2112

One of my friends in class last year was a die-hard Rush fan, and he lend me this album along with Signals. I haven't listened to Signals all the way through, but I have to 2112 and it is nothing more or less than a solid, outstanding effort. The track 2112 is basically 3 songs meshed together into one 20-minute rock opera, paving the way for other more-improved ones such as Queensryche's "Operation Mindcrime" and Dream Theater "Scenes from a Memory" (which is my all-time favorite album incidentally). The track is never boring and frequently very moving and powerful (the sections "Presentation" and "Soliliquoy" come into mind strongest when I say this). Just an amazing piece. Among the other tracks, "A Passage to Bangkok" and "Tears" are fantastic, the latter being a beautiful ballad with dreamy acoustic guitars and shimmering mellotron and keyboard that sounds like a flute or something near the end. "The Twilight Zone" is also solid, though I didn't particularly care for the other two songs, which were "Something for Nothing" and "Lessons".

Overall, this is a very solid record and my introduction to Rush was a good one! Definately not my favorite band in the world but a very good one and this is probably my favorite by them. Recommended!

2112 10/10 (best track) A Passage to Bangkok 9/10 The Twilight Zone 8/10 Lessons 6/10 Tears 9/10 Something for Nothing 6/10