2112

Finally! Another Rush disc I can fully recommend! By this time, Rush have jettisoned the blues-Zep influence and gone total prog. 2112 is a carefully thought out rock opera, with strong melodic music and lyrics that sounds like a script from a play. Geddy's voice has yet to come down from the stratosphere, which makes for a pleasantly jarring dynamic in "Presentation". "Oracle-The Dream" could have been a killer single, in my eyes. The outro is the perfect way to close out the track, with an arrangement that sounds like the soundtrack to an impending apocalypse, with Alex delivereing a lead that makes all other wanna-be faux-proggers quaking in their shoes. Death metal, be ye damned! This is hell!

Now, for the other songs. I personally have no use for "Bangkok", which, to me, sounds like a 3.5-minute ramble about the best places to get baked, but that's why CD players have skip buttons. "The Twilight Zone" and "Lessons" sound pedestrian next to "Tears", which DOES bring tears to my eyes. Geddy hasn't sounded this relaxed and at-ease in a while, nor do I think he ever would again. His lyrics, while not the poesy we've come to expect from this trio, are heart-felt and heart-rending, with a Mellotorn outro lush enough to make ya wanna cry all over again. "Something For Nothing" is a good rocker, but ultimately fails to live up to "Tears". So why am I rating it 5 stars? Simply because "2112" and "Tears" are good enough to carry the entire disc, and more than worthe the price of admission.