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...

Gave the album another listen. I think I have finally pinpointed what associations it brings to my mind. It's like The Who on steroids with modern production. Blocky Gibson guitar chords, subdued soloing (remember Pete Townsend has never been a good soloist), "in your face" bass-heavy mix and crazy drumming to complete the power trio sound. I do like The Who but let's face it: the material on S&A and CA doesn't quit hit the heights of Pete's genius as a composer..

Hey man since you posted that...thought I'd give you this link...it has most all of the reviews I could find on the internet...tons of them...great commentary to by the forumhttp://www.therushfo...-review-thread/ Thanks, man!

Stumbled upon this fare review of the album, quite agree with most of what the author writes there http://cokemachineglow.com/records/rush-clockworkangels-2012/

Now what's so special about Halo Effect? Sounds like a MFH throwaway with guest appearance by Alex on the mandolin. The Wreckers intro sounds like a jingle/theme song for vacuum cleaner commerical or smth.. Followed by a S&A throwaway.

Actually, RS gave the album a more positive review :D The biggest problem with this record is that songs are indistinguishable from another aside from the first two songs and Headlong Flight. Take, for example, La Villa Strangiato. It's 10 a minutes long instrumental but has multiple distinctive themes, memorable moments, melodies and even hooks. And it doesn't need 5 layers of guitars all maxed out to sound grandiose. Nothing on CA even approaches the quality of songwriting on that one. Dunno how can anyone call this album a classic.. It's dreadful.

Just gave the album another spin. Second listen impressions: a) the production still sucks b) the arrangements suck, which leads us to p c): c) the album is waaay too long d) too much vocals and pointless guitar strumming, gimme some proper rock music damnit! Overall I think, starting with VP, Rush have dropped european prog rock influences completely, the album has a very american vibe to it. On the other hand, the Lee/Lifeson duo has grown totally impotent in the songwriting department and even the pseudo-sophisticated arrangements and the "wall of Nickelback sound" production can't help. 2/5 it is with bonus half point for the band's past glory. 2.5/5 overall.

Ain't got a car or a boombox, so I can't dispute that claim. However, the album sounds really awful on my above average stereo, absolutely horrendous. Throughout the first listen I needed to keep adjusting the volume to prevent my ears from bleeding, this is how bad it was. Unnecessarily overlong songs didn't help the situation either. Sorry to say this folks but in my personal opinion this album is garbage both musically and sonically. On the other hand, I wasn't expecting that much from them considering how consistently bad the band studio output has been ever since VP, so...

back away from the crack pipe....get some help from a support group or something. You're obviously on a dark and twisted road:) Well, please elaborate why I should fall in love with CA :x This album is imo a culmination of all things I dislike about Rush albums starting with VP: 1) muddy clipped production and mastering 2) pointless "wall of sound" guitar strumming 3) layered vocals I'll just stick to their pre-VP repertoire and live shows where they still excel.

Finally gave the album a listen, a year after the release.. The production sucks again, very few proper guitar solos again either, 60 minutes of non-stop harmonized vocals and guitar strumming. Vapor Trails pt2. Meh. EDIT: andye, one can correctly guess that I'm not as excited about the band nowadays compared to older times. Still gonna see them in June though!

QUOTE (Gedneil Alpeart @ Apr 19 2012, 07:39 PM) QUOTE (Vicious @ Apr 19 2012, 11:24 AM) Please let me summarize my first impressions on the single. My Favorite Headache mixed with Vapor Trails. Boring. Autotuned vocal harmonies. Eeek! Instrumentation. Repetitive and excessive. The song doesn't deserve to be 7.5 minutes long. Unfortunately, after 1997, things will never be as good as they used to be for this band music-wise.. Feeling deeply depressed right now. Rush is like a train that keeps moving forward. You can stay on or get off. It won't matter to them, cause they got a huge passenger load who will stay with them no matter what. And even if everyone gets off, they will still be happy as long as their music satisfies them. As long as Rush keeps doing things that please them, that's what matters to them. Pleasing us is secondary. But, you have a right to grieve what you miss about Rush in the past that they are not concentrating on as much today or what they have added that you don't like. Every Rush fan's opinions matter. Every Rush fan has a right to express those opinions, good or bad. Hopefully there will be other songs on CA you will like. Rush aint lookin back...only lookin ahead, even though Neil says he wishes he could live it again. I appreciate the band moving forward, however I see the band stuck on Vapor Trails kind of sound and vibe. I mean, c'mon, the album came out 11 years ago, time to move on. Don't want post-rock guitar mess and autotuned harmonies no more.