The Rush Thread v. Clockwork Angels

[The Letter M]

Since they're bringing an orchestra on tour, I hope they do play Losing It. The one song I want to hear most.

Not orchestra - string ensemble. Saying "orchestra" implies it's standard definition, which includes string, brass, woodwind and percussion.

I saw a ton of people freaking out about how Rush was going to be on stage with a huge orchestra when the band have only said 8-10 string players (which would probably boil down to 2-4 violins, 2 violas, 2-4 cellos, and 2 double-bass).

"Losing It" would be a great piece to perform. I'm hoping there's a couple more pieces from the last 6 studio albums that they can pull out and utilize the strings properly for an awesome performance. There are 29 songs that have gone unplayed between Presto and S&A, while only 15 from Rush to HYF. If Geddy's voice has an issue with covering older material, I wouldn't mind seeing them pull out some deep tracks from the last 6 albums.

-Marc.

[TAC]

"Losing It" would be a great piece to perform. I'm hoping there's a couple more pieces from the last 6 studio albums that they can pull out and utilize the strings properly for an awesome performance. There are 29 songs that have gone unplayed between Presto and S&A, while only 15 from Rush to HYF. If Geddy's voice has an issue with covering older material, I wouldn't mind seeing them pull out some deep tracks from the last 6 albums.

-Marc.

Wow, nice job with the stats, M.

I LOVE Losing It.

[Phoenix87x]

"Losing It" would be a great piece to perform. I'm hoping there's a couple more pieces from the last 6 studio albums that they can pull out and utilize the strings properly for an awesome performance. There are 29 songs that have gone unplayed between Presto and S&A, while only 15 from Rush to HYF. If Geddy's voice has an issue with covering older material, I wouldn't mind seeing them pull out some deep tracks from the last 6 albums.

-Marc.

Wow, nice job with the stats, M.

I LOVE Losing It.

I also love Losing it.

[The Letter M]

"Losing It" would be a great piece to perform. I'm hoping there's a couple more pieces from the last 6 studio albums that they can pull out and utilize the strings properly for an awesome performance. There are 29 songs that have gone unplayed between Presto and S&A, while only 15 from Rush to HYF. If Geddy's voice has an issue with covering older material, I wouldn't mind seeing them pull out some deep tracks from the last 6 albums.

-Marc.

Wow, nice job with the stats, M.

I LOVE Losing It.

Thanks! To be honest, all I did was count the tracks listen on the Power Windows website. Here's the full list:

ALBUM TRACKS NEVER PERFORMED LIVE

Take A Friend
Before And After
Making Memories
Rivendell
The Fountain Of Lamneth*
Lessons
Tears
Madrigal
Different Strings
Losing It
Emotion Detector
Open Secrets
Second Nature
Tai Shan
High Water
Chain Lighting
Anagram
Red Tide
Hand Over Fist
Available Light
Face Up
The Big Wheel
Heresy
Neurotica
You Bet Your Life
Cut To The Chase
Alien Shore
Speed Of Love
Everyday Glory
The Color Of Right
Totem
Dog Years
Carve Away The Stone
Peaceable Kingdom
The Stars Look Down
How It Is
Vapor Trail
Sweet Miracle
Nocturne
Freeze
Out Of The Cradle
Bravest Face
Good News First
We Hold On

*Unknown, as no authentic COS Tour headline setlists have been found

As you can see, starting with Hold Your Fire, they started playing half (or less) of the songs on each new album's tour, with the only exceptions being Test For Echo (7 out of 11 played live) and Snakes & Arrows (9 out of 13 played live, then 10 counting "Faithless" on the next tour).

Before Hold Your Fire, every album had nearly all their songs played live at some point, either for that album's tour or afterwards (like with "Witch Hunt"). Only Hemispheres, Moving Pictures and Grace Under Pressure have the honor of being the only albums to have all their songs played live at one tour or another, and in the case of the first and last of those, on the tour for their album.

Only 11 songs from their debut to Power Windows (11 albums) had never been played live, an average of one song per album. From Hold Your Fire onward, 33 songs haven't been played live, over 6 albums, an average of 5.5 songs per album, and in the case of Presto, Counterparts and Test For Echo, that's exactly half of the album.

Eventually, I would enjoy seeing/hearing them pull out many of those 33 tracks for the live show, if only because Geddy's aging voice may limit him to which older tracks (i.e. from before Moving Pictures) can still be sung without dropping the song a whole step or more (like they did with "Circumstances" and "Entre Nous").

-Marc.

[King Postwhore]

How about Tears.  That would be great with strings.  I bet they could do the string section for The Big Wheel.

Also on the non bucket strings list.  Vapor Trails, Jacob's Ladder, Cut to the Chase and Alien Shore.


Edit:  Dammit M!!  Ninja'd!!

[Phoenix87x]

Damn, I did not know that Different strings never got played.

    I would love to hear that.

[Nick]

Different Strings not getting played when they did acoustic sets was a travesty, I very much hope they rectify that now.

[dbrooks22]

"Losing It" would be a great piece to perform. I'm hoping there's a couple more pieces from the last 6 studio albums that they can pull out and utilize the strings properly for an awesome performance. There are 29 songs that have gone unplayed between Presto and S&A, while only 15 from Rush to HYF. If Geddy's voice has an issue with covering older material, I wouldn't mind seeing them pull out some deep tracks from the last 6 albums.

-Marc.

Wow, nice job with the stats, M.

I LOVE Losing It.

I also love Losing it.

I also love Losing it, and would cream my pants if they played it with strings followed by the Wreckers.

[dbrooks22]

I'll say it again:  I like Presto more, but RTB is a better record.

Presto came along at a magical time in my life. Pun intended. I love that album a lot.
 How can you like one record more yet declare the one you don't like as much the superior record?
That does not compute well for me.

Presto also came along at a magical time in my life.  But all things considered, RTB is a better and more developed record.  It's kind of like relationships.  You may love one person from your past more than another, or there may have been one person that came along "at a magical time."  But that doesn't mean they were a better person/mate.  RTB has a couple throwaway songs, but there are at least 3-4 that are far better than any of the tracks on Presto. 

That being said, i would take Presto to a desert island before RTB.  Such is life.

[Nick]

I mean, it's highly likely that I have a biased personal connection to it, but The Pass I think is better than anything on Roll the Bones, save maybe 1 track.

[The Letter M]

I mean, it's highly likely that I have a biased personal connection to it, but The Pass I think is better than anything on Roll the Bones, save maybe 1 track.

Only if that one track is "Bravado". And speaking of which, the one-two punch of "The Pass"/"Bravado" on Rush In Rio is one of my absolute favorites ever.

-Marc.

[Nick]

I mean, it's highly likely that I have a biased personal connection to it, but The Pass I think is better than anything on Roll the Bones, save maybe 1 track.

Only if that one track is "Bravado". And speaking of which, the one-two punch of "The Pass"/"Bravado" on Rush In Rio is one of my absolute favorites ever.

-Marc.

While I think Ghost of a Chance is stronger than Bravado, I agree that the 1/2 punch you mentioned is fucking incredible.

[Phoenix87x]

I really do love Bravado, but Ghost of a Chance is one of those very special songs that can actually bring a tear to my eyes.

[dbrooks22]

I mean, it's highly likely that I have a biased personal connection to it, but The Pass I think is better than anything on Roll the Bones, save maybe 1 track.

The Pass is a great song, and has a lot of emotional charge to it, but Ghost/Chance, Bravado, Dreamline - i believe they are stronger songs.  The themes on Presto don't seem to be as fully developed as on RTB.  They are more raw.  Some - like me - love that rawness. 

[The Letter M]

Just listened to "Between Sun And Moon" and it has strings...would be a great choice for the CA Tour, especially since it was played 10 years ago for the VT Tour. And now my listening of Counterparts continues...

-Marc.

[King Postwhore]

Just listened to "Between Sun And Moon" and it has strings...would be a great choice for the CA Tour, especially since it was played 10 years ago for the VT Tour. And now my listening of Counterparts continues...

-Marc.

I'm selfish.  I saw it already and there are a few on Counterparts they haven't played yet so I'd like to see others like Alien Shore and Cut To The Chase.

[dbrooks22]

Just listened to "Between Sun And Moon" and it has strings...would be a great choice for the CA Tour, especially since it was played 10 years ago for the VT Tour. And now my listening of Counterparts continues...

-Marc.

I'm selfish.  I saw it already and there are a few on Counterparts they haven't played yet so I'd like to see others like Alien Shore and Cut To The Chase.

same here.  Cut to the Chase - how many times do we have to request this track?  Isn't anyone listening?  Maybe TempusVox will drop a hint for us...

[The Letter M]

Oh I know, trust me guys, I'd rather hear tunes like "Cut To The Chase" or "Everyday Glory" if they pick a tune from CP, but I'm only suggesting BSAM because it does have a good bit of strings in the song already, so arranging them for a small string ensemble wouldn't be TOO difficult. That, and they've already played the track before. And for anyone who hasn't seen the band on the VT tour (or since), or perhaps their show didn't have that song played, they'd be treated to it.

-Marc.

[The Letter M]

Had another thought...what about the "Fear Series"? It'd be great to bring back "The Enemy Within" and "The Weapon", which I can imagine having it's opening synth part being played on strings instead, and "Witch Hunt" has been played on the last two tours, so it would continue through and would sound awesome with a string ensemble on it! Then of course, we'd get treated to "Freeze", which would just be AWESOME to hear live.

-Marc.

[ZBomber]

I like the Fear series, but I could do without Witch Hunt (since we've already gotten that) and Freeze honestly. I love The Weapon though, and The Enemy Within is a great song too.

[KevShmev]

The end of Nobody's Hero has strings as well, and that hasn't been played since the 90s, so that is a strong possibility as well.

[The Letter M]

The end of Nobody's Hero has strings as well, and that hasn't been played since the 90s, so that is a strong possibility as well.

If they pick a song from CP that wasn't "Between Sun And Moon" and a song they've played before, then this would definitely have to be it. It's such a touching song and sentiment and I think it would work well.

My main hope for the set list is that they pick songs whose lyrics have some sort of relative sentiment to the songs they're playing from Clockwork Angels, songs that can sort of run along with the story they have, just to make it more interesting.

Going back through some of their older albums... "Manhattan Project" would be an awesome choice, as would "Lock And Key", which I can just imagine sounding great with live strings.

And, also out of left-field, "High Water" might not sound too bad with a live string ensemble as well!

-Marc.

[KevShmev]

The drawback to Nobody's Hero would be Geddy's inability to sing the chorus well.  He struggled with it even a bit back in the 90s, and this is now many years later, so it might be deemed one of those songs too tough for him to sing well anymore. 

And how much will the fanbase flip out if Roll the Bones comes back?

[Scorpion]

I listened to Clockwork Angels for the first time last evening, and as much as it pains me to say that, I am quite underwhelmed, especially after hearing all the praise here on the forums. Nothing is really bad (though I don't care much BU2B2), but it's also not really memorable. I'll be listening today, after school again - I really want to like this album, actually.

Did anyone initially have the same problems?

[Tick]

"Losing It" would be a great piece to perform. I'm hoping there's a couple more pieces from the last 6 studio albums that they can pull out and utilize the strings properly for an awesome performance. There are 29 songs that have gone unplayed between Presto and S&A, while only 15 from Rush to HYF. If Geddy's voice has an issue with covering older material, I wouldn't mind seeing them pull out some deep tracks from the last 6 albums.

-Marc.

Wow, nice job with the stats, M.

I LOVE Losing It.

Thanks! To be honest, all I did was count the tracks listen on the Power Windows website. Here's the full list:

ALBUM TRACKS NEVER PERFORMED LIVE

Take A Friend
Before And After
Making Memories
Rivendell
The Fountain Of Lamneth*
Lessons
Tears
Madrigal
Different Strings
Losing It
Emotion Detector
Open Secrets
Second Nature
Tai Shan
High Water
Chain Lighting
Anagram
Red Tide
Hand Over Fist
Available Light
Face Up
The Big Wheel
Heresy
Neurotica
You Bet Your Life
Cut To The Chase
Alien Shore
Speed Of Love
Everyday Glory
The Color Of Right
Totem
Dog Years
Carve Away The Stone
Peaceable Kingdom
The Stars Look Down
How It Is
Vapor Trail
Sweet Miracle
Nocturne
Freeze
Out Of The Cradle
Bravest Face
Good News First
We Hold On

*Unknown, as no authentic COS Tour headline setlists have been found

As you can see, starting with Hold Your Fire, they started playing half (or less) of the songs on each new album's tour, with the only exceptions being Test For Echo (7 out of 11 played live) and Snakes & Arrows (9 out of 13 played live, then 10 counting "Faithless" on the next tour).

Before Hold Your Fire, every album had nearly all their songs played live at some point, either for that album's tour or afterwards (like with "Witch Hunt"). Only Hemispheres, Moving Pictures and Grace Under Pressure have the honor of being the only albums to have all their songs played live at one tour or another, and in the case of the first and last of those, on the tour for their album.

Only 11 songs from their debut to Power Windows (11 albums) had never been played live, an average of one song per album. From Hold Your Fire onward, 33 songs haven't been played live, over 6 albums, an average of 5.5 songs per album, and in the case of Presto, Counterparts and Test For Echo, that's exactly half of the album.

Eventually, I would enjoy seeing/hearing them pull out many of those 33 tracks for the live show, if only because Geddy's aging voice may limit him to which older tracks (i.e. from before Moving Pictures) can still be sung without dropping the song a whole step or more (like they did with "Circumstances" and "Entre Nous").

-Marc.

I'm surprised to see, Cut To The Chase, and Sweet Miracle on that list. I feel like I've head them live.
Of this list I would love to hear the underrated gem, Available Light.
Also, Peaceable Kingdom and Different Strings.
 Lessons is great but would be too much of a chore for Geddy to do on a nightly basis.

[The Curious Orange]

Peaceable Kingdom is a fantastic song, and would really fit in with the CA stuff.

[PlaysLikeMyung]

You have to figure that before HyF, there were only like, 8 songs per album, and not 11, 13, etc

[Orbert]

I listened to Clockwork Angels for the first time last evening, and as much as it pains me to say that, I am quite underwhelmed, especially after hearing all the praise here on the forums. Nothing is really bad (though I don't care much BU2B2), but it's also not really memorable. I'll be listening today, after school again - I really want to like this album, actually.

Did anyone initially have the same problems?

I did.  First impression was "Ah yes, the modern Rush sound."  Dense, driving, heavy, and Geddy of course singing in his lower register because that's his voice now.

As I got a few more tracks into it, I noticed that the guys were really wailing, Neil was pounding, Alex was screaming, Geddy was thumping, but somehow nothing really leaped out.  It's the production.  It smushes everything down into a thick paste where everything in it is awesome, but the net result is kinduv blah.

After four listens, I've concluded that like many Rush albums, fantastic playing has been marred by crummy sound quality.  I concluded that when I found myself already looking forward to the live versions of songs, where they'd be able to breathe and really come to life.

Nothing jumps out and grabs you because nothing can.  As much as the guys are firing on all eight, it still feels restrained and held back, which makes no sense.  This may be the sound they're really looking for, but I can't agree with it.

[chrisbDTM]

i am still underwhelmed as well. i like the 3 songs we heard before the album came out the best, still. the other songs just seem boring to me, but alex's solos are really awesome. still got that classic style where you KNOW it's him

[dbrooks22]

I can understand the underwhelming. 

I think a lot of it has to do with expectations.  When your friends rave about a particular movie before you see it, you are usually going to be somewhat disappointed that it didn't live up to your expectations.  Rush's unparalleled back catalog is a tough comparison for any new record to live up to.

With CA, i kept my expectations very low, and have thus been pleasantly surprised.  When i first heard Headlong Flight, i was pretty underwhelmed.  It sounded like 58-yr old men having a mid/late life crisis, trying to act like teenagers again, and i was afraid that the rest of the album would sound the same.   But I think most people here agree that this is the best Rush album in around 20yrs (some say since Presto, some say since Cparts, i say since RTB).  It surpasses Snakes/Arrows, and puts the band on a ten-year upward trajectory since Neil's tragedies.

After 10 listens now, CA is really starting to bloom

[The Letter M]

You have to figure that before HyF, there were only like, 8 songs per album, and not 11, 13, etc

True, but their set lists on tour were under 2 hours long as they still toured with opening bands. It wasn't until the TFE tour that they headlined without an opening act and their show could stretch out a bit more to include more songs. On the CP and TFE tours, they played 6 out of 11 new songs (and on the latter, 7 if you counting the short time they played "Time And Motion"), but on the VT tour, when the show was even a bit longer, they pulled back to 5 out of 13 new songs, which I think it a shame considering the mastering issues with the album - they could have presented more new material to breathe some new life into it. I can only imagine how some of those songs would sound live with the right mixing and mastering.

-Marc.

[KevShmev]

They said that some of the VT songs fell into the "studio only" camp because of the way they were recorded and whatnot, Peaceable Kingdom being one of them.  I suspect they worry about some of the songs losing their power by having only one guitar live, as opposed to the wall of guitars that comes at you on the studio versions.

[Tick]

I listened to Clockwork Angels for the first time last evening, and as much as it pains me to say that, I am quite underwhelmed, especially after hearing all the praise here on the forums. Nothing is really bad (though I don't care much BU2B2), but it's also not really memorable. I'll be listening today, after school again - I really want to like this album, actually.

Did anyone initially have the same problems?

Personally, I never draw conclusions on the first listen of a Rush album. Come back after 10 listens and give me your thoughts. Then at least in my mind they will be legit. Too much going on in each song to form much of an opinion after one listen. At least in my opinion.

[Scorpion]

Oh, I was planning on anyway, but just wanted to say what I thought the first listen. I'm not going to give up a Rush album, only because I don't like from the first listen, that's for sure.

[Tick]

For 3 60 year old guys to make as album this good blows me away. I absolutely love it more with every listen. I rank it among the best Rush albums ever. As far as the production goes, that stuff never really phases me much. People have complained about Vapor Trails for years. I really never gave a shit too much about what is said cause it kicks ass to me and I love it.
Snakes And Arrows on the other hand never did much for me. It still doesn't. Its ok, but that's about all. Half solid tracks, half filler. Meh.