Title: Rush: A Farewell to Kings
Release year: 1997
Genre: Rock, Prog Rock, Art Rock, Hard Rock
Artist: Geddy Lee (vocals, bass and twelve-string guitar, Mini Moog, bass pedal synthesizers), Alex Lifeson (electric and acoustic six and twelve-string guitars, classical guitar, bass pedal synthesizers), Neil Peart (drums, orchestra Bells, wind chimes, bell tree, vibraslap, triangle, tubular bells, temple blocks), With Terry Brown (the intro on "Cygnus X-1")

Description:

In 2014 UMe / Mercury reissued Rush's self-titled debut on heavy-weight vinyl in celebration of the album's 40th anniversary. Now in 2015, let the Rush 40 celebration continue with "12 Months of Rush" reissues - in chronological order - starting with Fly By Night on both LP and Blu-Ray Audio.

During the "12 Months of Rush" all 14 Mercury albums will be remastered on 200-gram heavy-weight vinyl at legendary Abbey Road, all from original analogue masters. All LPs will include a digital download code for a 320kbps MP4 vinyl ripped digital audio album download. Of the 14 albums, Fly By Night, A Farewell to Kings and Signals will also be reissued on Blu-Ray Pure Audio.

This 1977 release, the band's fifth studio album, was recorded at Rockfield Studios in Wales and mixed in London's Advision Studios. It became the band's first U.S. Gold-selling album within two months of release, and went platinum. The singles included "Closer to the Heart" and "Cinderella Man," while the album was peaked at # 33 on the Billboard 200 and # 22 on the U.K. Album charts.

Universal has gone back to the original master on the Blu-ray Pure Audio Disc. Mastered at 24bit / 96kHz, Blu-ray Pure Audio Discs These discs provide all the recorded musical information. While convenient due to their small file size, today's heavily compressed music files do not represent the true fidelity of the original album.

• Recordings are transferred from the original master tapes and delivered in high-resolution 24-bit / 96kHz audio
• No compression is utilized, and the sound quality is vastly superior to MP3 or standard CD
• Three separate choices of audio file format for playback: PCM 2.0, Dolby True HD, or DTS-HD Master Audio (5.1 available where noted)
• Your preferred audio format is chosen either by clicking the "Audio" button on your Blu-ray screen or via your onscreen menu display

On 1977's A Farewell to Kings it quickly became apparent that Rush had improved their songwriting and strengthened their focus and musical approach. Synthesizers also mark their first feature on the Rush album. With the popular hit single "Closer to the Heart", "the trio showed that they could compose concise and traditionally structured songs, while the 11-minute" Xanadu "remains an outstanding accomplishment of all these years later (superb musicianship One of Rush's best all-time tracks. The album-opening title track begins with a tasty classical guitar / synth passage, before erupting into a powerful rocker. The underrated "Madrigal" proves to be a delicately beautiful composition, while "Cinderella Man" is one of Rush's few songs to include lyrics penned entirely by Geddy Lee. The Ten-minute tale of a dangerous black hole, "Cygnus X-1," closes the album on an unpredictable note, slightly comparable to the two bizarre extended songs on 1975's Caress of Steel. A Farewell to Kings successfully built on their promise of their breakthrough 2112, and helped broaden their audience. --Greg Prato

Recorded: June 1977 at Rockfield Studios in South Wales, UK.

Tracklist:
1 A Farewell To Kings 5:51
2 Xanadu 11:08
3 Closer To The Heart 2:53
4 Cinderella Man 4:21
5 Madrigal 2:35
6 Cygnus X-1 Book I: The Voyage 10:25

Issued: United States | Universal Music
Duration: 00:37:21