Big Ears
Music Lover
Clockwork Angels by Rush (2012)
Rush turn back the clock, but only so far
I first became aware of Rush when Finding My Way (the opening track of their first S/T album) was played on The Old Grey Whistle Test's new year's eve compilation show in the mid seventies. In those days, Rush were very Led Zeppelinesque, self-produced and comprised Geddy Lee on lead vocals/bass, guitarist Alex Lifeson and the late John Rutsy on drums. Fly by Night followed in 1975, with production by Terry Brown and Neil Peart replacing Rutsy on drums as well as writing the lyrics. By-Tor and the Snow Dog was a lengthy epic which, along with Bastille Day on the third album Caress of Steel (1976), pointed the way to the band's magnum opus, 2112 (also 1976) with its complex 20-minute title track (and much less of the Led Zeppelin influence). 2112, while still ranking as Rush's finest achievement, was the first part of a solid trilogy of albums, recorded over three successive years, also consisting of A Farewell to Kings in 1977 and Hemispheres in 1978. It was the middle album of the three which formed my next experience of Rush, as a show from the AFTK tour, at Hammersmith Odeon on 20th February 1978, was broadcast by Tommy Vance on his BBC Radio One Friday Rock Show (it became available in 1998 as the third part of the Different Stages 3x CD collection). Since then, Rush have released the highly rated, but repetitive, Moving Pictures, in 1981, and a string of albums throughout the ninteen-eighties, with shorter, more keyboard-orientated songs. Meanwhile, producers like Peter Collins and Rupert Hine have come and gone.
By the nineteen-nineties, Rush fans had divided into two camps: those who wanted a return to Terry Brown, the long tracks and Alex Lifeson to the fore, and those who felt the band had progressed. A hiatus was broken by a comeback album with a surprising choice of producer, Nick Raskulinecz, who had formerly worked with The Foo Fighters. Disappointingly, Snakes and Arrows (2007) was a dreary and uninteresting collection, but when a follow-up was mooted, Alex Lifeson indicated that the band would like to retain the services of Raskulinecz. In 2010, Caravan and BU2B were released as a download single, albeit well in advance, while stories of a concept album circulated. Clockwork Angels appeared in 2012 with a Hugh Syme album cover showing a clock face with the hands pointing at the hours and minutes in alchemical symbols. If you read the time in the twenty-four hour clock it says 21:12! We are told the concept is the story of a young man's travels through a world in the steampunk genre - a style of fantasy/ sci-fi, developed in the nineteen-ninties, in which steam power is used as part of the setting. Dave Everley in Classic Rock magazine (July 2012) has suggested that Voltaire's Candide (France 1759), an episodic quest for El Dorado, is also an influence.
Caravan, the first single, opens the album, while introducing the concept 'journey', and it has all the Rush elements: Geddy Lee's heavy Rickenbacker bass, Neil Peart's dynamic drumming and Alex Lifeson's restrained guitar. Commerciality comes from Peart's hook, "I can't stop thinking big, I can't stop thinking big", but it is riff-based and there is a slick instrumental taster towards the end (reminiscent of Drama-era Yes). BU2B [brought up to believe] continues the heavy bass riffing and introduces some space-rock keyboards. Peart's lyrics clearly describe an imaginary world of steam-liners and caravans, while Russian right-wing author Ayn Rand's curious work may have an enduring influence with, "Believe in what we're told/ Until our final breath."
By the title track, the first phase of the album is beginning to sound like a Geddy Lee solo work, with his voice, bass and keyboards dominating, this time adding what sounds like a harmonica microphone and phasing. Lifeson's guitar promises much, without cutting loose, and Peart's lyrics draw the landscape while remaining characteristically obtuse. At seven-and-a-half minutes, Clockwork Angels is the longest track on the album and it twists & turns as befits the imagery, "Clockwork angels, spread their arms and sing/ Synchronized and graceful, they move like living things." In contrast, The Anarchist is tight, with strings and more vocal effects, as Lee repeats, "A missing part of me that goes around me like a cage." A strong piece is Carnies, with sound effects, an Eastern feel and a toe-tapping riff. Light and shade is provided by Halo Effect, which has a slow, string-driven Led Zeppelin-feel.
Phase two of the album opens appropriately with the catchy Seven Cities of Gold, carried along with another great riff (again from Yes's Drama-era). Neil Peart's words conjure excellent imagery, "Seven Cities of Gold/ Glowing in my dreams, like hallucinations." His drumming is tasteful and avoids the ubiquitous double kick drum technique. What is more, Alex Lifeson almost solos. The Wreckers (single number three) has a chiming Searchers intro/ motif and is gently melodic. Lifeson plays off the orchestra, but fades! He really is the most frustrating guitarist. Nevertheless, Peart's lyrics are superbly atmospheric as in, "The breakers roar/ On an unseen shore/ In the teeth of a hurricane/ Oh, we struggle in vain." Without hesitation or delay is the dictionary definition of headlong and it fits the Headlong Flight (single number two as a radio edit, but full-length here), which powers into some funky guitar from Lifeson a-la Gypsy Sun and Rainbows, including a Hendrix-style solo. It was a long-time coming! Headlong Fight is choc-full of ideas, but listening to Geddy Lee's yodelling vocals is becoming hard work. A bit more variety and freneticism is needed in his singing.
BU2B2, with Lee accompanied by cello, is quiet, and, at just under a minute-and-a-half, is the shortest track on Clockwork Angels. Lee partly redeems himself by effectively providing both call and response on Wish Them Well. My favourite track on the album is the thoughtful The Garden, which closes the album and reminds me of the melancholic Rain's Embrace from Ukraine. Although I know little about the background, Peart's ever-obscure, but marvellously effective, lyrics are a revelation.
When I first heard Clockwork Angels, it seemed an improvement on Snakes and Arrows, but, besides Geddy Lee, another commanding presence on the album is Nick Raskulinecz's grungy and, dare I say, heavy-handed production, which does not match the complexity and detail of the music. Although I have to admit to warming to the collection of songs and musicianship, there is something missing; namely, more guitar from Alex Lifeson and a bit more anger in Lee's vocals. Clarity and sharpness from the return of Terry Brown or Peter Collins would also be welcome. Clockwork Angels has been played on my laptop and Walkman constantly for the last few weeks, but whether or not it is an album to which I will return, time will tell.
Clock Work Angels Tracklist
1. Caravan (5:40)
2. BU2B (5:10)
3. Clockwork Angels (7:31)
4. The Anarchist (6:52)
5. Carnies (4:52)
6. Halo Effect (3:14)
7. Seven Cities of Gold (6:32)
8. The Wreckers (5:01)
9. Headlong Flight (7:20)
10. BU2B2 (1:28)
11. Wish Them Well (5:25)
12. The Garden (6:59)
Lyrics by Neil Peart
Music by Geddy Lee & Alex Lifeson
Total length: 1:06:04
Rush turn back the clock, but only so far
I first became aware of Rush when Finding My Way (the opening track of their first S/T album) was played on The Old Grey Whistle Test's new year's eve compilation show in the mid seventies. In those days, Rush were very Led Zeppelinesque, self-produced and comprised Geddy Lee on lead vocals/bass, guitarist Alex Lifeson and the late John Rutsy on drums. Fly by Night followed in 1975, with production by Terry Brown and Neil Peart replacing Rutsy on drums as well as writing the lyrics. By-Tor and the Snow Dog was a lengthy epic which, along with Bastille Day on the third album Caress of Steel (1976), pointed the way to the band's magnum opus, 2112 (also 1976) with its complex 20-minute title track (and much less of the Led Zeppelin influence). 2112, while still ranking as Rush's finest achievement, was the first part of a solid trilogy of albums, recorded over three successive years, also consisting of A Farewell to Kings in 1977 and Hemispheres in 1978. It was the middle album of the three which formed my next experience of Rush, as a show from the AFTK tour, at Hammersmith Odeon on 20th February 1978, was broadcast by Tommy Vance on his BBC Radio One Friday Rock Show (it became available in 1998 as the third part of the Different Stages 3x CD collection). Since then, Rush have released the highly rated, but repetitive, Moving Pictures, in 1981, and a string of albums throughout the ninteen-eighties, with shorter, more keyboard-orientated songs. Meanwhile, producers like Peter Collins and Rupert Hine have come and gone.
By the nineteen-nineties, Rush fans had divided into two camps: those who wanted a return to Terry Brown, the long tracks and Alex Lifeson to the fore, and those who felt the band had progressed. A hiatus was broken by a comeback album with a surprising choice of producer, Nick Raskulinecz, who had formerly worked with The Foo Fighters. Disappointingly, Snakes and Arrows (2007) was a dreary and uninteresting collection, but when a follow-up was mooted, Alex Lifeson indicated that the band would like to retain the services of Raskulinecz. In 2010, Caravan and BU2B were released as a download single, albeit well in advance, while stories of a concept album circulated. Clockwork Angels appeared in 2012 with a Hugh Syme album cover showing a clock face with the hands pointing at the hours and minutes in alchemical symbols. If you read the time in the twenty-four hour clock it says 21:12! We are told the concept is the story of a young man's travels through a world in the steampunk genre - a style of fantasy/ sci-fi, developed in the nineteen-ninties, in which steam power is used as part of the setting. Dave Everley in Classic Rock magazine (July 2012) has suggested that Voltaire's Candide (France 1759), an episodic quest for El Dorado, is also an influence.
Caravan, the first single, opens the album, while introducing the concept 'journey', and it has all the Rush elements: Geddy Lee's heavy Rickenbacker bass, Neil Peart's dynamic drumming and Alex Lifeson's restrained guitar. Commerciality comes from Peart's hook, "I can't stop thinking big, I can't stop thinking big", but it is riff-based and there is a slick instrumental taster towards the end (reminiscent of Drama-era Yes). BU2B [brought up to believe] continues the heavy bass riffing and introduces some space-rock keyboards. Peart's lyrics clearly describe an imaginary world of steam-liners and caravans, while Russian right-wing author Ayn Rand's curious work may have an enduring influence with, "Believe in what we're told/ Until our final breath."
By the title track, the first phase of the album is beginning to sound like a Geddy Lee solo work, with his voice, bass and keyboards dominating, this time adding what sounds like a harmonica microphone and phasing. Lifeson's guitar promises much, without cutting loose, and Peart's lyrics draw the landscape while remaining characteristically obtuse. At seven-and-a-half minutes, Clockwork Angels is the longest track on the album and it twists & turns as befits the imagery, "Clockwork angels, spread their arms and sing/ Synchronized and graceful, they move like living things." In contrast, The Anarchist is tight, with strings and more vocal effects, as Lee repeats, "A missing part of me that goes around me like a cage." A strong piece is Carnies, with sound effects, an Eastern feel and a toe-tapping riff. Light and shade is provided by Halo Effect, which has a slow, string-driven Led Zeppelin-feel.
Phase two of the album opens appropriately with the catchy Seven Cities of Gold, carried along with another great riff (again from Yes's Drama-era). Neil Peart's words conjure excellent imagery, "Seven Cities of Gold/ Glowing in my dreams, like hallucinations." His drumming is tasteful and avoids the ubiquitous double kick drum technique. What is more, Alex Lifeson almost solos. The Wreckers (single number three) has a chiming Searchers intro/ motif and is gently melodic. Lifeson plays off the orchestra, but fades! He really is the most frustrating guitarist. Nevertheless, Peart's lyrics are superbly atmospheric as in, "The breakers roar/ On an unseen shore/ In the teeth of a hurricane/ Oh, we struggle in vain." Without hesitation or delay is the dictionary definition of headlong and it fits the Headlong Flight (single number two as a radio edit, but full-length here), which powers into some funky guitar from Lifeson a-la Gypsy Sun and Rainbows, including a Hendrix-style solo. It was a long-time coming! Headlong Fight is choc-full of ideas, but listening to Geddy Lee's yodelling vocals is becoming hard work. A bit more variety and freneticism is needed in his singing.
BU2B2, with Lee accompanied by cello, is quiet, and, at just under a minute-and-a-half, is the shortest track on Clockwork Angels. Lee partly redeems himself by effectively providing both call and response on Wish Them Well. My favourite track on the album is the thoughtful The Garden, which closes the album and reminds me of the melancholic Rain's Embrace from Ukraine. Although I know little about the background, Peart's ever-obscure, but marvellously effective, lyrics are a revelation.
When I first heard Clockwork Angels, it seemed an improvement on Snakes and Arrows, but, besides Geddy Lee, another commanding presence on the album is Nick Raskulinecz's grungy and, dare I say, heavy-handed production, which does not match the complexity and detail of the music. Although I have to admit to warming to the collection of songs and musicianship, there is something missing; namely, more guitar from Alex Lifeson and a bit more anger in Lee's vocals. Clarity and sharpness from the return of Terry Brown or Peter Collins would also be welcome. Clockwork Angels has been played on my laptop and Walkman constantly for the last few weeks, but whether or not it is an album to which I will return, time will tell.
Clock Work Angels Tracklist
1. Caravan (5:40)
2. BU2B (5:10)
3. Clockwork Angels (7:31)
4. The Anarchist (6:52)
5. Carnies (4:52)
6. Halo Effect (3:14)
7. Seven Cities of Gold (6:32)
8. The Wreckers (5:01)
9. Headlong Flight (7:20)
10. BU2B2 (1:28)
11. Wish Them Well (5:25)
12. The Garden (6:59)
Lyrics by Neil Peart
Music by Geddy Lee & Alex Lifeson
Total length: 1:06:04
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