Vapor Trails vs Snakes & Arrows vs Clockwork Angels

[goose]

Despite the utterly disappointing One Little Victory, the rest of the album is gold, especially with the remix.

How is One Little Victory disappointing?

 

I can’t stand it. The lyrics are so awkward - and I don’t like arrangement either.

Geddy's falsetto yodel is awful and unnecessary. I wish he would have stayed in the lower register and song it straight.

[condemned2bfree]

Laughedatbytime nailed why I don't like Snakes aside from Far Cry and maybe Malignant Narc

Its not just the uncreative mid tempo songs that are missing Rush's signature goofy time signatures and "I wasn't expecting THAT..." twists and turns their classic material have. It was that combined with yet another album of Neil's lyrics which came across as bitter anti-religious 'The world is scary and people are mean' rants. Of which we already got with Vapor Trails previously. Only this time set to boring folk meets mid tempo rock music. At least VT had energy and passion. Lots of it. Snakes is the worst thing you can accuse a rock album of which is being boring and instantly forgettable.I hate Speed Of Love but I remember how it goes. Songs like Bravest Face /Faithless/Good News First I still can't really recall how they go even 13 years on because they're all so bland and uninteresting

 

Totally agree. Snakes and Arrows comes across as a self righteous preach fest in parts. With plodding songs. Sure the production is the best of the three, but it's subject matter is ironic considering the stance the lyrics generally take. Apart from a few tracks, I find it very hard to listen to.

 

Vapor trails wears it's heart on it's sleeve. However its derided and hated it cannot be denied, that its the most earnest, heartfelt and emotional of all the Rush albums. Great identifiable lyrics for me. Reflecting that time well; mixing anomalies etc. The songs stand up IMO for that reason. Added to the fact they're exciting uptempo rocking out.

 

Clockwork Angels is the most cohesive of the three. Great album. Wished the production was more like Snakes and Arrows. Perfect ending to their career, amazing they still achieved this after all they've accomplished.

[Derek19]

Between, and out of these three, my favorite has been .

 

To go out on, it's an appropriate one. I still prefer Vapor Trails (Remixed) more, than the original one including listening, too.

Edited August 4, 2020 by Derek19

[_hi_water._]

Laughedatbytime nailed why I don't like Snakes aside from Far Cry and maybe Malignant Narc

Its not just the uncreative mid tempo songs that are missing Rush's signature goofy time signatures and "I wasn't expecting THAT..." twists and turns their classic material have. It was that combined with yet another album of Neil's lyrics which came across as bitter anti-religious 'The world is scary and people are mean' rants. Of which we already got with Vapor Trails previously. Only this time set to boring folk meets mid tempo rock music. At least VT had energy and passion. Lots of it. Snakes is the worst thing you can accuse a rock album of which is being boring and instantly forgettable.I hate Speed Of Love but I remember how it goes. Songs like Bravest Face /Faithless/Good News First I still can't really recall how they go even 13 years on because they're all so bland and uninteresting

 

Totally agree. Snakes and Arrows comes across as a self righteous preach fest in parts. With plodding songs. Sure the production is the best of the three, but it's subject matter is ironic considering the stance the lyrics generally take. Apart from a few tracks, I find it very hard to listen to.

 

Vapor trails wears it's heart on it's sleeve. However its derided and hated it cannot be denied, that its the most earnest, heartfelt and emotional of all the Rush albums. Great identifiable lyrics for me. Reflecting that time well; mixing anomalies etc. The songs stand up IMO for that reason. Added to the fact they're exciting uptempo rocking out.

 

Clockwork Angels is the most cohesive of the three. Great album. Wished the production was more like Snakes and Arrows. Perfect ending to their career, amazing they still achieved this after all they've accomplished.

Clockwork Angels > Vapor Trails > Snakes & Arrows

[jnoble]

I attempted again today while on a long drive to take another crack at the dense mass that is Clockwork.

And got the same results:It's just unlistenable. Its my least favorite Rush album. Its a sonic brick wall I run headfirst into and bounce off of every single time with a concussion.

Complicated to explain but here goes...

 

The songs:

Geddy & Alex came up with some good to great riffs and parts. They always did. The intros are exciting. But the songs come across like they awkwardly duct taped together all those riffs and parts and jams into tunes that don't really go anywhere which is why I find my attention starting to wonder by the 3 minute mark and my finger jabbing the skip button by the 4 minute mark. They just chug on and on. And on. Chorus? Bridge? Verse? Hook? Not many to be found. What did I just listen to, I'm having a hard time remembering it.

 

The lyrics:

Simply put, Neil handed Al & Ged words that were almost impossible to compose a great song around let alone sing. Snakes had the same issue. Lyrics that just blabber on and on with no resolve or flow.

He basically warmed over a mashup of The Fountain Of Lamneth,2112,parts of Hemispheres and Red Barchetta. One lone idealistic protagonist verses a monolithic statist society. Been there, done that. Only better before.

 

The mix:

If I didn't think much of Nick R from his Snakes wall of dense layered sound production, the travesty of what he oversaw with CA didn't help his cause. Nick sure does love layers upon layers of instruments in a thick soup of sound. How the band was OK with this is beyond me. Its not much better than original Vapor Trails and I could at least hear Lee's vocals on that one. Here he's lost in the mix and I can't even make out 90% of the words. Is he even singing in English? What's with that part in the middle of the title track where he sounds like he's singing over a speaker phone?

This is where the album fails the most...How can I grasp the story line if I can't make out hardly any of the lyrics?

 

Editing: At least three songs could've been taken out and not effected the storyline. BU2B2, Halo Effect, Wish Them Well (which starts off sounding just like Green Day's Do You Know Your Enemy)

Also, why is Clockwork Angels not the first song on the record instead of Caravan?

 

So for sheer ambition, I'll give them a B+

But for final results a D. This is one seriously flawed record.

Sorry if any of this offends you guys. I think its great so many fans seemed to love this album and so did the band themselves but I just can't get into it.