The Best Rock Albums of 2012

Today's post in 50 Years of Music, a section of my blog devoted to the best rock albums of the past fifty years, will include the best albums of 2012. I have covered 46 years of music in other posts (1965-2011), which can be found by typing the year into the search bar at the top of my blog. Each post in 50 Years of Music is updated frequently, with new albums recommended by readers added to the posts. What's your favorite?

• Joe Walsh- Analog Man
• Ringo Starr- 2012
• Paul McCartney- Kisses on the Bottom
• Van Halen- A Different Kind of Truth
• ZZ Top- La Futura
• Aerosmith- Music From Another Dimension!
• Bob Dylan- Tempest
• The Dandy Warhols- This Machine
• KISS- Monster
• Heart- Fanatic
• Neil Young- Psychedelic Pill
• Bruce Springsteen- Wrecking Ball

 Rush- Clockwork Angels (2012)

 Clockwork Angels is the twentieth studio album by Canadian progressive rock group Rush released on June 12, 2012 in the United States and Canada. The album reached #1 on the Canadian Albums Chart and #2 on the U.S. Billboard 200 Chart.

Clockwork Angels includes five singles-- "Caravan/BU2B," "Headlong Flight," "The Wreckers," "The Anarchist," and "Clockwork Angels." "Caravan/BU2B" reached #38 on the U.S. Mainstream Rock Chart, and "Headlong Flight" plus "The Wreckers" both charted on the same chart, at #5 and #38 respectively. Other notable songs on the album include: "The Garden," "Wish Them Well," and "Seven Cities of Gold."

 

Notable of the album is that Nick Raskulincez, who worked with Rush on their nineteenth studio album Snakes & Arrows, returned as a co-producer for Clockwork Angels. Also, the album features string arrangements for many of its songs, which included six violins and two cellos that were played directly behind drummer Neil Peart's drum kit. Peart has stated in past interviews that he believes the album to be "[his] best both lyrically and musically."

Science fiction novelist Kevin J. Anderson, a long time friend of Peart, wrote a novelization of Clockwork Angels, which was released on September 4, 2012. Before the novel was released, Anderson gave the following preview of his latest science fiction work for Rush: "In a young man's quest to follow his dreams, he is caught between the grandiose force of order and chaos. He travels across a lavish and colorful world of steampunk and alchemy, with lost cities, pirates, anarchists, exotic carnivals, and a rigid Watchmaker who imposes precision on every aspect of daily life."

Alexander Schwartz - JPageFan71

The Antagonists

 

http://jpagefan71.blogspot.com 

http://www.youtube.com/user/JPageFan71