2112 Deluxe Edition Rush

• 1 2112: Overture / The Temples Of Syrinx / Discovery / Presentation / Oracle / Soliloquy / Grand Finale 20:34
• 2 A Passage To Bangkok 03:35
• 3 The Twilight Zone 03:20
• 4 Lessons 03:53
• 5 Tears 03:35
• 6 Something For Nothing 03:59
• 7 Overture (Live) 04:31
• 8 The Temples Of Syrinx (Live) 02:20
• 9 A Passage To Bangkok (Live) 03:57
• Total Runtime 49:44

Info zu 2112 Deluxe Edition

Originally released in 1976, Rush’s epic, landmark release 2112 was their creative and commercial breakthrough as well as one of the band’s most highly regarded releases among both fans and critics alike. With lyrics written by Neil Peart, and influenced by author Ayn Rand, 2112 kicks off with the ambitious seven-suite title track (side one), set in a futuristic world run by the “Priests of the Temples of Syrinx” who regulate “every single facet of every life,”. “2112” conveys the story of humanity’s instinctual, inner need for one’s free will.

After the mythological journey through “2112,” side two brings you back to the present and continues with five stand-alone tracks. From hard-rocking tracks such as “A Passage to Bangkok,” “Lessons,” and a trip to into the fourth dimension with “The Twilight Zone,” to the album’s soaring conclusion, “Something For Nothing,” 2112 is the album that ushered in the next stage in their continuing evolution as artists.

'Rush have always been one of rock’s all-time great argument starters. Anywhere North American males gather, it’s possible to ignite a fierce debate just by name-dropping these Canadian prog sages. You can quibble over Geddy Lee’s voice or Alex Lifeson’s guitar chops. You can dissect how drummer-librettist Neil Peart’s philosophy has changed drastically over the years. You can question the way they malign wolves in the “Dionysus: Bringer of Love” section of “Cygnus X-I: Book II” from Hemispheres.

But most of all, you can always start an argument over 2112, the 1976 rock opera that made them stars. Rush made more-popular records, more-succinct records, but 2112 – newly reissued in expanded form – is their most extreme, grandiose and Rush-like record, and thus their greatest – the definitive 20 minutes and 34 seconds of the Rush worldview (plus five extra songs on Side Two, which nobody has ever played twice).

It might have made sense to reissue 2112 a year ago, so everyone could drunkenly download it on New Year’s Eve. But that would have been obvious and predictable, which isn’t Rush’s style. That’s why on their 2012 tour, with their popularity at an all-time peak, they chose to highlight their Eighties synth-pop phase, which Rush fans regard the way Zeppelin fans regard Jimmy Page’s Death Wish II soundtrack. Rush like to keep people mystified.

The deluxe version of 2112 features remastered music (although, philosophically speaking, not mastered at all). It adds three live tracks and a digital comic-book version of the story, which goes like this: In the futuristic society of Megadon, where music is outlawed, a kid finds an old guitar. He figures out how to play it, which makes him a criminal to the evil priests from the Temples of Syrinx. Can his innocent strums revive the ancient spirit of music? Can he escape the tyranny of the elders? Will they let him rock? (Spoiler alert: Noooo!)

Although Peart was still in his long-since-abandoned Ayn Rand phase, 2112 has really nothing to do with the New York speed-freak author. Instead, it has an authentically grubby dork compassion. 2112 doesn’t try to emulate the lame upscale respectability of other rock operas. The abrasively distinctive sonics, from Peart’s busy tempo shifts to Lee’s squawk of doom, keep it from ever fading into the background. Nobody will ever turn it into a Broadway show.

It’s built to be played loud on headphones, late at night, all alone, staring at the wall and wondering when your life is going to stop feeling like imprisonment in the towers of Megadon. What are Rush but a three-headed “It Gets Better” statement for generations of messed-up adolescents, dreaming of a better world but unwilling to give up on this one?

So what will people argue about now that Rush have been voted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? Don’t worry – Rush fans can just move on to debating why their heroes are deprived of knighthoods or the Nobel Prize in economics. Rush fans love to argue. And Rush obviously like it that way. (Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone)

'2112 is, more than anything, a record about being Rush: loving music, moving it forward and taking it to the world, whatever the price. And it is perfect.' (David Fricke)

Geddy Lee, vocals, bass & keyboards
Alex Lifeson, guitar
Neil Peart, drums & percussion

Original recording credits:
Produced by Rush and Terry Brown
Engineered by Terry Brown
Arrangements by Rush and Terry Brown
Recorded and stereo mixed at Toronto Sound Studios, Toronto, Canada
Roadmaster Howard (Herns) Ungerleider
Roadcrew Major Ian Grandy, L.B.L.B., Skip (Detroit Slider) Gildersleeve

Digitally remastered

Rush
Alex Lifeson, Geddy Lee und Neil Peart: Gemeinsam sind sie Rush, das kanadische Power-Progrock-Trio und ein Phänomen in der Rockgeschichte.

Wie viele Bands fallen einem ein, die komplett ihr Ding gemacht haben, konsequent vorbei am Mainstream, mit massivem kommerziellem Erfolg?

Rush haben 40 Millionen Schallplatten verkauft. Was die Anzahl ihrer Gold- und Platinalben anbelangt, stehen sie auf Augenhöhe mit den Beatles und den Rolling Stones. Neben Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen und Gordon Lightfoot gehören sie zur Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame. Queen Elizabeth II, die ja irgendwie auch noch Königin von Kanada ist, verlieh ihnen einen Orden, auch das kennt man sonst nur von den Beatles und den Stones.

Aus Bluesrockern und Led-Zep-Klonen der späten 1960er wurden Rush in den 1970ern interessante Progrock-Science Fiction-Figuren. Mit Synth-Drums und Synthesizern ging es in den 1980ern auf die New Wave- und Reggae-Schiene. Dann gab es Rush wieder als Gitarrenband, als Paten des Alternative der 1990er. In den letzten Jahren ging es „back to the roots“.

Obwohl es diverse Rockradio-Hits in ihrem Repertoire gibt: „Tom Sawyer“, „Finding My Way“, „Fly By Night“, „New World Man“, „The Spirit Of Radio“, „Time Stand Still“... ist Rush trotzdem die einflussreichste Band, die man nicht kennt, zumindest außerhalb Nordamerikas und Japan. Alex, Geddy und Neil sind keine Mode-Ikonen wie Lady Gaga, eher das Gegenteil.

Rushs Songs handeln von Bäumen, Freiheit und Fantasie, haben merkwürdige Science-Fiction-Songtexte wie „...die massiven grauen Mauern der Tempel erheben sich aus dem Herzen der Hauptstadt der Föderation“.

Um den schönen Schein ging es bei Rush noch nie. Um Sex and Drugs and Rock´n´Roll ging es Rush noch nie. Als Rush in den 1970ern mit Kiss auf Tour waren, ließen sie die Groupies vorm Hotelzimmer herumstehen, schauten Fernsehen, waren sie schwul? Rush wurden zum Inbegriff des „Nerds“, bevor es den Begriff gab. Awards von Musiker-Fachblättern gingen dutzendfach an die Drei.

Während die Medien und die Musikpresse uns die Beatles und die Rolling Stones mittlerweile über-erklärt haben, legt sich beim Thema Rush immer noch Schweigen über den Blätter- und Bildschirmwald. In den 1980ern verriss der „Rolling Stone“ sie als musikalische Muskelprotze, es klang direkt verzweifelt.

Denn ihr ikonoklastischer, völlig unkommerzieller Sound brachte Rush eine Fanbase vom Kaliber der Grateful Dead ein: Legionen, in ihrer Hingabe geradezu angsteinflößend. Erklärte Promi-Fans von Rush sind zahllose Konsens-Rockmusiker: Gene Simmons von Kiss, Jack Black, Sebastian Bach von Skid Row, Kirk Hammet von Metallica, Billy Corgan von den Smashing Pumpkins, Vinnie Paul von Pantera.

2011 arbeitete die Band an ihrem 20. Studio-Longplayer „Clockwork Angels“, gemeinsam mit Nick Raskulinecz, dem Co-Produzenten ihres 2007er US-Top-3-Albums „Snakes & Arrows“. Wenn sie nicht gerade auf ihrer „Time Machine“-Tour kreuz und quer durch die Welt unterwegs waren. Ende Mai 2011 spielten Rush in Frankfurt/Main ihr einziges Deutschlandkonzert der „Time Machine“-Tour. Im irrlichternden Popbusiness sind sie sich selbst treu und authentisch geblieben.

Dieses Album enthält kein Booklet