A Farewell to Kings

"Cinderella Man (song)" redirects here. For the Eminem song, see Recovery (Eminem album).
A Farewell to Kings
Studio album by Rush
Released September 1, 1977
Recorded June 1977 at Rockfield Studios in South Wales, UK
Genre Progressive rock
Length 37:13
Label Anthem (Canada)
Atlantic (Japan)
Epic/Sony (Japan)
Mercury
Producer Rush, Terry Brown
Rush chronology
All the World's a Stage
(1976)
A Farewell to Kings
(1977)
Hemispheres
(1978)
Singles from A Farewell to Kings
  1. "Closer to the Heart"
    Released: October 1977
  2. "Cinderella Man"
    Released: 1978

A Farewell to Kings is the fifth studio album by Canadian rock band Rush, released in 1977. It 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.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
The Daily VaultA-[2]
Robert ChristgauD[3]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[4]

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 Albums".[5] 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] Conversely, Robert Christgau gave the record a D rating, calling Rush "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 Heap (sic), with vocals revved up an octave. Or two."[3]

Track listing

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

Side one
No. Title Length
1. "A Farewell to Kings" (Music: Lee, Lifeson, Peart) 5:51
2. "Xanadu"   11:05
Side two
No. Title Length
3. "Closer to the Heart" (Lyrics: Peart, Peter Talbot) 2:54
4. "Cinderella Man" (Lyrics: Lee) 4:20
5. "Madrigal"   2:35
6. "Cygnus X-1 Book I: The Voyage" (Music: Lee, Lifeson, Peart)
  • I. Prologue - 0:00
  • II. 1 – 5:01
  • III. 2 – 5:45
  • IV. 3 – 7:13)
10:25
  • 5:01
  • 0:44
  • 1:28
  • 3:12

Personnel

Additional personnel

Production

Charts

Year Chart Position
1977 Billboard 200 33[6]
UK Albums Chart 22[7]

Singles

Information
"Closer to the Heart"
  • Released: 1977
  • Written by: Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, Neil Peart and Peter Talbot
  • Produced by: Rush and Terry Brown
  • Chart positions: #76 US Hot 100; #36 UK
"Cinderella Man"
  • Released: 1977
  • Written by: Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson
  • Produced by: Rush and Terry Brown
  • Chart positions:

Remaster details

A remaster was issued in 1997.

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.[8]

A Farewell to Kings was remastered for vinyl in 2015 by Sean Magee at Abbey Road Studios as a part of the official "12 Months of Rush" promotion.[9] The high definition master prepared for this release was also made available for purchase in 24-bit/96 kHz and 24-bit/192 kHz formats, at several high-resolution audio online music stores. These masters have significantly less dynamic range compression than the 1997 remasters and the "Sector" remasters by Andy VanDette.[10]

Cover versions

References

  1. 1 2 "Allmusic review". AllMusic. Retrieved 20 September 2014.
  2. Thelen, Christopher (1999-04-16). "A Farewell To Kings". The Daily Vault. Retrieved 2012-07-31.
  3. 1 2 "Robert Christgau Consumer Guide". Retrieved 20 September 2014.
  4. "Rush: Album Guide". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2013-02-21.
  5. Q Classic: Pink Floyd & The Story of Prog Rock, 2005.
  6. "A Farewell to Kings chart position in the US". Billboard.
  7. "Rush chart positions in the UK". The Official Charts Company.
  8. "Andy VanDette On Remastering 15 Rush Albums". Themasterdiskrecord.com. Retrieved 20 September 2014.
  9. "12 MONTHS OF RUSH: 14 ALBUMS FROM MERCURY ERA FOR RELEASE IN 2015". Rush.com. Retrieved 10 July 2015.
  10. "Rush - new 2015 vinyl and hi-res reissues thread". Steve Hoffman Music Forums. Retrieved 10 July 2015.
  11. "Under the Covers". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2016-02-19.
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