Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Rush: Clockwork Angels

Well, after listening to the 30 second clip (below) of the new album, it's safe to say I am officially pumped for Clockwork Angels, the latest endeavour by Rush.  This marks the 19th full studio album to date and after  a very successful "Snakes & Arrows" tour and album, the hype is still circling around whether or not can can make as powerful of a follow up album.  The Toronto based trio (from the sounds of the preview) have made some great riffs and some great melody for those ultra high Geddy notes we are all oh-so used to.


Here is the track listing for "Clockwork Angels":

1. Caravan
2. BU2B
3. Clockwork Angels
4. The Anarchist
5. Carnies
6. Halo Effect
7. Seven Cities Of Gold
8. The Wreckers
9. Headlong Flight
10. BU2B2
11. Wish Them Well
12. The Garden


Neil has stated on his personal website that he is deciding to take a different style/approach to how he composed drum pieces for the new album:

"In recent years I have been working deliberately to become more improvisational on the drums, and these sessions were an opportunity to attempt that approach in the studio. I played through each song just a few times on my own, checking out patterns and fills that might work, then called in Booujzhe. He stood in the room with me, facing my drums, with a music stand and a single drumstick—he was my conductor, and I was his orchestra. (I later replaced that stick with a real baton.)

Rush songs tend to have complicated arrangements, with odd numbers of beats, bars, and measures all over the place, and our latest songs are no different (maybe worse—or better, depending). In the past, much of my preparation time would be spent just learning all that. I don’t like to count those parts, but rather play them enough that I begin to feel the changes in a musical way. Playing it through again and again, those elements became “the song."

This time I handed that job over to Booujzhe. (And he loved it!) I would attack the drums, responding to his enthusiasm, and his suggestions between takes, and together we would hammer out the basic architecture of the part. His baton would conduct me into choruses, half-time bridges, and double-time outros and so on—so I didn’t have to worry about their durations. No counting, and no endless repetition. What a revelation! What a relief!"


"There is the epic song, 'Clockwork Angels', which is really taking shape. It's a multi-parted piece, very dynamic.  Then there's some stuff that's very melodic and on the softer side, on acoustic, with a strong melody. So there's great diversity there. Honestly, I can't wait until we start really working on these songs. We've sort of got them to the stage where Geddy [Lee, bass/vocals] and I were happy with the arrangements and then Neil kind of comes in and starts working on his drum arrangements, and they go from there. So they're sort of in that pre-drum stage right now, and it's great to see them come to life." -Alex Lifeson

You can check out some alternate covers below.  Not sure which one I like best:



On a side note, Colorado-based sci-fi author Kevin J. Anderson is composing a novelization to Clockwork Angels. ECW Press has announced the release of the novel for September 1st, 2012, which is 264 pages in length (author credits going to Kevin J. Anderson and Rush drummer Neil Peart)

In more RUSH news, the band has released the cover art and lyric video for their first single "Headlong Flight", as well as the new single "The Wreckers" which you can check out below:





And if that wasn't enough for you, the trio also announced their 2012 North American 'Clockwork Angels' tour plans:

September
7 - Manchester, NH - Verizon Wireless Arena 
9 - Washington, DC - Jiffy Lube Live 
11 - Pittsburgh, PA - CONSOL Energy Center 
13 - Indianapolis, IN - Klipsch Music Center 
15 - Chicago, IL - United Center 
18 - Detroit, MI - Palace of Auburn Hills 
20 - Columbus, OH - Nationwide Arena 
22 - St. Louis, MO - Scottrade Center 
24 - Minneapolis, MN - Target Center 
26 - Winnipeg, MB - MTS Center 
28 - Saskatoon, SK - Credit Union Center 
30 - Edmonton, AB - Rexall Place 

October 
10 - Bridgeport, CT - Webster Bank Arena 
12 - Philadelphia, PA - Wells Fargo Center 
14 - Toronto, ON - Air Canada Center 
18 - Montreal, QC - Bell Centre 
20 - Newark, NJ - Prudential Center 
22 - Brooklyn, NY - Barclays Center 
24 - Boston, MA - TD Garden 
26 - Buffalo, NY - First Niagra Center 
28 - Cleveland, OH - Quicken Loans Arena 
30 - Charlotte, NC - Time Warner Cable Arena 

November 
1 - Atlanta, GA - Verizon Wireless Ampitheater 
3 - Tampa, FL - 1-800-ASK-GARY Ampitheater 
13 - Seattle, WA - Key Arena 
15 - San Jose, CA - HP Pavillion 
17 - Anaheim, CA - Honda Center 
18 - Los Angeles, CA - Gibson Ampitheater 
23 - Las Vegas, NV - MGM Grand 
25 - Phoeniz, AZ - US Airways Center 
28 - Dallas, TX - American Airlines Center 
30 - San Antonio, TX - AT&T Center 

December 
2 - Houston, TX - Toyota Center

Head to RUSH.com for information of when tickets go on sale!

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