Clockwork Angels: I'm going to call this their best album since Hold Your Fire, but that's kind of damning with faint praise, as I'd rate the albums in between as being generically good at best and mediocre at worst (though still with some excellent individual tracks in there). This one doesn't have any classic Rush songs on it, IMO, but I think it's very consistent throughout. Maybe Caravan kind of drags and I don't care that much for The Garden, but otherwise very solid stuff. A bit more melodic than Vapor Trails and much of Snakes and Arrows. I don't care about the "concept" at all (frankly, I think the story is kind of dumb) but you really don't have to pay any attention to it to enjoy the songs. Production sucks, but Rush fans got used to that since Vapor Trails. Really not sure what got into these guys since Vapor Trails, but they did perfect the art of making their music sound like crap, didn't they? Anyway, production aside, I think Clockwork Angels is one of the best rock albums I've heard by bands over the age of 55, so that's something.
Caravan In terms of the story, the liner notes let us know that the narrator is looking back on his life and the reminisce starts at the point of him wanting to leave his village. Really, this concept hearkens back to Fly By Night and Neil's thoughts on leaving Canada for London. I love this idea because I'm sure we all felt it as kids and here's Neil after going through so many fantastic adventures and terrible tragedies, he's looking back to that kid who wrote Fly By Night and putting that into a new & different story. I think that's just extremely cool. I love the line, "in a world where I feel so small I can't stop thinking big". That rules. Musically this song is also really well-written. The intro gives us some strange textures and leads into a heavy riff. There are a lot of subtle complexities in the music; a lot of short time changes that give an occasional jerky quality. I love how it opens up to the chorus...that arpeggiated riff of Alex's is so gorgeous. Overall they haven't written something as complex in a long time. Love it. The middle section is a good one and finally gives us some breathing room for the music, even if it's on the frantic side. Geddy gets in some wicked bass playing with a great groove and plenty of room to let it fly. I love all the little sections before we even get to Alex's solo, which is fantastic. This feels like an old-school Rush song, using all the knowledge they've learned since Counterparts (the heavier riffs). It ties in new and old and brings us a tremendous song. I love this tune so much. What a start!
Caravan is a good song, but it wears thin after only a few listens. Listening to it now I felt like I more or less had to sit through it before getting to the better parts of the album. By the way, I remember having another "we have a zoom control-moment" when I first heard Caravan. I could have sworn that Geddy was singing "I can't stop think in bed" in the chorus before reading the lyrics. I was especially bewildered by hearing him sing "in a world where I feel so small, I can't stop think in bed". Please bear in mind English is not my first language (which should be obvious to anyone having read my previous posts).
@Al Gator sums it up perfectly for me. Snakes & Arrows sounded so good, why does Clockwork Angels sound so bad? Same producer. Different recording studios though. "Caravan" is a good entry to the album's storyline and, while I wouldn't call it one of their better album openers, it's pretty good in that role and I do like the way the song begins. I remember this song seeing single release about a year and a half before the album was released and, if memory serves, the single has a different mix than the album version. The "I can't stop thinking big" refrain makes "Caravan" successful as an opener and becomes a thematic touchstone for the album. A good opener but not a spectacular one.
Caravan I really liked this song when it came out as a single. It had really aggressive playing, a catchy chorus with a message that is very much in line with the Rush tradition of celebrating individuality. It also just sounded big and powerful. The instrumental jam is great although the guitar solo is a little bit discordant for my taste. In the context of the album, the song seems somewhat diminished. Sonically, the album mix is noticeably less punchy. I think Clockwork Angels is a great album but I have to agree with the complaints about the sound. There is a certain murk that exists. The single version of Caravan didn't have it. If you listen to the two versions side by side on Spotify, you can hear the difference. The live version from Time Machine is below.
"Caravan" is a great opener and a great song. That big swaggering riff bursts in and tells the listener right away that heavy prog is back for Rush. It stutters and shifts gears in the way Rush is so good at. The "I can't stop thinking big" hook is very memorable and a great way of giving the song some dynamics and melody. They really pull out the stops on the breakdown and solo like they hadn't done in a long long time. The playing pops all over the song and it feels like they aren't holding anything back.
Caravan - Rush was always pretty good about putting one of the best songs on the album as the opener, but I don't think Caravan is one of the best 2 or 3 songs on Clockwork Angels. Actually, compared to the other album openers in general, I'd probably put it near the bottom.
I can only assume it is the layers. It becomes very difficult to get a huge multitrack desk into two channels without compression, to try and make space for all the audio information in a way that it is audible.... I am no expert on audio, but I think that's what's happening. That's why I think 5.1 mixes would do a lot of these latter day albums some good, because spreading the information over 5 speakers reintroduces aural space, and also reduces the need for so much compressions to make it audible. If we have an expert on the thread, please correct me if I'm wrong, and let us know what is happening.
BU2B songfacts This is the B-side to "Caravan," the first single from Rush's 2011 album Clockwork Angels. The song is an additional studio track whose title stands for the lyric "brought up to believe". It was recorded the same day as "Caravan" on April 13, 2010 at Blackbird Studios in Nashville with producer Nick Raskulinecz. Guitarist Alex Lifeson told Musicradar.com about his guitar solo: "At first we experimented with something more traditional, but it just sounded, I don't know… ordinary. So we decided to punctuate points in the solo section with a more screaming guitar presence. I think it worked." Geddy Lee plays a theremin in the middle part of this song. The theremin was invented by a young Russian scientist named Leon Theremin in 1919 and was used to make spacey sounds in movies throughout the '50s. Clockwork Angels producer Nick Raskulinecz told MusicRadar they came across a theremin lying around in the studio, "So we took the theremin," he said, "plugged it into an amp, put some delay and a phaser on it, and he did a solo. I think he might have played one back in the '70s. His performance is cool. He did it once and it worked out great." This is the second song on the tracklisting of Clockwork Angels. The album is built around a narrative of a young man's journey to follow his dreams in a dystopian alternate world. Bassist-singer Geddy Lee told MusicRadar.com: "This is more about his personal upbringing and values that were instilled into this character and this is what you find when he goes out and faces this world that is not so cool. This and 'Caravan' were the first two pieces of the puzzle, the rest of it was all to be filled in later (laughs)!" ------------------------------------------------------------------------- WE WERE ALWAYS TAUGHT that we lived in “the best of all possible worlds.” The Watchmaker ruled from Crown City through the Regulators; the alchemist-priests gave us coldfire for power and light, and everything was well ordered. We accepted our various individual fates as inevitable, for we had also been taught, “Whatever happens to us must be what we deserve, for it could not happen to us if we did not deserve it.” None of it seemed right to me . . . I was brought up to believe The universe has a plan We are only human It’s not ours to understand The universe has a plan All is for the best Some will be rewarded And the devil take the rest All is for the best Believe in what we’re told Blind men in the market Buying what we’re sold Believe in what we’re told Until our final breath While our loving Watchmaker Loves us all to death In a world of cut and thrust I was always taught to trust In a world where all must fail Heaven’s justice will prevail The joy and pain that we receive Each comes with its own cost The price of what we’re winning Is the same as what we’ve lost Until our final breath The joy and pain that we receive Must be what we deserve I was brought up to believe Songwriters: Alex Lifeson / Geddy Lee / Neil Elwood Peart BU2B lyrics © Ole Media Management Lp This is an awkward one lyrically ... I understand the angle put forward in the lyrics ... hmm how do I get around this .... Lets say, a lot of people teach things that aren't true, and that untruth becomes accepted as truth via repetition, and often those teaching the untruths are supposed to be "experts". Here we have a very obvious reference from Neil to what the information he knows as being truth being referenced, with a not so subtle rebuttal. So in some ways, that is why the lyric here doesn't work for me, because it is a rebuttal or rebellion against something that isn't a truth anyway, or at the very least is a complete misinterpretation of the truth. You can't blame someone for rebelling against that untruth, when they have been brought up to believe something that isn't true anyway, in the context that it is being taught ..... That's about as clear as I am allowed to be.... I feel like Zappa at the beginning of Penguin In Bondage on Roxy .... lol BU2B stands for Brought Up To Believe, for anyone missing that connection. On the whole the lyrics are very well written. Neil shares his feelings very well, and his perspective is understandable. I just can't get into the lyrics because of what I tried to explain in a non offensive to others way up there. Ok, now that's out of the way, and hopefully not something the mods feel needs to be deleted....... The music here is excellent. We open with with another atmospheric soundscape, and it works really well for me. It is so frustrating for me, the lyric thing, because this is a great track. I'll go so far as to say the music here is inspired. I love the acoustic guitar at the beginning, with Geddy singing bits and pieces of the lyric, and then we get this beautiful pounding riff, that has a very cool rhythmic structure. Without that rhythmic structure, it would be a bit run of the mill, but with it it becomes a really compelling riff. I love the little breakdown on the guitar, and the melody of the vocal that comes in is excellent. Geddy's bass really stands out as a highlight. The grinding riff and drums also work really well. When the second little breakdown comes in Neil puts a really nice fill in, to lead us into the chorus section again. Then we move into a nice little instrumental section, that leads into a bridge of sorts. I reckon this song has a really catchy feel, which for the style of song is pretty cool. We get some really nice bits and pieces added in as layers, and this is really very layered. This was the b-side to the caravan single and of course both these songs were on the Time Machine concert. A really excellent second track, that sadly I have some contentions with.
I like the mood during the intro, a very good heavy track. Geddy Lee’s singing is great and I don’t hear any struggling with his voice.
Rush 1970 - Nov 1998 Nov 2000 Geddy Lee My Favourite Headache My Favourite Headache The Present Tense Window To The World Working At Perfekt Runaway Train The Angel's Share Moving To Bohemia Home On The Strange Slipping Still Grace To Grace May 2002 Vapor Trails - interview One Little Victory Ceiling Unlimited Ghost Rider Peaceable Kingdom The Stars Look Down How It Is - live Vapor Trail Secret Touch - live Earthshine - live Sweet Miracle Nocturne Freeze (pt iv of Fear) Out Of The Cradle Feb 2003 Spirit Of The Radio - Greatest Hits 74-87 Oct 2003 Rush In Rio with concert Boys In Brazil June 2004 Feedback Summertime Blues - live Heart Full Of Soul For What It's Worth The Seeker Mr Soul Seven and Seven is Shapes Of Things Crossroads Nov 2005 R30 Apr 2005 Gold June 2006 Replay x3 May 2007 Snakes And Arrows Far Cry Armour And Sword - live Workin them Angels - live The Larger Bowl - live Spindrift - live The Main Monkey Business - live The Way The Wind Blows Hope Faithless - backtrack for discussion. posts deleted Bravest Face - backtrack for discussion. posts deleted Good News First Malignant Narcissism We Hold On Apr 2008 Snakes And Arrows Live Outtakes Mar 2009 Retrospective 3 Nov 2009 Working Men 2009 Grace Under Pressure live cd Mar 2010 Time Stand Still the Collection 2010 Icon 1 and 2 Nov 2011 Time Machine Nov 2011 Sector 1,2 and 3 June 2012 Clockwork Angels Caravan - live 2011 BU2B
I don't do surround, so won't comment on the possible benefits of placing stuff around the listener. I think it's simply a bad recording. The drum sound is dull and muddy. The vocals sound even worse. Etc. There's only so much that could be done at the mixing and mastering stages. I'd welcome a mastering with no added compression and with an eq tilted towards the brighter. But I don't think CA can ever sound great, only a bit less bad.
Caravan What saves this song is the chiming guitars that announce each arrival of “I can’t stop thinking big”. Without those segments this song feels a bit sludgy, and almost as if Rush is emulating Queensryche. I like the opening noises during the intro, and the instrumental section is rather nice as well. It’s a nice long instrumental section too, as it jams on for a while with the bass, then regroups before doing a guitar solo. BU2B Again, nice atmospheric intro before things get sludgy. The lyrics “Blind men in the market/Buying what we’re sold“ are making me want to go listen to “Lost In The Supermarket” by The Clash now. Ahhh, random thoughts. Alex has a nice guitar solo but it’s half-buried by the heavy riffing in the backing track at the same time. The original announcements about the album indicated the Caravan/BU2B single was going to be the first installment of many singles by which all the new material would be released piecemeal. Instead, those two songs became the first two tracks on the album - as if they were tacked on there. It feels to me, based on my limited listening so far, that the album properly begins with the title track that comes up next. Did anyone at the time get that impression?
100% Yes. It feels to me like “Caravan” and “BU2B” are the prequel or intro and the album proper starts next.
Caravan Really nice start to the album. Great song, with fab guitar work. Love the chorus and the little break before we crash into it. Not a fan of the production. Two cluttered. Nowhere near as well balanced as Snakes and Arrows. On my first listen-through of this album, Caravan stood out as the best track for me. I wonder if it will remain the top of the pile or if the other tracks will grown on me and surpass it...
That's fair, but the density requires compression to fit it in the space available... if that makes sense... like frequency overload... something like that. I was listening to an interview with Devin Townsend about his Empath album, and he was saying that folks think that he is really big into compression, but it is just that he has a sound in his head he wants to create that is just too dense for stereo playback and the result is a necessity for compression. The context is, he was working on his first 5.1 mix. The 5.1 mix doesn't really have the compression problem, because there is more room for the music to breathe.... I get the impression a lot of the Rush albums from 1989 onwards have a similar issue.
BU2B Not a fan of the abbreviated title but whatever. I do like the song. Hat tip to RicB for the Candide reference. I have now learned way more than I wanted to about Leibnizian Optimism. Some seriously creepy background sounds before the verses start in this one. I really like that. It sounds like a giant groaning machine. The bridge is what makes this song special. It starts at 3:12 and they do this great ascending then descending melody with Geddy singing the “Until our final breath, The joy and pain that we receive, Must be what we deserve, I was brought up to believe” part. I sure wish I could hear Neil better....
BU2B The music here is excellent top 2 in the album (the other being Seven Cities of Gold). Great riff and a total ear worm. The lyrics, like "The Larger Bowl" from S&A are in the form of a pantoum (though an imperfect one in this case). The lyrics make me sad, however. There is good theology and bad theology out there. Bad theology can lead people who otherwise might become people of faith to become "faithless". Someone got to Neil with bad theology when he was growing up. Too bad.
I may have already mentioned this, but I always remember the poster on the wall in my high school health class (a play on "Fate: the destiny that shapes our ends): Fat: the density that shapes our ends.
BU2B This song was the "B-Side" of the Caravan single and it didn't grab me as much initially. This song has grown with me over time and now I feel it has a nice combination of bludgeoning riffage with some subtle and compelling melodicism hiding underneath. The track has a nice propulsive feel and Geddy's bass playing in particular, stands out. Lyrically, the narrator is relating how he was brought up to believe various things, namely predetermination. The "watchmaker" is presented as a godlike figure who has presumably fit all of the complex moving parts of the world together as a unified whole. The idea that "all is for the best" is a central theme in Voltaire's Candide, which the album story is loosely based on. The unspoken inference is that the narrator no longer believes these things. I am a little perplexed why anyone would take offense to these lyrics as the issue of predetermination seems more in the philosophic realm rather than the religious. The predetermination suggested in this song is countered by the idea of "freewill". If we truly have freewill than there can be no predetermination set by an all-knowing watchmaker. It is no accident that the song Freewill comes immediately after this in the Time Machine tour setlist. Unlike Caravan, I prefer the album version of the song to the single as I think the acoustic intro sounds really cool and is a great addition. This song was one of the few from the album that was not played on the Clockwork Angels tour. There aren't any prominent strings, which may be why it was left off. It was played on the Time Machine tour and comes off pretty well with the steampunk set and smoke machine blasts meshing well with the chugging sound of the music.
There are not that many ingredients in the soundscape of CA, at least not on all tracks. The compressed/dense sound may be something they actually aimed for, in order to sound contempary. But it didn't work imo. And a production that has to be mixed in surround to sound good can't really be considered a success. And the issue remains, the recorded instruments and voices themselves mostly sound poor, no matter where they are placed within the sound picture. By the way, I must say that I find the notion that dense recordings sound better through the use of compression at the mastering stage a bit strange. Cheers!
