The April, 2012 issue of Classic Rock Presents Prog includes a two page story highlighting Rush's Clockwork Angels album titled Angels Are Go!. Eric at Power Windows recently transcribed the article and made it available online at this link. It's a short article but includes some tasty new details regarding a few of the tracks on the album:
... Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson originally worked on the music together in a basement studio, sometimes with Lifeson giving Peart two demos of a tune - one with a drum machine illustrating rhythmic ideas, the other a click-track. "Alex had put together one collection of ideas that turned out to be most of the song Clockwork Angels,' says Peart. "As soon as I heard its rhythmic feel, which was so different for us, my response was 'I want to play that!'"
Carnies and Headlong Flight were of 'furious jams', and there was an 'immediate spark of connection' with Seven Cities Of Gold, Alex Lifeson says, "We talked about having a raucous beginning that related to the middle 'solo' section, and as the song evolved it took on the appropriate character; entering the city with all the wild, dangerous sensory experience it offers." Peart asserts that Lifeson's solo on The Garden was, "A few takes recorded casually and assembled into an improvised performance that remains his personal favourite." Audiences throughout the Time Machine tour will have already heard the opening tracks, first single Caravan and its B-side BU2B, which were written early in the process. The Wreckers was the result of Lee and Lifeson swapping instruments during writing sessions but, "Once we switched into recording mode," says Peart, "it was back to the same old us." ...
For reference, here's the entire Clockwork Angels track list along with run times:
1. Caravan(5:40)
2. BU2B(5:10)
3. Clockwork Angels(7:31)
4. The Anarchist(6:52)
5. Carnies(4:52)
6. Halo Effect(3:14)
7. Seven Cities Of Gold(6:32)
8. The Wreckers(5:01)
9. Headlong Flight(7:20)
10. BU2B2(1:28)
11. Wish Them Well(5:25)
12. The Garden(6:59)
Many thanks to Eric at Power Windows for the transcription! You can read the entire thing at this location.
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