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I am no musician myself as I do can play piano and keyboards a little, but correct if I am wrong, but RUSH seems to chaNGE NOT JUST TEMPO BUT ALSO THE TIME SIGNATURES AS there are some weird sounding , forget my ignorance, a kind of over lapping with different istruments and the timing even though it sounds tha at end of each 'section' it all comes miracly together. When I first at early 1980*s heard the first time RUSH, I couldn't quite put my finger on what was so unique in their songs, but those songs were far away friom resebling any pop or even traditional rock music... In sense like something was off but yet still it worked??? I cannot measure the time signatures, but in some RUSH's songs there are clearly twist on that too... like you expect to hear someting to go and happen next but it won't go the way you thought at all. Also those tempo changes will mess up my little brains even more... I hasve listened classical music too and in a way there are some similarities to certain classicval music in this music, put I can't put my finger on it...
Know what you mean. In the 70s I listened to 2112 literally thousands of times. Would come home stoned at 2am & wake up at 6 or 7am w/ the album playing over & over full blast in my headphones, subliminally pounding the song into my brain...
@@GEDDY37Ditto. I'll hit the Big 6-0 in June. I remember the first time I heard a Rush song. It was 1981, and _Moving Pictures_ had just been released. Not surprisingly, the song was "Tom Sawyer". Hearing that through my Koss headphones was a mind-blowing experience! Neil's drum fill in the middle of the song made me a fan for life. But I kept wondering who the chick was that was singing. Thankfully, a friend of mine who had been a fan since _Permanent Waves_ enlightened me. 🙂
This was their genius way to thumb their noses at the record company. The company demanded more "radio friendly" songs. The guys gave them 2112. They had to change their underwear.
I recommend the illustrated video version for a complete experience and full understanding of the text (also having Peart's notes between one movement and another)
Definately agree, it would explain the whole thing. ElizabethZ did a reaction to the illustrated video. It's a hard one to explain the complexities of the story. It's Twenty one twelve btw Andrew. The year 2112. Also there's a cheeky nod to the 1812 overture that Alex throws in ( 300 years later) 😅. Ok the 1812 was written 1880 but you get the link. Any how I second this motion to check out the illustrated video.
Agreed. I've only been a fan of Rush about 4 years and this was how I listened to 2112 for the first time and I've watched it many times since. Such a great way to give you the story at the same time. Would have taken me many listens to get that without it.
There's nothing I can add to what your other commenters have said about Neil and Rush except to give you excerpts from my personal experience. In late 1976 on my sixteenth birthday, I walked into my local record shop. I was browsing through Queen records when my eye was drawn to a record in the R section. It featured a sound stage with a huge drumset on a plinth behind which hung a red star and naked man. It had a fairly plain title "Rush All The World's A Stage". I bought the album using birthday record token, took it home and put it on my old HMV record player. From the opening riff of Bastlle Day I was a Rush fan. Side Two of the first record had 2112 on it. I was amazed. A few weeks later, armed with another record token, I went back and bought the album 2112.
@@jimbeam2501 It was a gift card but one specifically to allow you to purchase a vinyl record up to a certain value usually given at birthdays or Christmas as a present.
As others have mentioned the story is that of a dystopian future in the year 2112. In this future, all of society is controlled by a religious order called the Priests of the Temples Syrinx and they dictate order and structure and have eliminated art and personal expression from the world. The protagonist in the story discovers a guitar behind a waterfall and learns to play it before presenting it as this new wondrous thing to the priests. To the protagonist's dismay, the priests destroy the guitar and label it an artifact of a flawed society that helped destroy the elder race of man. Our hero leaves the temple and dreams of an elder race of man who had music and art and many ways of individualistic expression who left the planet to explore the universe. In his dream, he also sees a future where the elder race returns to Earth and tears down the temples for the good of all. When he wakes he is in such despair for a future he feels he can never have he contemplates taking his own life only to realize that in the end, the elder race of man has returned to "Assume Control". After the commercial failure of the Caress of Steel album, their record company decided to give Rush one more chance and instructed them to produce an album with shorter-length radio-friendly commercial songs. The band decided that if this was going to be their last album they were going to go out on their own terms and proceeded to write 2112 as a middle finger to the music industry. The protagonist in the song is analogous to the band itself with the priests representing the record company executives who only cared about money and not art.
Well said...I might add, Andrew should analyze Side 2, which I consider a further middle finger to the record company, Rush saying, "And by the way we can do it your way too but not because you insist, but because WE are the music experts here. You guys stick to the business side of things, leave us alone, and we'll all get bloody stinkin rich!"
You think he survives, after "my lifeblood runs over"? I believe he dies, THEN the elder race return. Perhaps, he dies trying to fufil this fantasy: "My last hope is that with my death I may pass into the world of my dream, and know peace at last…”, which may mean even the return of the elder race is a fantasy. Either way, he dies. Of course, opinions differ.
@@bradfalusi898 This comment has been made a couple times but there is no evidence in the lyrics that he has succumbed to his attempt. Nothing wrong with assuming he has passed but I will choose to believe that he was saved. The lyrics imply he chose exsanguination as his method making it a slow process unless he hit a critical artery.
I have an original 1978 concert t- shirt it's 45yearsold I just wore it to see GEDDY LEE in CHICAGO back in DEC. for his book tour, the shirt gets alot of compliments when they see it's the real deal RUSH WORLDS GREATEST 3 PIECE ORCHESTRA🥁🎸🎸🎙🎼🎵🎶
I saw them too, in the early 1980s and I could not believe how well they played live. By then I'd seen plenty of bands who sounded _nothing_ like their records on stage; but not Rush! If anything, they sounded as good or better live. Unbelievable.
It will be interesting to see your reaction to this. It's difficult to communicate the impact of it, nearly 50 years ago, to today's listeners. Very special!
Rush really helped me appreciate the rock and progressive era of music a lot more. There were other groups as well, but Rush appealed so much to my geeky and nerdy side that I felt at least that there was one rock group out there I could not at all worry about being into science-fiction or fantasy reading or the other more serious aspects.
2112 (Tewnty One Twelve) is a lot to take in. Neil wrote the lyrics after reading Anthem by Ayn Rand. It's a storyline inspired by that book, about a dystopian future where every aspect of life is controlled by the "Priests of the Temple of Syrinx." As young agriculture worker wanders off behind a waterfall, finds a cave and inside finds a guitar. He teaches himself how to play it and brings it to the Temple of Syrinx to show the priests , expecting them to see what he does in it, transformative music. They tell him to go away, they know about the guitar; it doesn't fit the plan, it's another toy that helped destroy the elder race of man. He goes home goes to sleep and has a dream where he sees the elder race of man not destroyed, at all, but travelling the stars to learn and grow even greater than they were. He wakes up and can't handle it. He's so beaten down by the reaction of the Prieats that he can't imagine a world as great as what he saw in his dream. It breaks him and he cuts his wrists open to kill himself. As he does the Space fleet of the Elder race arrives and invades, they destroy the Temple, knock out the Priests, and announce "Attention all planets of the Solar Federation: We have assumed Control."
Pronounced 'Twenty-one Twelve'. There is an homage to 2112 on their Clockwork Angels album cover - look at the big clock, in military time. Also - the last spoken words on the 2112 suite consists of two phrases. The first phrase is 7 words long, the second is 4 words long. Each phrase is repeated 3 times, therefor 21 words and 12 words.
I am a Bass player who subs to this channel because understanding the Drummer's role in a power trio is vital. I mention this because my first rock band experience as a budding Bass player who could barely play a pop song was for a Drummer who wanted to play this song. Learning this song early on provided the essential instruction of knowing where to give the drummer space, and when to accent the drummer's exclamation points. There are many other Rush examples, but this was my first, and will always be special. Love your channel!
If you haven’t already seen the Drumeo series where a Drummer plays along to a song they’ve only heard once (without the drums), I think you’ll appreciate it and it might give you even more insight in to how the drums change a song. It’s really interesting to hear a song with two different drummer’s interpretations
@@bhelliom3 Thank you. I have evolved as a Bass Player to think of the power trio role of the Bass to be a needle that sews the drums, the guitar, and the vocals together. Geddy Lee is a prime example of this type of playing. He lays down alternate melodies to fill sonic space along with the drum groove. He switches gears and uses the Bass as a percussion instrument to supplement the drummer. He mimics the guitar lines at times as a reader would a highlighter pen on an important paragraph in a book. One of the most perfect examples of Geddy doing this is the classic "Free Will". And there is something about the solo section which is a pure "Tornado" of the bass moving between Bass solo, to accenting the drums, to accenting the guitar, back to solo, back to drums, back to guitar.. that is absolutely my favorite performance of this idea. Anyway, just more thoughts on this wonderful band. I have checked out that series and it is interesting. I love playing with drummers 10x more than playing with guitarists.
No rock drummer was able to make his drums such an integral piece of the music. He wasn't playing to stand out....he was playing to make the song stand out.
@nicholasvinen Alex is a MASTERFUL painter as well. I saw an interview with Geddy after Neil had passed, and he called Neil a "fucking monster musician". I dare say that description describes all three of them!! No weak leg on this tripod!!!
I love how you take an already complicated piece and graphically point out the complexity. I couldn't put my finger on the "Slithery" part, but, you opened my perception in saying they were chasing each other, that now makes sense to me - Thanks for doing what you do!
@@dannyhimmel4273 Your memory may be right. I thought it might be Goddo. I know I saw Goddo and Webster at some point, but I was young and had indulged a bit.
It sounds a lot like the Rush album twenty one twelve. Just my opinion ha ha. Just to relate my story on how I discovered this work, I was in 8th grade in 1977 and we were studying science fiction in my English literature class. Our teacher asked all of us to bring in examples of science fiction and one of our classmates brought in an album by a group I had never heard of before called Rush. He of course had the album 2112 and our teacher played side 1. I wish I could remember that classmate’s name because literally my musical life changed forever hearing this. Thank you classmate wherever you are.
HAHAHA that's funny. Even Drumeo got lost when it came to those last few measures in the grand finale. Neil was going OFF! There is an isolated drum track of that one section here on youtube somewhere. It's mind blowing!
You really should watch the live version of this from 1997 on their test for echo tour, actually seeing Neil(the band as a whole) play this song in full is nothing short of impossible!
Only time Rush performed this song in its entirety was during their Test For Echo Tour. It closed the first half of the show. It was also my first time ever seeing them live and all I could say was.. damn. These guys were undisputed the best band ever assembled.
Neil borrowed the storyline for "2112" from Ayn Rand's short story "Anthem". Neil was genius to adapt the original storyline for music. Highly recommended reading.
@@bobgasm1471 Rand rated herself very highly as a novelist and philosopher. However, if you ask people who make their livings in the fields of literature or philosophy, you'll be hard-pressed to find anyone who won't tell you the same thing: Rand was a crackpot. Good luck finding her on any American literature reading list, or in any surveys of philosophy. Some would contend this is because her ideas are too challenging or subversive. But this is laughable. It's because her ideas are neither challenging nor subversive, but simply vacuous..
One of the few tours they played the entire suite live. I remember leaving that show with my buddies, and we just kept exclaiming, “They played the whole thing!” Lol.
Really appreciate you reacting to this. Love your break down on the drum parts. As well as I know this song , breaking down what Neil is playing really makes me appreciate it even more.
2112 is an absolute classic and a masterpiece. You should check out Xanadu from Farewell To Kings, some of the drum fills in it will undoubtedly give you stank face! 🤘🏻
Cliff notes: Earth faces catastrophe. It only has enough ships for some to escape and explore the galaxy. Those that left planned to better their knowledge and return. Those left to stay were controlled by the priests who hoarded their knowledge and tech, much like the catholic church in the dark ages. Well when the elder men returned they did not dig what the priests did and offed them. Another poster stated about an illustrated vid of this song. I recommend it. Pay close attention to the crew on the star cruiser at the end. Cheers mate and happy Easter.
I've listened to this 100s of time and it still takes my breath away. So glad you finally did this reaction. So much going on. Yes, Geddy's voice startled you but his range in this Overture is remarkable. Really enjoy your work, not a drummer but learn something from you every time. Thanks again ✌
As a bassist since the early 90s its always interesting to go back to old rush because everything geddy is doing here bass wise is pretty easy. The vocals are NOT easy though. Sometime after this and before hemispheres he started to try and get better as a player and this was directly related to neil bc neil was very far ahead of geddy and alex as a player. He was by far the best musician in the band. Geddy talked about this in his book. He was very motivated by neil and because neil was such a monster since day 1, there was this competition thing going on with geddy trying to catch up to prove himself. Part of this was because he was fired from rush once in the early days. And thats exactly why rush got as good as they did. Neil really was the driving factor. Imagine being a kind of average although still pretty good bassist, but not yet amazing, and then NEIL PEART joins your band lmao. I would start taking lessons immediately 🤣. And geddy did say on rockline with bob cobuen that he started taking bass lessons at some point earlier on in rush. I cant remember when but he didnt do it for very long. Probably just enough to up his game with neil. Listening to neil here, he was like 23 i guess? He was so good already. It was like by the time he hit like 18-20 he was kind of already at the top of the mountain. Thats wild.
RIP Neil Peart, a true Canadian. Rush + Trailer Park Boys = WIN. My friend is a musician, a long time ago he said some of the hardest mainstream bands to cover were the Police and Rush, because of their complex drumming and timing. I dont understand most of the technicalities, but we cannot deny the distinct sound of Rush. Local Lazer Light show back in the day had a Rush show. Needless to say, many many people experienced those events, possibly in altered states of being ;) Stay gold.
Literally every time I hear this song I text my dad, “Thank you for the music you played when I was a kid.” I just had to pause the reaction halfway through to listen to the song on its own without pausing cuz I just wanted to hear it in entirety at full volume. Aaand now I’m back.
Proud to say I saw them play this whole piece live, 1997 at Ontario Place in Toronto. It was the first time they played the whole thing live; even the 2112 tour in 1976 omitted the Discovery section, I believe. It's a memory that will never leave me.
Thanks for your fantastic analysis! If Neil were alive, he would have loved to speak with you. He loved talking drums with other drummers. There are a few stories of Neil inviting new drummers that he admired backstage. He liked to talk with them about drums. Those drummers are famous now, but each of them admired and respected Neil for his graciousness and talent. One drummer that he invited backstage when he was relatively new was Stuart Copeland.
It's also a twisted spin on Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture. My life forever changed when I first listened to 2112. I already knew who Rush was and loved them, but when I first got my hands on 2112, everything changed. I read everything inside the album cover. I went out and bought books 📚, and I started heavily reading books. I started reading the Bible because of this album. "And the meek shall inherit the earth." I started buying and reading Shakespeare because of this album. I bought and read several Ayn Rand books because of this album. I bought and read psycology books because of this album. I went on to get a degree in theology because of this album. I am forever grateful because of this album.
This was the song that made me really feel that drums could be melodic. In some parts Neil is playing a melody... I've heard this song thousands of times by now - but I never grow tired of it. Watching it again this time with you and the drum score playing was a treat. :) Thanks and cheers from MI USoA.
The ilustrated video thst elizabeth Z reated too is a really great wsy to understand the story . Twenty one Twelve ( the year) . 👍😉❤️ Wow! Springy nice spelling! ( blooming sausage thumbs😅)
So, I have to kind of correct something. You keep talking about improv. There is absolutely NOTHING improvised in this song, drum wise. Neil wasn't an improvisational player. He was a compositional player. Virtually every note he played up until the 2000s was meticulously planned. While there was a change in how the band wrote songs as the years went on, Neil said he would take the parts Geddy and Alex would work on and woodshed everything he could think of for his drum part by himself. It would generally take three days for him to write a drum part for each song. Neil said there was something about that third day in which everything came together. I'm not saying this is necessarily how he wrote the parts for 2112 specifically, but I do know for a fact nothing was improv. The interesting thing about Neil is he said he went through developmental phases, as we all do. But one of his absolute favorite drummers was Keith Moon. He always wanted to play like Keith; to be able to improv controlled chaos. But he said he failed at it. When we was taking lessons from Freddy Gruber in the 90s Neil said he wanted to improv more. But Freddy countered, "But Neil, your are a compositional player." Even later when he was trying to learn more Jazz from Peter Erskine Peter told him he would never had it. You can even hear the difference in the Albums from Vapor Trails and on, he just wasn't the same because he was improving a lot of those parts. They don’t fit the song in the absolute perfect way as his parts did on 2112, through Moving Pictures. As much as he tried Improv just wasn't Neil's thing.
@@paulcaruana4090 I know. Hence the phrase, “ until the 2000s.” His playing on Clockwork is nothing like 2112 through Moving Pictures. The playing on Clockwork is one reason I don’t like the album. I tried five times to listen to it. Get bored by the 3rd song. The playing doesn’t fit the music like a glove the way his older stuff did.
absolutely correct, and it will be cool if andrew reads and accepts this at some point. he has mentioned improv before in rush songs, where there simply isnt any. in fairness to andrew, it would be very reasonable to assume improv from almost any musicians perspective. while he is mistaken, it isnt an unreasonable thing to assume, and i wouldnt encourage viewers of his videos to get the impression that he is wrong about basic things very often. im sure you agree its a cool channel and that andrew can help a lot of drummers in a lot of ways.
@@thephilosophersrant1552 I absolutely love the drumming on Clockwork Angels, it's very tasteful and has a certain relaxed grooviness that you normally only hear from the top session drummers, despite being in a heavier style. His older stuff fits like a glove, but it can feel rigid sometimes, at least for me.
@@thephilosophersrant1552 I absolutely agree with you. However, I don't get how good of a drum teacher this dude could really be in the first place if he's being honest here. I don't care how old or young you are as a musician. How could this be the first time you've ever heard RUSH 2112, especially being a drummer much less a drum teacher? It don't compute or add up to me anyway. I could be wrong or missing something here, IDK, but am I really? 🤔 Just saying... +++Peace & Rock n' Roll 4 Your Soul My Friend+++ 🤘😜🤘
This 8 Track was my introduction to RUSH. As it happened so many times, 8 Track tapes would get fouled up in the player and break. When frustration took over, the thing would get tossed out the window of your car. I found such a tape, repaired the broken tape and there it was! 2112! Soon after I had to get All The World's A Stage! Been a fan ever since.
Pronounced TWENTY-ONE TWELVE. It's the year of the concept of the album, and... happens to be Neil Peart's birthday (September 12) which, in 24 hour time is 2112. Their awesomeness is unparalleled. I remember being a kid (12 or 13) spending my time in my bedroom learning all of the guitar parts. Sadly, I could not find a drummer that could handle this at that age. :)
My brothers and I were already huge Rush fans in '76 when they released 2112. I'm sure I can add nothing new to everyone's reaction. I had the good fortune of catching them on the 2112 tour. It was a great show. A few years back, I won an amazing prize from a Toronto radio station - all Rush CDs to date, comprised of all their live and studio albums, and even the compilations.
As a life long Rush fan, this was awesome to hear your analysis. I'll be sure to send your info to my friend that plays drums in a Rush tribute band here in the Seattle area.
Pronounced Twenty-One Twelve...... Record company was basically giving them one more chance to write an album with "hits" that were "radio friendly".... So these three genuises handed over this master piece as an "F you we're gonna do what we want" and the rest is as you say history.... I think they did ok for themselves!!
Brilliant to see you take the time to listen to the whole masterpiece that is 2112... Worth taking the time to read through Neil's lyrics as you listen....I personally think maybe Ben Elton did when he wrote the Queen show.😁 Slainthe 🥃🏴
Great to see your reaction to this, & have also enjoyed your dive into Sabbath, with Rush you gotta give Farewell to Kings & Hemispheres a listen, particularly Cygnus X-1, book 1 & 2 spanning across the 2 albums, welcome to the Rabbit 🕳 all you gotta do know is decide how deep you wanna go....we all knew how special the music was, thnx to your musings we can now appreciate it even more, it thats possible, take care & 🤘🙏
Loved this one! I don't play drums.... only badly! When I've had the chance! Play guitar & program stuff on computer! Watching the music go by on screen & knowing the song! I felt like I could almost start to read it? Keep up the great videos! Much respect & love from across the pond! England 🏴
I wore that album out on lp. I finally got to see them in Nashville with my three sons for Time Machine, then R30 with my wife. Three of the greatest musicians on earth.
Greetings from Texas! Saw Rush 7 times. They never disappointed. Neil fantastic every time. The absolute consummate drummer and I’m not a drummer but can appreciate his brilliance. Rush’s music is timeless
My scalp always tingles when that fill at measures 500/501 hits. What was to be their swan-song, nose-thumbing at the label became such a masterpiece! Brilliant!
The last song of the last album called the garden shows a wonderful almost restaurant like thing to Neil's drumming. It is glorious. The song whether meant to or not was a goodbye to the fans. Please catch that one.
Great reaction, Andrew! A great classic! I remember hearing this for the first time as a teenager being played at the big local music store while looking at the new Scorpions album (when they were still great and before they went commercial). I asked the woman at the cash register about it, and she told me it was Rush's new album, which I bought on the spot. Loved it ever since. The 2112 refers to the year 2112. (Interestingly, Motion Device's epic song "The Infinite Wave" is 21:12 in length, as a subtle tribute to one of their favorite fellow Canadian bands.) As for the longest, this is a close call between this and Ina-Godda-Da-Vida which came in at 17 minutes.
It's called Twenty-one Tweleve. A little note. Rush was about to get kicked from the record label if they didn't come out with a hit. Twenty-one Twelve is what they came out with. They said they were going to do it their way. After this album, the record company let then do what they wanted. They won complete control over their music. Yes, Neil wrote all lyrics starting with Fly By Night album. Look into the song, The Trees. 😊
@AndrewRooneyDrums exactly, that's why you hear the explosions in the song. They said, "if we're going to go out, we're going out with a bang." It's considered Rush's 1812th Overture.
Actually Geddy Lee wrote the lyrics to: “Different Strings” from “Permanent Waves”. Alex Lifeson & Geddy Lee wrote the lyrics for “In The End “ off of “Fly By Night” And Geddy Lee wrote the lyrics for “Best I Can” off of “Fly By Night”.
The story is set in the year 2112 in a dystopian future run by priests who keep order. Our main character lives in a cave behind a waterfall and finds an old guitar, having no idea what it is. He messes around with it and slowly learns how to play and see the beauty and expressive nature of the guitar. He brings this old artifact to the priests thinking they will be happy. Instead they admonish him for bringing this thing that helped destroy civilization. He cant believe they mean in and tries again and they tell him to take his silly artifact and leave. He wanders home devastated and falls asleep and begins to dream. In thew dream he sees a world where music and art and expression are admired. When he awakes he is so filled with despair that his life blood spills over. Now there are two different interpretations of the very end when the voice yells "attention all planets of the solar federation, we have assumed control". One is that the people from the world where expression is revered come to save the people from the priests and bring art to the people. The other interpretation is the people from the world he dreamed of come, but 'WE HAVE ASSUMED CONTROL" is sort of a 'meet the new boss, same as the old boss' statement. There's a really good video of the whole thing and it includes storyboarding and additional text (that was actually included on the inside album sleeve originally)
Hi Andrew! 2112 is the year in which this story takes place. Rush fans would say “twenty one twelve” rather than the numbers individually. Have a great day! 😊
I love the Drumeo series where they have drummers play songs they’ve never heard before, and I cannot imagine giving someone a Rush song and asking them to play it without hearing the drums first.
I grew up with this song, but never looked at a transcription before, and definitely never noticed how wild that 6/8 section is. The way he switches between dividing the measure in three and dividing it in four would be hard enough to keep track of mentally, but he makes it even harder by spamming all those drum fills throughout the section. I would have a brain malfunction trying to play something like that.
Fun fact a lot of people may not know: 2112 was inspired by a called "Anthem". Neil read it and took the story and after a few tweaks put it to music. The ONLY reason I know that is because I read the book in high school, saw the parallels and looked it up to see if that book inspired the song. Sure enough - it did.
It's absurd now,but back in 1977 when this album was released,Rush were absolutely slated by the British left wing music press for being Fascists or nazis!!! For god sake Geddy Lee is Jewish!!!. One paper in particular The New Musical Express (NME) Came to this conclusion because Neil Peart based the lyrics on a book by Ayn Rand who was a prominent fascist in the 1930s. They were also enraged by the lyrics "the elder race" saying that there was only one race....the human one!!!!The editor of NME at the time was a committed communist and in his personal column wrote that he felt the naked "Rush man" holding back the star was representing a" pure ayrean pushing back the red star of communism. Unbelievable I know,but it's true......they printed a front page and center spread completely ripping Rush apart and even being critical of their appearance as they weren't dressed as the "New wave" bands were back then. Thank god the British music fans saw right through this Bullshit and helped elevate this amazing band to superstars which they so deserve. I truly think this album is a modern day masterpiece that'll be played in a hundred years from now and respected as such.
There's so many things that set Rush apart from most but the one that stands out to me is how 3 guys can play perfectly in time with so many time signatures !
So happy to see you cover 2112. I became a Rush fan about 4 years ago and this is still my favourite of theirs. A video I'd love to see you cover is the Aanderson Paak Tiny Desk Concert. I'm not a drummer but he grooves his way through the whole set whilst also doing the vocals and is smoother than an otters pocket.
Bonus Neil Content: He actually does the voiceover at the end of the song. The beauty of all this is the imagination to come up with the concept and lyrics in addition to the magical drumming.
Hello from Canada. I've enjoyed you channel since I ran across it. Your channel was the first place I've seen note transcriptions for drums. So how does the complexity of Neil's kit, especially the version in 81 used for doing Xanadu, show up on the transcript? Does each of the drums and cymbals, since they have different 'notes' get their own spot on the staff? BTW haven't checked to see if you have done any kind of reaction to Xanadu. In 1981 Xanadu was peek analog Rush, as it was before MIDI really became popular. I agree with checking out the graphic novel version of 21 12 . Think of it as a date in time.
The song is based in the future, in the year 2112. The beginning let's you know that the "Priests" are in charge and they've "taken care of everything". "The words you read, the songs you sing, the pictures that give pleasure to your eyes". Then, a subject finds a relic from the past, a guitar - learns to play a little and sees how beautiful it sounds. He then brings said guitar to the high priests. They immediately dismiss him and his guitar saying it was one of things that led to the destruction of the elder race - us, today. The person is naturally distraught from this denial from their leaders. I know I'm skipping a bunch, but in the end, there is a war and the priests are defeated with the new regime stating, "Attention all planets of the Solar Federation", repeated 3 times. "We have assumed control", repeated 3 times. At that point, hopefully your head is ringing from one of the greatest finales of all time!!
Thanks for listening to this! There are isolated drum tracks of this and I recommend listening to them, especially the grand finale part where you can hear Neil going crazy. It’s difficult to hear in the studio version and it looks like the transcription didn’t fully pick it up in the end. I also recommend watching the live version they did in 1997 which was phenomenal! Watching them play this is an entirely different experience leading to an even more appreciation of their collective talents & abilities. Someone had commented with the link to it. Any thoughts on another Rush week? There’s so much to listen too. Thanks!
Holy crap. Just when I thought that listening to 2112 for the last 48 years taught me everything, I'm hearing even more thanks to Andrew's commentary. So I'll pick out just one tidbit: At 7:54, Neil plays one measure of straight 16ths. But the accents are polyrhythmic, the timing swings, and the dynamics add a whole 'nother level. So much to hear in only one measure! No wonder Danny Carey and so many other drummers idolize him. RIP Neil.
Be sure to check out my Neil Peart/Rush playlist and my Rush cover!
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Sir, where is your cover for 2112?
I am no musician myself as I do can play piano and keyboards a little, but correct if I am wrong, but RUSH seems to chaNGE NOT JUST TEMPO BUT ALSO THE TIME SIGNATURES AS there are some weird sounding , forget my ignorance, a kind of over lapping with different istruments and the timing even though it sounds tha at end of each 'section' it all comes miracly together. When I first at early 1980*s heard the first time RUSH, I couldn't quite put my finger on what was so unique in their songs, but those songs were far away friom resebling any pop or even traditional rock music... In sense like something was off but yet still it worked??? I cannot measure the time signatures, but in some RUSH's songs there are clearly twist on that too... like you expect to hear someting to go and happen next but it won't go the way you thought at all. Also those tempo changes will mess up my little brains even more... I hasve listened classical music too and in a way there are some similarities to certain classicval music in this music, put I can't put my finger on it...
My God I forgot just what a masterpiece this is.
Maybe a review on Jethro Tull “my God”
In 1981 I was starting to become a Rush fan with permanent waves and moving pictures, then I heard 2112 and my life changed.
Know what you mean. In the 70s I listened to 2112 literally thousands of times. Would come home stoned at 2am & wake up at 6 or 7am w/ the album playing over & over full blast in my headphones, subliminally pounding the song into my brain...
My time line almost the same, I’m 59
💯%
@@GEDDY37Ditto. I'll hit the Big 6-0 in June. I remember the first time I heard a Rush song. It was 1981, and _Moving Pictures_ had just been released. Not surprisingly, the song was "Tom Sawyer". Hearing that through my Koss headphones was a mind-blowing experience! Neil's drum fill in the middle of the song made me a fan for life. But I kept wondering who the chick was that was singing. Thankfully, a friend of mine who had been a fan since _Permanent Waves_ enlightened me. 🙂
60 in September graduated in 82 we grew up in a awesome time.
This was their genius way to thumb their noses at the record company.
The company demanded more "radio friendly" songs.
The guys gave them 2112.
They had to change their underwear.
Right on!
I'm genuinely excited to see people experience this for the first time.
Allow me to borrow from another iconic song...I second that emotion
I recommend the illustrated video version for a complete experience and full understanding of the text (also having Peart's notes between one movement and another)
Definately agree, it would explain the whole thing. ElizabethZ did a reaction to the illustrated video.
It's a hard one to explain the complexities of the story. It's Twenty one twelve btw Andrew. The year 2112. Also there's a cheeky nod to the 1812 overture that Alex throws in ( 300 years later) 😅. Ok the 1812 was written 1880 but you get the link.
Any how I second this motion to check out the illustrated video.
after hearing how great musically this is, and then you read the lyrics…. unbelievable
Agreed. I've only been a fan of Rush about 4 years and this was how I listened to 2112 for the first time and I've watched it many times since. Such a great way to give you the story at the same time. Would have taken me many listens to get that without it.
Yep VIVO video. Love it. Laid out in comic book form.
There's nothing I can add to what your other commenters have said about Neil and Rush except to give you excerpts from my personal experience. In late 1976 on my sixteenth birthday, I walked into my local record shop. I was browsing through Queen records when my eye was drawn to a record in the R section. It featured a sound stage with a huge drumset on a plinth behind which hung a red star and naked man. It had a fairly plain title "Rush All The World's A Stage". I bought the album using birthday record token, took it home and put it on my old HMV record player. From the opening riff of Bastlle Day I was a Rush fan. Side Two of the first record had 2112 on it. I was amazed. A few weeks later, armed with another record token, I went back and bought the album 2112.
What, may I ask, is a record token?
@@jimbeam2501 It was a gift card but one specifically to allow you to purchase a vinyl record up to a certain value usually given at birthdays or Christmas as a present.
@@brianwillis9673 Cool. Thanks for the explanation.
Thank you for pronouncing Neil’s last name correctly.
But not knowing how to say 2112 🤣
As others have mentioned the story is that of a dystopian future in the year 2112. In this future, all of society is controlled by a religious order called the Priests of the Temples Syrinx and they dictate order and structure and have eliminated art and personal expression from the world. The protagonist in the story discovers a guitar behind a waterfall and learns to play it before presenting it as this new wondrous thing to the priests. To the protagonist's dismay, the priests destroy the guitar and label it an artifact of a flawed society that helped destroy the elder race of man. Our hero leaves the temple and dreams of an elder race of man who had music and art and many ways of individualistic expression who left the planet to explore the universe. In his dream, he also sees a future where the elder race returns to Earth and tears down the temples for the good of all. When he wakes he is in such despair for a future he feels he can never have he contemplates taking his own life only to realize that in the end, the elder race of man has returned to "Assume Control".
After the commercial failure of the Caress of Steel album, their record company decided to give Rush one more chance and instructed them to produce an album with shorter-length radio-friendly commercial songs. The band decided that if this was going to be their last album they were going to go out on their own terms and proceeded to write 2112 as a middle finger to the music industry. The protagonist in the song is analogous to the band itself with the priests representing the record company executives who only cared about money and not art.
Excellent summary!
Well said...I might add, Andrew should analyze Side 2, which I consider a further middle finger to the record company, Rush saying, "And by the way we can do it your way too but not because you insist, but because WE are the music experts here. You guys stick to the business side of things, leave us alone, and we'll all get bloody stinkin rich!"
You think he survives, after "my lifeblood runs over"?
I believe he dies, THEN the elder race return. Perhaps, he dies trying to fufil this fantasy: "My last hope is that with my death I may pass into the world of my dream, and know peace at last…”, which may mean even the return of the elder race is a fantasy. Either way, he dies.
Of course, opinions differ.
Excellent assessment, but pretty sure he doesn't make it.
@@bradfalusi898 This comment has been made a couple times but there is no evidence in the lyrics that he has succumbed to his attempt. Nothing wrong with assuming he has passed but I will choose to believe that he was saved. The lyrics imply he chose exsanguination as his method making it a slow process unless he hit a critical artery.
Not even a drummer but Love your channel Andrew.
Same
Same
Same
Same
I saw them do this live 4 times between 1977 and 1978 in small venues. Awesome. All the World's a Stage live album is that era.
I have an original 1978 concert t- shirt it's 45yearsold I just wore it to see GEDDY LEE in CHICAGO back in DEC. for his book tour, the shirt gets alot of compliments when they see it's the real deal
RUSH WORLDS GREATEST 3 PIECE ORCHESTRA🥁🎸🎸🎙🎼🎵🎶
I had the very great pleasure to have seen Rush play this whole album live in concert. Nothing short of perfection. I’ll never forget it.
I saw them too, in the early 1980s and I could not believe how well they played live. By then I'd seen plenty of bands who sounded _nothing_ like their records on stage; but not Rush! If anything, they sounded as good or better live. Unbelievable.
Me too, actually just the A side in 2012. Exactly 100 years prior.
Saw them do it on the test for echo tour. So cool
It will be interesting to see your reaction to this. It's difficult to communicate the impact of it, nearly 50 years ago, to today's listeners. Very special!
Rush really helped me appreciate the rock and progressive era of music a lot more. There were other groups as well, but Rush appealed so much to my geeky and nerdy side that I felt at least that there was one rock group out there I could not at all worry about being into science-fiction or fantasy reading or the other more serious aspects.
Changed my life! I had never heard anything like it.
2112 (Tewnty One Twelve) is a lot to take in.
Neil wrote the lyrics after reading Anthem by Ayn Rand. It's a storyline inspired by that book, about a dystopian future where every aspect of life is controlled by the "Priests of the Temple of Syrinx."
As young agriculture worker wanders off behind a waterfall, finds a cave and inside finds a guitar. He teaches himself how to play it and brings it to the Temple of Syrinx to show the priests , expecting them to see what he does in it, transformative music.
They tell him to go away, they know about the guitar; it doesn't fit the plan, it's another toy that helped destroy the elder race of man.
He goes home goes to sleep and has a dream where he sees the elder race of man not destroyed, at all, but travelling the stars to learn and grow even greater than they were.
He wakes up and can't handle it. He's so beaten down by the reaction of the Prieats that he can't imagine a world as great as what he saw in his dream. It breaks him and he cuts his wrists open to kill himself.
As he does the Space fleet of the Elder race arrives and invades, they destroy the Temple, knock out the Priests, and announce "Attention all planets of the Solar Federation: We have assumed Control."
It is a lot to take in
Pronounced 'Twenty-one Twelve'. There is an homage to 2112 on their Clockwork Angels album cover - look at the big clock, in military time. Also - the last spoken words on the 2112 suite consists of two phrases. The first phrase is 7 words long, the second is 4 words long. Each phrase is repeated 3 times, therefor 21 words and 12 words.
Neil was a literal genius!
And if you write 2112 backwards, you get 2112! Spoooky lol
@@fuzzybad Their last studio album was released 100 years too soon in 2012.
I believe Neil’s Birthday is the 21st of December.
@@waynethera2712 Actually Sept 12. But that would have been cool!
I choose to live my life in the chapter: Discovery, so beautiful.
I am a Bass player who subs to this channel because understanding the Drummer's role in a power trio is vital. I mention this because my first rock band experience as a budding Bass player who could barely play a pop song was for a Drummer who wanted to play this song. Learning this song early on provided the essential instruction of knowing where to give the drummer space, and when to accent the drummer's exclamation points. There are many other Rush examples, but this was my first, and will always be special. Love your channel!
Thanks for this amazing comment Daniel
Awesome I'm 61 been playing bass since I was 18 just for my enjoyment never been in a band also play keyboard mom taught me when I was 8
If you haven’t already seen the Drumeo series where a Drummer plays along to a song they’ve only heard once (without the drums), I think you’ll appreciate it and it might give you even more insight in to how the drums change a song. It’s really interesting to hear a song with two different drummer’s interpretations
@@bhelliom3 Thank you. I have evolved as a Bass Player to think of the power trio role of the Bass to be a needle that sews the drums, the guitar, and the vocals together. Geddy Lee is a prime example of this type of playing. He lays down alternate melodies to fill sonic space along with the drum groove. He switches gears and uses the Bass as a percussion instrument to supplement the drummer. He mimics the guitar lines at times as a reader would a highlighter pen on an important paragraph in a book. One of the most perfect examples of Geddy doing this is the classic "Free Will". And there is something about the solo section which is a pure "Tornado" of the bass moving between Bass solo, to accenting the drums, to accenting the guitar, back to solo, back to drums, back to guitar.. that is absolutely my favorite performance of this idea. Anyway, just more thoughts on this wonderful band. I have checked out that series and it is interesting. I love playing with drummers 10x more than playing with guitarists.
This is WHY Neil Peart was known as The Professor.
Nice!
No rock drummer was able to make his drums such an integral piece of the music. He wasn't playing to stand out....he was playing to make the song stand out.
Bass player here. Obviously to me Geddy is a god but Neil was awesome to me as well. The brilliant bass drummer connection.
They make a great team. Neil and Geddy are like the architect and engineer of the Sistine Chappel. They build it so Alex can paint the interior.
@nicholasvinen Alex is a MASTERFUL painter as well. I saw an interview with Geddy after Neil had passed, and he called Neil a "fucking monster musician". I dare say that description describes all three of them!! No weak leg on this tripod!!!
Neil was like 23 years old when they recorded this.
I love how you take an already complicated piece and graphically point out the complexity. I couldn't put my finger on the "Slithery" part, but, you opened my perception in saying they were chasing each other, that now makes sense to me - Thanks for doing what you do!
Thank you!
Growing up I saw Rush, with Max Webster opening, so many times. This was the Rush song.
New Year’s Eve at Maple Leaf Gardens.
@@dannyhimmel4273 The New Years shows were a must, even if you could only afford greys.
@@fractaljack210 if I am remembering correctly, the opening act (prior to Max Webster’s set) was FM featuring Nash the Slash.
@@dannyhimmel4273 Your memory may be right. I thought it might be Goddo. I know I saw Goddo and Webster at some point, but I was young and had indulged a bit.
I love Alex's cheeky reference to tchaikovsky's 1812 overture with the guitar riff at the end of the first section "Overture" (Measure 114 -)
I have a challenge for you to have a listen to this masterpiece again for the lyric.
Indeed. Challenge accepted
It sounds a lot like the Rush album twenty one twelve. Just my opinion ha ha. Just to relate my story on how I discovered this work, I was in 8th grade in 1977 and we were studying science fiction in my English literature class. Our teacher asked all of us to bring in examples of science fiction and one of our classmates brought in an album by a group I had never heard of before called Rush. He of course had the album 2112 and our teacher played side 1. I wish I could remember that classmate’s name because literally my musical life changed forever hearing this. Thank you classmate wherever you are.
Great analysis. This is the song that introduced me to Rush. I still appreciate Neil's language behind the kit.
For sure!
HAHAHA that's funny. Even Drumeo got lost when it came to those last few measures in the grand finale. Neil was going OFF! There is an isolated drum track of that one section here on youtube somewhere. It's mind blowing!
You really should watch the live version of this from 1997 on their test for echo tour, actually seeing Neil(the band as a whole) play this song in full is nothing short of impossible!
Seeing them do this live in the 70's was something else. All The World's A Stage gives a good example of that time. Memories!!!
Only time Rush performed this song in its entirety was during their Test For Echo Tour. It closed the first half of the show. It was also my first time ever seeing them live and all I could say was.. damn. These guys were undisputed the best band ever assembled.
I remember leaving that show with my buddies, and we couldn’t stop exclaiming, “They played the whole thing! They played the whole thing!” Lol!
It was amazing. Masters of their domain
Possibly my favorite song period. Ill always be amazed that this is just three dudes.
Right!?
Three 22-23 year old dudes.
Neil borrowed the storyline for "2112" from Ayn Rand's short story "Anthem". Neil was genius to adapt the original storyline for music. Highly recommended reading.
Neil later disavowed Rand.
He didn't disavow Rand, he moderated his own views a bit.@@Emlizardo
@@bobgasm1471 Oh, that's too bad. I thought he'd finally grown up.
a differing opinion is not immature, what is immature is assuming everybody must think as you do, or they are wrong.
.@@Emlizardo
@@bobgasm1471 Rand rated herself very highly as a novelist and philosopher. However, if you ask people who make their livings in the fields of literature or philosophy, you'll be hard-pressed to find anyone who won't tell you the same thing: Rand was a crackpot. Good luck finding her on any American literature reading list, or in any surveys of philosophy. Some would contend this is because her ideas are too challenging or subversive. But this is laughable. It's because her ideas are neither challenging nor subversive, but simply vacuous..
Live version from around 1996 or so that is magnificent. Their musicianship is F-ing other worldly… enjoy
One of the few tours they played the entire suite live. I remember leaving that show with my buddies, and we just kept exclaiming, “They played the whole thing!” Lol.
The Test For Echo tour. One word……….phenomenal.
Really appreciate you reacting to this. Love your break down on the drum parts. As well as I know this song , breaking down what Neil is playing really makes me appreciate it even more.
Yup what a treat to listen to
Happy Sunday or Monday depending where you are in the world. Let’s go RushTube!
2112 is an absolute classic and a masterpiece. You should check out Xanadu from Farewell To Kings, some of the drum fills in it will undoubtedly give you stank face! 🤘🏻
Cliff notes:
Earth faces catastrophe. It only has enough ships for some to escape and explore the galaxy. Those that left planned to better their knowledge and return. Those left to stay were controlled by the priests who hoarded their knowledge and tech, much like the catholic church in the dark ages. Well when the elder men returned they did not dig what the priests did and offed them. Another poster stated about an illustrated vid of this song. I recommend it. Pay close attention to the crew on the star cruiser at the end. Cheers mate and happy Easter.
Long story short, this is the greatest love song ever written about a guitar...😁
🤣🤣
I've listened to this 100s of time and it still takes my breath away. So glad you finally did this reaction. So much going on. Yes, Geddy's voice startled you but his range in this Overture is remarkable. Really enjoy your work, not a drummer but learn something from you every time. Thanks again ✌
Do you have "Battlescar", it's a Max Webster song recorded with Rush. Both bands together, 7 ppl, second take and print.
Have not heard that one yet
Ahh, the incredible writing of Neil - taking the 1812 Overture, and tossing it upwards by 3 centuries.
👌
Great fucking comment 🍺🍺
As a bassist since the early 90s its always interesting to go back to old rush because everything geddy is doing here bass wise is pretty easy. The vocals are NOT easy though. Sometime after this and before hemispheres he started to try and get better as a player and this was directly related to neil bc neil was very far ahead of geddy and alex as a player. He was by far the best musician in the band.
Geddy talked about this in his book. He was very motivated by neil and because neil was such a monster since day 1, there was this competition thing going on with geddy trying to catch up to prove himself. Part of this was because he was fired from rush once in the early days. And thats exactly why rush got as good as they did. Neil really was the driving factor.
Imagine being a kind of average although still pretty good bassist, but not yet amazing, and then NEIL PEART joins your band lmao. I would start taking lessons immediately 🤣. And geddy did say on rockline with bob cobuen that he started taking bass lessons at some point earlier on in rush. I cant remember when but he didnt do it for very long. Probably just enough to up his game with neil. Listening to neil here, he was like 23 i guess? He was so good already. It was like by the time he hit like 18-20 he was kind of already at the top of the mountain. Thats wild.
RIP Neil Peart, a true Canadian. Rush + Trailer Park Boys = WIN. My friend is a musician, a long time ago he said some of the hardest mainstream bands to cover were the Police and Rush, because of their complex drumming and timing. I dont understand most of the technicalities, but we cannot deny the distinct sound of Rush. Local Lazer Light show back in the day had a Rush show. Needless to say, many many people experienced those events, possibly in altered states of being ;)
Stay gold.
Literally every time I hear this song I text my dad, “Thank you for the music you played when I was a kid.” I just had to pause the reaction halfway through to listen to the song on its own without pausing cuz I just wanted to hear it in entirety at full volume. Aaand now I’m back.
🙌
Proud to say I saw them play this whole piece live, 1997 at Ontario Place in Toronto. It was the first time they played the whole thing live; even the 2112 tour in 1976 omitted the Discovery section, I believe. It's a memory that will never leave me.
Thanks for your fantastic analysis! If Neil were alive, he would have loved to speak with you. He loved talking drums with other drummers. There are a few stories of Neil inviting new drummers that he admired backstage. He liked to talk with them about drums. Those drummers are famous now, but each of them admired and respected Neil for his graciousness and talent. One drummer that he invited backstage when he was relatively new was Stuart Copeland.
Buckle up butter cup!
Great listening to that with the drum tab open. So cool seeing what Neil is up to...
Yup what a resource!
It's also a twisted spin on Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture. My life forever changed when I first listened to 2112. I already knew who Rush was and loved them, but when I first got my hands on 2112, everything changed. I read everything inside the album cover. I went out and bought books 📚, and I started heavily reading books. I started reading the Bible because of this album. "And the meek shall inherit the earth." I started buying and reading Shakespeare because of this album. I bought and read several Ayn Rand books because of this album. I bought and read psycology books because of this album. I went on to get a degree in theology because of this album. I am forever grateful because of this album.
Omg My fav song.When I discoverd them in the 70's at 16 years old.
This was the song that made me really feel that drums could be melodic. In some parts Neil is playing a melody...
I've heard this song thousands of times by now - but I never grow tired of it.
Watching it again this time with you and the drum score playing was a treat. :)
Thanks and cheers from MI USoA.
The ilustrated video thst elizabeth Z reated too is a really great wsy to understand the story . Twenty one Twelve ( the year) . 👍😉❤️
Wow! Springy nice spelling! ( blooming sausage thumbs😅)
I don't understand how a drum teacher hasn't experienced Rush before. I'm 45 and I've been listening to Rush my whole life.
For some reason, and I don’t know how because RUSH is amazing, but they never “caught on” in New Zealand.
And to think Neil was this polished and proficient at 23! Amazing.
Seen Neil in his high school band days and he might not have been polished but he was proficient.
So, I have to kind of correct something. You keep talking about improv. There is absolutely NOTHING improvised in this song, drum wise. Neil wasn't an improvisational player. He was a compositional player. Virtually every note he played up until the 2000s was meticulously planned. While there was a change in how the band wrote songs as the years went on, Neil said he would take the parts Geddy and Alex would work on and woodshed everything he could think of for his drum part by himself. It would generally take three days for him to write a drum part for each song. Neil said there was something about that third day in which everything came together. I'm not saying this is necessarily how he wrote the parts for 2112 specifically, but I do know for a fact nothing was improv.
The interesting thing about Neil is he said he went through developmental phases, as we all do. But one of his absolute favorite drummers was Keith Moon. He always wanted to play like Keith; to be able to improv controlled chaos. But he said he failed at it. When we was taking lessons from Freddy Gruber in the 90s Neil said he wanted to improv more. But Freddy countered, "But Neil, your are a compositional player." Even later when he was trying to learn more Jazz from Peter Erskine Peter told him he would never had it. You can even hear the difference in the Albums from Vapor Trails and on, he just wasn't the same because he was improving a lot of those parts. They don’t fit the song in the absolute perfect way as his parts did on 2112, through Moving Pictures. As much as he tried Improv just wasn't Neil's thing.
He improved the whole Clockwork Angels album
@@paulcaruana4090 I know. Hence the phrase, “ until the 2000s.” His playing on Clockwork is nothing like 2112 through Moving Pictures. The playing on Clockwork is one reason I don’t like the album. I tried five times to listen to it. Get bored by the 3rd song. The playing doesn’t fit the music like a glove the way his older stuff did.
absolutely correct, and it will be cool if andrew reads and accepts this at some point. he has mentioned improv before in rush songs, where there simply isnt any. in fairness to andrew, it would be very reasonable to assume improv from almost any musicians perspective. while he is mistaken, it isnt an unreasonable thing to assume, and i wouldnt encourage viewers of his videos to get the impression that he is wrong about basic things very often. im sure you agree its a cool channel and that andrew can help a lot of drummers in a lot of ways.
@@thephilosophersrant1552 I absolutely love the drumming on Clockwork Angels, it's very tasteful and has a certain relaxed grooviness that you normally only hear from the top session drummers, despite being in a heavier style. His older stuff fits like a glove, but it can feel rigid sometimes, at least for me.
@@thephilosophersrant1552 I absolutely agree with you. However, I don't get how good of a drum teacher this dude could really be in the first place if he's being honest here. I don't care how old or young you are as a musician. How could this be the first time you've ever heard RUSH 2112, especially being a drummer much less a drum teacher? It don't compute or add up to me anyway. I could be wrong or missing something here, IDK, but am I really? 🤔 Just saying... +++Peace & Rock n' Roll 4 Your Soul My Friend+++ 🤘😜🤘
from Okimawa Japan!
Love the shirt. That's my favorite album from them.
This 8 Track was my introduction to RUSH. As it happened so many times, 8 Track tapes would get fouled up in the player and break. When frustration took over, the thing would get tossed out the window of your car. I found such a tape, repaired the broken tape and there it was! 2112! Soon after I had to get All The World's A Stage! Been a fan ever since.
omg You got me 😊
I love that visible score cursor on phone. And this long concept song 2112 is a show runner.
Thank you so much 💖
Pronounced TWENTY-ONE TWELVE. It's the year of the concept of the album, and... happens to be Neil Peart's birthday (September 12) which, in 24 hour time is 2112. Their awesomeness is unparalleled. I remember being a kid (12 or 13) spending my time in my bedroom learning all of the guitar parts. Sadly, I could not find a drummer that could handle this at that age. :)
My brothers and I were already huge Rush fans in '76 when they released 2112. I'm sure I can add nothing new to everyone's reaction.
I had the good fortune of catching them on the 2112 tour. It was a great show.
A few years back, I won an amazing prize from a Toronto radio station - all Rush CDs to date, comprised of all their live and studio albums, and even the compilations.
As a life long Rush fan, this was awesome to hear your analysis. I'll be sure to send your info to my friend that plays drums in a Rush tribute band here in the Seattle area.
Pronounced Twenty-One Twelve...... Record company was basically giving them one more chance to write an album with "hits" that were "radio friendly".... So these three genuises handed over this master piece as an "F you we're gonna do what we want" and the rest is as you say history.... I think they did ok for themselves!!
Tomorrow 4/1/2024 is the 48th anniversary of the release of the 2112 album.
Brilliant to see you take the time to listen to the whole masterpiece that is 2112... Worth taking the time to read through Neil's lyrics as you listen....I personally think maybe Ben Elton did when he wrote the Queen show.😁 Slainthe 🥃🏴
Great to see your reaction to this, & have also enjoyed your dive into Sabbath, with Rush you gotta give Farewell to Kings & Hemispheres a listen, particularly Cygnus X-1, book 1 & 2 spanning across the 2 albums, welcome to the Rabbit 🕳 all you gotta do know is decide how deep you wanna go....we all knew how special the music was, thnx to your musings we can now appreciate it even more, it thats possible, take care & 🤘🙏
You. "I'm not paying attention to the lyrics"
Me. "AAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!"
Loved this one!
I don't play drums.... only badly!
When I've had the chance!
Play guitar & program stuff on computer!
Watching the music go by on screen & knowing the song!
I felt like I could almost start to read it?
Keep up the great videos!
Much respect & love from across the pond!
England 🏴
Reading is a great skill 👌
I wore that album out on lp. I finally got to see them in Nashville with my three sons for Time Machine, then R30 with my wife. Three of the greatest musicians on earth.
Greetings from Texas! Saw Rush 7 times. They never disappointed. Neil fantastic every time. The absolute consummate drummer and I’m not a drummer but can appreciate his brilliance. Rush’s music is timeless
My scalp always tingles when that fill at measures 500/501 hits. What was to be their swan-song, nose-thumbing at the label became such a masterpiece! Brilliant!
Neil Peart is one of my three idols in music. You may guess who are the other two.
I used to be able to read music, but for drums? And this song? No way.
The last song of the last album called the garden shows a wonderful almost restaurant like thing to Neil's drumming. It is glorious. The song whether meant to or not was a goodbye to the fans. Please catch that one.
Great reaction, Andrew! A great classic! I remember hearing this for the first time as a teenager being played at the big local music store while looking at the new Scorpions album (when they were still great and before they went commercial). I asked the woman at the cash register about it, and she told me it was Rush's new album, which I bought on the spot. Loved it ever since. The 2112 refers to the year 2112. (Interestingly, Motion Device's epic song "The Infinite Wave" is 21:12 in length, as a subtle tribute to one of their favorite fellow Canadian bands.) As for the longest, this is a close call between this and Ina-Godda-Da-Vida which came in at 17 minutes.
Being a great drummer I sometimes forget that Neil wrote a lot of they lyrics for Rush
Yeah that's awesome!
It's called Twenty-one Tweleve. A little note. Rush was about to get kicked from the record label if they didn't come out with a hit. Twenty-one Twelve is what they came out with. They said they were going to do it their way. After this album, the record company let then do what they wanted. They won complete control over their music. Yes, Neil wrote all lyrics starting with Fly By Night album. Look into the song, The Trees. 😊
What a response from a band! HAHA
@AndrewRooneyDrums exactly, that's why you hear the explosions in the song. They said, "if we're going to go out, we're going out with a bang." It's considered Rush's 1812th Overture.
Actually Geddy Lee wrote the lyrics to: “Different Strings” from “Permanent Waves”.
Alex Lifeson & Geddy Lee wrote the lyrics for “In The End “ off of “Fly By Night”
And Geddy Lee wrote the lyrics for “Best I Can” off of “Fly By Night”.
Cinderella Man lyrics wrote by Ged, NP was a genius of words also
The story is set in the year 2112 in a dystopian future run by priests who keep order. Our main character lives in a cave behind a waterfall and finds an old guitar, having no idea what it is. He messes around with it and slowly learns how to play and see the beauty and expressive nature of the guitar. He brings this old artifact to the priests thinking they will be happy. Instead they admonish him for bringing this thing that helped destroy civilization. He cant believe they mean in and tries again and they tell him to take his silly artifact and leave. He wanders home devastated and falls asleep and begins to dream. In thew dream he sees a world where music and art and expression are admired. When he awakes he is so filled with despair that his life blood spills over. Now there are two different interpretations of the very end when the voice yells "attention all planets of the solar federation, we have assumed control". One is that the people from the world where expression is revered come to save the people from the priests and bring art to the people. The other interpretation is the people from the world he dreamed of come, but 'WE HAVE ASSUMED CONTROL" is sort of a 'meet the new boss, same as the old boss' statement. There's a really good video of the whole thing and it includes storyboarding and additional text (that was actually included on the inside album sleeve originally)
This came out in 1976 - changed music forever for a lot of people.
Hi Andrew! 2112 is the year in which this story takes place. Rush fans would say “twenty one twelve” rather than the numbers individually. Have a great day! 😊
Also Alex’s hotel room when Ricky showed up as his guitar tech
Finally have the time for this one. Thanks Andrew🤘
I love the Drumeo series where they have drummers play songs they’ve never heard before, and I cannot imagine giving someone a Rush song and asking them to play it without hearing the drums first.
title is a reference to the year 2112 (twenty one twelve).
Got it. THANKS!
I grew up with this song, but never looked at a transcription before, and definitely never noticed how wild that 6/8 section is. The way he switches between dividing the measure in three and dividing it in four would be hard enough to keep track of mentally, but he makes it even harder by spamming all those drum fills throughout the section. I would have a brain malfunction trying to play something like that.
My favorite RUSH album.
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Fun fact a lot of people may not know:
2112 was inspired by a called "Anthem". Neil read it and took the story and after a few tweaks put it to music. The ONLY reason I know that is because I read the book in high school, saw the parallels and looked it up to see if that book inspired the song. Sure enough - it did.
Discovery is about the most beautiful thing I have ever heard.
It's absurd now,but back in 1977 when this album was released,Rush were absolutely slated by the British left wing music press for being Fascists or nazis!!! For god sake Geddy Lee is Jewish!!!. One paper in particular The New Musical Express (NME) Came to this conclusion because Neil Peart based the lyrics on a book by Ayn Rand who was a prominent fascist in the 1930s. They were also enraged by the lyrics "the elder race" saying that there was only one race....the human one!!!!The editor of NME at the time was a committed communist and in his personal column wrote that he felt the naked "Rush man" holding back the star was representing a" pure ayrean pushing back the red star of communism. Unbelievable I know,but it's true......they printed a front page and center spread completely ripping Rush apart and even being critical of their appearance as they weren't dressed as the "New wave" bands were back then. Thank god the British music fans saw right through this Bullshit and helped elevate this amazing band to superstars which they so deserve. I truly think this album is a modern day masterpiece that'll be played in a hundred years from now and respected as such.
There's so many things that set Rush apart from most but the one that stands out to me is how 3 guys can play perfectly in time with so many time signatures !
Rush are a trio of musical geniuses.
I envy you listening to this for the first time, for me,hearing this , 13 years old, already a drummer, having my mind tore apart by this.
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You need to experience Xanadu from the live album Exit..Stage Left. You will be amazed
So happy to see you cover 2112. I became a Rush fan about 4 years ago and this is still my favourite of theirs. A video I'd love to see you cover is the Aanderson Paak Tiny Desk Concert. I'm not a drummer but he grooves his way through the whole set whilst also doing the vocals and is smoother than an otters pocket.
Bonus Neil Content: He actually does the voiceover at the end of the song. The beauty of all this is the imagination to come up with the concept and lyrics in addition to the magical drumming.
Hello from Canada. I've enjoyed you channel since I ran across it. Your channel was the first place I've seen note transcriptions for drums. So how does the complexity of Neil's kit, especially the version in 81 used for doing Xanadu, show up on the transcript? Does each of the drums and cymbals, since they have different 'notes' get their own spot on the staff? BTW haven't checked to see if you have done any kind of reaction to Xanadu. In 1981 Xanadu was peek analog Rush, as it was before MIDI really became popular. I agree with checking out the graphic novel version of 21 12 . Think of it as a date in time.
The name is Twenty One Twelve not two one one two .
It's a year date
The song is based in the future, in the year 2112. The beginning let's you know that the "Priests" are in charge and they've "taken care of everything". "The words you read, the songs you sing, the pictures that give pleasure to your eyes". Then, a subject finds a relic from the past, a guitar - learns to play a little and sees how beautiful it sounds. He then brings said guitar to the high priests. They immediately dismiss him and his guitar saying it was one of things that led to the destruction of the elder race - us, today. The person is naturally distraught from this denial from their leaders. I know I'm skipping a bunch, but in the end, there is a war and the priests are defeated with the new regime stating, "Attention all planets of the Solar Federation", repeated 3 times. "We have assumed control", repeated 3 times. At that point, hopefully your head is ringing from one of the greatest finales of all time!!
Thanks for listening to this! There are isolated drum tracks of this and I recommend listening to them, especially the grand finale part where you can hear Neil going crazy. It’s difficult to hear in the studio version and it looks like the transcription didn’t fully pick it up in the end.
I also recommend watching the live version they did in 1997 which was phenomenal! Watching them play this is an entirely different experience leading to an even more appreciation of their collective talents & abilities. Someone had commented with the link to it.
Any thoughts on another Rush week? There’s so much to listen too. Thanks!
Holy crap. Just when I thought that listening to 2112 for the last 48 years taught me everything, I'm hearing even more thanks to Andrew's commentary. So I'll pick out just one tidbit:
At 7:54, Neil plays one measure of straight 16ths. But the accents are polyrhythmic, the timing swings, and the dynamics add a whole 'nother level. So much to hear in only one measure!
No wonder Danny Carey and so many other drummers idolize him. RIP Neil.