A Farewell to Kings

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.

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.

Contents
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 * 1 Critical reception
 * 2 Track listing
 * 3 Personnel
 * 4 Production
 * 5 Charts
 * 6 Singles
 * 7 Remaster details
 * 8 References

Critical reception[edit]

 * 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".[6]
 * 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]
 * Edmund Blackadder wrote on Sputnikmusic.com that Farewell was "Rush's masterpiece (closely followed by Hemispheres)", describing the instrumentation as "absolutely brilliant, with every musician at the peak of their talents" and praised the album for its "wide variety of different song types and structures".[5]
 * Robert Christgau 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 vocals revved up an octave. Or two."[3]

Track listing[edit]
All lyrics written by Neil Peart, except where noted, all music composed by Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee, except where noted.

Personnel[edit]

 * Geddy Lee: vocals, bass and twelve-string guitar, Mini Moog, 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
 * With Terry Brown: spoken intro on "Cygnus X-1"

Production[edit]

 * Arranged and produced by Rush and Terry Brown
 * Recorded at Rockfield Studios (Wales) during June 1977 by Terry Brown and Pat Moran
 * Mixed at Advision Studios (London) by Terry Brown, with assistance by Declan O'Doherty and Ken Thomas
 * Originally mastered by George Graves; Remastered by Bob Ludwig and Brian Lee at Gateway Mastering
 * Cover photography by Yosh Inouye
 * Art and graphic direction by Hugh Syme
 * Sleeve photograph by Roger Stowell, with liner photos by Fin Costello

Remaster details[edit]
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.[9]
 * 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.