2112

Quite a good album, but side 2 does not live up! "2112" is Rush's second attempt at the epic, and it fairs much better than on "Caress Of Steel" but they still have a lot of room to grow. The album opens with the 20 minute opus "2112." After a blistering intro and some excellent solo's by Alex, we are treated to the heavy opening movement of "Temples of Syrinx" and learn about a new world, where everything from what you see, hear, and read is governed by "The Priests". Our unnamed protaganist soon discovers an acoustic guitar near what sounds like a waterfall, and learns to tune and play it proficiently in a couple of minutes.. yea! This aside there is some nice acoustic playing by Lifeson in this part. The song regains momentum when our hero confronts the priests about his new discovery, only to be sent away. Geddy does a good job of different vocal-roles, but nothing on par with Gabriel (..but, who is?) The song has a basic message that can be easily applied to our current society. But the lyrics are not anything overly spectacular, the music is the real treat in this epic, although the compositional skills of the band had some room to improve. The song is concluded the way it began, with a blistering outro, fitting end to this masterpeice prog epic. If I were to rate the album on this track alone, it would most definitely receive 5 stars. But the album loses steam during the second side, as the short songs really do nothing for me, besides the pretty good "Passage To Bangkok" and the heart felt "Tears". The other songs are for the most part pretty generic and forgettable. It seems to me that most of the bands creative energy went into the title track, and it shows. Due to the lackluster side 2, i can only give this album a 3.5/5 - con safo