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Rating:
The Rush are gaining increasing popularity in our parts, also thanks to the fact that finally, after decades of waiting, they held a concert in Italy for the first time. The CD I am about to review is from 1977 and is their 5th album, marking the beginning of the so-called 2nd phase of the Toronto trio, distinctly hard-prog. The live album that preceded this one had closed the first era of Rush where Led Zeppelin and Cream influenced hard rock was still predominant, but an excellent dose of personality, meticulous arrangements, and often various tempo changes had made classifying Rush in a precise genre at least daring.
Returning to our album, in "A Farewell to Kings" several changes are noticeable: the Led Zeppelin influences are completely abandoned, more space is given to acoustic, dreamy, and visionary parts, and influences from early '70s British prog begin to be felt. From this perspective, hard rock becomes a garnish that serves only to give power to the songs, but the core is entirely progressive.
And so the album starts with the epic ride of the title track, where Lifeson's guitar almost sounds like a violin during the chorus, and where both Geddy Lee (bass and vocals) and Neil Peart (drums) give vent to themselves in the instrumental break in the middle of the song. The second track is "Xanadu," a regal song that can certainly be called a mini-suite. One of the tracks that has entered the rock pantheon, a song that lives through dreamy and visionary elements and sudden hard rock accelerations. The lyrics are taken from Coleridge's Kubla Khan. The third track "Closer to the Heart" has become the anthem of Rush and their first successful single. The lyrics are quite spiritual and speak of how, from the humblest to the most powerful, the path of the heart is the one to follow. Sure, Peart's lyrics are often tinged with a certain snobbish moralism, but in other parts, they are truly poetic and profound, so much so that some of his lyrics have been studied in various American institutions. The fourth track "Cinderella Man" is a song with a quality that few bands can afford, combining melodic immediacy with high-level technique: a song easy to memorize but with very complicated drum and bass parts! Here lies the greatness of this band, combining communicative immediacy with great technique that does not serve to show off, but is servient to the song form. The fifth track "Madrigal" is entirely acoustic and endowed with those melodies that go straight to the heart. The album closes with the "spatial" in every sense "Cygnus X-1". A very powerful song with a memorable crescendo. The song talks about a black hole located in the Cygnus constellation. In this case, the lyrics are a pretext that serves to immerse us completely in a space atmosphere where the end of the song seems to truly suck us into a vortex!
A great album for a great band. In other words, even Americans know how to do prog without just copying!
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 A Farewell to Kings (05:53)
When they turn the pages of history
When these days have passed long ago
Will they read of us with sadness
For the seeds that we let grow?
We turned our gaze
From the castles in the distance
Eyes cast down
On the path of least resistance
Cities full of hatred, fear and lies
Withered hearts and cruel, tormented eyes
Scheming demons dressed in kingly guise
Beating down the multitude and
Scoffing at the wise
The hypocrites are slandering
The sacred halls of Truth
Ancient nobles showering
Their bitterness on youth
Can't we find the minds that made us strong?
Can't we learn to feel what's right
And what's wrong?
What's wrong?
Cities full of hatred, fear and lies
Withered hearts and cruel, tormented eyes
Scheming demons dressed in kingly guise
Beating down the multitude and
Scoffing at the wise
Can't we raise our eyes and make a start?
Can't we find the minds to lead us
Closer to the Heart?
02 Xanadu (11:07)
"To seek the sacred river Alph
To walk the caves of ice
To break my fast on honey dew
And drink the milk of Paradise..."
I had heard the whispered tales
Of immortality
The deepest mystery
From an ancient book. I took a clue
I scaled the frozen mountain tops
Of eastern lands unknown
Time and Man alone
Searching for the lost - Xanadu
Xanadu -
To stand within The Pleasure Dome
Decreed by Kubla Khan
To taste anew the fruits of life
The last immortal man
To find the sacred river Alph
To walk the caves of ice
Oh, I will dine on honey dew
And drink the milk of Paradise
A thousand years have come and gone
But time has passed me by
Stars stopped in the sky
Frozen in an everlasting view
Waiting for the world to end
Weary of the night
Praying for the light
Prison of the lost - Xanadu
Xanadu -
Held within The Pleasure Dome
Decreed by Kubla Khan
To taste my bitter triumph
As a mad immortal man
Nevermore shall I return
Escape these caves of ice
For I have dined on honey dew
And drunk the milk of Paradise
03 Closer to the Heart (02:54)
And the men who hold high places
Must be the ones who start
to mold a new reality
Closer to the Heart
Closer to the Heart
The Blacksmith and the Artist
Reflect it in their art
They forge their creativity
Closer to the Heart
Yea, Closer to the Heart
Philosophers and Plowmen
Each must know his part
To sow a new mentality
Closer to the Heart
Closer to the Heart
Yeah ah
ohhh ahh
(Solo)
A Wooah, Wooo
You can be the Captain
And I will draw the chart
Sailing into destiny
Closer to the Heart
Closer to the Heart
Well,Closer to the Heart
Yeah, Closer to the Heart
Closer to the Heart
I said, Closer to the Heart
05 Madrigal (02:35)
When the dragons grow too mighty
To slay with pen or sword
I grow weary of the battle
And the storm I walk toward
When all around is madness
And there's no safe port in view
I long to turn my path homeward
To stop a while with you
When life becomes as barren
And as cold as winter skies
There's a beacon in the darkness
In a distant pair of eyes
In vain to search for honor
In vain to search for truth
But these things can still be given
Your love has shown me proof
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Other reviews
By splinter
If '2112' highlighted a certain experimental attitude, this album further accentuates this tendency and presents itself as much more progressive.
'Excuse me, but... with all due respect to its predecessor, the true masterpiece of Rush is this one.'
