2112 [Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered]

Rush | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 6, 1997)
• Original Release Date: 1997
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
• Label: Island / Mercury
• ASIN: B000001ESF
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (325 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #556 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #4 in Music > Hard Rock & Metal > Progressive Metal
  • #7 in Music > Music Deals > 3 CDs for $25, Plus FREE Super Saver Shipping
  • #8 in Music > Music Deals > $8.99 and Under

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential recording

Only Rush could have pulled this off, and only in the '70s. 2112--the title suite of the band's 1976 breakthrough album--is a comically pretentious, futuristic rock opera written by a nerdy drummer and sung by a whiny-voiced geek. It also happens to be a great piece of rock & roll that lifts the listener through a variety of moods and textures from genteel acoustic ("Oracle") to thrilling metal ("The Temples of Syrinx"). Perhaps realizing that they had taken conceptualism about as far as it could go, even these guys backed off on the epic hero stuff for later releases. 2112 still stands as one of the great signposts of the prog-rock era. --Michael Ruby

Product Description

Japanese only paper sleeve SHM pressing. The SHM-CD [Super High Material CD] format features enhanced audio quality through the use of a special polycarbonate plastic. Using a process developed by JVC and Universal Music Japan discovered through the joint companies' research into LCD display manufacturing SHM-CDs feature improved transparency on the data side of the disc allowing for more accurate reading of CD data by the CD player laser head. SHM-CD format CDs are fully compatible with standard CD players. Warner. 2009. --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

424 of 433 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Condescending Review from Amazon not quite accurate., March 24, 2007

By 

Joe "Joe" (NY, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 2112 (Audio CD)

I'm no die-hard Rush fan, but I know my rock history & Amazon's review(of an Amazon essential recording no less, now in the R&R HoF Definitive 200 albums list [#198])by Michael Ruby doesn't quite do justice to either the band or the album. The band has been around now for more than 35 years, but critics still harp on the same things: poor vocals, pretentious lyrics, & nerdy drummers, failing to take the band's progression into account & trivializing their early works.

Further, if someone only reads the Amazon editorial review, he(or she) would get the impression that after this record, Rush stopped making prog-rock records. I know for a fact that they didn't stop making songs under 10 minutes until 1982's "Signals". It's not as if they suddenly woke up and said, "hey, those rock critics are right, we ARE bombastic & pretentious".

The review also fails to mention that all three members of the band are respected BY THEIR PEERS & have each won awards for their musical skills. In the end, that's the problem with rock critics: they always have their reputations at stake, which is why the professional Amazon reviewer can't come out and say that he likes it without dousing his words in irony & campiness. It's uncool for rock critics worth their salt to actually admit that they like Rush; if it were cool, Rush would be in the R&R hall of Fame. So, dear reader, do me a favor & click YES if you agree the reviewer Michael Ruby hasn't done justice to the band or record in his review.

By the way, the live version of "2112" on "Different Stages" is an excellent example of how 1) Geddy Lee's vocals have mellowed over time & 2) Rush's musicianship has further improved since 1976.

116 of 124 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 'Listen to my music and hear what it can do . . .', August 13, 2004

By 

John S. Ryan "Scott Ryan" (Cuyahoga Falls, OH) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: 2112 (Audio CD)

This album is the one that brought me to the Rush party. It's still one of the finest rock albums there is.

Before 1976, Rush had released a competent but undistinguished Self-Titled Debut, with bassist/vocalist Geddy Lee (Gary Lee Weinrib), guitarist Alex Lifeson (Alex Zivojinovich, of which 'life-son' is a literal translation), and drummer John Rutsey doing a passable imitation of Led Zeppelin. Following Rutsey's amicable departure, Lee and Lifeson were joined by mad percussionist and thoughtful lyricist Neil Peart, whose influence was evident over the next two LPs (_Fly By Night_ and _Caress of Steel_). But although there was lots of good music on them, the band hadn't quite found its voice yet.

Then came _2112_ -- without which quite a few of us would never have _heard_ of their first three albums. This one got lots of people's attention, including mine; I was introduced to it by a junior-high buddy who was as blown away by it as I was. As of this release, Rush had _arrived_.

The title piece, as you surely know, is a twenty-minute science fiction 'rock opera' inspired largely by Ayn Rand's _Anthem_. Don't let that put you off; you don't have to have a high opinion of Rand's work in order to appreciate _2112_. (I don't think much of her as a philosopher myself, although I've enjoyed some of her non-ATLAS SHRUGGED fiction.) Peart is nobody's follower, and when it comes to Rand he knew which bits to keep and which to reject.

Here (as in his other Rand-inspired material) he seizes on the right stuff: individualism, iconoclasm, reason, intellectual self-reliance, respect for human competence and achievement, and a deep commitment to political and social liberty. He and the band also have some things Rand didn't: the desire to rock out, and the ability to do it extremely well. (All these of guys were, and are, consummate craftsman who have consistently earned the respect of other musicians of all types. Unfortunately they didn't know, in 1976, what Rand actually thought of rock music.)

The result is an absolutely blistering first track (originally an 'album side') and as clear-sighted a hymn to individual freedom and nonconformity as rock has ever seen. Pretty good work for three guys in their early twenties -- particularly in heavy metal, a genre not ordinarily noted for elevated philosophical discourse.

The rest of it ('side two') is decent enough too. The best of it, arguably, is the TANSTAAFL sermon 'Something for Nothing', but I also enjoy 'A Passage to Bangkok' (devoted, incidentally, to another subject Rand wouldn't have approved) and the lugubrious 'Tears' (lyrics by Geddy Lee). The other two tracks -- 'The Twilight Zone' and 'Lessons' (lyrics on the latter by Lifeson) -- are okay but they aren't Rush's best work.

Now, as much as I love _2112_, I can't say I think it's Rush's best release ever; they followed it up with a string of magnificent albums, pushing further and further into what turned out retroactively to have been 'prog rock', opening our ears and our minds as they went. (And they're not done yet.) I have my opinions about which albums are their best, and other Rush listeners have theirs.

But this one has a special place in history -- both Rush's history and mine. I still play it, and I still enjoy it as much as I did twenty-eight years ago. Thanks, guys -- from me and all the other geeks.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hymn to the Spirit of Man, August 31, 1998

By 

"astyanax" (Columbia, MO USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 2112 (Audio CD)

If you're not interested in 20 minute long songs, hard drving guitar and rhythm sections, sci-fi inspired lyrics, long instrumentals, a high pitched voice singing the lyrics, then 2112 is not for you. This is Rush's fourth album, their breakthrough which legitimately set them to become one of the most lyrically profound and musically astute power trios in the entire world. 2112 (pronounced "twenty one, twelve") is the main song on the album. It tells of a society ruled by the communist priests of the Temples of Syrinx who believe in crushing the human spirit so every one lives according to a lifeless conformity. The hero dares to defy them and leads the revolution through music. How does it end? Listen to the album. Also present are five lesslengthy songs like A Passage to Bangkok, which sounds like a shopping list for drugs, Something for Nothing, a song that defines reality itself, the acoustic show-stopper Tears, the Twilight Zone and Lessons. The lyrics of most songs are done by drummer Neil Peart, who sounds like a college professor. Alex Lifeson contributes hard-rocking guitar lines which soar and frighten. And bassist, vocalist, keyboardist Geddy Lee sounds like a Medieval minstrel. At times you almost start to think that he is the hero of the story. A classic album and a must have for any serious lover of heavy metal and lyrical profundity.