2112

Were the rest of the album on par with the title track, I would easily be able to throw the album a 5-star rating; however, this album suffers from what I call the "Deliverance Complex".

"The Deliverance Complex" evolved out of my opinion of Opeth's Deliverance album. In that album, I found only one truly disappointing track: Wreath. All of the rest of the tracks were excellent; however, due to one incredibly standout track (in this case, Master's Apprentices), I was unable to appreciate the rest of the songs on the album for quite some time. (If you aren't an Opeth fan, consider Dream Theater's Change of Seasons album instead.)

2112 suffers from this same handicap. The title track is incredible and encompasses everything I love about Rush. Geddy Lee's vocal performance is a high for his early work, the music is wonderful, and I especially like the pseudo-opera effect, where Lee varies his voice to represent different people, singing lower and with more control to represent the protagonist and full-out screaming for the priests. It does a wonderful job of distinguishing between the two parts. By contrast, I remember almost nothing about the following five tracks. After the 25 minute opus, they just don't stack up. They are good rockers by themselves; however, in context of the album, they fall far short.

In essence, this album is poised between two ratings. If the title track were removed and replaced with more of the rest, the album would earn a 3 at best. If the other songs were replaced with another song of 2112 quality, the album would easily earn a 5 star rating. Given that neither of these two occurred, a four star rating seems fair.