'' (spoken "Twenty-One Twelve") is the fourth studio
Album by
Canadian Rock Band Rush , released in
1976 (see
1976 In Music ). The Toronto dates of the 2112 tour were recorded and released as ''
All The World's A Stage '' in
September 1976.
Since the album got its name from its famous side-long suite on side one, many fans think of it as a
Concept Album , but technically it is not, as the songs on the second side are not connected to the suite on the first side.
The album ''2112'' features an eponymous seven-part suite with lyrics written by
Neil Peart . The suite tells a
Dystopic story set in the year
2112 .
In the year 2062, a galaxy-wide war results in the union of all planets under the rule of the Red Star of the Solar Federation. The world is controlled by computers, called Temples, which determine all reading matter, songs, pictures . . . everything connected with life during the year 2112 ("The Temples of Syrinx").
In the midst of this assembly line living, a man discovers what was once known years before as a guitar ("Discovery"). The man begins to pluck the strings and turn the knobs, discovering that he can make his own music - a music much different than that of the Temples. He rushes to tell the priests of his discovery, ("Presentation") but to the man's dismay, the priests destroy the instrument, saying it doesn't fit the plan of the Solar Federation.
The man returns to the cave in which he found the guitar and, during a dream, is led by an oracle to a land of incredible beauty and serenity ("Oracle: A Dream"). Upon awakening, he can not believe it was a dream — the beauty was so real.
He remains in the cave for several days, becoming more and more depressed with each passing hour ("Soliloquy"). The man decides he can not go on as part of the Federation and takes his life to move on to a better one. As he dies, another planetary battle begins ("Grand Finale") resulting in the (perhaps deliberately) ambiguous ending "Attention all planets of the Solar Federation: We have assumed control."
2112 commences with a lengthy instrumental section ("''Overture''") which concludes with the spoken phrase "And the meek shall inherit the Earth" (a reference to the
Beatitudes of the
New Testament .) The "2112 Overture" contains a guitar adaptation of a familiar part of
Tchaikovsky 's
1812 Overture .
Section two, "''The Temples of
Syrinx ''", sets an immediate counterpoint to this line by introducing the arrogant villains of the story. The Priests of the Temples of Syrinx, characterized by an uncharacteristically high, even shrieking singing phased and processed voice by
Geddy Lee , boast that "All the gifts of life are held within our walls." The Priests, who rule over the Earth, have united the surviving human colonies, after a long war, under "the
Red Star of the Solar Federation", supposedly under the principles of equality and brotherhood. The "meek" mentioned in the opening line seem to be the contented people of the Solar Federation who have submitted to the rule of the Priests.
The third section, "''Discovery''", introduces our main character(Geddy's voice left natural with no processing save some echo), who finds a guitar in a remote cave behind a waterfall.
Alex Lifeson builds up from simple open string guitar playing into increasingly complex patterns and chords, showing us the man's progress as he teaches himself to play the guitar.
Confident that the Priests will be impressed with his discovery, he brings the guitar before them in part four, "''Presentation''". The dialogue between the man and the Priests alternates between the gentle guitar work and clear pitch of the man, and the hard-rocking guitars and shrieking pitch of the Priests. Ultimately, the Priests dismiss the instrument and destroy it, saying that it was just 'another toy that helped destroy the elder race of man'.
The protagonist returns home, discouraged. In part five, "''Oracle: The Dream''", he has a dream where an
Oracle takes him on a journey to see the Elder Race's "wondrous land" graced by "the works of gifted hands". He is amazed by its wonder and beauty, and the way in which the people were free to do and create what they please. In the dream he sees the Elder Race growing in power and preparing to return to destroy the temples.
He then awakens in part six, "''Soliloquy''", and is distraught by the fact that such a world, so perfect for him, will never exist. In the cave where he first discovered the guitar, he kills himself, unable to bear the thought of a life without the wonders he knows are possible of the human race. However, there is debate over whether or not that's actually what Neil Peart intended. The last line merely says that his 'life blood spilled over.'
Part seven, "''The Grand Finale''", is a grand instrumental concluding with the spoken words "Attention, all planets of the Solar Federation: We have assumed control". Some fans interpret the Grand Finale as the victorious return of the Elder Race while others interpret it as the establishment of absolute power by the Priests who have finally destroyed the last dissadent to their order.
The band, pressured by their record company not to write another concept piece (after the previous album, ''
Caress Of Steel '', containing two such songs, failed commercially), stuck to their guns and created what is hailed as their first masterpiece. It garnered them their first US Top 100 album and would reach Gold status on November 16, 1977 and Platinum on February 25, 1981 shortly after the release of Moving Pictures in 1981).
The other songs on the album stand alone from the title track, with
Geddy Lee and
Alex Lifeson writing lyrics for one song each ("Tears" and "Lessons", respectively). All other lyrics were penned by Peart.
"Tears" would be the first Rush song to feature an outside musician.
Hugh Syme , who plays keyboards on a number of Rush songs in the future (ie. on "Moving Pictures") contributes a multi-tracked mellotron string part to the track. "A Passage to Bangkok" and "The Twilight Zone" are songs typical of this time period of Rush. "Something For Nothing" closes out the album.
In the liner notes, the title song is annotated "With acknowledgement to the genus
{Link without Title} of
Ayn Rand ", as it contains many parallels to her novelette ''
Anthem ''.
In 1999, in the same spirit that discovered "
Dark Side Of The Rainbow " (playing Pink Floyd's "Dark Side Of The Moon" while watching "The Wizard Of Oz"), it was a similar strain of serendipity that uncovered "Willy Wonka's 2112" - playing the "2112" CD, beginning at a point near the entrance into the factory. Specific instructions and instances of synchronicity can be found online at
The Willy Wonka & 2112 website .
#"2112" - 20:34
- "" - 4:32
- "II: The Temples of Syrinx" - 2:13
- "III: Discovery" - 3:29
- "IV: Presentation" - 3:42
- "V: Oracle: The Dream" - 2:00
- "VI: Soliloquy" - 2:21
- "" - 2:14
#"A Passage to Bangkok" - 3:34
#"The Twilight Zone" - 3:17
#"Lessons" - 3:51
#"Tears" - 3:31
#"Something for Nothing" - 3:59
- In Chris Cornell's solo section during Audioslave's October 7, 2005 concert in Toronto, he performs an acoustic rendition of Soliloquy.
Billboard (North America)
Billboard (North America)
A remaster was issued in 1997.
- The tray has a picture of star with man painting with THE RUSH REMASTERS printed in all caps just to the left. All remasters from Rush through to Permanent Waves are like this. This is just like the cover art of Retrospective I .
- The remaster album art has all of the elements including the back cover, the story of 2112, lyrics and gatefold shots of the band and The star with man logo which were absent from the original CD.
