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A blog devoted to RUSH:
Neil Peart, Geddy Lee & Alex Lifeson

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Planet Rock's Rush Clockwork Angels album special now available online; album review update

Sat, Jun 9, 2012@7:42PM | comments removed/disabled

UPDATE - 6/11@4:59PM: Here's an glowing A+ review from Peffer Reviews (thanks Rob S)

UPDATE - 6/11@4:12PM: Here's a 4.5/5 star review from the Montreal Gazzette (thanks Eric at Power Windows).

UPDATE - 6/11@8:56AM: Here's a 9.3/10 review from Examiner.com (thanks RushFanForever).

UPDATE - 6/11@7:31AM: Here's a 4 out of 5 AllMusic review (thanks Shredder2).

As I'd mentioned a couple of days ago, Darren Redick of UK digital radio station Planet Rock spoke to Geddy Lee about Rush's upcoming Clockwork Angels album in a one-hour special that aired earlier today. The entire program is now available online for streaming at the Planet Rock website at this location. They play several tracks from the album interspersed with interview segments where Geddy comments on the songs.

Although the official North American release of Clockwork Angels occurs this coming Tuesday, June 12th, fans across the world have already been receiving copies of the special Classic Rock fanpack edition of the album. Reviews of the album have been trickling in over the past couple of days. The Toronto Sun gave the album 4 out of 5 stars saying the following:

Meet the new world men. Same as the old world men - but better. A rejuvenated Rush find their way forward by looking back on their 19th disc, re-embracing long-form conceptual work - this full-length narrative follows a young traveller through a steampunk dystopia - while streamlining their sound and playing with reawakened passion and propulsion. Catch the spirit, catch the spit.

Billboard included the album as part of their 40 hot releases of the summer:

It's been more than five years since Rush's last studio album, "Snakes & Arrows," which peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard 200. "But we really haven't been away," manager Ray Danniels says, noting that the Canadian rock trio has actively toured behind the release in recent years. For "Clockwork Angels," co-produced by Nick Raskulinecz, Rush has "revisited the idea of a concept record," Daniels says, adding, "This is their 20th record. I'm thrilled that we got there."

Here's a 3.5/5 Clockwork Angels review from the Globe and Mail:

It's back to the future as Canada's favourite prog rockers return to the long-form structures and interlinked lyrics that marked the likes of 2112. (Hey, it's the pre-centenary, right?) While the playing is as fiery and flamboyant as ever, the solos are sharply song-focused, lending the music a strong sense of melodic direction, from the multi-textured title tune to the steely funk of Seven Cities of Gold.

MSN.com has a more detailed review at this link which closes with the following comment:

... Although Snakes & Arrows was an excellent album, Clockwork Angels is even better, thanks in part to the thematic and musical focus of Peart, Lifeson, and Lee, and in part to just how vibrant a rock record it is. At times the band rocks as hard as they did on 2112, and others they sound as soulful - that's right, even prog nerds have soul - as they ever have, and they do so with supreme skill and confidence. With the perspective of time, Neil Young's notion of burning out versus fading away seem a little dated now. Instead, with a band like Rush hitting another peak as their career comes closer to its end, there's a third Young phrase that seems even more fitting: "Long may you run."

And here's a great review from Tom Johnson at Something Else!.

FMQB Productions in association with Anthem/Roadrunner Records will be airing their own 1-hour Clockwork Angels special titled Inside Rush: Clockwork Angels beginning next week on Monday, June 11th. The special will be hosted by Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins. From the FMQB website:

Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins will interview members of one of his favorite bands, Rush, as the Canadian Rock veterans prepare to release their 20th studio album Clockwork Angels. Corgan will chat with Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson for an upcoming FMQB Productions special, Inside Rush: Clockwork Angels, airing on radio stations across North America starting June 11. Clockwork Angels arrives in stores on June 12. ...

Here's the album's title track on SoundCloud: