A Farewell to Kings

A Farewell to Kings is the fifth album on which Rush, while keeping the powerful drive of hard rock, gained greater narrative and rich musical space. Geddy Lee’s bass and keyboards, Alex Lifeson’s guitar and Neil Peart’s precise drums, while fully showing their high skill, always move tightly intertwined, and the introduction of synthesizers adds new color. The grandeur of the fantastical eleven-minute epic “Xanadu,” the classic “Closer to the Heart” with its accessible hook and the taut tension of the sci-fi “Cygnus X-1” vividly show the album’s breadth, while cuts like “Cinderella Man” and “Madrigal” convey the band’s lyrical side. Its great appeal is that the three members’ outstanding playing works organically to widen the songs’ grand scenery, rather than making complexity a mere end. Progressive-rock inquiry and rock-band intensity coexist at a high level. Foreshadowing the arrival of the band’s golden era, it is a highly polished, fulfilling record.