Rush

A Farewell To Kings

Rush starts to mature in this 1977 classic

Review Score:

(10/10)
While it was their album 2112 that caught the public's attention, it was with 1977's A FAREWELL TO KINGS that Rush began to mature into the perfection they would show in the early 1980's. The transition from drawn-out (and often over-long) concept suites to concise, nearly radio-friendly songs started here.

The album's opener, which may suprise the listener with Alex Lifeson playing the acoustic guitar, an instrument never before featured so prominently for Rush. It also suprises with its excellent production. Rush and producer Terry Brown succeeded in making this a crystal-clear album with all instruments perfectly balanced.

In "Xanadu", the second track, Rush's drummer and lyricist Neil Peart rips off the poem "Kubla Khan" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Geddy Lee's vocals, in relating this tale of a man who sought immortality and became mad as a result. Over the 11 minutes of the songs, Peart's drumming is obviously more mature than on earlier albums. Why he might not be as furiously moving about the drum kit as on 2112, Peart shows a greater understanding of timing and when *not* to hit a note.

"Closer to the Heart" is probably the most popular Rush song in that it's all many people know of Rush because of its frequent play on the radio in the late 70's. The first radio-friendly song wrote, less than three minutes long, the song nonetheless goes through several movements and some incredible musicianship (Lifeson had to invent a new kind of guitar stand to move from acoustic to electric guitar so quickly). While undoubtedly there were fans who believed Rush was selling out, for them making a song short did not mean doing away with quality.

"Cinderella Man", Lee's only lyrical contribution to the album, is the low point of the album. While only four minutes long, it seems to drag on forever because it is musically plain and lackluser. While Peart's lyrics have often been called pretentious, they are at least thought-provoking. Lee, however, is clearly a lesser songwriter.

In "Madrigal", the album's shortest track, is a short ditty in which Peart thanks a special someone in his life. It's rather insubstantial,

"Cygnus X-1" is the standout of the album, and one of Rush's finest and most ambitious songs. Lyrically it is about an astronaut daring to enter a black hole (Cygnus X-1 was the first black hole discovered, in the late 1960's), and musically it is a maze of shifting time signatures, some of Peart's finest drumming, and group musicianship more consistent than anything Rush has put out before. The song along is enough to recommend the album.

While I'm partial to Rush's output of the early 80's, A FAREWELL TO KINGS should be the first of Rush's albums from the 1970's you pick up.

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