A FAREWELL TO KINGS

Being the first Rush album in my collection, with a lot of memories attached to it and all, "A Farewell to Kings" could have easily led me to jump into a very subjective view. Fortunately, the band indeed come up with very strong, if not mighty, materials, ranging between concise straight-to-the-point songs and longer but tight and well- structured songs.

The opening title track, "A Farewell to Kings", kicks off with a crispy classical guitar over a light synthesizer layering passage, before exploding into a thundering rock song and Geddy Lee sings "When they turn the pages of history...." This really is a splendid choice to set the tone, from which the band firing the other (five) songs with sharp focus and bold confidence. Apart from the popular radio hit "Close to the Heart", two outstanding songs worth mentioned are the 11-minute "Xanadu", an excellent showcase of superb musicianship and arty lyrics, and the 10-plus-minute "Cygnus X-1", a tale of a swallowing black hole.

This album should be at least in the same place with what most fans consider as the band's commercial breakthrough, its predecessor, "2112". But for me this is a well- rounded and better work.