A Farewell To Kings (studio album) by Rush

From Schribes 12/27/2023 01:36

Bought a new remastered copy today. I swear I wore out my 1977 copy. This new copy should work well until I’m dead. Xanadu is a masterpiece of masterpieces.

Great album

From Jboy56 05/04/2022 14:14

Oh, these guys can surely play their instruments so well.

Very good Rush album, great proggy instrumentals with wild vocals. It's not as epic as 2112 but still has this grandiose atmosphere.

This may be my favourite Rush album. It has two great lengthy pieces and no weak track. Where 2112 had a great side and a weaker side, this issue is resolved with AFTK.

Best racks: A farewell to kings, Xanady, Cygnus X-1

Another very consistent release from Rush who have mastered their unique progressive rock style and really put it to good use on this record. They demonstrate what they can do both on short and long tracks with both being very effective at captivating us as well as getting the music stuck in our heads. It is the longer tracks where they have the greater success though with track 2 and 6 always making me marvel at their quality and those are the songs that draw me back to this record. The music also feels like a fantasy and slightly otherworldly, similar to what they do on their other releases, which is mainly due to the vast instrumental arrangements such as bells and chimes. This also gives us so much to explore and works brilliantly on building tension. However, I do think this album is a step down in terms of quality compared to their other releases. It just feels consistently very good and I feel like I need a few more songs, similar to the closing track, that just grab me and blow me away. Also, I think Madrigal is very poor and pointless to the album. Overall, a solid release with an incredible final song but it falls short in the Rush discography for me.

From poppmusic 11/17/2021 08:03

For whatever reason Rush is not a band that I've ever felt the need to connect with and listen to until now, a relatively late phase in my musical discovery (of classic rock at least), and I am completely shocked and blown away by how good this album is (especially considering that you don't hear about it all that often). I can't think of a single reason to dock this album even five points. A true masterpiece of performance, thematic cohesion, innovation...just great rock music in every sense. All six tracks are spectacular in their own right and work wonderfully together.

The album opens with the title track, which immediately pulls you in with its incredibly catchy chorus "Cities full of hatred fear and lies". Whereas the Ayn Rand influence can be a bit overbearing in some of their earlier albums, here I feel like it is mixed in just the right amount, capturing a sense of dissatisfaction in the present and a deeply held internal conviction that things can be better, as relevant now as ever. The song ends with the lyric "closer to the heart" which acts as a perfect connection to the song of the same name which appears third on the album and succinctly encapsulates all these things. In between these two songs is the album's centerpiece, the incredible "Xanadu" which is an absolute tour de force, from its beautiful zen opening, to its parade of brilliant riffage that opens the work, glossed with reverberated sounds that anticipated the 80s before its time, leading to the song itself that maintains momentum with its sudden tempo changes, and topped off by a truly tremendous drumming performance by Peart.

The second half of the album is equally strong, beginning with the hugely underrated "Cinderella Man", one of the most earwarm pleasant songs I have ever heard. It seems to idolize an Elon Musk kind of figure, which honestly probably is not the most aligned with my personal beliefs but is done so convincingly you can't help but to be swept up by it. Sure, "Madrigal" is the weakest track, but it fits very well as a palette cleanser and it is nice to have a more simple, sweet sentiment within all the complex political and social theory. The last track on the album is the first one I heard, and when it popped up on a playlist without me checking the artis or song name, I could have sworn something from "Kid A" snuck its way in. Well, it quickly transitions from that course, but you get some of the coolest prog rock I've ever heard, kind of proto-Tool in a way with its complex time signatures and heavy mayhem, giving a quite convincing musical portrayal of a black hole while lyrically genuinely reflecting on the mysteries of the cosmos that could cause such a phenomena.

One heck of an impressive album, very surprised this isn't regarded higher or more frequently as Rush's best.

From llibnanoon 06/22/2020 18:27

Average Track Rating = 79.17

From llibnanoon 05/18/2020 18:30

Long and Short. Got quite a bit going on in the one.

One of their better records. A couple of standout tracks