The Rush Thread v. Clockwork Angels

[skydivingninja]

I like Halo Effect more than Wish Them Well.  Both are great, though.  Heck, every song is.  This is definitely one of their best albums, I'm convinced now.  Not sure if it beats Counterparts for me, though.

[jingle.boy]

Another great interview with Alex and Geddy:

https://legacy.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=175519

I loved Alex's story about running into and meeting his hero, Geddy Lee.

But I am still in shock over how big Alex's bald spot is.

Watched it live on Monday.  That's the webcast from the "official" broadcast premiere that was live on a bunch of Canadian radio stations.

[TL]

I think Alex should borrow one of Neal's hats. Or maybe wear a wig, but an intentionally obvious, over the top wig.

[The Letter M]

I think Alex should borrow one of Neal's hats. Or maybe wear a wig, but an intentionally obvious, over the top wig.

Only if the wig looked like this:


-Marc.

[ZBomber]

I think Alex should borrow one of Neal's hats. Or maybe wear a wig, but an intentionally obvious, over the top wig.

That would be SO AWESOME! 

I really hope they play I'm Going Bald this tour, just for humor's sake.

[DarkEternalNight]

  How long has it been that way? I saw that interview and I went, "What the hell?!". Was it like that during the Time Machine tour?

[fadetoblackdude7]

I don't understand why everyone is hating on Wish Them Well. Sure, it's far from the best song on the album, but it's not bad.

[skydivingninja]

I love how awkward Geddy is when describing Steampunk 

[Gadough]

The choruses on this album are so strong.

[The Letter M]

The choruses on this album are so strong.

I'll echo this sentiment. Their choruses have gotten pretty strong over the last few albums, and more and more songs have better choruses as each album continues. RTB had a few, CP had a couple more than that, TFE stayed about even, then VT came along and had a couple more, then S&A came out and most of the album was full of great choruses. Now with CA, I'd say nearly every song has a strong chorus. Seriously.

-Marc.

[ytserush]

Mid-range is still a muddy mess after more than 50 spins, but I'm not letting that keep it from kicking my ass eight days a week.

I CANNOT wait to experience this live.

[The Curious Orange]

Been listening to it all weekend. It's definitely more Vapor Trails than Snakes & Arrows, but that's not such a bad thing. The sound was fine to my ears, the cymbals and high-end percussion could be a bit more rounded, but that's it. I liked the way the songs stand up on their own outside of the concept - each song is a fully rounded song in it's own right. The lack of an instrumental this time round was also a bit of a disappointment.

Caravan, BU2B and The Anarchist are all stong, classic Rush songs, Clockwork Angels is a bit of a grower - I wasn't sure on first listen, but I'm starting to love it. Halo Effect should have been acoustic all the way through, like the live version of Resist. As a full-band arrangement it sounded a little dated. 7CoG is fun, The Wreckers is a great tune, but ruined by one of the clumsiest fade-outs I've ever heard. The Garden and Headlong Flight are both mind-blowingly good.

Roll on the tour!

[Mladen]

The choruses on this album are so strong.

That's great to hear, I'm always into catchy choruses.

I still haven't had the chance to hear the album, it's still not out here. It baffles me that the new Gojira album is for sale even though it's gonna be out in the rest of the world in a couple of days, but the new Rush album is one week later still not available.

[Orbert]

Picked it up yesterday, listened to it once full volume over the stereo in the living room (yeah baby!) and once on the PC while surfing the web and stuff.  Albums are so long these days that I never feel like I get to know them intimately like back when I was in school and spent hours listening to them over and over and absorbing every nuance.  Nowadays, spending hours means you got to hear it twice.  So the second listen was more to get the songs into my subconscious.

I get what people are saying about the sound and production.  It sounds very dense to me, but I don't know if that's bad.  It makes the music sound more intense, more immediate, but at the same time, yeah, it gets a bit oppressive after a while and seems to rob the album of the peaks and valleys you really need if you're going to hold someone's attention for an hour or more.  The quiet sections are loud, the loud sections aren't much louder, and everything else is in between.  I found myself thinking "This will totally kick ass when they play it live" a few times.  You shouldn't have to think that way about a song.  If it's that good, it should blow you away on the album.  And there are a lot of really good songs here.

Third listen will be today in the car, full volume.  I'm looking forward to it.

[Priest of Syrinx]

https://www.dr.loudness-war.info/index.php?search_artist=rush&sort=year&order=asc

[Nick]

https://www.rushisaband.com/blog/2012/06/18/3168/New-Alex-Lifeson-interview-at-RollingStone.com

Short of it is that approx. 55 minutes of CA will be played live on this tour.

Hints at a 2nd N. American leg to the tour.

They are discussing a lot of older never before or long ago played material to play this tour.

[contest_sanity]

Rush readies the "Gangster of Boats" trilogy by dressing as actual gangsters.  Neil Peart pictured above.

lol USA Today for formatting their web page like it's a newspaper.

[KevShmev]

https://www.rushisaband.com/blog/2012/06/18/3168/New-Alex-Lifeson-interview-at-RollingStone.com

Short of it is that approx. 55 minutes of CA will be played live on this tour.

Hints at a 2nd N. American leg to the tour.

They are discussing a lot of older never before or long ago played material to play this tour.

Alex also said they'd be playing Jacob's Ladder two years ago.

[King Postwhore]

That's still killing you Kev.

Alex got your hopes up and you'll never forgive him.

[KevShmev]

Oh, no, I forgave him, but I don't forget.

All I am really saying is his comments about such things should be taken with a grain of salt.  But he's still my all-time favorite musician.

[dbrooks22]

I don't understand why everyone is hating on Wish Them Well. Sure, it's far from the best song on the album, but it's not bad.

After the 6th listen, I'm really liking Wish Them Well.  It's actually pretty strong.

I'm starting to think the Wreckers is possibly the best Rush song in 20yrs.  It has everything.

[The Letter M]

https://www.rushisaband.com/blog/2012/06/18/3168/New-Alex-Lifeson-interview-at-RollingStone.com

Short of it is that approx. 55 minutes of CA will be played live on this tour.

Hints at a 2nd N. American leg to the tour.

They are discussing a lot of older never before or long ago played material to play this tour.

Take out "Halo Effect", "BU2B2" and "Wish Them Well" and you've got just about 55 minutes of music from the new album.

Logically speaking, there's no way they won't play the first 3 tracks, and they've got to play "Headlong Flight" and "The Wreckers" (the former is a single, and the latter is featured on the sticker for the album). "The Garden" is so highly regarded that I'm pretty sure they'll play it as well. This leaves "Seven Cities Of Gold", "Carnies" and "The Anarchist", which are ALL pretty strong choices for the live set.

I like the idea of them doing the entire album over the course of the tour's two legs. I think that's smart. They should have done that with the S&A Tour, rotating "The Way The Wind Blows" and "Workin' Them Angels" with "Bravest Face" and "Good News First".

I can see them definitely playing the first five tracks, "Headlong Flight" and "The Garden" on both legs, and swap around the others between both tour legs. I hope they offer ALL the songs played on this tour on the inevitable live album (like they did with Rush In Rio on CD, or Snakes & Arrows Live with the "Oh, Atlanta!" bonus dvd).

-Marc.

[Breaking All Illusions]

I love Clockwork Angels. Not a weak track on the album. Listend to it for the fourth time today. The Anarchist and The Garden are my favorite tracks from the album. I knew Clockwork Angels would be great but I wasn't expecting this level. I should have though because it's Rush.

[KevShmev]

I suggested the idea of them doing all of the new album over the course of two legs last freaking week, fools.

[Orbert]

Is this some kind of new stupid Internet thing, calling everyone "fools"?  Is "fools" the new "bitches"?  Something derogatory to call people for no particular reason?

[KevShmev]

No, it's an old stupid Internet thing.

[KevShmev]

This is a fantastic interview with Neil Peart, where he breaks down and talks about each song from Clockwork Angels!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiBKxPlUmg8

[KevShmev]

And them now actually talking about bringing a string section on tour!!!!

https://www.billboard.com/news/rush-bringing-string-ensemble-on-tour-1007356152.story#/news/rush-bringing-string-ensemble-on-tour-1007356152.story

If true, perhaps Losing It will finally get played, and Manhattan Project would also be a natural.

[Gadough]

Rush readies the "Gangster of Boats" trilogy by dressing as actual gangsters.  Neil Peart pictured above.

lol USA Today for formatting their web page like it's a newspaper.

FLOCKA

[The Letter M]

And them now actually talking about bringing a string section on tour!!!!

https://www.billboard.com/news/rush-bringing-string-ensemble-on-tour-1007356152.story#/news/rush-bringing-string-ensemble-on-tour-1007356152.story

If true, perhaps Losing It will finally get played, and Manhattan Project would also be a natural.

"Losing It" would be a treat. There's also quite a few songs in the Presto-RTB-CP-TFE era that would sound good with a string section that haven't either been played before (like "Losing It") or haven't been played since their first tour out.

And just for those keeping track, strings were used on the following CA songs:
"Halo Effect," "The Anarchist," "The Wreckers," "BU2B2," and "The Garden"

So if these are a shoe-in for the live show, that leaves "Carnies", "Seven Cities Of Gold" and "Wish Them Well" as the last option to fill 55 minutes (assuming they play "Caravan", "BU2B", "Clockwork Angels" and "Headlong Flight"). If that's the case, I'd like to see them play one of those 3 on the first leg, and then another on the 2nd leg, preferably, "Carnies" on one and "Seven Cities Of Gold" on the other. And save "Wish Them Well" for the next album-tour cycle!

At any rate, I'll have to start listening to the entire Rush catalog to hear what would be good choices for them to play with a string ensemble. Hmmm...

-Marc.

[jammindude]

Personally, I would *LOVE* to see them play the entire album.

But alas...I'm probably going to miss this tour.   I was dead broke when tickets went on sale, and now it's sold out.   There is not a smiley out there that would express my sadness and frustration.    Maybe they should make a smiley that falls on a sword. 

[Breaking All Illusions]

This is a fantastic interview with Neil Peart, where he breaks down and talks about each song from Clockwork Angels!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiBKxPlUmg8

Cool interview.




I wouldn't mind hearing the entire album on this tour. They can do six songs in each set.

[The Curious Orange]

I'd rather hear most of the album and more older stuff than all of the album (I think they overdid the S&A material on that tour) but if they did play the whole thing I wouldn't object.

A list of Rush songs I'd love to hear dusted off for the next tour - Force Ten, Animate, Chain Lightning, Cold Fire, Bravado, Mystic Rhythms, Xanadu & Jacob's Ladder.  Yeah, I know, but I can dream... 

[Phoenix87x]

This is a fantastic interview with Neil Peart, where he breaks down and talks about each song from Clockwork Angels!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiBKxPlUmg8

Cool interview.

I wouldn't mind hearing the entire album on this tour. They can do six songs in each set.

Neil has such a great voice for Radio. I felt like I was listening to NPR a little bit.

[Tick]

After careful consideration I am now willing to proclaim Clockwork the best Rush album in many years. The layers of depth in each song are amazing. Its a classic!

Taking a string section on the road. I love the idea, because Rush will use them properly taking nothing away from the power of what they are doing!