2112

It is a little strange that I approach this CD years after its initial release. I have always known about it having heard it at parties and other events but I never went one on one with it. After hearing about it from a lot of people here, hearing Tiles cover the first two passages of it at CalProg and the stories from some other slightly younger friends of mine who would have considered this a staple in their high school diet of music I decided to give the re-mastered CD a go.

2112- In parts is genius. The hard rocking parts of the overture is a great experience. Neil Pert is a true master of the drums and Geddy Lee is more than just fill. Alex Lifeson certainly is a competent if unspectacular guitarist of his time. Temple of Syrinx picks up where the overture left off and is very solid. Lee's voice screams with emotion to let you know these priests are not very nice. Then the whole thing goes on hiatus for a while. Now I know there is a story being told but the music drops down to zero for too long! (I notice on the live version of this that Discovery is left off.) Lee's voice is not suited for this type of music. If this part was shortened by 2 minutes it might have been a better segue to Presentation which is a great song. The Dream too drags a bit but the ending pieces are as solid as the beginning more than make up for it.

The rest of the CD I have only listened two once all the way through and found little there to spark my interest. Rush had not reached its peak of radio friendly hard rock songwriting yet.

My rating is thus. I wanted to give this 3 stars + but I thought about the title track and its importance in the development of this group. I also thought of another album of like mind ELP's Tarkus. I would give Tarkus only a 4 except the title piece is essential so I would give it 5. Using that rational I give this 4 stars as the title track is an excellent addition to any collection.