August 21st isn’t that far away!
Rush? You have my attention.
Nice! I went to the R40 tour, but my girlfriend didn’t get to, so maybe this way she can have a little taste of it.
One of my favorite bands of all time (in my top 10…maybe top 5) since the late 80s and I have NEVER seen them live.
Don’t know why that is. Maybe it’s because I think they peaked with 1981’s Moving Pictures and I had mixed feelings about 1989’s Show Of Hands concert video (don’t think too highly of most of the material from Signals and Grace Under Pressure). Plus, I thought Counterparts was awful and Test For Echo was very forgettable.
But have been listening to Clockwork Angels a lot lately. Got it at release, heard it a few times and didn’t care for it. Listened to it again recently and it is growing on me. I now feel it’s their best album since 1986’s Power Windows. But this is based on the incredible first half… just like with Power Windows; both albums peter out toward the end. Their last really consistent album for me was 1991’s Roll The Bones which was a very solid album. Still, Clockwork Angels has some really good stuff on it and the band sound energized like they haven’t in some time. Great album to go out on.
I did pick up the Rush In Rio and R30 videos. They were OK. They have a lot of great material (why they’re one of my favorite bands), but they also have some stuff I don’t care for. Plus, how many more times can they record YYZ, Tom Sawyer and Spirit of Radio live?
I saw them on the Roll the Bones tour. They were as good as expected at the time. I really wish I had gone when they were doing the last one, though. It has made me that much more committed to seeing Judas Priest next year on their 50th Anniversary Tour.
I was actually blown away by Clockwork Angels. I thought it was great work for their final LP. There are tunes on their that can hold their own with anything from their catalog. The Garden, Wish Them Well and Caravan are probably my favorites but I really like the album as a whole. Oh and BU2B is pretty good as well.
I was very meh on CA at first, too, but a couple years later it really clicked for me. My girlfriend’s favorite stuff is from Roll the Bones forward, and although I will always have a huge soft spot for the 70s stuff I got into first (if only because when I got into them that’s practically all there was…their 80s catalog is still a big blank spot for me), I have to admit she has a point. The later stuff is just so layered and textured in a way the 70s jams for all their charms mostly are not.