The fourth track introduces the listener to “The Anarchist,” the antagonist of the Watchmaker. So, while the Watchmaker is not God, and the Anarchist is not the devil, each character most likely sees himself as a powerful representative of the Cosmic struggle. While Peart’s universe is not this actual universe, he is clearly tying his story not just to faerie, but to actual Judeo-Christianity. Much like Pink Floyd’s Animals, Peart even places the words from actual Proverbs of the Old Testament into the liner notes and lyrics. “Lean not upon your own understanding,” Peart’s translation of Hebrew reads, while the band shifts to a very blues-based sound. Goddesses of Light, of Sea and Sky and Land Synchronized and graceful, they move like living things Goddesses of mystery, spirits in disguiseĮvery pleasure, we bow and close our eyesĬlockwork angels, spread their arms and sing You promise every treasure, to the foolish and the wise Blistering guitar and walls of sound surround the entire listening experience, building in a way Rush has not built since “Jacob’s Ladder.” Peart carefully avoids too much description of the actual angels. Instead, we the listeners understand what they do to heighten our desires and shelter our curiosity from too much stimulation.
All balances will come due.Īnd, the continuity of tracks continues with track three, the title track. Should something appear unjust to us in this world, the Watchmaker will fix it in the next. Whatever freedom the individual will has, its religious, cultural, ethnic, and linguistic traditions delimit our choices, and we must decide whether to accept the teachings and inheritance of our parents, reject those teachings, or reform them.
RUSH CLOCKWORK ANGELS FREE
With no break in sound, track two, “BU2B,” begins. Like “Free Will” and “Faithless,” this song deals, in a faerie-story like way, with the huge questions of predestination and free will. Though “lit only by fire” probably refers to William Manchester’s controversial story of the same title, Peart’s story deals with an alchemical world, not a specifically medieval one (per Manchester). Where a young man has a chance of making good Going where I want, instead of where I should “On my way at last, on my way at last,” Hardy thinks as he departs from his ancestral home. Whatever life has provided in the security of a small, ordered village, the protagonist-who we later learn is Owen Hardy-needs to explore a world beyond that of his family. “I can’t stop thinking big,” repeats Lee. Train bells and hydraulic engines establish a Steampunk-a future based on steam and chemicals rather than electronics-atmosphere in the opening moments of the first track, “Caravan.” This atmosphere quickly dissipates and heavy (I mean, heavy) guitar and bass take over, with Lee’s wailing voice imitating that of a conductor-welcoming us to new vistas, new ideas, and new worlds. Rush have become, simply put, the elder statesmen of the rock world, a fact finally confirmed by the Cleveland Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013 in its induction ceremony of the band. Still, the Clockwork Angelsstory could never have been written by a young man. Tellingly, the novel begins with a grandfather remembering his life. While Moving Pictures-because of its time and place in history-might always remain the iconic Rush album, Clockwork Angelsis arguably the best, cohesive piece of art the band has ever made. It reveals a maturity in lyrics and music understandably absent in the first few Rush albums, but it also possesses every explosion of energy those albums expressed. As few would disagree, the wait for the final product was well worth it.
Still, few worried as hints came out frequently about the forthcoming Rush album during that time, and Rush even released versions of the two opening songs as singles, performing them on the Time Machine Tourof 2011.
RUSH CLOCKWORK ANGELS FULL
However much the Clockwork universe has dwarfed the album itself, it is very much worth considering the original source material.Ĭlockwork Angelscame out a full six years after Snakes and Arrows, a break between albums even greater than that between Test for Echoand Vapor Trails. It is, of course, the culmination of forty years of care, of love, and of purpose.
RUSH CLOCKWORK ANGELS SERIES
As mentioned at this beginning of this book, the story of Clockwork Angelsis such an artistic success-as a story, a concert, a novel, a sequel to the novel, a graphic novel, an audio book, and a series of comic books-that it really overshadows not only the actual album but much of Rush’s other art. It was the first album to be distributed by heavy-metal label, Roadrunner, and the second to be produced by Nick Raskulinecz. Rush’s nineteenth studio album, Clockwork Angels, came out on June 12, 2012. Today is the sixth anniversary of the release of the final Rush studio album, CLOCKWORK ANGELS.
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