Vapor Trails

Infobox Album | Name = Vapor Trails
Type = Album
Artist = Rush


Released = May 14 2002
Recorded = January - November 2001 Reaction Studios, Toronto
Genre = Hard rock, rock
Length = 67:15
Label = Anthem (Canada)
Atlantic
Producer = Rush and Paul Northfield
Reviews =
* Allmusic Rating|3|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=A4z841vd3zzza link]
* Austin Chronicle Rating|3|5 [http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/review?oid=oid%3A100243 link]
* PopMatters (favorable) [http://www.popmatters.com/music/reviews/r/rush-vapor.shtml link]
* "Rolling Stone" Rating|3|5 [http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/_/id/302822 link]
Last album = "Different Stages"
(1998)
This album = "Vapor Trails"
(2002)
Next album = "Rush in Rio"
(2003)

"Vapor Trails" is the seventeenth studio album by the Canadian rock band Rush, released in 2002 (see 2002 in music).

The release of "Vapor Trails" marked the first studio album for the band in six years (since "Test for Echo" in 1996). Long known for purposeful stylistic changes that defined individual albums as well as delineated the larger-scale phases of their recording career, "Vapor Trails" brought a shift in many fundamental aspects of the Rush sound as it had evolved over the years. On "Vapor Trails" there are no keyboards, no traditional guitar solos, and no processed-guitar tones. Instead, "Vapor Trails" uses a more purified guitar tone, lots of vocal, guitar and even bass overdubs, and an overall darker tone to the music and lyrics.

Much of the recordings were from one-off jam sessions and many of the original takes from those sessions were used to construct the songs. Rush made extensive use of computers and music editing software to piece the jam session recordings into songs. Drummer Neil Peart remarked [Vapor Trails Tour Book: [http://www.2112.net/powerwindows/VTtourbook.htm Power Windows Website] Accessed June 7, 2008]

All in all, "Vapor Trails" offers a dramatic rethinking of Rush's fundamental musical mores, suggesting that they have embarked on yet another new direction. However, it seems that Rush still will maintain a progressive edge as many of the songs feature odd meters, e.g. alternating 5/8 and 7/8 in "Freeze". The album has sold over 340,000 copies since its release.

listen|filename=OneLittleVictory.ogg|title="One Little Victory"|description="One Little Victory" from "Vapor Trails".

Track listing

All songs written by Alex Lifeson, Geddy Lee and Neil Peart.
#"One Little Victory" – 5:08
#"Ceiling Unlimited" – 5:28
#"Ghost Rider" – 5:41
#"Peaceable Kingdom" – 5:23
#"The Stars Look Down" – 4:28
#"How It Is" – 4:05
#"Vapor Trail" – 4:57
#"Secret Touch" – 6:34
#"Earthshine" – 5:38
#"Sweet Miracle" – 3:40
#"Nocturne" – 4:49
#"" (Part IV of Fear)– 6:21
#"Out Of The Cradle" – 5:03

In the booklet, each song's lyrics is illustrated with a card of the Rider-Waite tarot deck, being, in order:

Knight of Wands (One Little Victory), The Star (Ceiling Unlimited), Wheel of Fortune (Ghost Rider), The Tower (Peaceable Kingdom), The Chariot (The Stars Look Down), The Hanged Man (How It Is), Six of Swords (Vapor Trail), The Hermit (Secret Touch), The Lovers (Earthshine), Ace of Cups (Sweet Miracle), The Moon (Nocturne), Eight of Swords (Freeze) and The Fool (Out Of The Cradle).

Personnel

* Geddy Lee - bass guitar, vocals
* Alex Lifeson - electric and acoustic guitars, mandola
* Neil Peart - drums, percussion

Criticism

The production of Vapor Trails has been highly criticized due to the album's 'loud' sound quality. Albums such as this have been mastered so loud that additional digital distortion is added during the production of the CD. The trend, known as the Loudness war, has become very common on modern rock CDs.

As [http://www.prorec.com/Articles/tabid/109/EntryID/247/Default.aspx explained] by Rip Rowan on the ProRec website, the damaged production is the result of overly-compressed (clipped) audio levels during mastering, though Rush have [http://www.2112.net/rushablekingdom/news/vt/jam_05_07_02.html admitted] that there was digital distortion during recording, which also contributed to the damage. Remastering the album would not correct the damage from digital distortion that was introduced during recording, but it could correct the other, more destructive damage that is the result of overly-compressing the audio during mastering.

Chart positions

Album

Billboard Music Charts (North America)

ingles

References