I gave Snakes another spin and just moved on to Clockwork. Snakes is good, but Clockwork clicked with me on the first listen - Snakes did not.
Clockwork... wow, what a way to go out. Still chewing on it but several songs resonated with me right away: Caravan, BU2B, Headlong Flight, Carnies, and of course... The Garden. I think it's fighting for my favorite after the first spin. It's just a beautiful tune. Not sure if it'll be my favorite overall but there's not one bad thing about The Garden to me, I love the addition of the piano and the lyrics and music complement each other so beautifully, it's a lovely song and a fantastic finish to the journey through their catalogue. The whole album has this mystical air to it, a sense of 'prog' that I hadn't heard since... well, for a very long time (relative to their career). Yet it still sounds modern, but like they nailed exactly what they were going for. Not one song left me wanting more.
I own 8 of their albums, have 5 reserved at the record store, and everything else in shopping carts online... happy to call myself a huge fan of this band now, just a shame it took so many years to finally open up and give them some serious focus. Only a couple albums I don't see myself actually revisiting much (AFTK, TFE), and several I've fallen in love with (Hemispheres, CoS, both PWs, Signals, P/g, Counterparts, VT...) And I'll listen to Feedback after I'm good and comfy with CA.
Thank for letting me babble on about my impressions on the albums