A Farewell to Kings is the fifth studio album by the Canadian Progressive Rock band Rush, released in 1977. The album was the band's first to be released in Canada by Anthem Records, a vanity label created by the band's managers to give them increased creative control of their work; international releases of their material, this album included, would still be handled by Mercury Records. The followup to their Breakthrough Hit 2112, it continues in a similar style, although it takes a more philosophically mature approach to the themes used in that album, and it is also the only of the band's albums in this period not to contain a side-length epic. Like the previous release, it was commercially successful, spawning the hit single "Closer to the Heart", and is well liked by fans, also containing fan favourites "Xanadu" and "Cygnus X-1 Book I: The Voyage". The latter of these was another Science Fiction Rock Opera whose story would be continued on the band's next album Hemispheres.
Track listing
Side One- "A Farewell to Kings" (5:51)
- "Xanadu" (11:05)
Side Two
- "Closer to the Heart" (2:54)
- "Cinderella Man" (4:20)
- "Madrigal" (2:35)
- "Cygnus X-1 Book I: The Voyage" (10:25)
Personnel
Band- Geddy Lee: vocals, bass and twelve-string guitar, Minimoog, 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
Guests
- Terry Brown: spoken vocals on "Cygnus X-1"
Closer to the Tropes
- Careful with That Axe: The ending of "Cygnus X-1", which probably features the most intense screams Geddy Lee ever put to record, and certainly features the highest note he ever sang on a studio album (B♭5).
- Cliffhanger: "Cygnus X-1" ends with the protagonist being pulled into an Unrealistic Black Hole.
- Downer Ending: "Xanadu". A man finds the secret to immortality, but at the price of never leaving the titular palace. A thousand years later, he's been driven mad and is desperately wishing for death.
- Epic Instrumental Opener: "Xanadu" goes on for about five minutes before the lyrics enter.
- Epic Rocking: "Xanadu" goes on for over eleven minutes and "Cygnus X-1" goes on for about ten and a half. The Title Track just barely misses the six-minute mark.
- Last Note Nightmare: "Cygnus X-1".
- Metal Scream: Again, "Cygnus X-1" - see Careful with That Axe above.
- No Ending: "Cygnus X-1" ends with the protagonist being pulled into a Unrealistic Black Hole. Justified, as the plot is continued on the next album.
- Nothing Is Scarier: At the end of Cygnus "X-1", after the protagonist is pulled into the Unrealistic Black Hole, the only things left are some eerie chords from Lifeson's guitar and a faint sample of a beating heart.
- Record Producer: Rush and Terry Brown. Brown provides spoken word vocals for "Cygnus X-1".
- Rock Opera: "Cygnus X-1" and, depending on your definition, "Xanadu".
- Spoken Word in Music: In the intro to "Cygnus X-1".
- Title Track: "A Farewell to Kings".
- To Be Continued: "Cygnus X-1".
- Unrealistic Black Hole: A central focus of "Cygnus X-1".
- Whole-Plot Reference: As mentioned above, "Xanadu" to "Kubla Khan".
- Who Wants to Live Forever?: The second half of "Xanadu" is about how miserable the protagonist is after achieving immortality.
Every nerve is torn apart!
