834 Rush - A Farewell to Kings(1977)

Studio Album - Progressive Rock

About the Act:

Rush were a Canadian Hard Rock/Prog Rock band who existed from 1968-2018. I wonder when they first started if they ever imagined they would be rocking for 50 years. For much of their existence they were a threesome, Geddy Lee (bass, vocals), Alex Lifeson (guitars) and Neil Peart (drums). They also all contributed synth work. 

Their defining features were combining Heavy Rock, verging on Heavy Metal, of the style of Led Zeppelin and others, with more progressive elements— long songs, complex structures and rhythms, and sci-fi and fantasy content. The other defining feature was that they were very musically “tight” - a term which means not only playing very closely in time, but also very much complementary to each other - almost indefinably playing as a unit rather than as separate musicians. They managed to become more progressive towards the end of the 70s and into the 80s, unlike British Prog bands at the time.

About the Album:

This was their 5th studio album. This was at the height of their Progness, at a time when Prog was faltering in the UK, it seemed to be gaining ground in Canada. Spurred on by the success of their previous album (2112), Rush produced this.

My History with this Album:

It's not an album that I know well, but I listened to it and reviewed it for my book Prog Gnostic. I have listened to it again and this is an edited and expanded version of that review.

Review:

As I listen I can tell instantly that it is Rush. When Geddy Lee sings it can't be anybody else, he rivals even Jon Anderson for the high pitch of his voice. 

Actually that's not the ultimate sign that this is Rush, that would be the guitar sound. There is a particular tone and style that in un-mistake-able. Rush always made excellent use of their limited number of members (3) and generally seemed to record in ways that would be mostly reproducible live - i.e. without lots of overdubs. This gives all three of them space to make a lot of noise, and they do so. It also means it's really tight and focused. 

Having said all that, this album is more varied in style than some Rush albums. There are a couple of epic, long songs, and some shorter ones. There is some fantasy here, but not all, and quite a bit of storytelling. They are definitely experimenting with different sounds, and synths are creeping in at times. It still sounds like Rush though. It's not all as iconic and memorable as some other tracks on other albums.

In case that is not helpful, I could describe them as fairly heavy rock, often quite biting and immediate, but musically complex, and this is definitely starting to be more inspired by Genesis than by Led Zeppelin for example. As I re-lisen to this for the 1000 best albums review, I realise I am not as taken with it as I could be. I do like a bit of Rush, but maybe I like this bit of Rush less. I think it struggles to reach the epic cheese of 2112, but also doesn't match the iconic anthemness of stuff that was still to come. 

7.5/10

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/18i33u5FvfvgHjZMulpyO2

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLaVHibd49QFLDcS_C6GbUYzhZyfivilNG

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Farewell_to_Kings