The next step beyond 2112 looks bright.
Let me open with a personal thought. While Moving Pictures got me into Rush, it was A Farewell to Kings that I studied day in and day out. For me, this album brings back vivid memories of playing bass quietly in my room late Saturday nights trying to learn ‘Xanadu’ and the album’s title track and generally the album that kept me loving Rush even to this day.
Riding the musical wave created by 2112, A Farewell to Kings, the named based off the Ernest Hemingway book, A Farewell to Arms, is a very complete follow up and has made it to just about every must-listen progressive rock list. Kings balances progressive, multi-part songs with equally detailed songwriting and technical playing bottled into 3 and 4 minute songs. It’s at this time the band is beginning to experiment with additional instruments and arrangements.
Few songs on this album feature just the trio’s arrangement of guitar, bass and drums. Kings marks the first album to feature Geddy’s Moog Taurus pedals, pedals that only saw more play in upcoming albums. ‘A Farewell to Kings’ features xylophone and traces of keyboards (something, as any Rush fan already knows) will become increasingly used in the next 10 years of the band’s life. ‘Xanadu’ features tubular bells, timpani, sampled sound effects ala Yes’s ‘Close to the Edge’, studio effects to reverse Alex’s guitar in the opening minute of the song, synthesizers around the 5 minute mark and more xylophones and bells and the first of the Cygnus duo logy features synthesizers as well. It’s pretty hard to argue that these additional instruments plus the band’s additional experience in the studio from their previous releases has helped to stretch the power trio well beyond the traditional roles of the power trio established by Cream, The Who and Led Zeppelin.
Kings is also the album where Geddy’ bass playing becomes more distinctly ‘Geddy Lee’. Geddy’s bass lines throughout this album are much more in the musical forefront than they were on the band’s previous album. You can actually hear what he’s doing pretty consistently from track to track and throughout the entire course of the album. Moreover, this also seems to be the time when Geddy’s bass playing is less foundational but more of a blend between foundational support to Alex and middle ground with Neil but more counterpoint to Alex’s playing and in the overall composition of the song.
‘Closer to the Heart’ and ‘Cinderella Man’, two of the shorter songs on this album are the best examples of this. In just under 3 minutes and just over 4 minutes respectfully, Geddy cranks out some of the most dexterous bass playing that was never seen before on the other five Rush releases up until this point. The bass lines seem to have a musical mind of their own and actually serve as the melody in many songs or at least the center point.
Take ‘Closer to the Heart’ for example. During the verses of the song, Alex strums through chords (overdubbed with acoustic guitars), but what you’re really drawn to is Geddy’s bass playing which seems to be all over the place, but is actually in sync with Alex’s chord changes.
‘Cinderella Man’, a song loosely based on the 1936 movie, Mr. Dees Goes to Town starring Gary Cooper, Geddy’s bass works to fill in the space between Alex’s short chord strokes. In addition to being noticeably busy and intricate, by weaving up and down the fretboard finding different entrances into the next chord stroke. A great example of this is during Alex’s solo. While a ‘traditional’ bassist might pedal eighth notes and stay loyal to the chord changes, opening up a world of space for the guitar player to solo in, Geddy’s support to Alex is a bass solo itself. The line is both busy but complementary, showcasing his musicianship as well as Alex’s without being distasteful and stepping on his musical feet in the process.
The albums closes with another massive number, part one of the Cygnus X-1 duology. The focus of the song centers around travellers on a spaceship called the Rocinante (named after Don Quixote’s faithful horse in the novel of the same name by Miguel de Cervantes) being pulled into a black hole in the Cygnus galaxy. The ship becomes increasingly difficult to steer and the travellers are eventually engulfed into the hold. Part 2 of the duology, ‘Cygnus X-1: Book 2: Hemispheres’, begins the band’s next album, Hemispheres and focuses on the conflict between the gods Apollo and Dionysus, a metaphorical battle between the mind and the heart.
Overall, we’re now entering must-own Rush territory. The next few Rush releases will have some of the band’s most uniquely Rush sounding music bottled in a series of albums that are both effortlessly listenable and complete. This is now music for the hardcore progressive rock aficionado or the Rush disciple. At the end of the day the band was now offering a lot for many musicians coming up in either mindset.
Oh – and there’s this picture from the tour: 2 men, 4 necks, 22 strings:
A Farewell to Kings (1977)
- A Farewell to Kings 5:51
- Xanadu 11:05
- Closer to the Heart 2:54
- Cinderella Man 4:20
- Madrigal 2:35
- Cygnus X1 Book 1: The Voyage 10:25
Credits on A Farewell to Kings:
Terry Brown | Engineer, Mixing, Producer |
Terry “Broon” Brown | Engineer |
Fin Costello | Photography |
Yosh Inouye | Photography |
Bob King | Design Assistant, Unknown Contributor Role |
Geddy Lee | Bass, Composer, Guitar, Guitar (12 String), Guitar (Bass), Keyboards, Organ, Synthesizer, Vocals |
Alex Lifeson | Composer, Guitar, Guitar (12 String Electric), Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric), Unknown Contributor Role |
Pat Moran | Engineer |
Declan O’Doherty | Mixing Assistant |
Neil Peart | Bells, Bell Tree, Chimes, Composer, Cowbell, Drums, Temple Blocks, Triangle, Tubular Bells, Unknown Contributor Role, Vibraslap |
Rush | Primary Artist, Producer |
Hugh Syme | Art Direction, Artwork |
John Michael Talbot | Composer |
Ken Thomas | Mixing Assistant |
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