Rush (Canada)2112 (1976)Genres: progressive rock, heavy progressive, hard rock, progressive metalStarts with the legendary side-long title track that's classic Rush. Certainly, it holds together much better than the previous "The Fountain of Lamneth". They also started to use some keyboards on this album, especially the mini-Moog, to great satisfaction. The "2112" suite are probably the hardest Rush track ever, still it holds calmer, acoustic moments within the walls of heavy power.
Side B consists of five short songs that - in retrospect - aren't that great, compared to the title track, but they are decent or rather good in their own. The exception being the final song "Something for Nothing" that goes beyond the average or rather good field. A good album and maybe a good place to start your voyage into Rush-land.
The first two parts of the title track open the album with a blast of hard-hitting progressive rock. During six minutes you are treated with themes that are so tight you get the feeling that Rush rehearsed for years to get it just right. Unfortunately, the remaining 14 minutes of the title track never reach the same heights, nor does any of the five shorter songs on the second half of the album. These short songs are basically decent 70s hard rock with some silly tendencies. The guitar riff on “A Passage to Bangkok" is, for example, quite catchy, but the chorus is downright silly. This is the problem with Rush; they go for drama and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. On this album it works frequently enough, though.
The lyrics of the title track are based on writings by Ayn Rand, the advocate of "the virtues of selfishness”, and the last track, "Something for nothing", reveals similar sources of inspiration:
"What you own is your own kingdom
What you do is your own glory
What you love is your own power
What you live is your own story".
And taxation is theft, right?