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Rush - A Farewell to Kings CD (album) cover

A FAREWELL TO KINGS

Rush

 

Heavy Prog

4.34 | 2487 ratings

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Uruk_hai
5 stars Review #84

Continuing with Rush my next review will be about "A farewell to kings".

An album that has become one of the favorites of many Rush fans all over the world (me included) features some of the more blasting guitar riffs and drum lines that the band never played but in here the band started to experiment with synthesizers as well (they started it in "2112" but certainly, they took it to the next level in "Farewell"). The music the Canadian guys developed in this album and in the definitive masterpiece "Hemispheres" gave the album a quality that none of their albums from the '80s, '90s, or 21st century ever had.

1.- A farewell to kings (05:53): The opening track of the album starts with a majestic classic guitar arrangement played by Alex Lifeson and then it explodes into a beautiful Hard Rock piece. I don't know if it is just me, but I feel that Geddy Lee sang this song particularly strongly whilst his fingers were jumping intensely over the bass strings. This is an excellent overture.

2.- Xanadu (11:07): One of the most important songs in Rush's discography; an absolute masterpiece of Progressive Rock. The song starts with a soft vibe of occasional percussions accompanied by the windy sounds of Geddy Lee's Minimoog until the guitar line and punchy drums appear. The song turns more aggressive when its definitive riff appears and Neil Peart starts intercalating the tempos. The changes from a soft slow ballad with sensual electronic sounds to Hard Rock passages are delightful.

3.- Closer to the heart (02:54): This is almost the shortest song of the album but even so it's one of the most popular ones. It starts slow and soft with intense drumming but an acoustic guitar, then it changes to a more intense rock section with a nice guitar solo that reminds a lot of the "Fly by night" album.

4.- Cinderella man (04:22): Another classic tune that came out from "A farewell to kings"; also a favorite in several compilation albums of Rush. Not a very long song either, but with a lot of resemblance to "Something for nothing". It is pure strong rock with scarce but yet very precise acoustic lines.

5.- Madrigal (02:35): The shortest and softest song of the album; the guitar riff is concise but the bass line has more presence here. The drums are not very complex for what Neil Peart was capable to do.

6.- Cygnus X-I (10:21): The song starts with strange voice sounds, pretty similar to the ending of "2112" but around minute two the mathematical drumming and the intense guitar riff start to punch and give the song its unique sound. This complex Hard Rock piece is a great way to close the album. This song is also the first chapter of a two-song epic story that would be ended in the next album "Hemispheres". It talks about some sort of space traveler riding a spaceship called the "Rocinante" who gets absorbed and destroyed by a black hole in the Cygnus constellation. The second part of this story would be part of "Hemispheres".

"A farewell to kings" is a historical record filled with several immortal songs by one of the most (I believe it's the most) influential rock bands in history. Absolutely essential

SONG RATING: A farewell to kings, 5 Xanadu, 5 Closer to the heart, 4 Cinderella man, 5 Madrigal, 4 Cygnus X-I, 5

AVERAGE: 4.67

PERCENTAGE: 93.33

ALBUM RATING: 5 stars

I ranked this album #75 on my TOP 100 favorite Progressive Rock albums of all time.

Uruk_hai | 5/5 |

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