2112 (album)
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2112 | ||
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Studio album by Rush | ||
Released | April 1976 | |
Recorded | Toronto Sound Studios in Toronto, 1975 | |
Genre | Progressive rock Hard Rock |
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Length | 39:06 | |
Label | Anthem Records (Canada) Mercury Records |
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Producer(s) | Rush and Terry Brown | |
Professional reviews | ||
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Rush chronology | ||
Caress of Steel (1975) |
2112 (1976) |
All The World's a Stage (1976) |
- For the year 2112, see 22nd century.
2112 ("Twenty-One Twelve") is the fourth studio album by Canadian progressive rock band Rush, released in 1976 (see 1976 in music). The Toronto dates of the 2112 tour were recorded and released as All the World's a Stage in September 1976.
The album 2112 features an eponymous seven-part suite with lyrics written by Neil Peart. The suite tells a dystopian story set in the year 2112. Since the album got its name from this suite, many fans think of it as a concept album. Technically it is not, as the songs on the second side are completely unrelated to the plot of the suite. Rush would repeat this arrangement in Hemispheres.
Contents |
[edit] The 2112 suite
- Main article: 2112 (song)
In the year 2062, a galaxy-wide war results in the union of all planets under the rule of the Red Star of the Solar Federation. The world is controlled by the Priests of the Temples of Syrinx, who determine all reading matter, songs, pictures: everything connected with life during the year 2112 ("The Temples of Syrinx"). A man finds a guitar and learns to play new, different music from what he has ever heard. When he goes to present this to the priests of the Temples, they destroy the guitar. He goes into hiding and dreams of music; upon awakening he becomes severely depressed and commits suicide after a few more days in hiding. As he dies, another planetary battle begins ("Grand Finale") resulting in the (perhaps deliberately) ambiguous ending "Attention all planets of the Solar Federation: We have assumed control." (this spoken section was created by Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson reportedly "messing around with a tape recorder")
[edit] Sticking to their guns
The band, pressured by their record company not to write another concept piece (after the previous album, Caress of Steel, containing two such songs, failed commercially), stuck to their guns and created what is hailed as their first masterpiece. It garnered them their first U.S. Top 100 album and would reach Gold status on November 16, 1977 (along with the band's then current release A Farewell to Kings and All The World's a Stage) and Platinum on February 25, 1981 (shortly after the release of Moving Pictures in 1981).
[edit] Remaining songs
The other songs on the album stand alone from the title track, with Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson writing lyrics for one song each ("Tears" and "Lessons", respectively). All other lyrics were penned by Peart.
"Tears" would be the first Rush song to feature an outside musician. Hugh Syme, who plays keyboards on a number of Rush songs in the future (ie. Different Strings on "Permanent Waves" and Witch Hunt on "Moving Pictures") contributes a multi-tracked mellotron string part to the track. "A Passage to Bangkok" and "The Twilight Zone" are songs typical of this time period of Rush. "Something For Nothing" closes out the album.
[edit] Track listing
- "2112" – 20:37
- "I: Overture" – 4:32
- "II: The Temples of Syrinx" – 2:13
- "III: Discovery" – 3:29
- "IV: Presentation" – 3:42
- "V: Oracle: The Dream" – 2:00
- "VI: Soliloquy" – 2:21
- "VII: Grand Finale" – 2:14
- "A Passage to Bangkok" – 3:34
- "The Twilight Zone" – 3:17
- "Lessons" – 3:51
- "Tears" – 3:31
- "Something for Nothing" – 3:59
[edit] Miscellanea
- In the liner notes, the title song is annotated "With acknowledgement to the genius of Ayn Rand", as it contains many parallels to her novella Anthem. On the Rush Remasters CD edition of the album, this can be seen misprinted as "the genus of Ayn Rand."
- The Audio-Visual Preservation Trust, a non-profit Canadian charitable organization dedicated to promoting the preservation of Canada's audio-visual heritage, has sponsored MasterWorks, which annually recognizes 12 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 1999, in the same spirit that discovered "Dark Side of the Rainbow" (playing Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon while watching The Wizard of Oz), it was a similar strain of serendipity that uncovered "Willy Wonka's 2112" - playing the 2112 CD, beginning at a point near the entrance into the factory. Specific instructions and instances of synchronicity can be found online at The Willy Wonka & 2112 website.
- In Chris Cornell's solo section during Audioslave's October 7, 2005 concert in Toronto, he performed an acoustic rendition of "Soliloquy".
- In the movie School of Rock, the character of Dewey Finn (Jack Black) hands out a copy of 2112 to a kid drummer.
- In the Trailer Park Boys episode "Closer to the Heart", when Ricky goes up to Alex Lifeson's hotel room to kidnap him, the room number is 2112.
- Tool uses the main riff of "A Passage to Bangkok" as the intro for their own song "Cold and Ugly" whenever they play it live.
- At RushCon 2112 (RushCon 6), the entire "2112" suite was overdubbed over the "The Rite of Spring" scene from Fantasia
- Coheed and Cambria's album, In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3, contains a bonus track titled 2113, probably as a nod to this album.
- On their 2004 'Bananas' tour Deep Purple used 'Overture' as background music before the curtain was raised on the show
[edit] Credits
- Geddy Lee - bass, keyboards, vocals
- Alex Lifeson - guitar
- Neil Peart - drums, percussion
- Hugh Syme - mellotron on "Tears"
[edit] Charts
[edit] Album
Billboard (North America)
Year | Chart | Position |
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1976 | Pop Albums | 61 |
[edit] Singles
Billboard (North America)
Year | Single | Chart | Position |
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1989 | "2112 Overture/The Temples of Syrinx" | Mainstream Rock Tracks | 1 |
[edit] Remaster Details
A remaster was issued in 1997.
- The tray has a picture of star with man painting with THE RUSH REMASTERS printed in all caps just to the left. All remasters from Rush through to Permanent Waves are like this. This is just like the cover art of Retrospective I.
- The remaster album art has all of the elements including the back cover, the story of 2112, lyrics and gatefold shots of the band and The star with man logo which were absent from the original CD.