A Farewell to Kings

A Farewell to Kings
Studio album by Rush
Released	September 1, 1977 May 6, 1997 (remastered CD)
Recorded	June 1977 at Rockfield Studios, South Wales, UK
Genre	Progressive rock, hard rock
Length	37:37
Label	Anthem (Canada), Mercury
Producer	Rush, Terry Brown
Rush chronology
All the World's a Stage (1976) A Farewell to Kings (1977) Hemispheres (1978)

A Farewell to Kings is the fifth studio album by Canadian rock band Rush, released in 1977. The album was recorded at Rockfield Studios in Wales, and mixed at Advision Studios in London.

A Farewell to Kings would become Rush's first US Gold-selling album, receiving the certification within two months of its release, and was eventually certified Platinum.

Geddy Lee originally wrote his bass lines on his acoustic bass. The birds heard on "A Farewell to Kings" and "Xanadu" were recorded outside near Rockfield Studios.

Musical style

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The lyrics of "Cinderella Man" are based on the Frank Capra film Mr. Deeds Goes to Town. It is also notable as one of the few Rush songs for which Geddy Lee wrote all of the lyrics after Peart's entry into the band.

"Madrigal" is one of the band's softest songs of this time period. It is also one of Rush's shortest songs at 2:35. The only other Rush songs that are shorter are "Need Some Love" (2:19), "Malignant Narcissism" (2:17), and "Hope" (2:02). Interestingly, the bass line in Madrigal, with a single exception separating the two verses, never plays the same note twice in a row.

Track listing

All lyrics written by Neil Peart except where noted, all music composed by Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee except where noted.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
Robert Christgau	D[2]

• In the Q & Mojo Classic Special Edition Pink Floyd & The Story of Prog Rock, the album came #6 in its list of "40 Cosmic Rock Album".^[3]
• Allmusic's Greg Prato gave the album 3.5 stars (of 5), saying they "had improved their songwriting and strengthened their focus and musical approach." He took notice of the synthesizers that were creeping into the arrangements; "a direction the band would continue to pursue on future releases."^[1]
• Robert Christgau, "The Dean Of American Rock Critics", was much less kind. He gave the record a D rating, calling them "the most obnoxious band currently making a killing on the zonked teen circuit." He compared them to bands such as "Angel, or Kansas, or a power trio Uriah Heep, with the vocals revved up an octave."^[2]

Personnel

• Geddy Lee – vocals, bass guitar, twelve string guitar, Mini-Moog and bass pedal synthesizers
• Alex Lifeson – electric, acoustic and classical guitars, bass pedal synthesizer
• Neil Peart – drums, cymbals, cowbells, orchestra bells, wind chimes, triangle, bell tree, vibra-slap, tubular bells, temple blocks
• Declan O'Doherty – Mixing, vocal mastering
• Terry Brown – engineer, spoken intro to "Cygnus X-1"
• Pat Moran – engineer
• Hugh Syme – art direction and graphics
• Yosh Inouye – cover photography
• Roger Stowell – sleeve photograph
• Fin Costello – liner photographs
• George Graves – mastering on original album
• Bob Ludwig – remastering

Charts

Singles

Remaster details

A remaster was issued in 1997.

• The tray has a picture of the star with man painting (mirroring the cover art of Retrospective I) with "The Rush Remasters" printed in all capital letters just to the left. All remasters from Rush through Permanent Waves are like this.
• The remaster has all of the original vinyl packaging, including the back cover (all black with puppet strings) and inner sleeve photos of the band on stage. The star with man logo was reinstated after its absence on the original CD issue.

A Farewell To Kings was remastered again in 2011 by Andy VanDette as part of the three-volume "Sector" box sets, which re-released all of Rush's albums recorded for Mercury. In addition to the standard audio CD, A Farewell To Kings was also included on an audio DVD in the Sector 2 set, remixed into 5.1 surround sound. ^[4]

References