Customer Reviews

2112

5 star:		(244)
4 star:		(52)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

Amid the laughable radio offerings of the late 70's (disco, soft rock, and bad new wave groups) Rush stood out. "2112" is a great album by an innovative power trio slamming out great tunes.

Alex, Geddy and Neil have a chemistry that you can feel during the galloping riff of the rocking title track. They know what to play and when to play it, perfectly complementing each other. This twenty-minute song changes from blazing rips to mellow guitar work, with waterfall sound effects in the background, and it never loses steam. The awesome rhythm and lead guitar work, heavy growling bass lines, and otherworld drumming makes this one of my favorite Rush tunes. "A Passage To Bangkok" is another rocking tune with goofy lyrics about weed, which seemed a lot cooler back in the day. "The Twilight Zone" is a sort of commercial sounding happy tune, but the guitar picking during the chorus is eerie - nice contrast. "Lessons" is another upbeat tune similar to something heard on "Caress of Steel", another great disc by the way. The ballad "Tears" (keyboards played by graphic designer, Hugh Syme) is a bit weak but not a bad. However, "Something for Nothing" closes out the disc in grand fashion.

The only possible negative about Rush is many people don't like the nasal whiny vocals of Geddy Lee. I never noticed this since I was too focused on the musicianship, but his singing seems to have improved with age. I doubt people will listen to this in 2112 and find it as exciting as it seemed in 1976, but musicians (if they still exist) will surely acknowledge the incredible talents of Lee, Lifeson, and Peart.

I look back upon my discovery of this album, while still a teen in high school, and find it marks the point when I became a metal head. Now, at 44 years of age, I'm even more of a metal head.

2112 comes blasting through your speakers with the opening epic and thumps your heart with excellent prog-metal, and most certainly does not leave your brain behind with the thought provoking lyrics.

Reader, you must keep in mind, in the mid seventies when this album first hit the street, it was ground breaking. There was nothing to compare it to. It was heavy, unique, and well-crafted. It still is 30 years later.

Try this disc. If you like prog-rock, you'll be amazed at what happened 30 years ago. I'm still a Rush fan, and attended their 30th anniversary tour in 2004, and all these years later I still can't recommend this recording enough.

Most of the above reviews are outstanding(even 1 or 2 of the negative ones), however something else needs to be said about this landmark album and band. Rush PRACTICES WHAT THEY PREACH! THAT, my friends, is what separates the great artists from those who experiance just "15 minutes of fame".

With their 1975 release "Caress Of Steel", Rush attempted the make of a great storylined concept album, however, it didn't quite cut it. Maybe the epic track on the second half of the album "The Fountain Of Lamneth" didn't have a strong enough story and/or message to it - who knows? The point is, their record company shunned the idea of a concept album preferring more conventional straight-forward rock albums like those we've heard from Bad Company or Foghat, but Rush was out to distinguish themselves. Instead of being deterred from the lack of success of "Caress" or discouraged from writing 18+ minute long epic tracks by the record company. Neil, Geddy and Alex write, record and release an even better and longer epic track for their 1976 album - "2112"! Three very talented musicians from the suburbs of Toronto simply knew what they wanted and through blood, sweat and "Tears" stood their ground. Of course, the record execs were furious at Rush's blatant disregard for their request, but surely were silenced by the fact that "2112" became the band's first platinum selling success!

It's one thing to write a body of work, whether it's a novel or rock album or whatever, and talk a lot of pilosophy. It's another to put ACTION behind those words and produce positive results. Rush practices what they preach and "2112" is there testament.

Review no. 280. First thrilled hard rock fans in spring, 1976 - as this was of course, the Canadian power trio's 4th release as it was also their make-or-break album. Believe I may even still have my vinyl copy of this record, but it's sure nice to have the remastered CD as well. Tunes that most (if not all) true Rush fans will never grow tired of are the fantastic twenty-minute sonic opener "2112 Overture / The Temple Of The Syrinx", the awesome "Twilight Zone" and the high-energy rocker "Something For Nothing". Also liked "Tears", wow! It really has been awhile since I've heard this disc. Highly recommended.

2112 is Rush's 1976 orchestral masterpiece. Okay, well, they didn't actually use an orchestra for this album--and that makes it all the more amazing. For nearly the entire 39-minute length of this CD (with the only exception being the synthesizer that opens 2112's "Overture"), the music consists of just 3 instruments: Guitar (both acoustic and electric), bass guitar, and drums. That's it! Of course, the players happen to be among the greatest ever in their respective instruments. 2112 is also Neil Peart's lyrical masterpiece; it is the first album on which he writes all of the lyrics, and they are nothing short of poetry at its best and most interesting. Welcome to the vision of Alex Lifeson, Geddy Lee, and Neil Peart, in all its wonder and splendor. :)

The first half of the CD (actually a bit more than half) consists purely of the epic title track, which at 20:34 is the longest song that Rush has ever done, even to this day. It is also the greatest in the band's history, and this is a band with a long history of great songs! It is the story of a civilization (Human or alien; you decide), set in the titular year, that has sprung up long after nuclear apocalypse. Everything is run by priests who control "the books you read, the songs you sing" and everything else. Then, one day while out walking in the barren wasteland outside the Great City of Syrinx, a young man discovers a guitar left over from the "elder race of man". As he begins to strum it, he hears the beautiful music it makes, and it opens up his eyes. As he plays it, he believes that he has made a momentous discovery that will be well-received by others, one for which "the priests (will) praise my name on this night". Unfortunately, when he brings it to the priests in Syrinx, they immediately dismiss it as "another toy that helped destroy the elder race of man" and a "silly whim", and bark at him, "Don't annoy us further!" Dejected, the young man goes home and falls into "a fitful sleep". He dreams that he is sent to an oracle who shows him the various beautiful facets of the former world, and shows him that, eventually, the ones who left after the nuclear holocaust will return to reclaim the world. He wakes up, now totally hopeless that he will ever see anything beyond his present world. He realizes how lifeless his sanitized world is, and he simply cannot go on living "this cold and empty life", and he ends it by committing suicide.

Musically, the song "2112" begins with "Overture" which is comprised of pieces of all the successive parts (and comes closer to classical music than anything else done by any other heavy rock band up to that point), and it ends with Geddy Lee softly singing the immortal line, "And the meek shall inherit the earth", before blazing right into the barn-burner "The Temples Of Syrinx" where Geddy screams his lungs out for 2 minutes before surprisingly ending with 10 seconds of soft acoustic guitar. Things then go back to square-one with "Discovery" which is a soft acoustic number. "Presentation" alternates between soft (as the voice of the hero) and hard (as voice of the priests in anger), before turning into a speed-metal workout, with a blistering lead guitar solo. "Oracle: The Dream" turns upbeat and hopeful as the hero finds out how the world once was, "Soliloquy" is gloomy and dark, and it represents the despair the hero feels after awakening, ending with his final act of suicide. "Grand Finale" is an ultra-blistering 2 1/2 minute instrumental that sums up, I think, the chaos the world falls into as a result of the hero's death, ending with the final conquest of the world by the former inhabitants who announce (in the spoken voice of Neil Peart), "Attention all planets of the Solar Federation...we have assumed control." What an incredible piece of musical storytelling this is!! There has not been anything like it before or since.

Although 2112 is only one-half of a concept album, the remaining 5 songs, while not tied to this or any other concept in particular, follow up very well with songs about travel & adventure, sci-fi, lessons, tears, and self-determinism. My favorite is "A Passage To Bangkok" which is a heavy-metal excursion into the land of adventurism on the rails; it's a cool travelogue into which your mind supplies the pictures from the lyrics and music. I also love "Something For Nothing", which starts out with a nice, soft melody but then whips itself into a heavy rock song where Geddy Lee screams the advise "You don't get something for nothing / You can't have freedom for free", which incidentally, is especially true these days! That's what makes Rush a truly timeless band, for they were both of their time and ahead of their time. 2112 has cemented its place as one of the most important musical works of 1976 and in the history of rock and roll. It's also among my top 20 favorite heavy-metal albums ever! It's great either as an introduction to Rush or after one has been introduced by way of MOVING PICTURES and PERMANENT WAVES. Either way, MOST RECOMMENDED

After three albums and a hefty touring schedule in only two years, Rush finally hit their creative apex (up to this point) with their 1976 breakthrough classic 2112. Although not Rush's strongest recording, the album brought the pioneering progressive trio their first commercial success and started a chain reaction of great albums that remains unmatched in rock and roll. Greatest rock drummer of all time Neil Peart's fascination with the philosophies of Ayn Rand finally paid off with the massive title track "2112," a 20-minute seven-part opus that has been constantly duplicated but never equaled. All of the stuff Rush did in the early '70s comes full circle on "2112": Geddy Lee's high-pitched, screaming vocals; Alex Lifeson's mix of raucous guitar riffs and melodic interludes; and Neil Peart's interesting sci-fi lyrics. In the full 20 minutes, the song tells the story of an ordinary man living in a futuristic society run by the priests of the Solar Federation. In the society, you can't speak your mind and you just have the follow the same patterns. The young man goes to a waterfall and finds a guitar and is astonished that he can play his own music. He shows it to the priests, but they despise him and break the guitar right in front of him! Learning that there is no room for individualism, the hero decides to commit suicide--just in time, as an army takes over the society and gets rid of the priests for good. Everything about this 20-minute epic is great. Rush shows us a blockbuster movie in half the time. There's the famous "Overture/The Temples of Syrinx" medley, the soft and soothing "Discovery"; the bombastic "Grand Finale," etc. Nothing more needs to be said. The sad thing is that the remaining five tracks are often overlooked in favor of the epic. My favorite of the other songs is "Something for Nothing," a fiery rocker which proves why Rush were one of the great hard rock bands in this era. "Lessons," a song penned by Alex Lifeson, is another good one with its back-and-forth acoustic melodies, huge riffing, and surprisingly good lyrics. Overall, 2112 is a phenomenal album in its own right and deserves all the attention it gets, but Rush would get even better--and even more complex--on the follow-up A FAREWELL TO KINGS.

Rush is either a band people love or hate. There's no middle ground with them, and 2112 is a perfect example of this. For Rush fans, this is the zenith. Well, not so much the album as a whole, but the title track. Over the years, 2112, along with the cover art, has come to symbolize freedom and the triumph of the individual. To critics and nonfans, the band represents the ills of prog rock, with its epic, often pompous, song structure and fantasy/sci-fi themes. I agree with them about most of the progressive rock bands, but not about Rush. Peart's writing always had emotion in it and at times could be as close to poetry as rock lyrics have come. 2112 is where the band first blendid Peart's lyrics with dynamic music. The album, as a whole, isn't great. It's good, but not great. The title track, however, IS the album's centerpiece and lifts the album to four stars and perhaps even higher. It is that good. Inspired by Ayn Rand's novella Anthem, the song tells the story of a futuristic hero who discovers a guitar and leads a revolution through music against a cold "We" society. The idea sounds pompous, but it works here, and that's an understatement. It's hard to pick a highlight in a song filled with so many great moments, but for me it is The Discovery. Set against the sound of a sofly running waterfall, Alex Lifeson's beautiful guitar work combines with Peart's lyrics to portray the wonderous feeling of what it's like to pick up a guitar and play. I know every note of this song by heart, and I always play this song every time I pick up my guitar. It captures the spirit and purpose of music, as does the rest of the song. Get this album! 2112 has given me more positive memories than any other album and embodies the freedom of music and thought.