I always felt like 2112, while still being completely amazing, ultimately feels like several unrelated ideas that were pasted together with an Overture.
Hemispheres, OTOH, feels like a complete and cohesive piece, and if anything, feels a bit out of place without CXI preceeding it. I have always considered CXI and Hemispheres to be a single and complete 30 minute "song".
The lyrics for Hemispheres in particular are very strong. In my case, life altering. It was the first song I actually sat down and *taught* my sons about....going into depth about its meaning, applications of principles in life.
Even though I only slightly consider Supper's Ready to be a better song, its so abstract that it can't really be described, just experienced. But Hemispheres message is clear, profound, and extremely well articulated.