Rush - A Farewell To Kings (Mobile Fidelity Numbered Edition) Rush

Rush amplified its sonic and narrative vocabulary on A Farewell to Kings. Originally released in 1977, the band's fifth studio album expanded its sound with bass-pedal synthesizers, exploratory arrangements and standout production, marking a major creative leap.

Strictly limited to 5,000 numbered copies, Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab's UltraDisc One-Step 180g 45RPM 2LP box set presents A Farewell to Kings in definitive audiophile sound. Mastering Chain 1/4" / 15 IPS Dolby A analogue tape to DSD 256 to analogue console to lathe

A multi-part epic that travels to outer space, a tune inspired by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, a permanent radio favourite, and a band embracing art without limitations, A Farewell to Kings finds Rush exploring thrilling new directions. Making good use of rare downtime and favourable studio circumstances, the Canadian trio advanced its incorporation of electronic instrumentation while expanding its songwriting, musicianship and sonic palette.

Mastered at Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab's California studio from tape boxes labelled both "master" and "safety copy", pressed at Fidelity Record Pressing, and housed in a deluxe slipcase with foil-stamped jackets for each LP, this premium edition highlights every aspect of the platinum-certified 1977 album. It also showcases Hugh Syme's striking cover art, depicting a dystopian landscape complete with a demolition site, industrial smokestack, hideous clown king and Toronto's Harbourcastle Hilton.

Benefiting from exceptional groove definition, an ultra-low noise floor and dead-quiet surfaces, the 45RPM pressing captures the music with remarkable presence, detail and dynamic range. The wider grooves improve tracking and preserve high-frequency information, ideal for an album renowned for its intricate arrangements and meticulous production.

Recorded at Rockfield Studios in the Welsh countryside, A Farewell to Kings is filled with environmental details that enhance its immersive atmosphere. The knocking heard at the beginning of Xanadu was recorded outdoors in the studio courtyard, while Alex Lifeson's acoustic guitar introduction to the title track was captured as he walked outside. Even the chirping birds became part of the album's sonic landscape.

Throughout the album, colours, textures and tones shape the music's atmosphere and sense of freedom. The band embraced new instrumentation, unusual time signatures and increasingly complex arrangements. Lifeson's use of bass pedals allowed him to layer additional guitar parts on Xanadu, while Geddy Lee incorporated the Minimoog, expanding Rush's sonic possibilities.

The album also showcases Neil Peart's ever-growing percussion arsenal, including orchestral bells, tubular bells, temple blocks, wind chimes, a bell tree and glockenspiel. Lee added 12-string guitars and his now-signature double-neck instruments, while Lifeson incorporated acoustic and electric 12-strings, classical guitar and his own bass-pedal synthesizer.

With the breathing room created by the release of the live album All the World's a Stage, Rush travelled outside Toronto to record at Rockfield for the first time before completing the mixes at Advision Studios in London. Remarkably, the album was recorded in just three weeks and mixed in two more, resulting in one of the defining progressive rock albums of the era.

Engineer Pat Moran recalled watching Rush record the ambitious Xanadu in a single take. Loosely inspired by Coleridge's Kubla Khan and Citizen Kane, the epic remains one of the band's defining achievements.

The enduring Closer to the Heart, co-written with Peter Talbot, became Rush's first UK Top 40 hit and one of the band's most beloved live songs. Elsewhere, Cinderella Man, inspired by the 1936 film Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, contrasts personal integrity with societal corruption.

The album closes with the four-part sci-fi epic Cygnus X-1, a story of exploration and sacrifice that would continue on Rush's next studio album, Hemispheres. It remains one of the band's most ambitious and influential compositions, signalling a creative journey that was only just beginning.