Rush - 2112: Overture/Temples of Syrinx
Rush is one of the most legendary
rock and roll bands, and wrote incredibly intricate, original music. The band consists of Geddy Lee on bass, Alex Lifesone on guitar, and Neil Pert on drums. Geddy Lee also sings, which is super impressive as some of their songs get so detailed with odd meters and whatnot. They formed in 1968 in Toronto, Canada, but rose to prominence in the '70s when they established their current lineup. The band has had some serious hits throughout their career, like Tom Sayer and Limeliight
Listen to 2112: Overture/Temples of Syrinx by Rush here.
2112 is their 1976 album,
side one of which consists of a seven part, 20 minute track with the same title. This is the Overture of the piece, entitled Temples of Syrinx. The track in its entirety tells a story of a futuristic city where a priesthood control the population and crush individuality and creativity. It gets a bit complicated, but essentially a man finds a guitar, but the priests destroy it, resulting in him dreaming of a world where music exists, but upon awakening realizes that he can never be in that world, and commits suicide. Kind of a crazy ending, haha, not very happy. But this portion of the track is great, they do some super cool key modulations, and the task of organizing such a concept song is really impressive.