Snakes And Arrows
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''Snakes & Arrows'' is the 18th studio album by Canadian
rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
band
Rush Rush(es) may refer to: Places United States * Rush, Colorado * Rush, Kentucky * Rush, New York * Rush City, Minnesota * Rush Creek (Kishwaukee River tributary), Illinois * Rush Creek (Marin County, California), a stream * Rush Creek (Mono Cou ...
, released on May 1, 2007, by
Anthem Records Anthem Records is an independent record label based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The company was formed in May 1977 by Ray Danniels and Vic Wilson with initial recording artists Rush, Max Webster, Liverpool and A Foot in Coldwater. The three me ...
. After their R30: 30th Anniversary Tour ended in October 2004 the band took a one-year break, during which they agreed to start work on a follow-up in January 2006. The album was recorded in five weeks with co-producer
Nick Raskulinecz Nick Raskulinecz () (born February 4, 1970) is an American record producer. He resides in Nashville, Tennessee. Production career Raskulinecz is from the Bearden area of Knoxville, Tennessee. He first produced and recorded bands in Knoxvil ...
, a fan of the group who was praised by each member for his approach and technique. It contains three instrumental tracks, the most on any Rush album. ''Snakes & Arrows'' was released on CD and a limited edition double LP (5,000 copies) and Music Video Interactive format (25,000 copies). It peaked at No. 3 in Canada and the United States and in September 2007, was certified
gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile ...
in Canada. Rush were nominated for a
Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...
for
Best Rock Instrumental Performance The Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance was an honor presented to recording artists for quality instrumental rock performances at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Award ...
for "Malignant Narcissism". ''Snakes & Arrows'' was named one of ''
Classic Rock Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, prim ...
''s ten essential
progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...
albums of the decade. It was reissued and remastered in 2013 as a part of ''
The Studio Albums 1989–2007 ''The Studio Albums 1989–2007'' is a box set by the Canadian rock band Rush. It contains the band's seven studio albums released from 1989 to 2007 and was released on 7 CDs on 30 September, 2013. The albums are ''Presto'' (1989), ''Roll the Bones ...
'' box set. In 2016 it was reissued after being remastered by Sean Magee at Abbey Road Studios following a direct approach by Rush to remaster their entire back catalogue.


Background and writing

In October 2004, Rush finished their R30: 30th Anniversary Tour and began a year-long break in activity. During this time they were involved in the ''R30: 30th Anniversary World Tour'' DVD, interviews for which revealed their intention to start on a new studio album in early 2006, their first of new material since ''
Vapor Trails ''Vapor Trails'' is the seventeenth studio album by Canadian rock band Rush. It was released on May 14, 2002, on Anthem Records, and was their first studio release since '' Test for Echo'' (1996), the longest gap between two Rush albums. After t ...
'' (2002). The group felt charged up having recorded their covers EP ''
Feedback Feedback occurs when outputs of a system are routed back as inputs as part of a chain of cause-and-effect that forms a circuit or loop. The system can then be said to ''feed back'' into itself. The notion of cause-and-effect has to be handled ...
'' (2004), which saw them play simple and direct songs and record it live as opposed to their own more thought-out and complex music. Such an approach was adopted for ''Snakes & Arrows''. Work on the album began in January 2006 and the band members adopted their usual writing method of Lee and Lifeson jamming on new musical ideas while Peart works alone on the lyrics. Rather than work in the same facility, this time Lee and Lifeson worked out of their home studios in Toronto and gradually moulded their ideas into arranged songs using a
click track A click track is a series of audio cues used to synchronize sound recordings, sometimes for synchronization to a moving image. The click track originated in early sound movies, where optical marks were made on the film to indicate precise timi ...
as a guide drum part. They worked a three-day week, starting around noon until around 5 p.m. Peart, who'd relocated to southern California in 2000, worked from home and collaborated with his bandmates online and travelled to Toronto and New York throughout the writing and recording phases. Lifeson said that the group did more pre-production work than before and that Lee and himself adopted a more casual and relaxed approach to writing. Lifeson had met guitarist David Gilmour during Gilmour's tour stop in Toronto and inspired him to write on an acoustic guitar as an indicator of how strong a tune is. Gilmour is thanked in the liner notes of ''Snakes & Arrows''. During the writing sessions, Peart experimented with new equipment such as the Roland V-Drum TD-20, a kit which he used on the album to trigger samples. Much of the album is written in a 3/4
time signature The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western culture, Western musical notation to specify how many beat (music), beats (pulses) are contained in each measu ...
. A writer for the ''
National Post The ''National Post'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper available in several cities in central and western Canada. The paper is the flagship publication of Postmedia Network and is published Mondays through Saturdays, with ...
'' compared much of the material to that of ''
Hemispheres Hemisphere refers to: * A half of a sphere As half of the Earth * A hemisphere of Earth ** Northern Hemisphere ** Southern Hemisphere ** Eastern Hemisphere ** Western Hemisphere ** Land and water hemispheres * A half of the (geocentric) celestia ...
'' (1978) with the "unexpected, angular chord changes". Peart was inspired to write lyrics on various themes including faith, fear, the association of religion and war, hope and despair, and the religious billboards he saw on his motorcycle journey across the United States which he detailed in his fourth book ''Roadshow: Landscape with Drums – A Concert Tour by Motorcycle'' (2006), written during the R30 tour. He was also inspired by
Robert Frost Robert Lee Frost (March26, 1874January29, 1963) was an American poet. His work was initially published in England before it was published in the United States. Known for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American collo ...
's epitaph: "I had a lover's quarrel with the world" and used lyrical ideas that he had initially put down 15 years prior. In March 2006, Lee and Lifeson had completed rough versions of six tracks and played them to Peart at his house in
Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Government of Canada, Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is ...
. Peart said he would "never forget first hearing the initial few songs for this album. It is always a thrill to hear my words sung for the first time ..there's a sense of affirmation in knowing that Geddy found those words worth singing." Peart was particularly excited upon hearing "Bravest Face" and "The Way the Wind Blows" due to their fresh sound and how different they were from previous Rush songs. He picked "spiritual" as the word that best described the essence of the songs presented to him. ''Snakes & Arrows'' features three instrumentals, the most of any Rush album. In May 2006, the three moved into
Cherry Beach Sound Cherry Beach Sound is a recording studio in the Port Lands of Toronto, Ontario, Canada at 33 Villiers Street. It is located in Toronto's growing film district and is also a successful audio post-production house; TV, radio, and film commercials an ...
in Toronto for one month to develop the songs and by early June, they had eight tracks they were happy with. After a summer break, they resumed work in September and "kept working until it was finished." Peart came up with the album's title as he worked on the lyrics to "Armor and Sword." He'd researched several sources, including the ancient Indian board game ''
leela Leela may refer to: Business * The Leela Group, an Indian business conglomerate * The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts, an Indian luxury hotel group Characters * Leela, granddaughter of Akela in Rudyard Kipling's ''The Jungle Book'' * Leela ...
'', a precursor modern children's game snakes and ladders, and the quote "slings and arrows" from the Shakespeare play ''
Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depi ...
''. By the time the album was being mixed, the title was agreed upon. Peart wrote that the title was chosen to "describe the 'good' kind of faith as being armor, while the 'bad' kind of faith is a sword". He would always check a master list at a record shop to see if an album title had been used by another band, but this time he searched online and found out about the ''leela'' game which had also been called "the game of snakes and arrows." Peart then found a gameboard painted by Harish Johari which he presented to Lee and Lifeson; the three agreed to make it the front cover and worked with their longtime cover designer
Hugh Syme Hugh Syme is a Canadian Juno Award-winning graphic artist and member of the Premier Artists Collection (PAC) who is best known for his artwork and cover concepts for rock and metal bands. He is also a musician and has appeared on some Rush al ...
to incorporate it into the sleeve layout.


Recording

The main recording sessions took place across 36 days in November and December 2006 at Allaire Studios within
Glen Tonche Glen Tonche is an estate atop Mount Tonche, in Ulster County, near Shokan, New York. The estate's house was built in 1928 as the summer family compound of American businessman Raymond Pitcairn, whose family founded PPG Industries. Since 1999 t ...
, an estate set upon Mount Tonch in the Catskill Mountains, New York. Peart had worked at the studio for his instructional DVD ''
Anatomy of a Drum Solo ''Anatomy of a Drum Solo'' is an instructional DVD by Rush drummer Neil Peart, presenting live and in-studio performances discussing his approach to soloing. Taking "Der Trommler", a drum solo recorded in September 2004 in Frankfurt, Germany as ...
'' and convinced Lee and Lifeson to record there over Toronto. The band had initially planned to stay at Allaire for two weeks to record the drums and some bass before returning to Toronto and recording the guitars at Lifeson's home studio, but the positive surroundings, available equipment, and productive sessions led to their stay extended by four weeks, during which the album was completed there. The band would start around 10 a.m. and work until late and would enter the studio at any time if the urge was strong enough, including one session which took place at 2 a.m. Additional recording was done at Grandmaster Recorders in Los Angeles. The album was recorded using
Pro Tools Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed and released by Avid Technology (formerly Digidesign) for Microsoft Windows and macOS. It is used for music creation and production, sound for picture ( sound design, audio post-prod ...
software. Rush were joined by engineer and mixer Richard Chycki, who had worked with Lifeson on the mixes for the ''R30: 30th Anniversary World Tour'' DVD and had worked on a re-recording of their 1977 song "
Closer to the Heart "Closer to the Heart" is a song by Canadian rock band Rush. It was released in November 1977 as the lead single from their fifth studio album ''A Farewell to Kings''. It was the first Rush song to feature a non-member as a songwriter in Peter Tal ...
" for a benefit. The band were impressed with Chycki and chose him to work on ''Snakes & Arrows''. During the writing stage the group sought a new co-producer "for fresh input and new directions". Among the considerations was American musician and producer
Nick Raskulinecz Nick Raskulinecz () (born February 4, 1970) is an American record producer. He resides in Nashville, Tennessee. Production career Raskulinecz is from the Bearden area of Knoxville, Tennessee. He first produced and recorded bands in Knoxvil ...
, who had worked with
Foo Fighters Foo Fighters are an American Rock music, rock band formed in Seattle in 1994. Foo Fighters was initially formed as a one-man project by former Nirvana (band), Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl. Following the success of the Foo Fighters (album), epony ...
and
Velvet Revolver Velvet Revolver was an American hard rock supergroup consisting of Guns N' Roses members Slash (lead guitar), Duff McKagan (bass, backing vocals) and Matt Sorum (drums, backing vocals), alongside Dave Kushner (rhythm guitar) formerly of punk b ...
and asked his management to contact the band when he learned that Rush were to make a new album. Initially, he was turned down and was told they had already picked one, but plans fell through and two months later he was chosen. A fan of the band, Raskulinecz's second ever concert was seeing Rush during their '' Moving Pictures'' (1981) tour when he was twelve and started work in September 2006 following the group's summer break. He encouraged the band to explore their own limits and to incorporate the complex rhythmic and melodic patterns that characterized their albums from the 1970s. The band gave him the nickname "Booujze" in reference to vocalisations and air drumming that he would make to communicate his drum ideas to Peart, with "booujze" representing a bass drum and cymbal crash that he suggested for a part to "Far Cry". At Raskulinecz's direction, Peart would record a final drum take to the previously recorded guide track alone or record parts with Lee also playing. Other times, he would have the band play at once. When he had a take he was satisfied with, his focus turned to getting the best drum performance. The album was mixed in almost four weeks in January 2007 at
Ocean Way Recording Ocean Way Recording was a series of recording studios established by recording engineer and producer Allen Sides with locations in Los Angeles, California, Nashville, Tennessee, and Saint Barthélemy. Ocean Way Recording no longer operates record ...
in Los Angeles by Chycki with assistance from Raskulinecz and Scott Moore. It was done using a Neve 88R mixing console. The surroundings suited Peart as the studio was close to his home and enjoyed Lee and Lifeson coming over after travelling far to record with them. The band would leave the studio and play tennis or golf, leaving Chycki and Raskulinecz to assemble a mix for their approval. It was then mastered by
Brian Gardner Brian Knapp Gardner, also known as Brian "Big Bass" Gardner, is an American mastering engineer. He has worked on a number of recordings since the mid-1960s, including classic rock, funk, disco, alternative rock, R&B, hip hop, pop punk and danc ...
who was assisted by Andrew Alekel and completed some months ahead of schedule. Lee's main bass guitar on the album is a 1972 Fender Jazz model and, at the insistence of Raskulinecz, used his
Moog Taurus The Moog Taurus is a foot-operated analog synthesizer designed and manufactured by Moog Music, originally conceived as a part of the Constellation series of synthesizers. The initial Taurus I was manufactured from 1975 to 1981; a less popular re ...
bass pedals on all but two tracks, the most use since ''
Power Windows Power windows or electric windows are automobile windows which can be raised and lowered by pressing a button or switch, as opposed to using a crank handle. History Packard had introduced hydraulic window lifts (power windows) in fall of ...
'' (1985). A
Mellotron The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which pushes a length of magnetic tape against a capstan, which pulls it across a playback head. ...
is also used some songs, including "Faithless" and "Good News First", for an orchestral texture. Lifeson uses his semi-acoustic
Gibson ES-335 The Gibson ES-335 is the world's first commercial semi-hollowbody electric guitar, sometimes known as semi-acoustic. Released by the Gibson Guitar Corporation as part of its ES (Electric Spanish) series in 1958, it is neither fully hollow nor fu ...
, a
Gibson Les Paul The Gibson Les Paul is a solid body electric guitar that was first sold by the Gibson Guitar Corporation in 1952. The guitar was designed by factory manager John Huis and his team with input from and endorsement by guitarist Les Paul. Its typica ...
Goldtop, and a
Fender Telecaster The Fender Telecaster, colloquially known as the Tele , is an electric guitar produced by Fender. Together with its sister model the Esquire, it is the world's first mass-produced, commercially successfulLes Paul had built a prototype solid body ...
as the main guitars on the album, in addition to a custom built Garrison 6- and 12-string specifically made for the album's sessions, a Gibson Jumbo and 12-string acoustic, and a Garrison mandola, mandolin, and
bouzouki The bouzouki (, also ; el, μπουζούκι ; alt. pl. ''bouzoukia'', from Greek ), also spelled buzuki or buzuci, is a musical instrument popular in Greece. It is a member of the long-necked lute family, with a round body with a flat top and ...
. Peart performed on a "West Coast" drum kit built by Drum Workshop that he had acquired in early 2006 that was a replica of his stage kit minus the electronic pads. He was so satisfied with the kit, he had them shipped to Toronto for the album's pre-production recordings. After he had finished putting down the drum parts Peart informed Chycki and Raskulinecz that recording for ''Snakes & Arrows'' was the most enjoyable of his career and that the results were the most satisfying.


Songs

When Peart was recording his drum parts on "Far Cry," Raskulinecz suggested to solo over the "intricate syncopated" part at the beginning and end of the song. He later said: "Of course the only answer from a drummer is, 'Yes, of course I can,' but I would never have suggested it". "Armor and Sword" has an opening rhythm that Peart attributes to the
Buddy Rich Bernard "Buddy" Rich (September 30, 1917 – April 2, 1987) was an American jazz drummer, songwriter, conductor, and bandleader. He is considered one of the most influential drummers of all time. Rich was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York ...
tune "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy," which drummer
Dave Weckl Dave Weckl (born January 8, 1960 in St. Louis, Missouri) is an American jazz fusion drummer and the leader of the Dave Weckl Band. He was inducted into the '' Modern Drummer'' Hall of Fame in 2000. Biography Weckl started playing his first s ...
had adopted on Peart's tribute album '' Burning for Buddy'' and on ''
Test for Echo ''Test for Echo'' is the sixteenth studio album by the Canadian rock band Rush, released on 10 September 1996 on Anthem Records. It is the final Rush work before the death of Neil Peart's daughter and wife that put the band on hiatus until the r ...
'' (1996) by Rush. It features a sample of sheet metal triggered by Peart on his Roland TD-20 kit. The battlefield imagery that had come to Peart while writing its lyrics made him recall a line from "
Dover Beach "Dover Beach" is a lyric poem by the English poet Matthew Arnold. It was first published in 1867 in the collection ''New Poems''; however, surviving notes indicate its composition may have begun as early as 1849. The most likely date is 1851.A ...
" by English poet
Matthew Arnold Matthew Arnold (24 December 1822 – 15 April 1888) was an English poet and cultural critic who worked as an inspector of schools. He was the son of Thomas Arnold, the celebrated headmaster of Rugby School, and brother to both Tom Arnold, li ...
which excited him due to its synchronicity. As a tribute, Peart included a different line from the poem into the lyric: "Confused alarms of struggle and flight." "Workin' Them Angels" has Peart shifting between a 3/4 and 4/4 time signature throughout and suggested to have the choruses in 4/4 to take the "lilt" out of the track for a moment. The change forced him to become more creative and devise ways of switching between the two rhythms seamlessly. "The Larger Bowl" includes Peart playing a real and sampled tambourine. The lyrics include several ideas that Peart had in his rhyming dictionary that had various writing forms and sonnets, including the Malay . He had not bothered to present it to Lee and Lifeson before until he realised that it may "spark a musical echo," which became the song's fifth verse. "Spindrift" has a reprise of its introduction at the end, which Raskulinecz suggested to follow the false ending and encouraged Peart to "go wild" during the fade-out. "The Main Monkey Business" is an instrumental that Peart called "a tour-de-force to write, arrange, and perform," which took more time to put together than some of the other songs on the album combined. It took Peart three days to learn the drum parts, which included triggered samples of a
sleigh bell A jingle bell or sleigh bell is a type of bell which produces a distinctive 'jingle' sound, especially in large numbers. They find use in many areas as a percussion instrument, including the classic Sled, sleigh bell sound and Morris dance, ...
,
güiro The güiro () is a Puerto Rican percussion instrument consisting of an open-ended, hollow gourd with parallel notches cut in one side. It is played by rubbing a stick or tines (see photo) along the notches to produce a ratchet sound. The güir ...
, and a whistle slowed down that is used only in the third verse. Initially he played the track without a
snare drum The snare (or side drum) is a percussion instrument that produces a sharp staccato sound when the head is struck with a drum stick, due to the use of a series of stiff wires held under tension against the lower skin. Snare drums are often used i ...
to create a darker sound which in turn suited its overall atmosphere, but ended up using a piccolo snare during a guitar solo. Its title derived from a quote from Lee's mother in a conversation about a cousin of theirs. It features samples of a tambourine and ethnic percussion sounds triggered by Peart on his Roland TD-20 kit. A mix of the track with just the drums was posted on Peart's website. "The Way the Wind Blows" is Peart's favorite track on the album from a drumming and listening perspective. "
Hope Hope is an optimistic state of mind that is based on an expectation of positive outcomes with respect to events and circumstances in one's life or the world at large. As a verb, its definitions include: "expect with confidence" and "to cherish ...
" is a solo acoustic guitar instrumental written by Lifeson who plays a Garrison AG-400 12-string with D-A-D-A-A-D tuning. The first full take was used for the album and mixing took place straight after the recording. It was recorded in the Great Hall at Allaire with rugs placed on the floor to minimise the high amount of echo that the acoustics provided. He wrote the tune having jammed ideas with various alternate tunings at his home and continued during the writing sessions when Lee worked on vocals, during which he worked on the song. Lifeson was pleased with the track as he had not recorded a solo guitar track for a Rush album for a long time. For "Faithless," the group made a conscious effort to write and perform a song at a slower tempo than was usual for them. Such a framework gave Peart a fresher approach to how he constructed and placed drum fills. He credits Raskulinecz who suggested to play out the song with a military snare drum roll. "Malignant Narcissism," the third instrumental, was titled after, and contains a spoken passage from, the comedy film '' Team America: World Police'' (2004). Writers
Trey Parker Randolph Severn "Trey" Parker III (born October 19, 1969) is an American actor, animator, filmmaker, and composer. He is known for co-creating ''South Park'' (since 1997) and ''The Book of Mormon'' (2011) with his creative partner Matt Stone. P ...
and
Matt Stone Matthew Richard Stone (born May 26, 1971) is an American actor, animator, filmmaker, and composer. He is known for co-creating '' South Park'' (since 1997) and '' The Book of Mormon'' (2011) with his creative partner Trey Parker. Stone was inte ...
were Rush fans and were pleased with the band's decision to have been inspired to name the track after the film. A screening of the film was organised at Allaire Studios during Thanksgiving holiday as Raskulinecz had not seen it. The track came about after the twelve other songs on the album had been put down and Raskulinecz and Lee were working on vocal tracks. During a respite, Lee started to riff the tune on a fretless
Jaco Pastorius John Francis Anthony "Jaco" Pastorius III (; December 1, 1951 – September 21, 1987) was an American jazz bassist, composer and producer. He recorded albums as a solo artist and band leader and was a member of Weather Report from 1976 to 1981. ...
bass that Fender had sent to him at Allaire Studios through his endorsement deal. Raskulinecz heard it and recorded through the vocal microphone (this moment was captured on film and appears in the documentary "The Game of Snakes and Arrows" on the album's MVI edition) and later assembled the best parts into a rough track that was finalised as a drum and bass arrangement by Lee and Peart. The guitar parts were added later as Lifeson was in Florida at the time it was put together. Peart had asked his drum technician to pack away his kit but leave four cymbals and four drums for Raskulinecz to "play around on", but ended up recording his drum parts for the track with that basic setup. It was recorded in one day. Peart played with Buddy Rich, Tony Williams,
Terry Bozzio Terry John Bozzio (born December 27, 1950) is an American drummer best known for his work with Missing Persons and Frank Zappa. He has been featured on nine solo or collaborative albums, 26 albums with Zappa and seven albums with Missing Pers ...
, and
Steve Gadd Stephen Kendall Gadd (born April 9, 1945) is an American drummer, percussionist, and session musician. Gadd is one of the best-known and highly regarded session and studio drummers in the industry, recognized by his induction into the ''Modern D ...
in mind.


Release


Promotion and formats

On March 12, 2007, the band unveiled a new website at th
official Rush website
primarily to promote the album. The first single from the album, "
Far Cry ''Far Cry'' is an anthology franchise of first-person shooter games, all of which have been published by Ubisoft. The first game, '' Far Cry'', was developed by Crytek to premiere their CryEngine software, and released in March 2004. Subseq ...
", was posted as on-demand streaming audio on this site at that time. The band also announced that the single was being released to US and Canadian radio stations. On May 8, 2007, the band announced the release of a video for "Far Cry," and on June 1, 2007, "
Spindrift Spindrift (more rarely spoondrift) is the spray blown from cresting waves during a gale. This spray, which "drifts" in the direction of the gale, is one of the characteristics of a wind speed of 8 Beaufort and higher at sea. In Greek and Roman ...
" was released to radio stations as the album's official second single. The third single for the album, " The Larger Bowl" was released June 25 to radio where it positioned within the top 30 of the Mainstream Rock and Media Base Mainstream charts. ''Snakes & Arrows'' is one of the first albums released on
Warner Music Warner Music Group Corp. ( d.b.a. Warner Music Group, commonly abbreviated as WMG) is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the " big three" recording companies and th ...
's
MVI MVI stands for ''Musical Video Interactive'', a DVD-based container format for packing audio, video and interactive visual content (for example, lyrics) onto one disk. The first commercial disc released with this technology was ''Snakes & Arrows' ...
(Music Video Interactive) format. This format is a 25,000 copy limited edition. The album comes in a deluxe box, and includes the 13 songs on the album in hi-resolution audio, the entire album in 5.1 surround sound, a 40-minute video documentary on the making of the album, a 26-page booklet (4 pages more than the otherwise identical CD booklet), wallpapers, buddy icons and an exclusive poster for fans that register the MVI copy. After several production delays, the MVI was released on June 26, 2007. The
DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...
-ROM portion has 192-
kbit/s In telecommunications, data-transfer rate is the average number of bits ( bitrate), characters or symbols ( baudrate), or data blocks per unit time passing through a communication link in a data-transmission system. Common data rate units are mul ...
MP3 MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany, with support from other digital scientists in the United States and elsewhere. Orig ...
files of the entire album. The
DVD-Video DVD-Video is a consumer video format used to store digital video on DVD discs. DVD-Video was the dominant consumer home video format in Asia, North America, Europe, and Australia in the 2000s until it was supplanted by the high-definition Bl ...
portion contains both a "high-resolution audio" track (96 kHz/24-bit stereo
LPCM Pulse-code modulation (PCM) is a method used to digitally represent sampled analog signals. It is the standard form of digital audio in computers, compact discs, digital telephony and other digital audio applications. In a PCM stream, the a ...
) as well as a 5.1 surround-sound track (448 kbit/s
Dolby Digital Dolby Digital, originally synonymous with Dolby AC-3, is the name for what has now become a family of audio compression (data), audio compression technologies developed by Dolby Laboratories. Formerly named Dolby Stereo Digital until 1995 in film, ...
, 48 kHz). There is no
DVD-Audio DVD-Audio (commonly abbreviated as DVD-A) is a digital format for delivering high-fidelity audio content on a DVD. DVD-Audio uses most of the storage on the disc for high-quality audio and is not intended to be a video delivery format. The st ...
content on the disc.


Commercial performance

The album debuted at number three on the U.S. ''Billboard'' 200, selling about 93,000 copies in its first week.


Reception


Tour

In promotion of ''Snakes & Arrows'', Rush kicked off their planned intercontinental
Snakes & Arrows Tour The Snakes & Arrows Tour was a concert tour by Canadian rock band Rush to promote the studio album ''Snakes & Arrows''. The first leg of the tour began on June 13, 2007, in Atlanta and concluded on October 29, 2007, at Hartwall Arena in Helsinki, ...
on June 13, 2007, in Atlanta, Georgia, which ran through October and covered the United States, Canada and Europe. The 2008 leg of the tour started on April 11, 2008, in
San Juan, Puerto Rico San Juan (, , ; Spanish for "Saint John") is the capital city and most populous municipality in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2020 census, it is the 57th-largest city under the ju ...
at
José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum The Coliseo de Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot ( English: ''José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum of Puerto Rico'') is the biggest indoor arena in Puerto Rico dedicated to entertainment. It is located at the Golden Mile of San Juan, the island capita ...
and came to a close July 24, 2008, in
Noblesville, Indiana Noblesville is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Indiana, United States, a part of the north Indianapolis suburbs along the White River. The population was 51,969 at the 2010 census making it the state's 14th largest city/town ...
.Official Rush Websit
Rush tour schedule


Track listing


Personnel

Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes. Rush *
Neil Peart Neil Ellwood Peart OC (; September 12, 1952 – January 7, 2020) was a Canadian-American musician, best known as the drummer and primary lyricist of the rock band Rush. Peart earned numerous awards for his musical performances, including an ...
– drums, electronic percussion, tambourine *
Geddy Lee Geddy Lee (born Gary Lee Weinrib; July 29, 1953) is a Canadian musician, singer, and songwriter. He is best known as the lead vocalist, bassist, and keyboardist for the Canadian rock group Rush. Lee joined the band in September 1968, at the req ...
– bass guitar, keyboards,
Mellotron The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which pushes a length of magnetic tape against a capstan, which pulls it across a playback head. ...
, vocals *
Alex Lifeson Aleksandar Živojinović, (born 27 August 1953), known professionally as Alex Lifeson (), is a Canadian musician, best known as the guitarist and backing vocalist of the progressive rock band Rush. In 1968, Lifeson co-founded the band that wo ...
– 6 and 12-string acoustic and electronic guitars, mandola, mandolin,
bouzouki The bouzouki (, also ; el, μπουζούκι ; alt. pl. ''bouzoukia'', from Greek ), also spelled buzuki or buzuci, is a musical instrument popular in Greece. It is a member of the long-necked lute family, with a round body with a flat top and ...
Additional personnel *
Ben Mink Benjamin Mink (born January 22, 1951) is a Canadian songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer best known as a longtime collaborator of Canadian singer k.d. lang. He plays several string instruments, notably the guitar, violin, and the m ...
– strings on "Faithless" Production *Rush – production, arrangements *
Nick Raskulinecz Nick Raskulinecz () (born February 4, 1970) is an American record producer. He resides in Nashville, Tennessee. Production career Raskulinecz is from the Bearden area of Knoxville, Tennessee. He first produced and recorded bands in Knoxvil ...
– production, additional engineering and mixing at Ocean Way Recording, arrangements *Richard Chycki – engineering, mixing *Matt Snedecor – assistant engineer at Allaire Studios *Andrew Alekel – assistant engineer at Grandmaster Recorders *Scott Moore – assistant engineer at Ocean Way Recording *Inaam Haq – pre-production assistant at Cherry Beach Studios *Brian "Big Bass" Gardner – mastering *
Hugh Syme Hugh Syme is a Canadian Juno Award-winning graphic artist and member of the Premier Artists Collection (PAC) who is best known for his artwork and cover concepts for rock and metal bands. He is also a musician and has appeared on some Rush al ...
– art direction, design, illustrations *Harish Johari – cover painting *Andrew MacNaughtan – band photograph


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External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Snakes and Arrows Rush (band) albums 2007 albums Atlantic Records albums Anthem Records albums Albums produced by Nick Raskulinecz