Q Reissues: 2112 Deluxe Edition

Jump-Off Point For The Toronto Trio's Imperial Phase

By Phil Mongredien, Q, February 2013, transcribed by pwrwindows

Rush
2112: Deluxe Edition
Four Stars out of Five

Rush's first attempt at leaving behind the workaday Led Zeppelin stylings of their earliest work and adopting a more progressive outlook ended in disappointment, with 1975's Caress Of Steel a commercial failure. The follow-up a year later must have seemed an act of sheer folly to their despairing label. Influenced by Ayn Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged [sic: try "Anthem"], the entire first side of 2112 is given over to the 20-minute title track, a concept piece in seven movements about an authoritarian future society. The rest of the album, now reissued with bonus live tracks and a DVD, comprises shorter, more conventional songs, including the Eastern-tinged A Passage To Bangkok and the gently moving Tears, that are no less powerful. A prog-metal landmark.