Rush Retrospective: Album 19- Clockwork Angels

Album:  Clockwork Angels

Year Released:    2012

Lineup:  

• Geddy Lee – bass guitar, keyboards, bass pedals, vocals
• Alex Lifeson – guitars, keyboards
• Neil Peart – drums, cymbals, tambourine

Overall Thoughts:

The 19th (and final) original studio album from Rush started after an 18 month break following the Snakes & Arrows Tour.    The group decided on an album centered around a fiction steampunk-based dystopic world.  The results was Clockwork Angels.

This is the only full Rush Concept Album (2112 and Hemispheres both had half the album designed around a concept, but had songs outside the concept filling out the album.)  The theme of Clockwork Angels is not unlike 2112; a world dominated by religious leaders who planned out the fate of everyone, and an individual who lived in the world.  Unlike 2112, the unnamed protagonist isn't trying to change the world; just trying to find their own place in it.  

The music continues to be outstanding; by this time, the band had been together nearly 40 years, and the skill of the playing is shown on every song.  The music is gorgeous, and while the ablum lacks ne song that stands out, it's a continuous string of excellent songs (Caravan, Clockwork Angels, Carnis, Halo Effect, The Wreckers, Headlong Flight, The Garden)

It's a fantastic album for the culmination of Rush's career.

Ranking of Rush Albums (adding as more albums are reviewed):

1. Presto
2. Moving Pictures
3. Roll the Bones
4. Clockwork Angels
5. 2112
6. Permanent Waves
7. Fly By Night
8. Rush
9. A Farewell to Kings
10. Hemispheres
11. Snakes & Arrows
12. Hold Your Fire
13. Power Windows
14. Counterparts
15. Signals
16. Test for Echo
17. Caress of Steel
18. Vapor Trails
19. Grace Under Pressure

Top 10 Rush Songs (adding as more albums are reviewed):

1. "The Pass", Presto
2. "Tom Sawyer", Moving Pictures
3. "Working Man", Rush
4. "Closer to the Heart", A Farewell to Kings
5. "La Villa Strangiato", Hemispheres
6. "Freewill", Permanent Waves
7. "Bravado", Roll the Bones
8. "2112", 2112
9. "Fly By Night", Fly By Night
10. "Caravan", Clockwork Angels

Rush Retrospective: Album 18- Snakes & Arrows

 

Album:  Snakes & Arrows

Year Released:    2007

Lineup:  

• Neil Peart – drums, electronic percussion, tambourine
• Geddy Lee – bass guitar, keyboards, Mellotron, vocals
• Alex Lifeson – 6 and 12-string acoustic and electronic guitars, mandola, mandolin, bouzouki

Overall Thoughts:

After Vapor Trails, Rush released a Live Album (Rush in Rio), and EP album of covers (Feedback), a DVD celebrating their 30 year anniversay (R30), and a repackage of their Retrospective albums (Gold) before going back for their 18th Studio album, Snakes & Arrows.

The group wanted to perform more simple and direct songs, similar to the covers they performed on Feedback.  At the same time, Neil Peart was writing lyrics talking about faith and religion ("Armor & Sword") and fate ("The Larger Bowl").  It's very difficult to come up with an original point about questioning faith & religion in 2007.  There are some lyrics that stand out, like the chorus from "Faithless":

I don't have faith in faith

I don't believe in belief

You can call me faithless

But I still cling to hope

And I believe in love

And that's faith enough for me

The highlight among the song with lyrics is "Bravest Face", which is a song about trying to keep optimism when there is so much darkness around us:

In the sweetest child there's a vicious streak

In the strongest man there's a child so weak

In the whole wide world there's no magic place

So you might as well rise, put on your bravest face

As Snakes & Arrows progresses, the songs get more optimistic, or at least more resolved, ending with "We Hold On".  

There are three instrumentals on the album ("The Main Monkey Business", "Hope", "Malignant Narcissism"), and they are fantastic.  Musically, Snakes & Arrows is outstanding.  

This is a good album that lacks a centerpiece song to turn it into a great album.  

Ranking of Rush Albums (adding as more albums are reviewed):

1. Presto
2. Moving Pictures
3. Roll the Bones
4. 2112
5. Permanent Waves
6. Fly By Night
7. Rush
8. A Farewell to Kings
9. Hemispheres
10. Snakes & Arrows
11. Hold Your Fire
12. Power Windows
13. Counterparts
14. Signals
15. Test for Echo
16. Caress of Steel
17. Vapor Trails
18. Grace Under Pressure

Top 10 Rush Songs (adding as more albums are reviewed):

1. "The Pass", Presto
2. "Tom Sawyer", Moving Pictures
3. "Working Man", Rush
4. "Closer to the Heart", A Farewell to Kings
5. "La Villa Strangiato", Hemispheres
6. "Freewill", Permanent Waves
7. "Bravado", Roll the Bones
8. "2112", 2112
9. "Fly By Night", Fly By Night
10. "Show Don't Tell", Presto

Rush Retrospective: Album 17- Vapor Trails

 

Album:  Vapor Trails

Year Released:    2002

Lineup:  

• Geddy Lee – bass guitar, vocals
• Alex Lifeson – electric and acoustic guitars, mandola
• Neil Peart – drums, cymbals

Overall Thoughts:

After the tour for Test for Echo, tragedy stuck drummer Neil Peart, with the deaths of his daughter (car accident) and wife (cancer).  The band took a hiatus during this time, considering themselves retired as a band.  It wasn't until five years later they were able to heal enough to start working on a new album together.  

The hiatus is noticeable.  The skill is still there- the playing is outstanding.  The music has a 'back to basics' flair to it- no keyboards at all, and the music is played at a frentic pace.  

The skill is there, but the art is off.  None of the musical hooks stay with you- they are well played but you don't fall in love with them.  Same with the lyrics; well-written but nothing memorable.  Nothing is bad but there is nothing here that I fell in love it.  That's probably unfair, given the circumstances.  Just to hear them recording is a good thing.  

The band did not like the original album, thinking the mix was causing it to sound too distorted.  A remixed album was released in 2013, and the band believed the songs sounded better in the remixed version.  It does sound better (to my own ears; to be fair, I'm half-deaf and likely to miss the nuances)

Rush climbed back into the studio after five terrible years.  Vapor Trails was the result; not their best album, but a first step back.  

Ranking of Rush Albums (adding as more albums are reviewed):

1. Presto
2. Moving Pictures
3. Roll the Bones
4. 2112
5. Permanent Waves
6. Fly By Night
7. Rush
8. A Farewell to Kings
9. Hemispheres
10. Hold Your Fire
11. Power Windows
12. Counterparts
13. Signals
14. Test for Echo
15. Caress of Steel
16. Vapor Trails
17. Grace Under Pressure

Top 10 Rush Songs (adding as more albums are reviewed):

1. "The Pass", Presto
2. "Tom Sawyer", Moving Pictures
3. "Working Man", Rush
4. "Closer to the Heart", A Farewell to Kings
5. "La Villa Strangiato", Hemispheres
6. "Freewill", Permanent Waves
7. "Bravado", Roll the Bones
8. "2112", 2112
9. "Fly By Night", Fly By Night
10. "Show Don't Tell", Presto