With the Time Machine tour finished, Rush set about working on the album they had already started when they released "Caravan" and "BU2B" in 2010, and by the end of 2011, the album was finished, and
Clockwork Angels would eventually be released in the summer of 2012. There were many rumors about it being a concept album and how the band was gonna stretch out musically and whatnot, but given how many times we had heard the "the band is returning to their roots" comment over the years, some fans, myself included, took the "I'll believe it when I hear it" approach. In April, "Headlong Flight" was released to radio stations and with a lyric video on YouTube, and I have to admit that it was pretty awesome to hear. Not only was it nearly 7 1/2-minutes, meaning the band wasn't keeping themselves in that 5-minute box anymore most of the time, but it had a very progressive vibe to it, not to mention that the playing was ferocious and had the feel of a band very much eager to prove themselves, not of a band approaching 60. It as an absolute thrill to hear, and when the tracklisting and song lengths of the album came out, the fan base as a whole was overjoyed to see five of the songs going over the 6-minute mark. Now, this is not meant to imply that "longer songs automatically equals better," but many of us were eager to see the band spread their wings again instrumentally, and that many songs being 6-7 minute instead of most of them being around 5 meant that we were probably gonna get some tasty instrumental sections unlike anything we had heard on a Rush album in quite some time.
When the album came out, our hopes were not without merit. Not only did some of the longer tunes have some extended instrumental sections in the middle of them, but songs like "Seven Cities of Gold," "The Anarchist" and the title track all had long intros. To be fair,
Snakes & Arrows did have a number of songs that had somewhat long intros, especially considering the overall song lengths, but then they would all jump into that standard "verse-chorus-verse-chorus-quick solo section-chorus etc-end" format.
Clockwork Angels had the feel of a band that simply let the songs flow naturally and without any kind of pre-conceived notion of how they should they go; the band feels loose, in a manner of speaking.
Jumping back in a minute, when the first two songs came out in 2010, I was very fond of "Caravan," and was hoping it was a glimpse of what was to come. I liked "BU2B,' too, but over time, it came across to me as another modern Rush songs that rocked, but didn't have much lasting impact. In the context of the album once it came out, "Caravan" revealed itself to be a dynamite opener, while "BU2B" had an added 50 seconds at the beginning that helped it dynamically and sonically.
Now, when I first heard the rest of the album, I have to admit that the title track knocked my socks off. The rocking verses ("You promise every treasure...") were an absolute thrill to hear, and gave me that "I have been waiting 20 years for Rush to write a song like this" feeling. I couldn't believe they were writing and playing something so explosive, so big and so expansive again. The way the verses explode into the chorus is just so damn perfect. Overall, the song is very diverse, with many dynamic shifts. In many ways, it is the perfect 21st century Rush song. It is probably still my favorite Rush song from not only this record, but undoubtedly this century.
Then it was on to "The Anarchist," which is pretty damn awesome as well; I put it just a hair behind the title track. Geddy's bass playing in this song is nothing short of absurd, and the mellow pre-chorus section, featuring some cool strings, is very much Porcupine Tree-influenced with that vocal effect. It's very cool to see a band that was influenced by Rush now influencing Rush. Alex's riffing in the song is easy to overlook, but it drives the song forward, and some of Neil Peart's best playing in a long time is in this song.
The next three songs were all pretty great as well, the rocking "Carnies," the acoustic-driven "Halo Effect," and "Seven Cities of Gold,' which almost sounds like a song that was written for a western, if that makes sense. This middle section of the record being so strong is a big reason why this album is so great. The best songs are in the first and last third of the album, but the fact that tracks 5-8 are all so good as well is an indicator of how just on fire the band was. The middle section is capped off with the catchy "The Wreckers," which was unique in that Geddy and Alex switched instruments during the writing process, so the guitar melody was written by Geddy and the bass line was written by Alex, so you get a bit of a different feel with this song, even while the main riff and vocal melodies still sound very much like modern day Rush.
The final four tracks is kicked off with the aforementioned "Headlong Flight." I didn't mention it earlier, but this song also has some absolutely ferocious playing by Geddy, and that dirty melody Alex plays prior to the first chorus is one of my favorite moments of the entire record. The way it builds up into the chorus when the others come back in with the bass, drums and vocals is wicked cool. I also love the way it is used differently each time, with it being unaccompanied the first time, not being there the second time, and then being played underneath the chorus the last time. Very neat the way they shifted it around each time. Also, I mentioned in an earlier review that Alex's soloing dipped off starting with
Test for Echo, but this album was a great return to form solo-wise for him, and the one in "Headlong Flight" is a favorite of mine.
The reprisal in "BU2B2" is cool in giving the album more of a cohesive feel, even if this short little transitional track isn't particularly noteworthy, but it's a nice little come down in between two rockers, the second of which is the penultimate track to the album. "Wish Them Well" seems to be the red-headed step child of the record, it being a song that seems to be often dismissed as the weak link of the record, but I could not disagree more. I love it, and it's always a song I crank up whenever it plays. Plus, lyrically it's a clever play on words in regards to turning the other cheek.
The finale of the album, "The Garden," is another one of those "I've been waiting 20 years for Rush to write this song" songs. Geddy Lee has said several times in the past that he still felt like he had that perfect song in him somewhere, and it wouldn't surprise me if he feels like "The Garden" is it. It's an absolutely gorgeous song, and a perfect ending to a phenomenal record. For a long time, it seemed like Rush got in the habit of sticking whatever song they felt was the weakest of the ones they wrote at the end, hence them never playing live any last track from any of the albums from 1987-2007, but it's clear that this time that they intended to end the album on a most wonderful note, and they achieved that in spades. There is no other song in the Rush catalogue that sounds like "The Garden," and if they never do another album, I can't think of a more perfect way to end their career, from a studio recording standpoint.
I'll let others dig into the concept and lyrics. And I won't go into too much detail about how I wish the album sounded better - it suffers a tad from compression and being too loud. Overall, that little flaw aside, this is a beastly album, one I wasn't sure Rush was capable of making at that stage of their careers, especially given their ages, but they sure did prove me wrong. And I couldn't have been more happy about it. This is one of Rush's finest efforts ever, of any era.
Topic: The History of Rush v. Discography Thread: Epilogue (Read 85549 times)
