On the
occasion of the long-overdue induction of Rush into the Rock & Roll hall of
Fame, I present my review of their current album “Clockwork Angels”:
“Clockwork Angels” is an ambitious concept album that fires on all cylinders and dramatically
delivers an entertaining emotional story with the surgical precision that Rush
fans have come to expect. The concept
is simple, broad and universal: an idealistic young man takes a literal and
emotional journey. Rather than create
epics songs as they have in the past (2112, Hemispheres), Rush created an epic
album with each song illustrating a high point of the man’s journey. The album’s 12 tracks are the 12 most
important chapters in a story that likely contains 20+ chapters. For those who want to know the complete Clockwork
Angels story, Novelist Kevin J. Anderson, a friend of Neil Peart, will release
a novelization of the album later this year.
Starting with
their 1996 album “Test For Echo”, Neil Peart’s lyrics took a decidedly heavy
turn - more so following the tragic loss of his daughter in 1997 and wife in
1998. The lyrics on 2002’s “Vapor
Trails” and 2007’s “Snakes And Arrows” feel heavy, meandering, detached and in
some cases joyless. Conversely, the
lyrics on “Clockwork Angels” feel fresh, tight and multi-layered. Neil Peart’s drumming on Clockwork Angels is better
than ever thanks to his studies with Freddie Gruber and the direction of album Co-Producer Nick Raskulinecz. Ho-hum: Alex Lifeson’s guitar playing and
Geddy Lee’s Bass playing are as stellar as ever.
The following
is my track-by-track analysis, including songwriter notes that might only
interest a few:
“In a world where I feel so small / I can’t stop thinking big”
One of two
tracks released in June 2010, it sets up the story nicely: In a steampunk
world, a boy watches steamliners rolling by and dreams of leaving his farming
village and making it in the distant city.
Hard-driving and fairly straight-forward with a funky 1:30 instrumental
in the middle, “Caravan” sets up the album perfectly.
This is
technically the first single from the album, released in 2010.
“Blind men in the market / Buying what
we’re sold”
Released with
Caravan in 2010, “BU2B” (Brought Up To Believe) was remixed and a new intro was
added for the album version. BU2B
presents the mindset of the society – life has been pre-planned for everyone by
the loving Watchmaker and you get out of life what you deserve as long as you
blindly conform. A dark slash-and-burn song, the heavy guitars in the verses
contrast with buzzing, dissonant guitar sounds in the chorus.
*Songwriting
Note*: Peart wrote the song as a series of quatrains in which the first line of each quatrain is the 2nd line of the
previous quatrain. Works fine for the
first 2 verses & chorus, but the last 2 verses had to be re-arranged when
the song was completed. Still, it’s an
interesting lyric form.
“You promise every treasure to the
foolish and the wise / Goddesses of mystery, spirits in disguise”
High above
the heart of the city square we see the angels of light, sea, sky and land
assuring the denizens that “everything will turn out for the best”. Clocking in at a trim 7 ½ minutes, the title
track of the album begins with a guitar part that had me thinking of “Cygnus
X-1” and “Hemispheres”. Dissonance in
the vocal melody called back to those songs as well but also added tension to
the narrative.
*Songwriting
Note*: The Bridge of the song is a variation of Proverbs 3:5
from the "Old Testament".
”The lenses inside of me that paint
the world black / The pools of poison, the scarlet mist, that spill over into
rage”
We are
introduced to a new character – a terrorist who blames his life’s failures on
society and plans revenge. The song’s intro knocks you down: thunderous tom-toms,
driving descending guitar riff, funky bass, then the bass melody knocks you
out. The song circles around and inside the
Anarchist’s mind - not to make sense of
his actions but to illustrate commitment and motivation. The guitar solo on this song reminded me of
Alex’s guitars on Grace Under Pressure.
*Songwriting
Note*: The verses carry the same rhyme for 4 lines, the chorus rhymes lines 2,
5 & 6 (a repeater line) also lines 3 & 4 rhyme.
“Sometimes the angels punish us by
answering our prayers”
Our
protagonist is working in a travelling carnival when his path crosses with that
of the Anarchist leading to an unfortunate outcome. The song opens with a heavy, HEAVY guitar
riff evocative of “Working Man” - I wanted more of that riff. There’s a lot of
nice things in this song that I wanted to hear more of – including a cool
jabbing synth riff – that I wonder if this song was originally twice as long to
accommodate all the great parts. A good
song that made me wanting more.
“So shameful to tell / Just how often
I fell / In love with illusions again”
A short
interlude to the narrative as the young man muses on a girl in the carnival he
fell for who reeled him in only to ultimately reject him. Musically this song is a bit of a pallet
cleanser – a short, light ballad detailing yet another instance where the young
man’s perception is proven terribly wrong.
*Songwriting
Note*: There is no rhyming scheme and there is no chorus - a musical interlude
serves as a bridge. The changing refrain
“What did I ___? / Fool that I was”
at the start of each verse serves to tie everything together.
“A man can lose himself in a country
like this”
Our
protagonist hears the legend of the seven cities of gold that lie past the
desert. Enduring a parched desert and
snow-covered mountains, Cibola always seems
out of reach. The songs starts out with
a very funky bass riff and has an atmospheric guitar solo in the middle.
*Songwriting
Note*: The chorus rhyming scheme effectively uses the suffix “-ation” The second half of lines 1 & 3 of each
verse repeat the same line, while lines 2 & 4 rhyme both halves of each
line (4 rhymes total) with relevant imagery of the journey. Simple & effective.
“All I know is that sometimes you have
to be wary / Of a miracle too good to be true”
Our
protagonist is on a sailing vessel that is distressed during a storm, when the
boat steers toward what appears to be a safe harbor. As the ship breaks apart on jagged reefs and
is plundered by locals, our protagonist is the sole survivor. This is the 3rd single from the album.
The music for
this song came about when Geddy was fooling around with one of Alex’s guitars
that had been set to “Nashville tuning”.
After Geddy wrote the chorus and verse chords, Alex grabbed a bass and
wrote the bass part.
*Songwriting
Note*: Nashville tuning is replacing the 4 low strings (E A D G) on a 6-string
guitar with lighter gauge strings set an octave higher than usual. This is usually done by taking the higher
strings from a 12-string set.
“Some days were dark / I wish that I
could live it all again”
Our
protagonist reflects back on his adventures, and despite enduring some tough
times, he wishes he could do it all over for the fun of it. This is the 2nd single from the album.
This is the
song that “old Rush” fans would enjoy the most.
It’s a non-stop out-of-control jam.
The lyric “I wish that I could live it all again” came from Neil’s drum
teacher and friend Freddie Gruber who passed away in 2011. The drum work on this song is insane!
“Belief has failed me now / Life goes
from bad to worse”
A dark cloud
is over our protagonist as he reflects back on his adventures again and this
time he feels despair that things are not all that great living outside the
orderly universe of the Watchmaker, but he makes the best of what he has left. This is a very short, story-filler song.
*Songwriting
Note*: Like BU2B, this song is a series of quatrains.
“Thank your stars you're not that way
/ Turn your back and walk away”
Rather than
try to change or waste energy on people who are bitter and vengeful toward him,
our protagonist decides to just walk away and let them go without even asking
for an explanation.
The lyrics
apparently sprang from Neil Peart’s own experiences with people once considered
friends. It’s a good hard-driving song,
but the message in the lyrics carry the song.
“The measure of a life is a measure of
love and respect / So hard to earn, so easily burned”
Sentimental
and heartfelt, this is a song about reflection and the meaning of life
itself. The final song on the album is
possibly the best song on the album.
Starts out with shimmering keyboards and strings, with acoustic guitar
entering as the verse starts. The drums do
not enter until after the chorus – it’s a great build to the highly emotional
song. Say what you will about the tone
of Geddy’s voice, but he nails this song perfectly. Alex’s solo for this song is amazing! Awesome, awesome song.
For all those
“Old Rush” Rush fans – THIS is an album to check out.
You might actually like it.
While a 6-song / 35 minute album these days would be considered an EP, keep in mind this album followed up the 4-song Hemispheres!
While a 6-song / 35 minute album these days would be considered an EP, keep in mind this album followed up the 4-song Hemispheres!
