounds a little weak compared to its live counterpart on ATWAS.
The story behind "By-Tor and the Snow Dog" (which is an odd title) comes from assistant engineer John Woloschuk visiting Rush manager, Ray Danniel's house, where Woloschuk was growled at by Danniel's german shepherd and then a smaller dog attacked him. Woloschuk related this story to the band and they thought it was hilarious. Peart took the idea of a dog fighting with the 'prince of evil' and the song became the epic it is. It is a bit odd that the 'defender of the Overworld' would be a 'snow dog', but that's the way the story goes. By-Tor is set to cross the river Styx and enter the Overworld. Snow Dog is determined to stop him. If one reads the lyrics closely, it probably isn't the first time By-Tor and the Snow Dog have done battle ("the land of Overworld is safe again!") and Snow Dog is described as By-Tor's nemesis. With that background, the song itself is separated into four distinct sections: (1) At the Tobes of Hades (2) Across the Styx (3) The Battle and, finally, (4) Epilogue. The third, "The Battle" is described as i) Challenge And Defiance ii) 7/4 War Furor iii) Aftermath and iv) Hymn of Triumph. It might be cheating a bit but I vastly prefer the versions that appear on All the World's a Stage and the third disc of Different Stages from a show they did in England promoting A Farewell to Kings. The version from Different Stages is considerably shorter while the one from ATWAS is longer than the studio version by about three minutes. In the song, Alex's guitar represents "Snow Dog" while Geddy's bass and weird vocal effects represent By-Tor. I've never quite been able to figure out what By-Tor is saying, but it sounds ominous (anyone ever been able to figure it out?). It's a good effect. I'm going to go with talking about the ATWAS version (cheating perhaps). The coolest part of the song is when Geddy screams "LET THE FRAY BEGIN!" and the band starts to jam out (this might be the "7/4 War Furor" part), with Geddy all over the place in terms of jamming out (doing a bit of his "Working Man" vibe) while Alex is using tons of echo and a bit of delay in his guitar. Neil, of course, is holding everything else down with his superb time keeping skills, cymbal accents, and various breakdowns. The final part of this section has the band end it by going from about a 7 note progression down to one and Alex rips it up with great guitar effects and Geddy and Neil accent behind it. The next portion has Alex doing some cool volume swells with Neil going some bells and glockenspiel underneath it. If you really listen to this section it sounds like maybe the beginning part of the later song "Xanadu" was inspired from this kind of ambient, echoing instrumental section of "By-Tor". The section goes on as Alex's volume swells become more insistent until Geddy and Neil come back to support Alex's massive power chords and then Geddy adds a final bass riff to end it. A heavy solo with Geddy and Neil supporting Alex is probably the true 'battle' section of the tune (9:17) with the rest of it being kind of a lead up with the two enemies squaring up. After Alex's ripping solo, the band does an ascending figure ("Aftermath") and then begins the "Hymn of the Triumph" with By-Tor retreating and Snow Dog is victorious. I think "By-Tor and the Snow Dog" is an extremely ambitious piece for the band and would the blueprint for some of Rush's longer and complex tunes that they became famous for. Oddly, "By-Tor" is the villain in this story, but he appears again Caress of Steel's "The Necromancer" as the hero where he is "fighting for freedom". Make of that what you will. So, yeah, "By-Tor and the Snow Dog" is one of my favorite Rush tunes due to it's jamming nature, heavy guitar work by Alex, and the interesting time signatures employed. As I said, it's Rush's first epic tune and while it might be a bit half baked in terms of its story, it's still a really fun tune and I've always enjoyed it a lot.
By-Tor & The Snow Dog might be my favorite Rush song. I love when they do the Cream jam in the middle, kind of reminiscent of Working Man, with all instruments blazing. I wonder what they used to get those low bass growl effects? I notice live it’s audible, was it a tape or something else?
By-Tor and the Snow Dog Mark nailed it on this one. It started as kind of a "stoner" joke, and the lyrics and the ridiculous growling ("I am By-Tor?") reflect that, but it is a monstrous jam and I didn't "get it" until I heard the live version. Not a lyrical fable to be taken seriously - just a fun tune with some unbelievable chops from these 22 year-old musicians. I love the video that accompanied the Rush in Rio version.
I have mixed feelings about this one, but no doubt that it's one of early Rush's signature songs. IMO, its virtues outstrip anything on the disaster of a follow-up (Caress of Steel) but that's for next week...
I really like CoS. I think it's an extremely underrated album and kind of misunderstood, but that's for another time.
Yea, I'm looking forward to getting into it. I think it is an album that requires a few listens, and the two epics need some really close attention. but as you say .... another time
It has taken a while, but I have come around to Bytor. Back a while I used to wish it was an instrumental, but I have made peace with the lyrics these days
I think you perfectly described why I was kinda' lukewarm at first but have grown to love the song more an more over the years.
I used to (mildly) ridicule "By-Tor and the Snow Dog" as an example of the absurdity of some of prog's greater lyrical excesses. However, after reading the story about the song's inspiration, I've changed my mind completely. I think it's a credit to the subversive intelligence and humor of the band that they turned a small anecdote about a dog fight into this prog mini-epic. It's almost Pythonesque! Casting a dog fight as an epic battle out of Greek mythology - genius! As if the humor wasn't evident, the way they transition into the quiet middle section by playing a series of staccato chords in which each subsequent chord has half as many notes/beats as the one prior adds an element of mirth to the proceedings. It's still not one of my favorites, by any means, but I appreciate the musical invention on display here, not to mention the virtuosity (particularly Neil, with those mini-solos). Geddy's vocal is back to being overly screechy here, which docks a point or two from the song for me. Still, a fun listen.
