laughedatbytime Posted July 8, 2012 Share Posted July 8, 2012 Also, please list your favorite, if not CA. After listening to it while mowing the lawn today, I'm rating it #1, just ahead of previous favorite PeW and previously close second MP. Wish Them Well, The Garden, and The Anarchist are sublime lyrically. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nate2112 Posted July 8, 2012 Share Posted July 8, 2012 Actually this album, I think, isnt as great as some of the lyrics on Power Windows Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jomboni Posted July 8, 2012 Share Posted July 8, 2012 Above Average. I can't pick a single favorite album though, basically Permanent Waves through Power Windows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyclonus X-1 Posted July 8, 2012 Share Posted July 8, 2012 I'll say #1. There have been songs over the years that made immediate positive (Limelight) or negative (Half the World) impressions on me with their lyrics, but for the most part, lyrics don't matter a great deal to me and it takes some time before I really pay much attention to them (if I ever do at all). But a number of songs on CA impressed me lyrically right off the bat (The Anarchist, Carnies, Wish Them Well, Caravan, etc.) and some (especially Halo Effect) actually rise to another level thanks to the words Neil penned for them. It also helps that there are very few clunky moments (I don't like every passage of Headlong Flight). In the end, CA is right up there with my other lyrical favorites (PeW, MP, Signals) and probably beats them out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Vigilante Posted July 8, 2012 Share Posted July 8, 2012 Power Windows Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mika Posted July 8, 2012 Share Posted July 8, 2012 Definitely one of Neil's best, for me. Although I must disclaim that I don't yet know all the lyrics, as I haven't sat down with the cd booklet yet, but there are quite a few lyrical moments that have given me shivers and pause to think. I think the cohesion of the album (being an album-long story) helps elevate the lyrics, too - they flow, yet each song stands alone, as well (well, except for BU2B2 - not so much a stand-alone kind of song! ). "The missing part of me that grows around me like a cage" "All I know is that sometimes the truth is contrary, everything in life you thought you knew" "Thank your stars you're not that way, turn your back and walk away. Don't even pause and ask them why, turn around and say goodbye" "In the fullness of time, a garden to nuture and protect" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GUP1771 Posted July 8, 2012 Share Posted July 8, 2012 I think Top 5 is definitely a possibility, but he's definitely written stuff in the past that has had more of an impact on me, or at least grabbed me quicker. In no order, but I feel the following albums overall are in the top 5: - Moving Pictures - Power Windows - Hold Your Fire - Presto - Clockwork Angels With that said, if we look at songs themselves, some aren't even on those 5 albums. Regardless, Neil did some great work on Clockwork Angels! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrightAntennae Posted July 8, 2012 Share Posted July 8, 2012 PW was great lyrically. So was Presto IMO. I'd say CA is not in my Top 5. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Good,bad,andrush Posted July 8, 2012 Share Posted July 8, 2012 Probably Permanent Waves or Hemispheres are the best, followed by A Farewell to Kings, Moving Pictures, Power Windows, and Hold Your Fire. CA is probably above average, but this changes often. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godot Posted July 8, 2012 Share Posted July 8, 2012 I think Rush's first album (Rush) were Peart's best lyrics Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pedro2112 Posted July 9, 2012 Share Posted July 9, 2012 ummm.. where is the "average" choice? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NYM86 Posted July 9, 2012 Share Posted July 9, 2012 (edited) I'm not quite blown away by the lyrics. A lot of it is just fanciful descriptions of some fictional story that I can't really relate to. I like it better when he touches on themes of the world we live in today and makes brilliant observations about the good and bad natures of people, the trials and tribulations we go through in trying to live and love and find ourselves, etc. Also, I really don't even think he was trying on Headlong Flight. Edited July 9, 2012 by NYM86 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laughedatbytime Posted July 9, 2012 Author Share Posted July 9, 2012 QUOTE (pedro2112 @ Jul 8 2012, 07:33 PM) ummm.. where is the "average" choice? Since there are 18 studio albums with Peart lyrics, it either has to be in the top 9 (above average) or in the bottom 9 (below average) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColdFireYYZ Posted July 9, 2012 Share Posted July 9, 2012 Above average. I think his best album for lyrics was either Moving Pictures or Power Windows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pedro2112 Posted July 9, 2012 Share Posted July 9, 2012 QUOTE (laughedatbytime @ Jul 8 2012, 08:10 PM) QUOTE (pedro2112 @ Jul 8 2012, 07:33 PM) ummm.. where is the "average" choice? Since there are 18 studio albums with Peart lyrics, it either has to be in the top 9 (above average) or in the bottom 9 (below average) No... you are asking about averages, not the median! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HowItIs Posted July 9, 2012 Share Posted July 9, 2012 Definitely in the top 5. I've been writing a piece about the album and its literary influences and these lyrics are simply brilliant. Though I'm not sure it's fair to judge them - being a complete story as they are - against album lyrics that are not, or only thematically are, related. Simply brilliant! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
New World Kid Posted July 9, 2012 Share Posted July 9, 2012 (edited) Below average. Vapor Trails and Hold Your Fire, lyrically, speak to me much more. There are very few epiphany moments lyrically here. I usually have a few of those moments for every Rush album after 1978, but on this one, outside of The Garden, I'm not getting floored with anything. There isn't anything on Clockwork Angels that hits the same levels as the best of most other albums. Edited July 9, 2012 by New World Kid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goose Posted July 9, 2012 Share Posted July 9, 2012 QUOTE (laughedatbytime @ Jul 8 2012, 09:10 PM) QUOTE (pedro2112 @ Jul 8 2012, 07:33 PM) ummm.. where is the "average" choice? Since there are 18 studio albums with Peart lyrics, it either has to be in the top 9 (above average) or in the bottom 9 (below average) Or the middle six? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goose Posted July 9, 2012 Share Posted July 9, 2012 QUOTE (pedro2112 @ Jul 8 2012, 10:52 PM) QUOTE (laughedatbytime @ Jul 8 2012, 08:10 PM) QUOTE (pedro2112 @ Jul 8 2012, 07:33 PM) ummm.. where is the "average" choice? Since there are 18 studio albums with Peart lyrics, it either has to be in the top 9 (above average) or in the bottom 9 (below average) No... you are asking about averages, not the median! And I would classify these lyrics, as a totality, as typical, average Neil. Some lyrical gems (Clockwork angels, spread their arms and sing Synchronized and graceful, they move like living things Goddesses of Light, of Sea and Sky and Land Clockwork angels, the people raise their hands - As if to fly) and some not so clever and pretty pedestrian (It is what it is, and whatever ). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spock Posted July 9, 2012 Share Posted July 9, 2012 I put it in the top 5. I have to give Neil credit for pulling off quite a task: an entire (long) album of songs that tell a story, but aren't over-connected, but keep me interested all along the way, but don't give too much of the story away (I'll be buying the book to see what REALLY happened)... The Anarchist is kinda interesting because we get a lot of insights into the motivation and his resentments, but not so much about what he's trying to accomplish in the story and how he relates to the Watchmaker or to Owen. I love the lyrics to The Wreckers. I can always see that play out in my mind. I guess I feel like I've just watched a really great movie trailer for a book - got just enough to make me want to buy the popcorn and start on Page 1. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Presto-digitation Posted July 9, 2012 Share Posted July 9, 2012 (edited) I think CA's lyrics are above average, but there are some cliche notions here. I like the story a lot and far more than the whole Cygnus X-1 stuff (by a lot)...but not quite as well as an album like Signals (especially), which I think is some of his BEST stuff ever, along with Grace Under Pressure and Power Windows. Edited July 9, 2012 by Presto-digitation Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Todem Posted July 9, 2012 Share Posted July 9, 2012 Above Average. I can not pick a favorite but I can tell you my favorite lyrical period is Waves-Hold Your Fire and this may be my favorite lyrical output as a whole since Hold Your Fire and of course I know for me this is their best album since Hold Your Fire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Presto-digitation Posted July 9, 2012 Share Posted July 9, 2012 (edited) QUOTE (Todem @ Jul 9 2012, 09:16 AM) Above Average. I can not pick a favorite but I can tell you my favorite lyrical period is Waves-Hold Your Fire and this may be my favorite lyrical output as a whole since Hold Your Fire and of course I know for me this is their best album since Hold Your Fire. I'd agree with that...(his best lyrical period and also best since HYF). Most definitely. Edited July 9, 2012 by Presto-digitation Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeddyRulz Posted July 9, 2012 Share Posted July 9, 2012 (edited) QUOTE (laughedatbytime @ Jul 8 2012, 11:26 AM) Also, please list your favorite, if not CA. After listening to it while mowing the lawn today, I'm rating it #1, just ahead of previous favorite PeW and previously close second MP. Wish Them Well, The Garden, and The Anarchist are sublime lyrically. I definitely like your three picks: Wish Them Well, Garden, and Anarchist. Toss in The Wreckers and maybe the title track, and you have a collection of some pretty good Rush lyrics/songs. But lyrically, I don't think CA matches up to the lyrics of PeW, MP, or HYF, to name three albums off the top of my head. I went with "above average." Edited July 9, 2012 by GeddyRulz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PennSt8r Posted July 9, 2012 Share Posted July 9, 2012 I said above average because of how the songs are inter-twined. Power Windows and Hold Your Fire are tops for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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