
The plot is based on various sources such as Candide by Voltaire "with nods to" the novel The Sot-Weed Factor (1960) by John Barth and writers Michael Ondaatje, Joseph Conrad, Robertson Davies, Herbert Gold, Daphne du Maurier, and Cormac McCarthy, and early Spanish explorers in the American Southwest for the Seven Cities of Gold myth. Peart wrote a lyrical "chapter" for each of the album's twelve tracks, representing the mood or atmosphere of each track with its own symbol as depicted in the artwork. He had incorporated elements of ancient tradition with Tarot cards on Vapor Trails (2002) and the ancient Hindi game Leela on Snakes & Arrows and wanted to bring in alchemy for Clockwork Angels. Peart was influenced to devise a story and lyrics set in a dystopian steampunk-inspired world "lit only by fire", named after the same-titled book on the history of the Middle Ages by William Manchester and "driven by steam, intricate clockworks, and alchemy". Early in January 2010, Peart had written some ideas and sent them to Lee and Lifeson, who then paired the words to the pieces of music that they had come up with. In a change of pace, Peart wrote the lyrics to Clockwork Angels on a blank canvas without using any preconceived ideas that he had written down. Music Radar wrote that despite the story-based theme, the album fails to get weighed down by the plot. Lee was apprehensive towards the idea at first as he wanted the group to move forward in direction and not adopt something typical of fellow progressive rock bands of the 1970s.
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Rush had previously recorded conceptual songs throughout their career, but had yet to commit to a full album concept. Īfter some weeks into the writing Peart had developed his story further, leading to the band's agreement to adapt it into a concept album while having each track make its own statement. And now we've been writing and now we've got about six songs that we just love" and Lifeson predicted a spring 2011 release. The sessions were productive in March 2010, Lee said: "Just about a month and a half ago we had no songs. Lifeson had to consciously hold himself back from layering guitar tracks as he wanted to emphasize the "basic rockiness of the songs" and resorted to greater use of double tracking. The group had encouraged one another to become more spontaneous with their solos in live performance which became a primary element while writing new music for Clockwork Angels. Rush adopted the band's usual songwriting methods which involved Geddy Lee and Lifeson working on music at their home studios in Toronto while Peart worked alone from his California home on the lyrics. Rush had worked on new material as early as February 2009, but Alex Lifeson denied a speculation that they were set to make a concept album at that time. Among their options were to start a new studio album and to undergo a major tour as Neil Peart later wrote: "Fools that we are, we ended up doing both." The idea of an album with a back story as opposed to a collection of different songs became an attractive one to the group, for which Peart detailed one set in a fictional world with a suite of songs telling a story. The band reconvened in Los Angeles in December 2009 to discuss what projects they wanted to undertake in the coming year. Background and writing Īt the end of the band's Snakes & Arrows Tour in July 2008, the group took a year-and-a-half long break, during which Rush released the live albums Snakes & Arrows Live (2008) and the compilation Working Men (2009). The album won the award for Rock Album of the Year at the 2013 Juno Awards. The album debuted at No. 1 in Canada and at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart. A 10" picture disc single of the song "The Garden" was released as part of the 2013 Record Store Day Black Friday sale, limited to 3,000 copies. On February 20, 2013, "The Anarchist" was released as the fourth and final single. The album's third single, "The Wreckers," was released July 25, 2012. The album's second single, " Headlong Flight," was released April 19, 2012.

Clockwork Angels was completed following this tour. Following the release of the two songs, the band embarked on the Time Machine Tour, with "Caravan" and "BU2B" included in the set list.
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Two songs that would eventually appear on the album, " Caravan" and "BU2B," had been released to radio stations and made available as a digital download on June 1, 2010. The album was recorded in April 2010 at Blackbird Studio in Nashville, Tennessee, and from October to December 2011 at Revolution Recording in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. During the band's year-and-a-half break following its Snakes & Arrows Tour, the group decided to write a new studio album. Clockwork Angels is the 19th and final studio album by Canadian rock band Rush, released June 8, 2012, on Roadrunner Records.
