2112

"2112" is the fourth studio album of Rush and was released in 1976. The album features an eponymous seven part musical suite telling a dystopian story about a man who discovers an ancient guitar and learns to play his own music in the year of 2112. The "2112" suite fills the entire A side of the album. Besides that suite, the album has more five tracks on the B side. Rush repeated this musical arrangement on their sixth studio album "Hemispheres" released in 1978.

"2112" represents the last studio album of the band that belongs to their first musical phase. That phase started with their eponymous debut studio album "Rush" released in 1974, followed by "Fly By Night" released in 1975 and "Caress Of Steel" also released in 1975. This musical phase is a less progressive phase that is more characterized by the hard rock and the blues tunes and some more complex progressive tracks that "2112" is the greatest testimony of that.

Rush has always been regarded as one of the very most important bands in the progressive rock and metal history. Their intricate song structures and the use of outside influences has become a staple of countless of the band's sound. The complexity of their masterpiece suite, the twenty minute epic track "2112" is undeniably one of the greatest achievements that this legendary power trio have ever put their name on. However, the album to which it lends its title contains no other really worthwhile music. Sure, there are some fine riffs on the last five out songs, but none of them can rival with the colossally layered mastery of harmonies and atmosphere displayed consistently on the title track. Nor do the display the unbelievable musical intensity that Rush could often take on effortlessly. The acoustic parts everywhere, but the first song feel thin and lifeless, but it's all made up for before you even get to those songs, really.

About the individual tracks, "2112" is the lengthiest and the greatest track on the album. So, I must talk more deeply about it than the other five tracks. Lyrically and briefly, "2112" tells the story of a futuristic society run by a priestly intelligentsia that brainwash the masses into believing that they are happy. One day a boy finds a guitar and being expressing himself through music. The boy wants to share his music with others, which infuriates and terrifies the priests. Musically this is really a great piece of music with a magnificent huge sound. It's on a par with some other great progressive pieces of music like Yes's "Close To The Edge", King Crimson's "In The Court Of Crimson King" and Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here". What distinguishes more "2112" is that the band manages to create such a giant sound with not much than a guitar, a bass, drums and vocals. While there is some doubling of guitar, mostly during solos or when acoustic guitar is added, and a few keyboard passages, the vast majority of "2112" is produced with only three music instruments. So, all of this elements and the story makes of "2112" a true masterpiece in the way that it sounds.

Relatively to the other five songs on the album, while "2112" rightfully gets all our attention, side B is praiseworthy in its own right. While side A perfected their progressive rock elements, side B is the group's more direct hard rock dimension. On side B, Rush move out of a shadow of Led Zeppelin to create a hard rock sound with a very distinctive Rush touch. I'm not saying that the second half of this is completely bad, or even that it doesn't rock face times. There are definitely some riffs driven joints to be found here. These songs tell vivid stories or describe intense emotional experiences and in each case, Rush finds good melodies and hooks to convey these stories and feelings. For instance "A Passage To Bangkok" captures the energy and exoticism of travelling in far of lands while "The Twilight Zone" creates a spooky ambience. Even the ballad "Tears" is quite impressive, with Lee delivering a beautiful vocal performance, while guest musician Hugh Syme provides excellent atmospheric backing melodies with his Mellotron. When I want to hear these songs, I usually choose the respective live versions. But I admit this is a personal preference.

Conclusion: "2112" isn't truly a cohesive effort due to the great differences between both sides of the album. The side B of the album isn't as progressive and as good as the side A is. I think it suffers from the same problem that "Tarkus" of Emerson, Lake & Palmer suffers. However, I sincerely think it has enough quality not to spoil the general musical quality of it. Probably, the main problem with the both sides of the album is that Rush, in my humble opinion, was never a pure progressive rock band and always had a more direct hard rock aspect to their sound, at least, through "Moving Pictures". By the other hand, with "2112", Rush took a real giant leap into their music and began the release of a true amazing set of studio albums that shuttling them definitely to the stardom. With "2112", Rush made exactly the album that they wanted to make, rather than the one the label was being for. Few bands haven't been brave enough to maintain their artistic integrity in that situation. Thus, "2112" became so important that neither progressive metal nor alternative rock bands would be what they are today without it. As a whole, "2112" stands out because of its title track.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

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