2112

I feel this album is a little out of time, and far out of context. Back in 1976, their heavier fase, Rush improves on making a 20 minutes suite. Starting: is it prog? Guess not. Estetically, it is far away from some Close to the Edge in style terms. I think we could view this track as a long duration hard rock song. Obviously, the lenght of the song is due to the lyrics, telling the history wrote by Peart. Later in Hemispheres, they would learn how to tell a history in a 20 minutes suite in progressive style and context. I think it would be better for Rush to have made a concept album instead of a suite, and the calm, softly sang lyrics in some parts in the middle and end of the song would fit perfect in that conception. If I would review this album considerating this song as a suite, I would give 3 stars. But let's pretend (and it's probably true) that those are 7 songs fixed together. Rocky guitars, great and rythmical complex drumming by peart, showing a mature style, although there is no other Rush record in that style. Geddy sings soflty, heavily, his voice being very versatile. A Passage to Bangkok is a good song, but you will get tired of it soon. Twilight Zone and Tears are soft ballads, they are worth your hearing, as well as Lessons and Something or Nothing. They were young and VERY pretentious at the time, their musical maturity still didn't fit the purpose of the music they wanted. In the next years, they would learn and become young, but skilled guys, making great prog works, before becoming definitively mature in their more concise works from 1982 on.