Rush: Clockwork angels gets worse with each listen.

This +10000... on the newer material he sings within his abilities and sounds just fine, but when they do the older stuff live it's just painful to listen to. I caught the most recent live show on Palladia about two weeks ago, and the vocals on the older songs were just brutal... the way he's using only his upper chest and nasal portions of his voice to allow him to hit those notes sounds bloody awful. They need to just stop playing that stuff, seriously.

And Neil has just become boring. Sorry, but IMO it's the truth. He went from one of the most dynamic, inventive rock drummers to just... blah.

I adore Rush... up to a point. (IMO the last truly solid start-to-finish album they put out was Grace Under Pressure, although I like moments from albums after that). And I feel no compelling need to keep up with them if I don't like what they're churning out.

 

I really wanted to like it, but like Snakes & Arrows, the intent was there, the performances were there...they just forgot to write good melodies.

 

I'm a drummer. I know I'm not as fast as 30 years ago, but I feel I'm a better drummer as far as knowing what to play, how to play it, and also what not to play

 

There is a novel that goes along with the Clockwork Angels album. Perhaps this limited them to some extant to keep with the book.

 

Must disagree ... especially on Alien Shore and Between Sun And Moon.

 

Agreed. I think the weakest track on Counterparts is The Speed Of Love. I love the rest.

 

Part of my problem with Neil's playing the last couple of albums especially is that any cool parts he ended up playing, they were not his idea. They were the idea of Nick Raskulinecz. The big fill during the solo in Caravan - Nick's idea. The cool verse parts in The Way The Wind Blows - Nick's idea. If you look at some of the pics from the recording of the Clockwork Angels album, you can see Neil being coached and guided by Nick.

 

Geddy's voice is a shadow of its former shriek. It's hard to listen to him as a background ambiance.

 

Whoever mentioned the double RL of PoW is absolutely right... Far from my favorite album, but that thing's a corker.

For all the talk of lack of melody... Presto was extremely melodic. I happen to love it, but its mixed reputation with the fan base should tell you that melody isn't always top priority for Rush diehards.

I like CA more than CP. To each his own. Also thought S&A was a return to form after many disappointing years. I think Nick R definitely pushes them, which is good... Although I could do without his wall-of-sound approach to mixing.

 

Mastering issues aside, I still love the album!

 

Perhaps so. Melody really draws me in, which is probably why I'm often times standing by myself praising Presto.

 

I love Presto because it is more of a songwriter album for Rush... same with Roll The Bones. I know a lot of Rush fans aren't looking for that kind of thing, but it was right up my alley and a refreshing change.

But then again, I'm one of those people who loves all their albums....

 

Presto came at the perfect time for me. I'd discovered Rush a few years back, and while I liked HYF and ASOH alright (more so than now), I really fell headlong into the classic material... 2112 through GUP. Presto was my first "new" Rush album and I played it constantly that year... Mixing issues weren't a concern at all. (I was playing it in the tape deck of my crappy station wagon!!) That tour was also my first live show. (Still my favorite along with the first shows after Neil's return--where they busted out "Natural Science"--and the great TM shows where they did MP front to back.)

Of all the records in their back catalog, I'd love to see that one get the deluxe treatment... Remixed and remastered, ideally on vinyl and/or 5.1 BluRay. Similar to the great Aqualung 2011 set. I know it will never happen, but anyway...

 

Very cool example of how people hear different things in music. One of the things that makes it so great.

Presto is on the lower scale of Rush albums for me for the exact opposite reason - I just don't hear enough melody on that album. Or maybe it is no melodies that I actually like. None of the songs do much for me.

 

IMO that's the thing you have to respect about Rush. They try a lot of different things. Some work for some, some work for others. I love that there are different albums for different moods.

 

I think that if Presto had a better mix and mastering job it would be noticed a bit more. Same with RTB, both sound kind of tinny and very high-end oriented. There are some quality songs on those albums though, I don't know if I would say they are anywhere near Rush's best but even the lower tier Rush albums are really, really good!

 

I think that's why they have been revisiting a lot of those mid period songs live, to give them a beefier sound. To bad their live albums have sounded like crappy the past 15 years. It's a shame.

 

Funny - in my opinion Presto is the only halfway decent thing they've done since Power Windows. The other stuff just kinda sounds nondescript with a distinct lack of melody.

 

Wow - you have managed to put my feelings on their later works into words absolutely perfectly. In other words, I could not have said it better myself - and believe me I've tried!

 

You may or may not like Big Money - but it does have that big keyboard hook that makes it distinct. It reaches out and grabs you. That, I think, is precisely the sort of thing RightOff is suggesting is missing from their more recent works. And I could not agree more.

 

For me it's the opposite The Big Money has absolutely no tune or melody whatsoever it would fit right into the current malaise of their writing........the only interesting part of that song is the coda....

 

Guess we'll have to agree to disagree on that one.

 

This is a great thread. All the albums from Presto on have been hit or miss for me. Although IMO they ALWAYS have a killer track 1 (and usually track 2), I rarely stay interested for the whole album like I would with, say, Permanent Waves (I think the comments made about CD-length albums working against them were totally on point). As for Clockwork, I like that they went a bit longer with the songs and tried to stretch a bit like the old stuff, while keeping a lot of it heavy like the latest stuff. I think there are some really nice songs on there too. As for Mr. Peart, I can't agree with the negative comments made here; so he doesn't play La Villa Strangiato or Big Money crazy-a** patterns anymore; he's older, but his sound is FAT and he has some awesome moments (the double-bass on the title track, and the fill after the first line of the last chorus of Caravan, are BRILLIANT). Still, there will always be a part of me that wishes they would take a year or so to write some REALLY technical parts & ridiculous arrangements, get in front of some old analog gear, and put out a totally 70's-flat-sounding throwback-to-Farewell To Kings album of old-school super-prog Rush and blow everyone out of the water... just to show they still can!

 

Clockwork Angels really needs Kevin Gray to work his magic.

 

All it really needs is less compression so we can actually hear what is being played.