2112

2112 is a masterpiece representative of Rush’s early career, powerfully binding a grand story and the three members’ outstanding playing head-on. Taking in the previous album’s commercial failure, and amid pressure from the record company, the band deliberately pushed into an epic concept and won creative freedom. Geddy Lee’s high voice and bass, Alex Lifeson’s guitar and Neil Peart’s precise drums fiercely push one another within the over-twenty-minute title suite. Against the overwhelming grandeur of “2112,” depicting a controlled future society, “A Passage to Bangkok” and “The Twilight Zone” vividly show another appeal as compact songs, while cuts like “Something for Nothing” and “Tears” give the album breadth. Its power lies in sublimating the complex suite construction, never as an end in itself, into a splendid drama of the story’s tension and release. This album’s success clearly decided Rush’s later direction. One peak of progressive hard rock, it is a landmark record in the band’s history.