2112 Songs Ranked

2112 (pronounced “twenty-one twelve”) is the fourth studio album by Canadian rock band Rush, released on 1 April 1976 (or March 1976, according to some sources) by Anthem Records. Rush finished touring for its unsuccessful previous album Caress of Steel, in early 1976. The band was in financial hardship due to the album’s disappointing sales, unfavorable critical reception, and a decline in attendance at its shows. The band’s international label, Mercury Records, considered dropping Rush but granted the band one more album following negotiations with manager Ray Danniels. Though the label demanded more commercial material, the band decided to continue developing its progressive rock sound. 2112 was recorded in February 1976 in Toronto with regular producer Terry Brown. Its centerpiece is a 20-minute title track, a futuristic science-fiction song that takes up the entire first side of the album. There are five individual tracks on side two. Here are all of the 2112 songs ranked.

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6. Lessons

“Lessons”, has a cool acoustic opening with soft vocals that go back and forth from high pitched to a little lower. The chorus is a bit weak but it sounds good in the song, which employs the symbol very well. There is also another guitar solo to end the song.”

5. Tears

“Tears” has a very good use of synths that go along nicely with the slow beginning vocals. Since it is slower it really breaks the album up because it is a lot different from the others, which are much faster. Rush also has the first guest performer of the album in Hugh Syme who plays mellotron on this song.”

4. The Twilight Zone

“Twilight Zone” starts off with just electric guitars and drums, which then transfers into a chorus that is much slower than the rest of the songs. The drums in this song seem to be much more basic and plain sounding. At the end of the song there is a really cool echo effect on the chorus that leads into a screaming guitar solo by Alex Lifeson.”

See more: Rush Albums Ranked

3. Something for Nonthing

“Something for Nothing” features a nice riff opening up the song with the rest of the instruments joining in eventually. It starts a little slow put then it builds up to have a similar riff to that in “Passage to Bangkok”. There is very solid drumming, and yet another guitar solo to round it off.”

2. The Passage to Bangkok

“Passage to Bangkok” starts off with a really cool riff, which sounds a lot like the Oriental Riff, by Alex Lifeson. The chorus is good, though the vocals are a bit high and squeaky, but they somewhat blend with the rest of the song. It then transfers to a cool instrumental section which is all guitar and bass, but than quickly goes back to the choruses and electric guitar. Tool uses the main riff of this song to introduce their song “Cold and Ugly” when they play live.”

See more: Rush Songs Ranked

1. 2112

“The first song, “2112”, begins with a spacey opening that dies down into an awesome riff by Alex Lifeson. Rush employs a cool echo effect on the riff, which blends in nicely with the synths and brilliant drumming of Neal Peart. They then transfer to the main lick which is speedy and totally instrumental for the first couple of minutes. The riff keeps repeating until Alex Lifeson has a great guitar solo, where the music slows down to accompany it. Then a very good sounding banjo joins the party, making it a very well rounded song. There is also a soft vocal section right after the instrumental section that then leads into harsher vocals. Neal Peart does a very nice job in this section drumming wise. Overall this is a great effort by Geddy Lee in terms of writing this song. It has very nice guitars and vocals, which become awesome licks and choruses.”