2112

This was actually the first Progressive Rock album that I've ever heard: I was 10 years old and I had absolutely no idea of what the hell Prog was. My cousin Jorge (who is only four years older than me) came to my house one time with a disc holder in which he kept his favorite albums so he can listen to them in his Discman (it was 2004, there were no iPods and the travel by bus from Mexico City to Oaxaca City is a seven hours journey).

Along with some non-progressive rock bands such as KASHMIR, MUSE, and THE MUSIC, he introduced me to the Progressive Rock of THE MARS VOLTA's "De-loused in the comatorium" and RUSH's "2112"; I expanded just a little bit my musical taste that back in those days was founded on KISS, THE RAMONES, MOLOTOV and GREEN DAY. It was actually until 2009 (when I started listening to Progressive Rock) that I re-discovered the album and finally fell in love with it.

--- A-SIDE ---

1.- 2112 (20:33): The opening track of the album is a phenomenal twenty-minute suite that talks about a post-apocalyptical age of time running in the year 2112 when the music is an unknown part of human history and the Priests run over the world and live in The Temples of Syrinx. The song is divided into seven parts that would function really well as individual songs but altogether function much better.

I) Overture: As the name of the first part claims, this is the overture of the song: it is a 4 and a half minute piece that is completely instrumental until its very end when we can hear just one line "and the Meek shall inherit the Earth". The music in this section is absolutely mind-blowing: all the bass, the guitar, and the drums were played with very aggressive patrons and the addition of the synthesizer ARP Odyssey played by Hugh SYME gave it a very spacey atmosphere that went perfect with the thematic of the song (it reminds me a lot to HAWKWIND).

II) The temples of Syrinx: The second part continues with the intense hard rock only the melody changes completely; unfortunately this part is really short and the third chapter is not intense hard rock but a soft slow melody. The chapter explains how the Priests who live in the temples of Syrinx have controlled the population and blocked all creativity and individualism.

III) Discovery: This is a very soft melody that starts with water sounds and a very calm guitar, then LEE sings and the guitar starts to play faster until it changes to a more rhythmic tune. In this chapter, a man discovers a guitar and he starts to play it so he discovers the lost art of music.

IV) Presentation: More strong Hard Rock with powerful guitar riffs and drums; the instrumental final includes one of the most intense guitar solos of the album. In this chapter of the song the unnamed man takes his beautiful discovery to the Priests at the temples, he is really excited to "share this new wonder and to show what it can do" but he finds out that the priests knew about this "waste of time" and they're not interested in any silly device from the ancient days. The priests destroy the guitar and banish the man.

V) Oracle: the dream: This section of the song starts with a very calm guitar line and a soft sung part and then it changes to a more hard rocky section. In this chapter, the man dreams about a planet in which creative people live.

VI) Soliloquy: Another song that starts with a quiet melody and changes to a rockier section. The man wakes up and realizes he will never be part of that civilization so he kills himself in depression.

VII) Grand final: It's just an instrumental ending of the song; the drums in here are particularly amazing. The end of the story is confusing and hard to interpret.

--- B SIDE ---

2.- A passage to Bangkok (03:34): The first song of the second side of the LP is a slow-tempo rock song with a well-marked riff. This is a song about weed and the best places to get it (the song mentions several cities and countries from around the globe with the fame of growing good weed such as Bogota, Jamaica, Acapulco, Morocco, Afghanistan, Lebanon, and Katmandu).

3.- The twilight zone (03:19): Maybe the most oriented to Progressive Rock from the B-side: the atmosphere this song gives is very mystic; the lyrics are inspired in the television science fiction show with the same name.

4.- Lessons (03:52): This song was written by Alex LIFESON. It starts with an acoustic guitar line increasing its volume until the drums and bass appear and then the lyrics do it too. It is a very cheerful melody with intense rock in the chorus.

5.- Tears (03:34): This song was written by Geddy LEE. This is a very beautiful acoustic soft ballad with the addition of the mellotron played in the studio by Hugh SYME (LEE plays it himself at live shows).

6.- Something for nothing (03:57): Probably the most iconic song from the B-side of the album; this hard rock piece with that unmistakable guitar riff became a favorite in RUSH's concerts over the years.

Excellent stuff!

SONG RATING: 2112, 5 A passage to Bangkok, 4 The twilight zone, 4 Lessons, 4 Tears, 4 Something for nothing, 5

AVERAGE: 4.33

PERCENTAGE: 86.67

ALBUM RATING: 4 stars

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