2112

In an effort to stick it to the man Rush decided to release 2112 with the 20 minute epic as the first song. This was a big gamble as the previous record (Caress of Steel) didn't sell very well. But the gamble paid off. It got them their first U.S. Top 100 Album and the album also went Platinum in 1981.

This album holds special meaning to me as it was one of the first Rush albums I heard and also has the first epic song that I listened to. But enough of my thoughts and memories, onto the music!

2112 is broken into seven parts (Overture, The Temples of Syrinx, Discovery, Presentation, Oracle: The Dream, Soliloquy, Grand Finale). Discovery is the only section that is musically different as it only has Alex Lifeson playing acoustic guitar. The best parts of this song are Overture, Soliloquy, and Grand Finale as these all contain the classic Rush sound and these parts are mostly instrumentals. This sound (for me) incorporates Geddy's prominent bass, Neil's powerful drumming, and Alex's brilliant solos (as seen in the end of Part III: Presentation). The story presented in the lyrics is a dystopian story, meaning it is a story about a totalitarian government and the protagonist tries to escape this oppressive society. Neil's lyrics are very close to the novella Anthem by Ayn Rand (they give a reference to her in the sleeve notes) except instead of discovers electricity, the protagonist of 2112 finds a guitar. A Passage to Bangkok is the beginning of Side Two of the album. It is about a trip across the globe to find the best weed, apparently. It has a great riff and interesting lyrics and is a big reference to the drug taking of the 60's and 70's. The Twilight Zone is another good song by Rush (a bit mediocre if you ask me). It still has vague hints of the classic Rush sound but has some hard rock tidbits here and there. Lessons (written by Alex) is the most hard rock sounding song on this album, it is very rocking but sadly does not live up to the progressive rock music we got on Side One of this album. The last mediocre track of this album is one written by Geddy. Tears is also the first song by Rush to feature another musician. Hugh Syme plays the mellotron beautifully on this track. Yes this is the same Hugh Syme who created all of Rush's album cover art since Caress of Steel and who created Rush's star man logo (it is featured on the back of this album). This album ends on a good note with the great song Something For Nothing. This is a good round trip from prog (2112) to hard rock (Lessons) to prog again (Something For Nothing). A spectacular version of this song can be heard on All The World's a Stage (the live album Rush released after this album).

This album contains a few great songs (2112, Something For Nothing, A Passage to Bangkok) but these are not enough to merit a 5 star rating from me. The mediocrity of a couple of the songs (Lessons, Tears - yes even with the mellotron added does not make it a good song) does not merit a 3 star rating, so I will give this album 4/5 stars. It is a good addition to anyone's music collection.

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