The Rush Thread v. Clockwork Angels

[KevShmev]

Eh, I love Rush, but I think that is backwards.  The demand for more touring didn't push the CD back; them deciding on their own to tour again this year pushed it back. 

[The Letter M]

I think it's only fair - something as monumental as the Time Machine Tour definitely should be shared with Rush fans on BOTH sides of the Atlantic!

Either way, I think I can wait til 2012 if it means they're going to take their time with the songs and arrangements and work on the album really hard this fall for a Spring 2012 release. I'd rather them take their time on it than rush.

As for Alex's comments, he says they'll have something like 9 songs? Is that total, or in addition to "Caravan" and "BU2B"? I was hoping there'd be 12, one for each marker on the clock-face that would presumably become the cover of the album? Then again, it was either Geddy or Alex that said they have an epic (title?) track, which was made of smaller parts, which I can only assume might be movements. I'm sure it'll be something like "Natural Science" in terms of movements, or perhaps even style, which is fine by me because it's a great song!

-Marc.

[TL]

Personally, I'd be a lot more patient in waiting for the album if they came to Halifax. Or anywhere in the Maritimes.

[King Postwhore]

Eh, I love Rush, but I think that is backwards.  The demand for more touring didn't push the CD back; them deciding on their own to tour again this year pushed it back. 

It's how bands make money these days.  I'm like you in that I'm having Rush studio music withdrawls but it's the business of music today.

[The Letter M]

Eh, I love Rush, but I think that is backwards.  The demand for more touring didn't push the CD back; them deciding on their own to tour again this year pushed it back. 

It's how bands make money these days.  I'm like you in that I'm having Rush studio music withdrawls but it's the business of music today.

True, and we should probably be lucky they're working on an album at all! There are plenty of popular rock acts out there who have been around as long as Rush who haven't been so busy in the studio. The fact that they're putting out their 3rd album in ten years is pretty good, considering how much touring they've done. Yes, on the other hand, have released one studio album in the last ten years, but have toured a whole bunch since then.

I also feel very lucky, as a Rush fan, that we've gotten albums that have been as good as Vapor Trails and Snakes & Arrows, and from the way Geddy, Alex, and Nick Raskulinecz have talked about the Clockwork Angels so far, I have a feeling it'll be well worth the wait!

-Marc.

[King Postwhore]

The fact that many older bands just do nostagic tours and never make new music(STYX DO YOU HEAR ME!!) is what I want from bands, to stay relevant.

[Nick]

Marc... your post confused me. It made sense until the part about Vapor Trails being good.

[skydivingninja]

The fact that many older bands just do nostagic tours and never make new music(STYX DO YOU HEAR ME!!) is what I want from bands, to stay relevant.

Thisthisthis, but if you're an older classic rock band, you'd better make sure your new album is able to compete with your glory days.  (I'm looking at you, The Who).

[The Letter M]

Marc... your post confused me. It made sense until the part about Vapor Trails being good.

  I know I know, it's debatable, but I happen to highly enjoy the album! It was one of my first  new albums by a favorite band, and it lead me into the world of Rush alongside albums like A Farewell To Kings and Moving Pictures. It's got some great songs on there, and I can only hope the remaster provides a better listening experience for the album!

-Marc.

[ytserush]

Marc... your post confused me. It made sense until the part about Vapor Trails being good.

You're right, Nick. Vapor Trails isn't good at all. It's practically a masterpiece......

[Orbert]

I remember when Vapor Trails first leaked.  It was the amazing return of Rush, and everyone was understandably excited.  Yeah, I downloaded it from a dubious source.  Burned a CD, listened to it a few times, and thought "This sounds like shit!"  Not the songs themselves, although it was definitely a different sound for them, but the audio quality completely blew.  I figured I must've gotten a shitty rip or something, and found another source.  Listened to that one, and it too sounded like shit.  I've never really been able to form an opinion on the music because the sound quality is so distracting.

So I'm looking forward to the remaster and actually getting to hear the music properly.

[DarkEternalNight]

Vapor Trails has some great songs on it, really can't wait for the remastered version.

[reneranucci]

So I'm doing something with Rush I've never done with any other band. I'm (kinda) discovering them by listening to their entire discography in chronological order. The discussion on DTF gave me the motivation for that.

You know, I'm the diehard prog fan that only cared for what people said were their proggy albums, and wasn't in the slightest interested in the post-MP albums (DT lol) that had shorter songs, more synthetizers, etc. (for what people said, not that I listened to any of them). So I got from 2112 to Moving Pictures. And I liked YYZ, The Camera Eye (mi favorite song from them), parts of 2112, etc. but never considered any of their albums a masterpiece.

Until I listened to Hemispheres (I left that one for last I don't know why). %$&$  %&$$ what an album!!! It's incredible from start to finish, I love every second of it. Of course, it's the ideal album for a prog fan with the epic and the instrumental and everything, but I've finally seen Rush as a truly great band, and I can certainly appreciate the changes in their sound and styles even in the short span of 5 albums. From Hemispheres to Moving Pictures is already a big leap! So what I'm going to do is a study on their evolution as a band, at the same time listening to their other 9 albums for their first time. I hope it's gonna be an Amazing Journey.

EDIT: The name of the first song I'm gonna listen to is "Finding My Way", and the last is "We Hold On". They work very well as opener and closer IMO.

[King Postwhore]

Living with Rush as a kid to a 42 year old, has shown me that Rush goes with the times, sound and style wise yet still makig it Rush.  Yes some like certain era's of Rush yet I love that fact that, they do what they want and still the have a great following, despite the music establishment not likeing them,  38 years into it.  It's a tribute to the quality of their music and how much they care.

[setrataeso]

Personally, I'd be a lot more patient in waiting for the album if they came to Halifax. Or anywhere in the Maritimes.

I didn't know you lived in HRM! We should hang out.

[Orbert]

So I'm doing something with Rush I've never done with any other band. I'm (kinda) discovering them by listening to their entire discography in chronological order. The discussion on DTF gave me the motivation for that.

You know, I'm the diehard prog fan that only cared for what people said were their proggy albums, and wasn't in the slightest interested in the post-MP albums (DT lol) that had shorter songs, more synthetizers, etc. (for what people said, not that I listened to any of them). So I got from 2112 to Moving Pictures. And I liked YYZ, The Camera Eye (mi favorite song from them), parts of 2112, etc. but never considered any of their albums a masterpiece.

Until I listened to Hemispheres (I left that one for last I don't know why). %$&$  %&$$ what an album!!! It's incredible from start to finish, I love every second of it. Of course, it's the ideal album for a prog fan with the epic and the instrumental and everything, but I've finally seen Rush as a truly great band, and I can certainly appreciate the changes in their sound and styles even in the short span of 5 albums. From Hemispheres to Moving Pictures is already a big leap! So what I'm going to do is a study on their evolution as a band, at the same time listening to their other 9 albums for their first time. I hope it's gonna be an Amazing Journey.

EDIT: The name of the first song I'm gonna listen to is "Finding My Way", and the last is "We Hold On". They work very well as opener and closer IMO.

Rush is a truly great band.  They have always done their own thing, their own way, over the course of over three decades, and that alone would be good enough for most bands, but on top of that, they've managed to also crank out radio hits as well as awesome album tracks.  And still, every song on every album still "sounds like Rush."  There are very, very few bands who maintain that level of consistency for that long.  In fact, I can't think of another one.

Enjoy your journey.

[KevShmev]

reneranucci,

Let us know how your journey goes as you move along on it.

[reneranucci]

Enjoy your journey.

Thank you Orbert

reneranucci,

Let us know how your journey goes as you move along on it.

Hey, as one of the biggest Rush-lovers here, you're the one to blame for me trying this 

Progress so far: I'm still on Rush (1974). "Here Again" is such a great song, and that killer guitar solo! I really like their approach to hard rock. I know Working Man is one of their classics but I haven't gotten there yet.

[PlaysLikeMyung]

I don't like how people automatically discredit anything past Moving Pictures. Signals, Power Windows, Hold Your Fire, Roll the Bones, Counterparts, and Snakes & Arrows are all pretty fucking awesome at LEAST.

[Ultimetalhead]

Roll the Bones, Counterparts, and Snakes & Arrows are awesome indeed. I really never cared for the synth-era though.

[skydivingninja]

I love the albums on that list Will, except replace HYF with GUP and take away half of Roll the Bones.

[King Postwhore]

The one misnomer about Grace Under Pressure is that it's a synth album.  Rush went way to the guitar driven side for it.  It's dark.  

Also a little known fact.  Alex tried like crazy not to make solo's that weren't chordal and Neil did not use his concert toms(6"/8"/10") on the album.

[The Letter M]

The one misnomer about Grace Under Pressure is that it's a synth album.  Rush went way to the guitar driven side for it.  It's dark.  

Also a little known fact.  Alex tried like crazy not to make solo's that weren't chordal and Neil did not use his concert toms(6"/8"/10") on the album.

Wouldn't Neil have also had a 12" concert tom as well? IIRC, he had the 4 concert tom set-up til the HYF albu and/or tour, where he switched his four concert tom set-up to 3 closed tom-toms (6", 8" and 10"). Also, IIRC, his rack-toms during that period were always 12", 13" and 15", right?

Weird, though, that Neil didn't use any concert toms on GUP. I never noticed that, so I'll have to go back and listen to it with that knowledge now!

-Marc.

[King Postwhore]

Your right, 12" concert tom also, but he did use that.

Check out this unreal site with all of his set ups!  It's unreal!!

https://www.andrewolson.com/Neil_Peart/neil_drumkits.htm

[ytserush]

Enjoy your journey.

Thank you Orbert

reneranucci,

Let us know how your journey goes as you move along on it.

Hey, as one of the biggest Rush-lovers here, you're the one to blame for me trying this 

Progress so far: I'm still on Rush (1974). "Here Again" is such a great song, and that killer guitar solo! I really like their approach to hard rock. I know Working Man is one of their classics but I haven't gotten there yet.

"Here Again" is awesome, especially live. "Here Again" and "Before and After" are probably my two favorites from that album. 


The last time I listened to Rush from beginning to end (including live albums) was to celebrate the release of Counterparts. It was
awesome.

Posted by: PlaysLikeMyüng 

I don't like how people automatically discredit anything past Moving Pictures. Signals, Power Windows, Hold Your Fire, Roll the Bones, Counterparts, and Snakes & Arrows are all pretty fucking awesome at LEAST.

Doesn't bother me.  I don't really understand how that would make you enjoy those albums any less. I've met people (not recently) that have told me that Rush went down hill after Neil joined.




And then of course there is Gene Simmons from a Goldmine interview in 2000:

"I remember hearing Rush before they went into the Neil Peart era when they were still doing the sort of Canadian Led Zeppelin and saying 'Wow, That's good stuff!' I was always much more of a fan of that then when Neil Peart came in and said 'Let's write songs about books.' Too cerebral. I didn't get it."

[glaurung]

 

[reneranucci]

My favorite songs after listening each album 3-4 times (roughly in order of preference):

Rush: Here Again, Before and After, Working Man and Finding My Way. Wow, 4 super-strong songs that were actually very difficult to rank. Finding my way is a strong, energetic opener (uuuuuhhhh yeahhhhhh), Here Again with its classic bluesy sound has an epic feeling into it, the instrumental intro of before and after is gorgeous (as good as the instrumental sections of any modern band like PT IMO) and Working Man delivers in every way. I can't believe people don't seem to regard their debut album very highly.

Fly By Night: This is weaker than their debut IMO. Sounds a little bit uninspired and not very original, like they weren't confident to do their own thing yet. Not bad, but not super-memorable. Anthem is great of course, In the End has this uplifting feeling that I like, BBB and By-Tor have their moments. I didn't care for Rivendell and the other songs, although there are cool solos or basslines here and there.

Caress of Steel is next.

[PlaysLikeMyung]

Fly By Night is one of my favorites. Doesn't feel uninspired to me. Making Memories is a great song and I adore the title track. The only bad song on the album is Rivendell. Ew

[KevShmev]

reneranucci,

Let us know how your journey goes as you move along on it.

Hey, as one of the biggest Rush-lovers here, you're the one to blame for me trying this 

Replace "Working Man" with "What You're Doing," and I'd agree on the four strongest songs from the debut.  I have never been that crazy about "Working Man," although it does smoke live.

"Rivendell" is the obvious big clunker on Fly by Night, which you've already realized, so that is good.   I think the rest will grow on you if you keep listening to it.  Most of what they have done since is better, but it is still a very solid second album.  "By-Tor and the Snow Dog" is easily a top 20 Rush tune.

[ZBomber]

Fly By Night is an interesting one. I would agree it's one of the weaker Rush albums out there, but it doesn't sound uninspired to me. I think they just weren't sure of what direction to take the band in at that point.

By-Tor was essential to what Rush would become, but the song is kind of lukewarm to me. I enjoy bits of it, but as a whole it just doesn't get the job done. That said, Anthem is one of my favorite Rush songs. In The End is great as well.

[Orbert]

No matter how tired or down I am, I can crank up "Anthem" and that opening syncopation will get me going again.

[King Postwhore]

I find myself playing Fly By Night a lot more than Rush and COS.  It's the one a gravitated to when I first hear Rush in the late 70's.

[PlaysLikeMyung]

Just so you're prepared, Caress of Steel is a... weird album. I can't describe it as anything else (for first listen, at least). Sandwiched between two awesome songs (Lakeside Park/Bastille Day) is I Think I'm Going Bald, which is... weird. The two epics, Fountain of Lamneth and Necromancer, are really good, but they're definitely growers.

[Ultimetalhead]

The improvement 2112 was over Caress of Steel is nothing short of mind-numbing.

[Orbert]

Yeah, it's like 2112 is the album they were building to all those years.  Their first real peak.