CD Odyssey Disc 530: Rush

Two Rush albums in a row!  It is an unlikely event, but this isn’t the first time the dice gods have managed to pull it off.  Fortunately it is another good one.

Disc 530 is…. Fly By Night

Artist: Rush

Year of Release: 1976

What’s up with the Cover?  Pretty basic.  We’ve got the title, the band’s name and a pentagram reflected on a stage.  I like the simplicity well enough, but doesn’t compare to the owl of “Fly By Night.”

How I Came To Know It:  Like, “Fly by Night,” “2112” was a very hyped album throughout my high school experience and when I started building my Rush collection in the early nineties this was another one of the first albums I bought.

How It Stacks Up:  As I just finished mentioning in my last review, I have 19 Rush albums – I am missing their “Feedback” album. “2112” is one of their best, although I put it just behind my favourites so we’ll go with...4^th.  Just ahead of “Caress of Steel” and just behind “Hold Your Fire.”

Rating:  4 stars but almost 5

In the seventies, the usual approach when you want to sell a rock album was to put a relatively short ‘single’ on Side One to draw people in, and then put whatever long, drawn out epic noodle-fest on Side Two, after your audience was firmly interested.  “2112” bravely turns that convention on its head filling the entirety of Side One with the title track, which is over twenty minutes long.  It is a risky decision, but it works because it just happens to be twenty of the greatest minutes in the history of rock and roll.

“2112” is an epic sci-fi/fantasy about the power of music and how it inspires people to stand up to tyranny.  On a perfectly ordered mythical planet run by the austere priests of the Temple of Syrinx, the human population lives safe, but uneventful lives.  Then one day a man finds a guitar and in his excitement he brings it to the priests.  Instead of being interested, they dismiss him and demand that he return to the ordered society they’ve constructed.  Finally, in a bit of a deus ex machina, an elder race returns to the planet to tear down the Temple of Syrinx.

Unlike “By-Tor and the Snow Dog,” on the earlier “Fly by Night”, “2112” is not as goofy as it sounds.  Combined with brilliant music that hits just the right tone through the shifting story, Geddy Lee gives heartfelt voice to Neal Peart’s lyrics, as he relates what in many ways is a simple morality play, where the greater good being upheld is the power of music.

The martial sounding “Temples of Syrinx” section of the song is the best for rocking out, but my favourite part of “2112” is when our hero first discovers the guitar.  Geddy sings with a tentative wonder, and Alex Lifeson plays the ‘part’ brilliantly, putting just the right amount of uncertainty into his playing to convey what it’s like to pick up an instrument and be enthralled with playing it for the first time.

Recently I was treated to a surround sound version of this song at my friend Chris’ which was accompanied by an animation depicting the story I outlined above.  It was an immersive experience that gave me a new appreciation of “2112”s greatness. So a shout out to Chris for that.

Side Two of “2112” is a collection of shorter songs.  While they don’t provide the shock and awe of the first half of the album, they are still pretty damned good.

In particular, I liked the strum-tastic “Lessons” which felt like a sequel to “Fly by Night’s” “Making Memories.”  “Making Memories” has a similar construction as it sings about the pleasant memories you make on a road trip.  “Lessons” is darker, as it juxtaposes the sweet memories of experience, with the grim fact that so often we don’t learn from them.

As we get older, there is a risk that we mistake all of our accumulated experiences for wisdom, but it isn’t wisdom if you don’t let those experiences teach you something about yourself, and always be ready to guard against complacency.  “Lessons” is a reminder of this, and a kick ass song as well.

Lesser tracks include “Passage to Bangkok” and “The Twilight Zone.” They are both great musically, but lyrically I found them a little bit awkward.  Not remotely enough to ruin the record mind you, just not at the same level of the other material.

My other favourite Side Two track is “Something for Nothing” which explores a common theme in Rush music; that of self-reliance.  Rush is not a typical rock band, because they aren’t content with songs simply about rebellion.  They will always step forward and challenge their listeners to make choices, take stands and own the results of their actions:

“You don’t get something for nothing

You don’t get freedom for free

You won’t get wise

With the sleep in your eyes

No matter what your dream might be.”

 It is an appropriate song to end this record with.  It rocks out, it makes you think and then it makes you take ownership of those thoughts and put them into action.

This is a thoughtful record by a thoughtful band determined to make good art, even at the risk of alienating record sales.  That they are still going four decades after “2112” was released is proof positive that people are perfectly willing to be intellectually challenged through music.  That the music is so damned good – well that’s just the chocolate coating that makes it go down easier.

Best tracks:  2112, Lessons, Something for Nothing