2112 | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | March 1976 | |||
Recorded | January 1976 | |||
Studio | Toronto Sound (Toronto, Canada) | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 38:42 | |||
Label | Mercury | |||
Producer |
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Rush chronology | ||||
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Singles from 2112 | ||||
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Alternative cover | ||||
2112 (pronounced "twenty-one twelve") is the fourth studio album by Canadian rock band Rush,released in March 1976 by Mercury Records. [8] [9] [10] [11] It reached No. 5 in Canada and became the band's commercial breakthrough in the US,peaking at No. 61.
The band was in financial hardship due to the disappointing sales of 1975's Caress of Steel ,which also gained an unfavourable critical reception,and a decline in attendance at its shows. Mercury,their international label,considered dropping them but granted one more album following negotiations with manager Ray Danniels. Rush were pressured to deliver more commercial material,but decided to continue developing its progressive rock direction it had explored on Caress of Steel and made the 20-minute futuristic science-fiction title track occupy side one of 2112,with a collection of shorter songs on side two that display their hard rock roots.
2112 was released to favourable reviews from music critics and quickly outsold the band's previous albums. Rush toured the album extensively in 1976 and 1977,which culminated in their debut concerts in Europe. 2112 remains the band's second-highest-selling album behind Moving Pictures ,with more than 3 million copies sold in the US alone. It is listed in 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die ,and ranked second on Rolling Stone 's reader's poll,Your Favorite Prog Rock Albums of All Time. [12] 2112 has been reissued several times;a 40th Anniversary Edition was released in 2016 with previously unreleased material,including the album performed by numerous contemporary artists.
In January 1976,Rush ended its 1975–1976 tour to support 1975's Caress of Steel . The band had enjoyed writing and recording the album,but guitarist Alex Lifeson recalled the group was in a state of confusion after the tour,sensing the disappointing reaction from crowds after playing songs from it on stage. [13] The album marked the band's foray into progressive rock with lengthy,story-based songs,more complex song structures,and hard-to-grasp lyrics,which made it difficult to receive radio airplay and promote effectively. [13] Vocalist and bassist Geddy Lee said the band could not understand the underwhelming response,and later dubbed the tour the "Down the Tubes Tour" as they struggled to meet their $125-a-week salary while crowds declined. [14] Lee added,"That really shakes your confidence. We were so confused and disheartened." [13] In 1980,Lifeson,who had formed the band in 1968,said this was the only moment in its history when he felt close to giving up. [15]
In addition to their financial hardship,Rush's international label,Mercury Records,considered dropping them. Peart recalled seeing label owner Polygram's financial predictions for the forthcoming year,and the band were not listed. [16] To help the situation Rush manager Ray Danniels flew to the label's head offices in Chicago to try to regain confidence and spoke highly of the band's ideas for a new album without having heard any of it. This followed the group's conscious decision to exclude Danniels from the writing and recording sessions,and only played the album to him when it was finished. [13] Danniel's plea was a success,and Mercury approved one more album. [13] Despite pressure from the label and management to make a more commercial record,the band ignored the advice and proceeded with material as they saw fit. [13] Lifeson said,"I remember having these conversations about,'What are we going to do? Are we going to try to make another mini-Led Zeppelin record or are we going to do what we are going to do and continue forward and whatever happens,happens?' ... We fully intended to [not] go down in flames but we were prepared to do that." [13] Drummer and lyricist Neil Peart looked back on the situation:"We had been working towards something a little more ambitious on each of the previous two albums. We simply decided that 2112 would have to be the realization of all our hopes." [17] Following the commercial success of 2112 and its tour,the band vowed to take full creative control of their music from that point on. [18]
Rush put down musical ideas for 2112 in backstage dressing rooms,hotel rooms,and in their van while touring Caress of Steel in the second half of 1975. [14] [19] Peart had already started writing lyrics,to which Lee and Lifeson would develop songs on acoustic guitars that complemented the mood of what Peart was writing about. This was a departure from the pair using their acoustic guitars to write heavy rock arrangements that were eventually recorded on electric instruments,although some passages were written on electric guitar using a portable Pignose practise amplifier. [13] [20] Lee and Lifeson composed with little overdubbing in order to recreate the music on stage as much as possible. [19] Lifeson recalled developing "The Temples of Syrinx" backstage at a gig in Sault Ste. Marie,Ontario in front of their opening act Mendelson Joe. [13] The "Overture" was the final piece to be written on the album. [21] Lifeson said 2112 was the first Rush album that "really sounded like Rush". [14]
In January 1976,the band entered Toronto Sound Studios to record with their longtime associate Terry Brown assuming his role as producer,operating a Studer 24-track machine. [22] [19] [13] Lifeson plays a 1968 Gibson ES-335 for the majority of the electric guitar parts,with some lead parts played on a Gibson Les Paul Standard. For the acoustic sections,he plays a 12-string Gibson B-45 and a six-string Gibson Dove. His amplifiers were the Fender Super Reverb and a Twin Reverb. [15] A section of "Discovery" features a Fender Stratocaster that Lifeson borrowed from a friend. [14] Lee used a Rickenbacker 4001 bass with stereo output;Brown fed one channel into the mixing board and then into a compressor,and the other was channelled into Lee's Electro-Voice speakers turned up to the maximum. [13] Upon completing the album,the band expressed an interest in recording in another studio to explore different sounds. [17] Their next album, A Farewell to Kings ,was recorded in Wales.
Side one is occupied by the 20-minute futuristic science-fiction song "2112". The seven-part track is based on a story by Peart who credits Russian-American novelist Ayn Rand,inventor of the philosophy of Objectivism and author of the dystopian fictional novella Anthem ,the plot of which bears several similarities to "2112". The band had read the book,and Peart added the credit in the album's liner notes to avoid legal action. [23] In the British paper NME ,Barry Miles made allusions of the Rand influence to Nazism,which particularly offended Lee,whose parents were Holocaust survivors. [13] "Overture" begins with a soundscape from musician and album cover artist Hugh Syme performed on his ARP Odyssey synthesizer with an envelope filter and Echoplex Delay pedal. [24] Music writer and professor Rob Bowman calculated that in the entire piece,2:34 of the song contains improvised guitar solos. [13] "Overture" contains the lyric "And the meek shall inherit the earth",a reference to the Biblical passages Book of Psalms 37:11 and Matthew 5:5 and borrows a short sequence from Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture . [13] [14]
"2112" tells a story set in the city of Megadon in the year 2112,after an intergalactic war in 2062 forces many of the planets to be ruled by the Solar Federation (symbolized by the Red Star on the cover artwork),where music is unknown and individualism and creativity are outlawed. The population is controlled by a cabal of priests living in the temples of Syrinx,who take orders from giant banks of computers that control all aspects of life ("The Temples of Syrinx"). [13] [25] An unnamed protagonist finds a guitar inside a cave and rediscovers the lost art of music ("Discovery"). [25] [20] Upon playing the guitar to the priests,they destroy it and declare music a waste of time and against the computers' plan ("Presentation"). In a dream an oracle shows him a planet established simultaneously with the Solar Federation,where an elder race flourish in creativity and individuality ("Oracle:The Dream"). [20] He awakens,depressed that music is part of such a society that he can never be part of and kills himself ("Soliloquy"). [13] Another planetary war begins and the elder race successfully take down the Solar Federation, [26] but the song ends with an ambiguous spoken ending:"Attention all planets of the Solar Federation:We have assumed control" ("Grand Finale"). Peart described the ending as a "double surprise ... a real Hitchcock killer". [25] [23] [13]
Side two contains five individual songs that display the band's more traditional hard-rock sound and Lee's higher-pitched vocals featured on their previous albums. [20] Lifeson said while having a title track more serious,the rest of the album was to be "just a little lighter and a little more fun". [13] Bowman wrote that the variation of styles on side two offers "a very different listening experience" in comparison. [13] Though the tracks are not specifically about the "2112" concept,they do contain ideas that can relate to its overall theme. [23] Lee wrote the lyrics for "Tears" and Lifeson the lyrics to "Lessons",while Peart wrote the rest. [27]
"A Passage to Bangkok" is a song about marijuana;Lee said it is "a travelogue for all the places in the world that grow the best weed". The track mentions a number of cities and countries,specifically Bogotá,Jamaica,Acapulco,Morocco,Bangkok,Lebanon,Afghanistan,and Kathmandu. [21] Rush started to write "The Twilight Zone" at a time when they needed one more song to fill side two. It was quickly put together,Peart said it was written and recorded in one day. [28] The band were big fans of the television series The Twilight Zone and based the track on the stories written for it from its host,Rod Serling. [21] "Lessons" is one of the few Rush songs written solely by Lifeson. For him,the process of songwriting is more seldom and spontaneous in comparison to dedicating time to write,rehearse and scrap parts that do not work. [15] "Tears" is a romantic ballad and is the first Rush track to incorporate the Mellotron,which Syme performs. [21] "Something for Nothing" is a song about freewill and decision making. [21] Peart was inpired by graffiti on a wall that he saw while on his way to perform at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles that read "Freedom isn't free",which he adapted into the song. [29] Lifeson asserted that its lyrical tie-in with the "2112" suite makes the track act as a coda to the record. [27]
The album was packaged in a gatefold sleeve designed and produced by longtime Rush cover artist Hugh Syme. It marks the first appearance of the emblem later later known by fans as the "Starman" logo,which was adopted into the band's stage design and future album covers. Peart used it on the front bass drum heads of his kit from 1977 to 1983,and again in 2004 and 2015. The Red Star,a symbol of the Solar Federation depicted in the "2112" suite,represents what Peart described as "any collectivist mentality",while the man represents the protagonist of the story and to Peart,"the abstract man against the masses". Syme said:"That he is nude is just a classic tradition ... the pureness of his person and creativity without the trappings of other elements such as clothing". In July 2013,the Starman logo was featured on a Canada Post stamp honouring Rush. [30] The gatefold includes a photograph of the band dressed in white and standing in front of a wind machine,and was a shoot Lifeson remembered for being particularly awkward. [27]
2112 was released in March 1976 on vinyl,8-track cartridge,and cassette tape. [8] [9] [10] [11] It received strong promotion from Polydor,the distributor of Mercury Records albums,who issued an advertising campaign based on graphics on the album sleeve,in major trade publications. [19] It became Rush's second album after Fly by Night to enter the top ten on the Canadian Albums Chart,peaking at No. 5. [31] In the US,it peaked at No. 61 on the Billboard Top LPs &Tape chart,the week of 29 May 1976,during a 37-week stay on the chart. It was the band's first to crack the U.S. top 100. [32]
The album sold faster than any of Rush's previous albums. [19] In June 1976,the album had outsold the band's past catalogue in Canada and the United States, [23] selling close to 35,000 and more than 200,000 copies,respectively. [33] 2112 became a strong seller in the United States;it reached gold certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in November 1977 for selling 500,000 copies. [34] In November 1995,the album reached triple platinum for selling more than 3 million copies,becoming Rush's second-biggest seller after Moving Pictures . [34] [35]
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [36] |
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [37] |
The Guardian | [38] |
PopMatters | 9/10 [39] |
Rolling Stone | (Deluxe) [40] |
Cashbox praised the album,calling it "a valid and melodic tale ... the story/song is a definite cohesive listen". [19] They said of "Temples of Syrinx" that it "combines growling guitars with an incredibly shrill lead vocal." [41] In an article about 2112 for Creem ,Dan Nooger wrote the album "features some significant Mellotron meanderings and amazingly eccentric lyrics". [20]
The Audio-Visual Preservation Trust of Canada,a non-profit Canadian charitable organization dedicated to promoting the preservation of Canada's audio-visual heritage,has sponsored MasterWorks,which annually recognizes twelve culturally significant Canadian classics from the film,radio,TV and music industries. In 2006,2112 was one of the albums chosen to be preserved.
In 2018,the album won the Polaris Heritage Prize Audience Award in the 1976–1985 category. [44]
Ultimate Classic Rock included the album on their list of the "Top 100 '70s Rock Albums". [45] Prog readers voted 2112 the 15th best progressive rock album of all time. [46]
Rush promoted 2112 with a concert tour of the United States,Canada,and for the first time in their career,across Europe,between February 1976 and June 1977. The tour saw the band perform over 140 shows. [13] To make their set tighter,"Discovery" and "Oracle:The Dream" were omitted from the performance of the "2112" suite. However,"Discovery" was performed on later performances of "2112" on tours for A Farewell to Kings and Hemispheres. Rush would not perform the track in its entirety until their 1996 tour following the release of Test for Echo . [13] The shows at Massey Hall in Toronto in June 1976 were recorded and compiled for release as their double live album All the World's a Stage ,released in September 1976.
Year | Label | Format | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1987 | Anthem | CD | [47] |
1993 | Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab | CD | As part of the "Original Master Recordings" collection with a 24k gold-plated disc. [48] [49] |
1997 | Anthem/Mercury | CD | As part of "The Rush Remasters" collection. [50] |
2011 | Anthem | CD | Digitally remastered by Andy VanDette as part of the reissue of Rush's Mercury-era albums. [51] |
2012 | Mercury | CD,DVD,Blu-ray | Digitally remastered Deluxe Edition including a 5.1 surround sound mix and bonus content. [52] [53] |
2015 | Anthem/Mercury/Universal | LP | Digitally remastered by Sean Magee at Abbey Road Studios on 200g vinyl and AAC digital format. [54] [55] [56] |
2016 | Anthem/Mercury/Universal | CD,DVD,LP | 40th Anniversary Edition with bonus content,including new studio tracks featuring various musicians performing the album. [57] |
All lyrics are written by Neil Peart, except where noted
No. | Title | Music | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "2112"
| Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson
| 20:34 |
No. | Title | Lyrics | Music | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | "A Passage to Bangkok" | Lee, Lifeson | 3:32 | |
2. | "The Twilight Zone" | Lee, Lifeson | 3:16 | |
3. | "Lessons" | Lifeson | Lifeson | 3:51 |
4. | "Tears" | Lee | Lee | 3:30 |
5. | "Something for Nothing" | Lee | 3:59 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
7. | "I. Overture" (Live at Northlands Coliseum, 1981) | 4:31 |
8. | "II. The Temples of Syrinx" (Live at Northlands Coliseum – Edmonton, AB, Canada, 25 June 1981 [58] ) | 2:19 |
9. | "A Passage to Bangkok" (Live at Manchester Apollo – Manchester, England, 17 June 1980 [58] ) | 3:57 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Solar Federation" | 0:18 |
2. | "Overture" (Performed by Dave Grohl, Taylor Hawkins and Nick Raskulinecz) | 4:01 |
3. | "A Passage to Bangkok" (Performed by Billy Talent) | 3:37 |
4. | "The Twilight Zone" (Performed by Steven Wilson) | 4:21 |
5. | "Tears" (Performed by Alice in Chains) | 4:21 |
6. | "Something for Nothing" (Performed by Jacob Moon) | 3:54 |
7. | "2112" (Live at Massey Hall Outtake) | 15:50 |
8. | "Something for Nothing" (Live at Massey Hall Outtake) | 4:08 |
9. | "The Twilight Zone" (Live 1977 Contraband) | 3:28 |
10. | "2112 1976 Radio Ad" | 1:00 |
Credits are adapted from the album's 1976 liner notes. [22]
Chart (1976) | Peak position |
---|---|
Canada Top Albums/CDs ( RPM ) [31] | 5 |
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan) [59] | 33 |
US Billboard 200 [32] | 61 |
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
Canada (Music Canada) [60] | 2× Platinum | 200,000^ |
United Kingdom (BPI) [61] 1997 release | Gold | 100,000‡ |
United States (RIAA) [62] | 3× Platinum | 3,000,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. |
Rush was a Canadian rock band formed in Toronto in 1968 that primarily comprised Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson (guitar) and Neil Peart. The band's original line-up comprised Lifeson, drummer John Rutsey, and bassist and vocalist Jeff Jones, whom Lee immediately replaced. After Lee joined, the band went through several line-up changes before arriving at its classic power trio line-up with the addition of Peart in July 1974, who replaced Rutsey four months after the release of their self-titled debut album; this line-up was kept intact for the remainder of the band's career.
Signals is the ninth studio album by Canadian rock band Rush, released on September 9, 1982 by Anthem Records. After the release of their previous album, Moving Pictures, the band started to prepare material for a follow-up during soundchecks on their 1981 concert tour and during the mixing of their subsequent live album Exit...Stage Left. Signals demonstrates the group's continuing use of synthesizers, sequencers, and other electronic instrumentation. It is the last album produced by their longtime associate Terry Brown, who had worked with them since 1974.
Hemispheres is the sixth studio album by Canadian rock band Rush, released on October 24, 1978, by Anthem Records. It reached No. 14 in Canada and the UK, and No. 47 in the US. The album was a steady seller in the group's catalogue, and was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for selling one million copies 15 years later.
A Farewell to Kings is the fifth studio album by Canadian rock band Rush, released on Anthem Records on August 29, 1977. The album reached No. 11 in Canada and marked a growth in the band's international fanbase, becoming their first Top 40 album in the US and the UK.
Rush is the debut studio album by Canadian rock band Rush. It was released on March 18, 1974, in Canada by Moon Records, the group's own label, before it was released internationally by Mercury Records later that year. Recorded five years after the band's formation, this first release shows much of the hard rock sound typical of many of the popular rock bands emerging earlier in the decade. Rush were fans of such bands as Led Zeppelin, Yes and Cream, and these influences can be heard in most of the songs on the album.
Fly by Night is the second studio album by the Canadian rock band Rush, released on February 14, 1975, by Mercury Records. It was the first Rush album to showcase elements of progressive rock for which the band has become known. It was also the first to feature lyricist and drummer Neil Peart, who replaced original drummer John Rutsey the previous summer just prior to the band's first North American tour. Peart took over as Rush's primary lyricist, and the abundance of fantastical and philosophical themes in his compositions contrasted greatly with the simpler hard rock of the band's debut album.
Caress of Steel is the third studio album by Canadian rock band Rush, released on September 24, 1975, by Mercury Records. It was recorded immediately after the band concluded touring in support of their previous album, Fly By Night, and marked a development in the group's sound, moving from the blues-based hard rock style of their debut towards progressive rock. Songs such as "The Necromancer" furthered Rush's advancement into narrative-driven, fantasy-based compositions, while "The Fountain of Lamneth" was their first prog-rock "epic" to span an entire side of vinyl. Other tracks like "Bastille Day" and "Lakeside Park" became staples of the band's live setlists.
All the World's a Stage is a double live album by Canadian rock band Rush, released in September 1976 by Mercury Records. The album was recorded at Massey Hall in Toronto on June 11–13, 1976, during the band's breakthrough 2112 tour. The title of the album alludes to William Shakespeare's play As You Like It, and would again be referenced by Rush in the 1981 song "Limelight".
Moving Pictures is the eighth studio album by Canadian rock band Rush, released on February 12, 1981, by Anthem Records. After touring to support their previous album, Permanent Waves (1980), the band started to write and record new material in August 1980 with longtime co-producer Terry Brown. They continued to write songs with a more radio-friendly sound, featuring tighter and shorter song structures compared to their earlier albums.
Permanent Waves is the seventh studio album by Canadian rock band Rush, released on January 14, 1980, through Anthem Records. After touring to support their previous album, Hemispheres (1978), the band began working on new material for a follow-up in July 1979. This material showed a shift in the group's sound towards more concise arrangements and radio-friendly songs, though their progressive rock blueprint is still evident on "Jacob's Ladder" and the nine-minute closer "Natural Science." Bassist/vocalist Geddy Lee also employed a more restrained vocal delivery compared to previous albums. Permanent Waves was the first of seven studio albums that the band recorded at Le Studio in Morin-Heights, Quebec with production handled by the group and Terry Brown.
Exit... Stage Left is the second live album by the Canadian rock band Rush, released as a double album in October 1981 by Anthem Records. After touring in support of their eighth studio album Moving Pictures (1981), the band gathered recordings made over the previous two years and constructed a live release from them with producer Terry Brown. The album features recordings from June 1980 on their Permanent Waves (1980) tour, and from March 1981 on their Moving Pictures tour.
Hold Your Fire is the twelfth studio album by Canadian progressive rock band Rush, released on September 8, 1987. It was recorded at The Manor Studio in Oxfordshire, Ridge Farm Studio in Surrey, AIR Studios in Montserrat and McClear Place in Toronto. Hold Your Fire was the last Rush studio album released outside Canada by PolyGram/Mercury. 'Til Tuesday bassist and vocalist Aimee Mann contributed vocals to "Time Stand Still" and appeared in the Zbigniew Rybczyński-directed video.
Presto is the thirteenth studio album by Canadian rock band Rush. It was released on November 17, 1989 by Anthem Records and was the band's first album released internationally by Atlantic Records, following the group's departure from Mercury. After the Hold Your Fire (1987) tour ended in 1988, the group members reconvened in December to decide their next step and agreed to take six months off before starting on a new album. Presto marked another change in Rush's sound, with guitar taking a more dominant role in the writing, a reduction in synthesizers and a return towards more guitar-driven arrangements.
Different Stages is a live album by Canadian rock band Rush, released in 1998. The bulk of the first and second discs were recorded at the World Music Theatre in Tinley Park, Illinois, during the 1997 Test for Echo tour. Five other songs from various stops along the tour were included and three songs from the 1994 Counterparts tour. The third disc is taken from a performance at the Hammersmith Odeon in London during the A Farewell to Kings tour in 1978.
"2112" is a song by the Canadian rock band Rush. It was released as a 20-minute song on their 1976 album of the same name and is the longest single song by the band. The overture and the first section, "The Temples of Syrinx", were released as a single. The song was adapted into a comic booklet, which used the lyrics of the song as lines for the characters and the narrations from the cover as intros.
Snakes & Arrows is the eighteenth studio album by Canadian rock band Rush, released on May 1, 2007, by Anthem Records. After their R30: 30th Anniversary Tour ended in October 2004 the band took a one-year break, during which they agreed to start work on a follow-up in January 2006. The album was recorded in five weeks with co-producer Nick Raskulinecz, a fan of the group who was praised by each member for his approach and technique. It contains three instrumental tracks, the most on any Rush album.
"A Passage to Bangkok" is a song by Canadian rock band Rush, released in March 1976 by Anthem Records. The song appears on the band's fourth studio album 2112 (1976). With the album's title track comprising the first half of the record, "A Passage to Bangkok" opens the second side of the album.
Rush Through Time is a compilation album by Rush, released in Europe as a picture disc only in 1979.
Clockwork Angels is the nineteenth and final studio album by Canadian rock band Rush, released on June 8, 2012, on Roadrunner Records. During the band's year-and-a-half break following its Snakes & Arrows Tour, the group decided to write a new studio album. Most of the album was recorded between October and December 2011 at Revolution Recording in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
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