RUSH play the Air Canada Centre October 14 and 16. See listing. Rating: NNNN
If I could travel back in time, I’d tell teenage me that one day I’d miss the embarrassingly geeky things I hate about myself. Clockwork Angels sounds like Rush realized this, too, and decided to make the album their 17-year-old selves would have loved. A geekier and nerdier Rush? Yes, which is actually a very good thing, even for those of us who aren’t big fans of the proggy hard rock trio.
Regardless of your feelings about blazing guitar solos, sci-fi concept albums and songs with way too many movements, there’s something thrilling about hearing a band of strong musicians having an obviously great time while they go balls-out. They’re so beyond caring about being cool that they end up being perversely hip in their unselfconscious embrace of everything they’ve been mocked for. We might have no interest in decoding Neil Peart’s narrative about some futuristic land ruled by a watchmaker (yes, really), but it makes us long for an airbrushed van and a hash-filled bong.
Top track: Caravan
