Wish Them Well This was one of the first tracks to jump out at me in my initial listens simply because the melody is so prominent. It’s impossible for this one to go by unnoticed. You can’t not hear the high pitched “Wish them well”’s in the background. Unfortunately, it also quickly wore thin. I wasn’t quite sure where I was going to land on this one but after reading the comments I am inclined to agree with those who say it is a weaker track. The solo section doesn’t bring anything to the table that could redeem the rest, for me. There are a few things to like, however. I like the lyrics. The “turn around and walk away” advice is something we tell kids to do all the time. I think adults need to do more of this. How much time have I wasted on people when I should have just moved on? From an adult’s perspective, I think we trivialize the kids’ personal relationships and take ours too seriously. Anyway, the lyrics made me think about some things and so I give them points for that. I also like the verse melodies. Thanks to JulesRules for the Carve Away the Stone mention. I totally hear that. I’m pretty sad that we are at the end of the road....one more studio track to go.....Did this really start in January???
I've had the same thought. We could make it last longer by going song-by-song on the two remaining live albums I'm sure there are other bands with large catalogs that we could do. I wonder if there's a Yes thread yet? I wish I could do one, but there's no way I have time to do it justice.
Sure is and the live version adds another dimension. I was totally amazed when I first heard this 8 years ago and I still am, but then most of the album is like that for me.
I think so, but I'm not going to bet the ranch on it lol We still have a few more things to look at.... but yea, we're getting close
I think they were done after this album. (At least Neil was until he was talked into the R40 Tour.) Maybe had things not happened the way they did there might have been a one off somewhere down the line or maybe not.
That's essentially how I listen to Clockwork Angels (studio or live) But like The Who, they tried to arrange it so you could listen to the individual songs if you wanted to and they would still work and I suppose that's true. I much prefer to listen beginning to end, however.
I love the song. No...Not as dynamic, but a nice change of pace. Alex is an incredible acoustic guitarist. He just loves to play and unfortunately, very little has been recorded and even less is likely to see a commercial release. Kind of bummed everything I think about it.
I like this song too, but the lyrics are the weakest on the album. Maybe this was a song that would have been helped by reading the book (which I won't ever do due to my dislike of most of Kevin J. Anderson's work.) I bought into this concept hook, line and sinker, I won't read the book and don't even have the followup comics graphic novels and sequels.
Wish Them Well: this track has bored me before the first verse has even kicked in: "all that you can do is wish them well" ad infinitum. Not much redeems it afterwards, and then we also have the repetitive trope of: "thank your stars you're not that way..." Repetition is fine when the line, verse or chorus is memorable but the vocal parts of this track are just downright irritating and the track feels of an interminable length. And what is that weird echo on "let the demons dwell"? Weakest cut on the album, for sure.
Wish Them Well: It took a few listens but, I'm liking it. I hear the jangly guitar rock influence and Neil's drumming has nice groove to keep my ears interested. The lyrics, which honestly, I never really paid attention to. Thanks to the thread, I have a better insight now and it's sage advice.
There are days that this is my favorite song on the album and other times it's The Garden. Still remember having to pull over when I first heard The Wreckers on the way home from buying Clockwork Angels the day the album was released. It's just so cinematic and the lyrics are so resonant. Seems like they used everything they learned in the previous 30 years and put it in a song. Can't say enough about it.
It's been ages since I've read the books and I can definitely agree on your take on Kevin J. Anderson. None of the less, I do find it cool that the album has additional media tied to it.
Love this song too. Guess that's not a surprise at this point, but not as much as some others might. It's probably the only time the "quintessential Rush song" does not lead off the album although it was the album's advance song if you don't count the Caravan/BU2B single in 2010.
Love the mini solo in this live. Should have included it on the studio track. Best of both worlds with the composition and improvisation.
I can see why this was dropped live, but I think it still fits in the context of the studio album and really doesn't out stay it's welcome. It just gets the point across.
If I had a lower tier of songs on this album this might be it. It's a solid song, but this is really the only point on the album where sometimes I'm not fully engaged with what's going on.
I think it's very cool in principle. I just wasn't to thrilled with the execution. I'll admit it would be very cool to hear Neil read the unabridged version of the book, but I can't bring myself to open the Clock Tower box largely due to Kevin J. Anderson. It's not lost on me that this is my favorite Rush album ever on any given day and I'm not able to enjoy the total world that was created around it, other than getting into somre parts of it.
Wish Them Well It sounds like a Roll the Bones reject with thicker production. All I get from this is anger, Neil's anger. It comes down to "people are terrible, it's best to have nothing to do with them". That's pretty lame. Again, what does this have to do with the album's story line? It makes no sense to be here, other than to drag us all down with the negativity. What the hell happened to the positivity of Headlong Flight? The songnotes for this one said that they made 3 attempts at writing this before finding what worked best. Honestly, this should've gone into the trash pile. Not just lyrically, but musically too. The tempo is too slow and it feels like an emotionless plod. Um, I like Neil's ultra-fill before the first verse starts and he gets in a good one during Alex's solo. I like the dissonant part in the 2nd section of the solo. That's it, though. This is a terrible song.
I was going to spend some time putting together an argument against this viewpoint but I decided to just turn around and say goodbye.
