CLOCKWORK ANGELS

A vinyl treat..!! Well, here are my (now revised) top ten Rush albums... 1)Hemispheres 2) A farewell to Kings 3) 2112 4) Permanent Waves 5) Caress of Steel 6) Clockwork Angels 7) Moving Pictures 8) Fly by Night 9) Signals 10) Rush OK, you can see I'm old school. My favourite Rush is that of the prog era. I also like the Rush of Permanent Waves and Moving Pictures. Not a huge fan of most of the subsequent Rush reincarnations, though. Then how come Clockwork Angels has managed to sneak into 6th place in the company of such exalted albums? Well, CA is not a return to the classic Rush of old. That will never happen. The band have made that clear. It's not that they've 'lost it', they simply choose not to go back, forever reinventing themselves. I gave up long ago the hope that we might ever see another Hemispheres, or behold the wonder of a Xanadu or delight in the poetry of a Necromancer. It simply will not happen (though, there is enough of a hint of that golden era in CA to tantalise us). Instead, let us rejoice in the latest offering by this most astonishing threesome. I admit, I was skeptical. Who can blame me after almost three decades of relatively ordinary fare? It took a good 7 or 8 spins before I acknowleged its excellence. After all these years, the tunes are back! This is an album whose songs you can sing along to. Being a concept album, the whole project seems beautifully woven together. Listen to any track from the last 10 or so Rush albums and you'd think any song could go on any album. But, with CA, we have an album with a distinct personality, a character all of its own.

I refer you to AtomicCrimsonRush for a truly amazing and detailed review of all the tracks (a major inspiration for me to go for the vinyl. Thanks ACR!)

Here, I'd like to talk specifically about the vinyl edition of CA. It's a well known fact that visual stimuli enhance auditory perceptions. Watch a good movie and delight in its breathtaking soundtrack, then get the same soundtrack on CD and it just doesn't sound half as good. The vinyl edition of CA is truly a thing of beauty. It consists of two heavyweight records housed in a glorious gatefold cover. The interior displays Hugh Syme's stunning artwork for the track, Caravan. The four sides are split as follows: Side 1: Caravan/BU2B/Clockwork Angels. Side 2: The Anarchist/Carnies/Halo Effect. Side 3: Seven Cities of Gold/The Wreckers/Headlong Flight. Side 4: BU2B2/Wish Them Well/The Garden. Each record is enclosed in a richly colourful, high quality sleve with lyrics and dazzling artwork. Far from being an inconvenience, having to turn over/change the record every 15 minutes or so, this in fact allows you to come into contact with and so appreciate the beauty of the vinyl and the artwork, as well as each of the four sides on their own merit. Along with the vinyl edition comes a digital download in both MP3 and FLAC formats. I have since burned the FLAC download onto a high quality CD and can enjoy both the outstanding analogue as well as the exceptional lossless, CD sound...and all for less than the price of a regular new CD! The question remains...would I have been so enthused about this album had it not been for the vinyl and its sumptuous packaging? I guess I will never know. All I do know now is that I have finally heard a truly top 10 Rush album for the first time in over 30 years!