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


They only stop for the best   February 15, 2007
 10 out of 10 found this review helpful

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.