The previous album 'Caress of Steel' was, at the time of its release, a commercial and critical failure in the eyes of the band's label and even fans. I guess it was just a little too 'out there' for people's tastes at the time and just didn't end up selling very well. Prior to the recording of 2112, Rush was advised to record an album that could be marketed with more ease. Specifically, they were told to include more singles that would work for radio play.
Given that the self-titled first track clocks in at just over the 20 minute mark (making it the longest Rush track at the time if it's release), it's safe to say that Rush did not give the label what they wanted. What they did give them and the world proved to be an album that would go down in Rock n' Roll history as one of the most influential records of all time.
The album begins with the title track, the first movement of which is subtitled 'The Overture' and fittingly so, as it uses a typical overture pacing/rhythm. The epic track goes on to tell the story that borrows many plot elements from Ayn Rands 'Anthem' (also a track title from Rush's 1975 release 'Fly By Night'). The main plot being set in the distant future, when the world and all knowledge is controlled by the priests of the Temples of Syrinx. The main character makes the miraculous discovery of a musical instrument, (presumably a guitar from the musical accompaniment) and excitedly decides to bring his discovery before the priests in order to share his beautiful music with the world, and then goes on to describe the less than favorable reaction he gets from them and how this affects his outlook on the authorities in place in this future world.
As far as side-spanning epic songs, this one is the second I've heard (the other being Caress of Steel's Fountain of Lamneth) and as far as I'm concerned, it's a definite improvement over the previous one. The story of the song is played out more cohesively with the structure of the movements being pulled together a little bit less clunkily than Fountain of Lamneth. There's more variety sonically and it just held my attention more than the previous side-spanner.
The second half of the album consists of 5 individual songs where the song writing credits get a little bit mixed up. We see both Lifeson and Lee getting their own individually written songs for the first time since Peart's addition to the lineup. The songs 'Lessons' and 'Tears' were penned by Lifeson and Lee (respectively).
The first second-half song is 'Passage to Bangkok' which is a riff-heavy homage to touring overseas (or at least that's what my interpretation is). The main intro guitar line has been stuck in my head for days!
Things get taken down a notch or 2 with the next track 'The Twilight Zone', which has almost a Pink Floyd feel to it. The lyrics describe some strange, strange things that would seemingly occur only in the twilight zone. Ending in a subtle but effective guitar solo outro.
Now we come to the Lifeson penned track 'Lessons'. What sets this track apart from the rest of the album is its straight-forward writing style (just a basic meat n' potatoes 4/4 rock riff) uncommon to the Rush's songs, going back as far as the first album. The real feature of this song is the amazing guitar work, which makes sense as it was written by the guitarist in a non-collaborative manner.
The Geddy Lee track 'Tears' is yet another that I can see having been surprising to fans at the time the album originally was released. Say what you will, but this is a beautiful song and while also very straightforward and almost predictable in writing style, it shows amazing understanding of melody and harmony and multiple key changes keep it all interesting, as the song is indeed a slow beautiful ballad with minimal percussion. This is also the first Rush song to feature an outside musician (Hugh Syme plays Mellotron on the track).
Last but not least is 'Something for Nothing', a track more reminiscent of the previous album 'Caress of Steel'. The song definitely helps bring some energy to the end of the album and remind you that the last 2 tracks were just to show you what these guys can do individually, but at the end of the day, they are a super tight band who are here to show you a good time, and maybe make you think about a few things.
Going into the album, I had the prior knowledge that this was the first album the band wrote entirely in the studio and not on the road and the songwriting shows a definite turn in style. It's as if the songs on 2112 were written with the listener in mind as opposed to a live audience. There's a heavier use of multiple time signatures within a single song and polyrhythmic patterns. Rush's sheer musicianship continues to impress at every turn to the point where the rare dull moments on the album are almost welcomed between the barrage of heavy riffs.
Overall, I give 2112 an 8/10. I highly recommend checking out this album in it's entirety if you never have. You won't be disappointed!
2112 was recorded at Toronto Sound Studios and produced by Terry Brown. This was notably Rush's first album to achieve Gold status. The album went on to sell so well, Rush's label pretty much let them do anything they wanted from here on out.
Again for fun, here's what Rush looked like circa 1976:
Check out those cool outfits!!
Next up for review: A Farewell to Kings.
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