They were done with any more touring. Definitely no more major tours, and most likely any kind of live performances other than possibility of the odd, unique one off. They never declared that they wouldn't write or record any more new material. That was left as an open ended question. After the last tour ended there weren't any plans in the works. Neil's diagnosis came so soon after they finished the last tour that there was never any chance to consider the next phase of their partnership.
"Wish Them Well" Yeah, this one hits the spot. There's a nice groove going on here, with a no fuss, no muss approach to the song structure . A straightforward melodic line tied to a few rhythmic and guitar embellishments. There isn't anything spectacular or groundbreaking here, it's just a solid piece of ol' fashioned Rushness. Cool guitar break from Alex.
Hopefully it was a reference to us having reached the final song (later live releases excepted). Nobody really wants to see this journey come to an end, no matter how fitting that final installment may be.
Hahaha, yes, of course it was. I know we have several more days of live stuff, blah blah, but, yes, the last studio song will definitely be a sad moment for me.
Since it's too smoky to go outside into the garden, I was looking forward to staying inside and spending time with The Garden. But I'm in no Rush.
For sure ... it has been an emotional intense journey. I sure hope folks got as much out of it as me. I knew what you meant. I was just joking... I guess it's the English coal miner heritage and our graveyard humour
BU2B2 The title is too hip for words. The song is a relatively innocuous linking track. Not much for me to say. Wish Them Well This one is odd because I don’t know if it feels like it belongs here. Maybe it does, but after the adrenaline rush of Headlong Flight we’ve got the linking track and now this downer. That odd background voice echoing “well” at the end of certain lines outlives its welcome pretty fast. I’ll give the instrumental break and guitar solo a good rating though. I can’t help but wonder if Rush knew this was the end of the road for them. Headlong Flight was an h9mage of sorts to some heavy prog rock from the early days, then this track is saying “bye bye to all the haters”, and then they properly end the album and their career with a fantastic song. Which brings us to the final track,.... tomorrow hopefully!?
Interesting .... "We actually went during the Clockwork Angels tour, and recorded three tunes after the album was released, from the record, that did't have strings originally. And we recorded a version of them that now had the string parts that had been arranged for the tour. Those were going to be released as bonus tracks or separate tracks (on a later release). We did that while we were in Los Angeles performing." - Jacob Szekely, Clockwork Angels cellist, rushcast.podbean.com, March 6, 2015
The Garden songfacts Rush conclude their twentieth studio album, Clockwork Angels, with this pastoral delight. Producer Nick Raskulinecz told MusicRadar.com: "This was in the first batch of songs, and it came pretty easily. It's probably the most beautiful song on the album. It's reflective. It's the end of the journey, and it's got the long outro. Originally, we were going to fade it out, but it has such power the way it is that we decided against it." Musician and businessman Jason Sniderman plays the piano on this song. In addition to being a guest musician on albums by a number of other Canadian artists, Sniderman was one of the chief executives of Sam the Record Man, which was established by his father and is an Advisory Board Member of the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame. Raskulinecz told MusicRadar: "The chameleon of rock, Alex Lifeson, wrote a really gorgeous piano part and demoed it. We had one of Geddy's really good friends [Jason Sniderman] come in and play it for real on a nice, beautiful Steinway." The Alex Lifeson guitar solo you hear on the record is the original one he recorded for the demo. That's the demo guitar solo. What you're hearing is Alex by himself. Said Raskulinecz to MusicRadar: "He's at Geddy's house, it's late at night - I think Geddy was sleeping on the couch - and he's just playing a guitar solo. When you get something that great, it's not a demo anymore. There wasn't even a discussion to try to do it again." ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- LONG AGO I READ A STORY FROM ANOTHER TIMELINE about a character named Candide. He also survived a harrowing series of misadventures and tragedies, then settled on a farm near Constantinople. Listening to a philosophical rant, Candide replied, “That is all very well, but now we must tend our garden.” I have now arrived at that point in my own story. There is a metaphorical garden in the acts and attitudes of a person’s life, and the treasures of that garden are love and respect. I have come to realize that the gathering of love and respect – from others and for myself – has been the real quest of my life. “Now we must tend our garden.” In this one of many possible worlds, all for the best, or some bizarre test? It is what it is – and whatever Time is still the infinite jest The arrow flies when you dream, the hours tick away – the cells tick away The Watchmaker keeps to his schemes The hours tick away – they tick away The measure of a life is a measure of love and respect So hard to earn, so easily burned In the fullness of time A garden to nurture and protect In the rise and the set of the sun ‘Til the stars go spinning – spinning ’round the night It is what it is – and forever Each moment a memory in flight The arrow flies while you breathe, the hours tick away – the cells tick away The Watchmaker has time up his sleeve The hours tick away – they tick away The treasure of a life is a measure of love and respect The way you live, the gifts that you give In the fullness of time It’s the only return that you expect The future disappears into memory With only a moment between Forever dwells in that moment Hope is what remains to be seen This opens up beautifully with the strings and we move into some acoustic guitar, and the effect is really very good. It has an inviting sound and feel, and it sort of sounds like a final statement from the get go. It has the feel of a closing statement and the smooth arrangement really punctuates that for me. Lyrically this is someone at the end of their life considering the way things are and the way they could/should be, to some degree. Certainly giving love and respect, and hoping to receive those also is a good way to live, in spite of anything else. On the whole it is a pleasantly poetic lyric, and I think it works as a nice full stop in the Rush lyrical catalog. Interestingly Rush don't end it with a punchy rock track, of a fancy and tricky prog epic. They end it with a reflective big ballad type song, and I think that is apt. Like a reflective statement at the end of a speech rather than any of the many other options they had left open to themselves due to their variety. I really like the arpeggio guitar that comes in during the " The Measure" sections and it gives a nice textural change. Also the grand piano adds a nice touch of class to the song, and again a nice textural alternative that brings the songs value up also. From the grand piano breakdown we move into a more powerful section that flows nicely. Alex leaves us with a nice measured lead break and there is a satisfying feeling about the way it all comes together. As we roll into the big finish we get some nice Neil fills and washes of strings, and an almost flanging sound that gives the effect of "it was all just a dream" So I think this songs ends the Rush album, and studio catalog pretty well.
This, to me, is a very good album. In spite of some lyrical diversions that really don't sit well with me, the album still manages to be a strong album with some well written and executed music. Sadly we get another Rush album that hasn't been produced or mixed in the most complimentary way, but it tells its story well enough for that to sit by the wayside. Hopefully at some point these post 1990 album will get 5.1 mixes, and at that time some of the less sonically great albums, should really get a chance to shine. A very nice fulls top at the end of the sentence, and a satisfying way to end the catalog.
The best song on this album! No rocker, no instrumental, but a beautiful ballad. When I listen to this song, I always think to Neil Peart.
Wrote this up yesterday so it’d be ready to go today: The Garden Confession: I first heard this a month ago, and it brought a tear to my eye. I have listened to the album a lot more since then and I still have a hard time not getting too worked up when I hear this. What a fantastic track. Bands don’t always go out on top, and it’s so amazingly appropriate for Rush’s swan song with Neil to be one that talks about how “the hours tick away”, “the measure of a life” and the “fullness of time”. Smashing Pumpkins put a capper on their Corgan/Iha/Chamberlin years with 2000’s great “Untitled”, The Beatles stuck a fork in it with the great “The End”, and now Rush caps it off with “The Garden”. Other great career-ending songs? I’m sure there are many but those three are foremost in my mind right now. Yeah, I name-dropped the Beatles in there. “And in the end, The love you take, Is equal to the love you make” is a very memorable bit from them, but so is Neil’s “The measure of a life is a measure of love and respect. So hard to earn, so easily burned”. But it’s not just that one line. The whole darn song is quotable that way. One of his best-ever lyrics IMHO. One more lyric mention: “The future disappears into memory, With only a moment between, Forever dwells in that moment” reminds me of the final lines of Richard Linklater’s 2014 film Boyhood, which touches on how “everyone always tells you to ‘seize the moment’, but it’s the moment that seizes us” and then “yeah, but it’s constant - all the moments. It’s always right now”. The first half of the song is so good, as we hear Neil opening up and speaking directly from the heart. But then the 2nd half features the piano’s appearance, the strings swelling, and then that beautiful guitar solo. Not fast, not flashy, not arty and random as Alex is prone to on occasion - but just..... perfect. And with feeling. C’mon - they knew it was over, right? It’s there on the album. They had to have planned it that way. It wouldn’t been like Rush to do a farewell tour, or to stop making albums and just be a touring legacy act playing the old hits. They planned it out, and did it their way. This is the longest lasting thread I’ve participated in here or anywhere. I was with it all the way. I didn’t have time to post in Jan. and Feb. so I just read and lurked - but I did revisit all those albums. I don’t think I spoke up until Permanent Waves, but I learned a lot about a great band’s discography and read some fantastic write ups by all y’all. To some degree, the timeless qualities of “quarantine life” have been marked by me or my wife remembering “wait, was that back when we were listening to Moving Pictures, or was it that week we listened to Grace Under Pressure all those times”? I’ve probably got a summation post in me for the weekend, as I want to share out some of my biggest pleasant surprises and discoveries about Rush, from my perspective as a somewhat casual fan who got a very lengthy look at their entire career for the first time ever these past 9 months.
The Garden This is a great final song for the album and sadly, for the band itself. It's soft and melodic. Its a meditation on the passage of time and what really matters in the end. The band brings a tasteful and restrained performance and the guitar solo in particular stands out. Well done Rush.
The Garden is a fantastic way to (as it turned out) end a great run of studio albums from one of my favorite bands of all time. Beautiful song! As for CA as a whole I think it's good album and in my view Rush's best since Counterparts. I thought revisiting the album would feel better than it turned out to do though. There is some great music on here, no doubt, but the album has a mid-tempo/dynamic sameness to it that has a tendency to make me lose interest when listening to the whole thing. Nuff said about the poor production I guess, but that definitely also has a part in me losing interest as it tries its best to try to throw the listener out of the music. Unfortunately the one song that in my view suffers the most is The Garden. As a whole the album doesn't make it to the top half of my list of favorite Rush albums, which I had kind of suspected it would. Nevertheless; a very good album! Not that I think anyone cares, but after revisiting all albums as part of participating in this thread my list of studio albums, best to least great, would look like this: 1. Permanent Waves 2. Moving Pictures 3. Hemispheres 4. A Farewell to Kings 5. Signals 6. Grace Under Pressure 7. 2112 8. Caress of Steel 9. Power Windows 10. Fly By Night 11. Roll The Bones 12. Presto 13. Counterparts 14. Clockwork Angels 15. Rush 16. Snakes & Arrows 17. Test For Echo 18. Hold Your Fire 19. Vapor Trails 20. Feedback Top 15 songs (Chronologically) Here Again In The End 2112 Xanadu Cygnys X-1 Cygnys X-1 Book II: Hemispheres Jacob's Ladder Natural Science The Camera Eye Losing It Afterimage Between The Wheels Middletown Dreams Ghost of a Chance Cold Fire
So I am going to try and order these a little more clearly now, but on the grounds that it is understood, movement will always occur in any favourites list I ever do. A Farewell To Kings Hemispheres Grace Under Pressure Moving Pictures Counterparts Permanent Waves Signals 2112 Vapor Trails Clockwork Angels Presto Roll the Bones Test For Echo Snakes And Arrows Caress Hold Your Fire Fly By Night Power Windows Rush I think that is a reasonably accurate list of how I see the albums. I am not exclusively a prog guy in any way at all I just think that those top two are Rush's biggest musical achievements, and my favourite albums by the band. seventies La Villa Strangiato Xanadu A Farewell to Kings 2112 Cygnus X1 book 1 and 2 Circumstances Anthem Passage To Bangkok Closer To the Heart Something For Nothing eighties Afterimage YYZ Distant Early Warning Red Barchetta Red Sector A Spirit Of the Radio Tom Sawyer The Camera Eye Subdivisions Available Light nineties Alien Shore Nobody's Hero Animate Dreamline Cold Fire Driven Double Agent Leave That thing Alone Cut To the Chase 2000's Secret Touch One Little Victory Sweet Miracle Ceiling Unlimited Ghost Rider Out Of The Cradle Workin Them Angels Peaceable Kingdom Earthshine Armour And Sword all time La Villa Strangiato Xanadu A Farewell to Kings Afterimage 2112 YYZ Cygnus X1 book 1 and 2 Distant Early Warning Red Barchetta Alien Shore Something like that, but again open to adjustments. It really is quite an amazing catalog of music that all the guys can take pride in being a part of. they worked as a band and got the best out of each other.... and although the later albums don't trump the late seventies stuff for me, they keep the level high, and I think they are still worth having.
I don't think anyone can convince me that on some level Neil Peart knew that The Garden HAD to be the last song of the last Rush album. It's very hard for me to listen to it without getting misty eyed and a lump in my throat. What a great lyricist and what a way to end the band's story. To me this song is sentimental without being mushy. I would like to say that even as a self avowed Rush fan and seeing them several times live, including the Time Machine Tour where they played "Caravan" and "BU2B", I really didn't care too much for the CA album. After reading through these threads and really thinking about it, I believe that it's not so much the songs that I don'tt like, but the muddiness to the mix. It's very distracting to me. I wish I would have known about the thread from the beginning. Probably like a lot of Rush fans I started in January on my own Rush journey, playing every album in chronological order from start to finish. It's funny which songs have changed meaning for me and which ones resonate more or less now that I'm older too. Time Stand Still, Afterimage and The Garden will always remind me of NP and 2020.
The Garden is a great song. Memorable melodies, fine instrumentation, and a stunning lyric combine to make a perfectt track. A life is indeed about love (and respect). Time's march is unavoidable. This song is filled with universal truths, stated so well. Dirkster's referencing the Beatle's final track hadn't come to mind but it's a great comparison. In the end, Clockwork Angels is a fine album. If it sounded better it would find its way into my late-night lights-out high-volume listening rotation.
