I agree completely. I love the music on CA. I love the playing on CA. But the sound is clustered to distraction. If the mix had given all those notes room to breathe, Clockwork would have been right there with Rush's greatest classics. This one needs a remix even more than Vapor trails did.
I remember really enjoying Clockwork Angels back when it came out. It was the first new Rush album I had bought since Hold Your Fire in 1987 and it spurred me to fill in all of the gaps in my Rush collection. However, the last time I listened to it, I found that I didn't enjoy it as much as I remembered and found the sound way too dense and claustrophobic, in much the same manner as the original Vapor Trails (if more clear and a bit less squashed). I found this wearying over 66 minutes. I honestly never paid much attention to the concept story of the album or the details in the lyrics, so going through this discussion is likely to shed some light on the album for me. Given that I now think so highly of Snakes & Arrows, I feel like Clockwork Angels is going to pale somewhat in comparison. I do like the album cover.
Clockwork Angels is definitely more Vapor Trails than Snakes and Arrows, in terms of sound quality. Certainly a regression.
Looking forward to this one. I have never listened to CA all the way through. Just dipped in and out. It has been on in my car for the last day or two. OK so far but not really grabbing me like Snakes and Arrows or even Vapour Trails. Probably needs a few listens!
Agree. Actually it's the complete other way around. I would enjoy CA more had it sounded like S&A. CA may actually benefit from the same treatment as the Andy Van Dette remaster of the original mix of Vapor Trails, with less lower mids and more and cleaner highs. Not sure a Magee remaster would do much good with this album, given his approach with the Rush albums he did remaster. Love most of them, but generally they sound darker and more rolled off compared to other digital releases. CA definitely doesn't need that.
For some reason I have found all the post Grace Under Pressure albums have needed a few spins to click. They all did, but with varying amounts of attention needed.
The interesting thing is all these later albums really need good 5.1 mixes. With there being so many layers of music, the density requires compression for stereo. With five channels and higher resolution to work with, a good 5.1 mixer could make these all sound wonderful. No compromise in frequencies, and enough space for them not to drown each other out... hopefully we can get them... sans big box
Ha, I thought you were going to slaughter the Clockwork cover. It’s pretty bland and amateurish to me.
Clockwork Angels: It was pretty awesome the band would do a legitimate concept album and I was excited to hear it. For the most part, I enjoyed it and found it adventurous in its undertaking. I also bought the books, which added to the multimedia experience. However, it's been a long while since I listened to this album, but after listening to it the past couple weeks, I forgot how much I enjoyed it. It also saddens me that this is it... the last one. None of the less, the band end on an ambitious high note. With the concept in mind, I look forward to the song by song for some insight. It's going to be fun!
It's been a while since I posted here but I've decided to come back and participate in the Clockwork Angels discussion. I was starting to feel a bit of Rush burnout after Hold Your Fire and felt like I needed a break from them. Anyway, I've had my break and rediscovered this thread just in time for Clockwork Angels. I'll preface this by saying that I generally like their 1989-2007 albums, but I've always found them a little bland in terms of songwriting and production. That's not the case for Clockwork Angels, which I think contains their strongest songwriting, most exciting playing, and best artistic direction in decades. For the first time it feels like Rush isn't afraid to draw upon the hard rock and progressive rock of their past, and they pull it off without feeling like they are repeating themselves. While on paper it does have more in common with 2112 than anything they've done since 1982, it never comes off as retro or like any sort of regression. Actually, it wouldn't sound at all out of place among a lot of 21st century progressive metal, which I think makes it feel more "relevant" than anything they'd done in a while. Clockwork Angels is notable among the Rush canon for being their first true concept album (rock opera?), though I have to admit I haven't given the lyrics that close of a listen. I haven't fully wrapped my head around the story, but from what I can tell it's a 2112-style political and philosophical science-fiction morality tale, though maybe more influenced by Brave New World than anything by Ayn Rand. I could be way off there but I guess I'll find out as the thread progresses. Overall I think Clockwork Angels is a fantastic swan song for Rush and the best thing they put out in years. It's also one of the better late-career classic rock albums I've heard in general.
I forgot to mention my one big complaint about Clockwork Angels. It’s the same complaint I’ve seen a lot of people mention: the sound quality. This album is so loud and compressed that it kept me from listening to it at all for a long time. Getting more into metal over the years has forced me to tolerate this sort of thing somewhat, but I still consider this to be one of the more unfortunate victims of the loudness wars. Ear fatigue is bad enough on its own, but it’s especially frustrating knowing how great Rush’s playing sounds with a quality mix and master, and then having to hear it crushed into a wall of noise.
I hate that I just recently joined and missed the meat of their catalog. I'm like a lot of you and I like the music on CA a lot but find it very difficult to listen to all the way through. I especially like the two singles BU2B , Caravan, and the title track but the record is exhausting to listen to, er, fatiguing I guess is more accurate. Dense and pummeling. No air. The tour sure was great though. Damn, I just made myself sad... CA and S&A need the Steven Wilson treatment and a reissue on vinyl Just one doctor's opinion. Can we start over? Ok, so Finding My Way...
"Caravan" Single by Rush from the album Clockwork Angels Released June 1, 2010 Recorded April 13, 2010 Genre Progressive rock Length 5:40 Label Anthem (Canada), Atlantic Songwriter(s) Lee/Lifeson/Peart Producer(s) Nick Raskulinecz and Rush "Caravan" is the first single from Canadian rock band Rush's 19th studio album, Clockwork Angels. It was released to radio stations and saw digital release on June 1, 2010 (a full two years before the album's proper release), on CD via mail order later that month, and as a 7" vinyl record for Record Store Day 2011, with a limited printing of 3,000 units.[1] The B-side is an additional studio track titled "BU2B", which stands for the lyric "brought up to believe". Both songs were recorded April 13, 2010, at Blackbird Studios in Nashville with producer Nick Raskulinecz with mixing and engineering done by Richard Chycki at the Sound Kitchen in Franklin, Tennessee.[2] The songs were mastered by Ted Jensen at Sterling Sound in New York City. Live appearances of both songs were first featured on Rush's Time Machine Tour. songfacts This is the first single from Canadian rock band Rush's 2011 album Clockwork Angels. The song was recorded April 13, 2010 at Blackbird Studios in Nashville with producer Nick Raskulinecz with mixing and engineering done by Richard Chycki at the Sound Kitchen in Franklin, Tennessee. The song was mastered by Ted Jensen at Sterling Sound in New York and released to radio stations and to iTunes on June 1, 2010. Alex Lifeson's guitar solo was described in an interview by the website Musicradar.com as "unruly." The guitarist concurred with the description adding: "I definitely wanted something that was out of control. It's all over the map, kind of frenetic and climbing up and down with what the rest of the track was doing." Lifeson used his '59 Les Paul reissue, 355 and '59 reissue Telecaster for this song. For the solo, he used the Les Paul. The song reached #19 on the Finnish singles chart and #44 in the band's home country of Canada. The song is the opening track of Clockwork Angels, an album that is built around a narrative of a young man's journey towards his dreams. Bassist-singer Geddy Lee told MusicRadar.com: "'Caravan' starts the story off; it's basically about a young guy who's got big dreams, big desires, and a very romantic vision of what the world's supposed to bring him and he can't wait to go out and see it. So he kinda runs away from home, stows away on the back of an airship. In our world airships are trains that fly! And yeah he sets off to find the world." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Music: Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson Lyrics: Neil Peart IT SEEMS LIKE A LIFETIME AGO – which of course it was, all that and more. For a boy, life on the farm was idyllic, but for the young man I became, that very peace and predictability were stifling, unbearable. I had big dreams, and needed a big place to explore them: the whole wide world. Near our village of Barrel Arbor, the steamliners touched down and traveled on rails along the Winding Pinion River toward Crown City. Watching them pass in the night, how I prayed to get away . . . None of it seemed right to me . . . In a world lit only by fire Long train of flares under piercing stars I stand watching the steamliners roll by The caravan thunders onward To the distant dream of the city The caravan carries me onward On my way at last On my way at last I can’t stop thinking big I can’t stop thinking big On a road lit only by fire Going where I want, instead of where I should I peer out at the passing shadows Carried through the night into the city Where a young man has a chance of making good A chance to break from the past The caravan thunders onward Stars winking through the canvas hood On my way at last In a world where I feel so small I can’t stop thinking big Caravan lyrics © Ole Media Management Lp So we are introduced to the story via the caravan. (the traditional meaning of caravan - a group of people, especially traders or pilgrims, traveling together across a desert in Asia or North Africa.) The lyrics here seem to suggest moving with the crowd, and the following of a path made for you, rather than by you.... but there is the line "Going where I want instead of where I should, so that seems to bring that idea into question. There are also ideas of rebirth in there in the last verse proper, and essentially lyrically this sets the story up well. Musically we open with an atmospheric kind of feel, almost a cinematic feel and the strings really set the mood well. As the band punches in, the song comes together well. We get a nice riff run into the vocal, and the groove continues on well. We get some nice rhythmic shifts that work well as accents, and lead us into the chorus (the caravan thunders onward....) Then we get the following refrain of I Can't Stop Thinking Big.... There is a smooth flowing feel to the music and it drifts along like a caravan of people on the move. We get a cool little breakdown with some Geddy bass front and centre, Alex provides a sort of atmospheric lead in the background and then we move into a really nice little instrumental section. We flow through some changes and the we come to an Alex lead break. It is part melodic and part abstract, and I think it works really well. It took me a few listens for this to break through to me, but I think on the whole this works really well.
I don't know that I even agree with the above, but in terms of interesting songwriting, there's no comparison. CA beats SNA hands-down.
That's fair, but everyone has their own take on what's interesting. I like that on this album the guys finally revisited the idea of mixing up the beats, and throwing some odd time signature changes and riffs and such. It doesn't match Kings or Hemispheres for me, but it is a very good variant based on the modern sound of the band.
Caravan Bit of a pro-tools nightmare. Feels like a patchwork quilt. On the other hand it is also a bit of an earworm and stays in my head all day after I hear it. Not a great song, but not horrible either.
I can't stop thinking big Caravan I think this is an excellent opener, and was quite thrilled when I gave this its first listen on the day of release. That whole atmospheric opening... well, we haven't had something like that since The Camera Eye, and I can't imagine getting us off to a more intriguing start. The riffs are cool and the song has some real energy.... a very real sense of urgency. It gets the blood flowing! Great to hear some very cool interplay between Geddy and Alex here with Neil providing some very interesting beats as well. Solid. Very solid.
I'll say it once and not on every song - the sound quality on Clockwork Angels sucks. It's compressed to heck and a muddy mess. My 1920s Louis Armstrong and King Oliver music is more listenable. That has stopped me from connecting with the album; it's not something I can listen to in one sitting. If I had a vinyl rig I'd want to hear the vinyl, because I've heard it's less compressed. And that's a shame because there's some really good music hiding under the crappy production. Caravan is a solid song and a good opener That "I can't stop thinking big" refrain is great, and the playing is top-tier all around.
As a huge jazz fan who has been doing a personal chronological diary of great jazz music, I love this reference. It is a most appropriate comparison. In terms of pure technological quality of the recording, what I can do in my garage today is better than the best recordings of the early 1900s. The big, and in the current context, most meaningful distinction is that at least those crackly old recordings, despite their roughness, don't throw up a barrier preventing the listener from connecting with the music the way compression does.
Caravan I love the sounds at the start. No better way to announce a concept album. The song launches with what I will call, for lack of a better term, Rush’s take on the “modern rock riff”. I had a very bad reaction to the Rush modern rock riff when these last few albums came out, but I have warmed up to them considerably. So, no demerits from me for that. The big highlight for me in this song is how each verse has this great transition about 3/4 of the way through. The first part is played straight 4/4 but then the vocals stop and they play a janky couple of measures and then the final part of the verse starts (listen at 2:30). The time signature changes and the band plays with this anxious, propulsive feel; the lyrics at this points are saying “The caravan thunders onward, on my way at last, on my way at last” - what a great pairing of music and lyrics. I just love it. Geddy’s delivery here is great, too; the vocals just ride on top of the musical wave like a boat plowing through a rough sea. I like the “thinking big” chorus and the instrumental break is full of great bits from all three members. A solid start to the album.
