Rush: 2112

 

Rush: 2112 (1976)

There are people that will argue with you all day about whether or not this is a concept album. It is not. Side A is a concept piece, but side B are completely unrelated to the story of "2112". Side A is a seven piece suite that tells the story of a world where music has been removed from society by some angry priests, who dwell in the Temples of Syrinx, until one man happens upon an acoustic guitar, and teaches himself how to play it. The priests immediately reject the instrument, and destroy it. The man goes on to have a dream of a better world, and decides to end his own life. The ending, to me, always sounded like the original habitants of the world return, and take the rule back from the priests. So, happy ending? You be the judge.

Side B is made up of five shorter tracks that have absolutely nothing to do with side A, but are all fantastic songs in the Rush catalog. From the foreign substance subject matter of "A Passage To Bangkok", to the rallying cry to believe in yourself of "Something For Nothing", there's not a dull track here. My personal favorite is the Alex Lifeson penned "Lessons", but "Tears", and "The Twilight Zone" are both fantastic as well. 

This is the album that gave Rush their freedom from label interference when making a new album, and the album that brought many more fans to a Rush show. For my money, though it doesn't finish in the top half of my favorite Rush albums, no album from my favorite band could ever be bad.