A great title track is par for the course when it comes to great albums. If the title track doesn’t cut it, what does that say about the album itself? This month, the Mental Jukebox will be playing some of my favorite title tracks – inspired by @NicolaB_73’s music Twitter challenge, #TopTitleTracks.
Borrowing Rush cassettes from the town library as a kid was a sort of rite of passage for me as a music fan. Friends from school who had older brothers would tell me how great the band was. At the library, I would flip through the album offerings and those album covers – 2112, Signals, Permanent Waves, A Farewell To Kings – caught my attention. Expressive album art with strange beige plastic backs, these albums stood out like sore thumbs. Then I would play the music in my basement and get lost in the music of Rush, including the epic title track “2112”, featuring seven movements.
“2112” takes up the entire Side A. A concept that was mind blowing to me as a kid who thought songs were supposed to max out at four minutes. The first two parts – “Overture” and “The Temples of Syrinx” have always been my favorite. This magnum opus kicks off with a celestial soundscape. Then Alex’s guitar asserts itself like Neil Armstrong planting the American flag on the moon – only here it’s the Canadian flag that gets flaunted. Then Neil’s thunderous drum rolls unleash and it’s on like Donkey Kong. There’s still a sense of wonder in me every time I hear it.
“All the gifts of life are held within our walls.”