Rush

A Farewell To Kings

Mature and well-produced hard-progressive Rush

Review Score:

(10/10)
After the success of the powerfull lenghty epical "2112", the canadian trio Rush started a new era of well produced and complex albums and left behind the zeppelin-hard-rock of their three first albums. "A Farewell to Kings", from 77, is Rush at their most complex, fast, angry and melodic side! For many fans, it?s their masterpiece, for me, it?s one of their highligths. I?m sure that many consider "A Farewell to Kings" the first album of their best phase, that finishes with the very good synht-dominated "Signals", in 82. In Farewell, the bassist Geddy Lee used the moog synth for the first time, and many 12 string guitars were added to their sound. These intruments gave a new colour to the early Rush sound, and the great live tours since 74 really improved the musicians skills, making "A Farewell to Kings" a delightful Rush album ! The title track is a formidable example of a complex compass and a very rich rhythm section surrounded by a really good fat bass and a marvelous guitar solo. Point for Alex Lifeson, that really evolved his guitar sound since "2112". Xanadu is a classic Rush track. A heavenly atmosphere in the intro, most because of the exotic percussive effects by Neil Peart (bells, chimes, gong...). The rest of the track brings heavy guitar riffs, formidable drumming, moogs and 12 str. guitars !!! Maybe the best track of the album. "Closer to the Heart" is a short and very beautiful track, a little bit pop-oriented , with all charachteristics of 70?s Rush sound ("Closer to the Heart" was their first big hit). "Cinderella man" is another complex short song, with that huge rhythm section (that goes breaking everything troughout the album !). "Madrigal" is a soft song, with many acoustic guitars, just to relax the listener to the hard-progressive "Cygnus X-1". This track continuous its history in "Hemispheres", the next album. It?s a lenghty track, like "Xanadu", but heavier and faster (Neil Peart really kicks-off !). In summary, get this album, listen to it carefully and enjoy the best phase of this phenomenal band. The next four albums would bring excellent Rush compositions, that differs in texture and composition style, but all still excellent !

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