Rush was never your dyed-in-thewool Woody Guthrie folkie, but an eclectic tunesmith who loved a broad church of music including Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley and Buddy Holly. His was a wonderfully oak-aged voice with a resounding open-tuned guitar, huge sonic space and an art for beautiful storytelling in the Ernest Hemingway tradition. It’s said he taught Joni Mitchell about open tunings, making him the Davy Graham of the American Cambridge folk scene.
Rush spent the Autumn of 1966 to Spring 1968 with arranger Paul Harris and producer Arthur Gorson fashioning his Elektra masterpiece The Circle Game. Not only did he pepper the 10 tracks with Joni Mitchell (then unknown), James Taylor and Jackson Browne numbers, but he threw in some Big Bill Broonzy and Charlie Rich to mix it up a bit. It all comes to a head on the incredible Rockport Sunday/No Regrets eight-minute finale, authored by Rush himself, and which still has the power to floor (even U2 now ad lib No Regrets in their live shows). This reissue comes with three single versions of Something, Urge For Going and The Circle Game. The original Linda McCartney cover shot is still one of her best.
