Vicious

Guess NA Rush fans are too spoiled by the band playing there frequently than in Europe, where they tour once every few years. Can't imagine european fans being picky about the setlist. Tai Shan? Speed of Love? Ghost of a Chance? Bring'em on!

I'm in the company of rushgoobers that love CP and loathe VT, don't shoot me :X The way the discussion has turned into SoL bashaton is hilarious though, keep'em coming :D

Loved the show although the mix was a bit muddled. Geddy was in top singing form. The strain of touring had probably begun to tell on poor Neil. The string section was kinda okay I guess, but I would rather not hear/see them on the next tour :) Looking forward to seeing the band again!

I find this section of recent Bob Ezerin interview somewhat relevant:

Well, it's just strumming?.. How can anyone dig THAT? :P

Have to agree with this. Same But.. but.. there is minimal guitar layering on CA, and Alex solos more than 3 notes. Holy crap people, wake up! Stop referring to your VT/S&A complaint note cards when complaining about CA You call that minimal? :o There's like 2-3 guitars in each song in almost every section. Well if you've come down from 1,000 to 2, then we're on the same page :cheers: Here's what Alex said: I think the approach was a lot simpler with Clockwork Angels. We really made an effort to write Snakes & Arrows acoustically and when it came to recording, I missed those acoustics. So, we blended them in and consequently there's a density to that record that in retrospect I would have preferred to have thinned out. When we started working on this record, right from the get-go the idea was to make it more three-piece in order to make it a clearer-sounding record. So, for the most part, I might have double-tracked guitars and only on a few songs did I layer them up. "BU2B" has 100 guitars overdubbed on it, just playing the same thing to make it super heavy, but generally it's pretty much double-tracked guitar left and right. It was really refreshing to approach it that way. That's the way we used to record: two tracks of guitar and no rhythm guitar in the solo sections. Consequently, it's made reproducing them live simpler in some ways and also more satisfying in the context of having just one guitar player. So... We've settled on the range of 2 to 100 :D

I wasn't trying to say that "track X from CA sounds like track Y from VT", rather that all tracks from CA are pretty much interchangable with tracks from two previous albums. And for "The Wreckers" lovers here's a 30 secs clip of its main "riff" repeatead. God only knows how much I loathe this kind of "riffs" that've been plaguing Rush albums starting with VT.

Have to agree with this. Same But.. but.. there is minimal guitar layering on CA, and Alex solos more than 3 notes. Holy crap people, wake up! Stop referring to your VT/S&A complaint note cards when complaining about CA You call that minimal? :o There's like 2-3 guitars in each song in almost every section.

You are a little hard on your criticism of CA. Some songs are really better than any of VP's songs. Yes, there is some similarity in the sound, which is normal, and you don't like Alex's solo during "the Garden"?? The solo in "The Garden" is kinda ok and one of the reasons why I think that this particular song is of better ones on the record. But it still leaves me unsatisfied for some reason. Could be the mix or the fact that the song too long by 3 minutes to make the solo stand out.

I remember when S&A came out it was pretty much universally loved on TRF, but it wasn't long before the backlash showed up and people started throwing the album under the bus. I honestly didn't think that would happen with CA since it's such a great Rush album, and I thought pretty bulletproof, but I guess not. Too bad some people can't enjoy it. I doubt a better album exists by a band 38 years after their debut. The most recent album by Deep Purple is no less excellent by any means and much better sonically. And it was produced by canadian.. Perhaps Rush should get Bob Ezrin to produce their next record? :P

My biggest complaint about CA is that it is essentially VP part2. Look, before it took the band two albums and 3-5 years to completely reivent themselves. It was like 10 years since VP when CA came out and it sounded exactly like the VP/S&A pair: overdubbed guitar strumming, copy&paste sections, programmed vocal harmonies, lack of solos. VP, S&A and CA amount to more than 3 hours of material and we only got 1(!) proper solo from Alex in Headlong Flight which lasts like 10 seconds. I hate to say this but the band has become predictably boring.

I kinda like the "Don’t even pause and ask them why Turn around and say goodbye" bit in WTW, sounds like something off T4E (The Color of Right anyone?) But ye, The Anarchist, Carnies and The Wreckers are the worst offenders on the album.

Gave the album more listens. 1 classic (Headlong flight), 2 good songs (Wish them well, The garden), the rest sounds like Led zeppelin/The who tributes. Fed up with Alex's current approach to guitar playing (1k layers of guitars, strumming all along + "I can't be arsed to play more than 3 notes" solos) and production. Passable effort.

:Neil: Hey Ged! Isn't this the guys who hates Clockwork Angels? :geddy: Sure is neil...I guess he wants a heeping helping of Tai Shain tonight eh? Tai Shan :haz:

Helsinki, here I come...