Rush 'Vapor Trails' Review (1 Viewer)

[David Benkert]

Way to go Tom!

Hey, I was just out with my telescope and saw some Earthshine. How fitting... Neil captures the feeling of looking at it incredibly!

I think they planned their release date around the moon phases!

 

[Peter Mazur]

Wow, the production is awesome on this one. Geddy's bass is really up front in the mix and just totally rocks. I really love the song "Peaceable Kingdom". Well worth the 6 year wait, and much better than their previous two efforts.

 

[Sam Hatch]

Yep, this album kicks the buttocks quite hard!

I'm still amazed at how these guys can keep putting out great stuff like this. They've never made a bad album yet, so I've silently been fearing that sooner or later they'll lose that magic. And then they come out with this... fricking incredible piece of work!

Once again they've stuck to the unspoken formula (four albums, live album, change into a new skin), and have rewritten themselves excellently. Some songs have a bit of a Test For Echo resonance (Peacable Kingdom starts off alot like 'Half the World') but this is some different stuff.

I've always loved their early work since it rocks the house and their later work for its emotional landscapes and moods, but this one juggles both extremes spectacularly. There's tons of great moments where they tear the roof off only to follow up with a segment of sublime calmness.

Did I mention these guys are in great form and are playing their collective asses off? And Geddy's voice! Since just about every other alternative band is aping Thom Yorke and Jeff Buckley, the sound of the girly singer is in vogue right now. It's nice to hear Geddy feeling free to use his falsetto for such emotive effects. I almost wish he had started using this style with the Rupert Hine albums. There's musical moments on those discs that could make a 1 a.m. drive to Taco Bell feel like the most beautiful moment in your life, but Geddy's vocals have never been more emotionally charged than on Vapor Trails. That 'What is the meaning of this?' in "The Stars Look Down" is just brilliant.

Did I mention that this is an damned incredible album? So far I can comfortably put it up there with Moving Pictures and Grace Under Pressure. My only gripe is that it's too damned loud, and I'm hearing tons of distortion both in my car and on my Sony portable I use at work. Today I'm going to spin it up on the HT, but I'm hearing lots of bits where it sounds like the disc is way too cooked. 'Ghost Rider' starts crackling in the right channel around 1:43 when the drums kick in. The pre-chorus of 'Vapor Trails' is overload city. The chorus of 'Secret Touch' does the same. I can still hear the distortion at very low playback levels. I'm hoping it sounds better on the HT, but I'm doubtful at the moment. It's too bad that it's been out for one day and I'm already waiting for a remaster -- with lower levels for a change!

Overall, even if it does shred all of my speakers this album deserves to be HUGE! I hope it sells like crazy.

Endlessly Rocking. Yup, that's Rush!

 

[ScottH]

It's like a more successful version of Counterparts, or an extension of Test For Echo.

I respectfully disagree. (Is there any other way to disagree with a fellow Rush fan?) I was never a big fan of Test For Echo, but I LOVE Counterparts and to this day consider it easily the best thing they did in the 90's. Now that I've listened to Vapor Trails at least 50 times, I can say it is definitely better then Test For Echo IMHO, but I regretfully doubt it will ever surpass Counterparts in my eyes. If it does though, I'll let you know in about a year.

Another conclusion I recently came to, is that in my eyes, Rush will NEVER be what they were before and including Moving Pictures. With the release of the new album, I have become compelled to dig back into my Rush collection and listen to some of the old stuff I just don't listen to that much anymore. The recent stuff just doesn't have the POWER and RAWNESS of say, 'The Camera Eye' or 'Hemispheres'. To me, it seems back then it was more about PASSION, but now it's more about just recording music. Just my [very] humble opinion. I still enjoy the new stuff.

By the way, I am PISSED at Amazon right now. I pre-ordered Vapor Trails the first day they had it available, with next day shipping. Given my past experiences with Amazon, I figured I would get it at the latest the day before it was due out. They have always in the past shipped out new releases the week before their release date. Well of course not this time. I didn't get an email until last night that they shipped it out, so here it is the day after release and I don't even have my copy yet. I am really anxious to hear this stuff in something other than a weak MP3, or MP3 converted WAV.

Did anyone else have any luck ordering a copy online and getting it on time?

 

[Gwon Chang]

Well, to start, I got 12th row for the Gorge in September!!!

ahem..

I picked up VT yesterday and I was strong. I had only heard OLV off of the new CD prior to yesterday. So at home, within the privacy of my headphones, I cranked it up and just listened for 67 minutes. My first impressions were good. I didn't think there was a weak song in the bunch (as there are in most Rush releases: Carve Away The Stone or Neurotica anyone?). BUT, in listening to it again on my way to work today, there seem to be a few tunes that snuck in under the radar. I don't recall exactly which ones I wasn't too fond of, but, unfortunately, they're there. Maybe they'll grow on me...

Other than the 1 or 2 "odd" songs, I really like the rest of the CD. I, too, thought I heard some digital distortion on the disk. There was a thread at Trinet regarding the distortion, but it looks like Trinet is down at the moment. Musically I think VT is the most mainstream CD Rush has put out yet, but it is still undeniably Rush. It is also more aggressive than past offerings. No Nobody's Hero or Leave That Thing Alone here. Pretty much every song has an @$$ kicking moment. As far as the playing goes, well, the jury is still out for me. Mainly as far as bass playing goes. Drums, as usual, are superb. I LOOOOOVE the simple, yet powerful, intro to OLV. Neil is back with a vengance! And it looks like Alex found his guitars again. Holy cow! I love the sounds he gets.

Regarding Geddy. Well, I'm a bassist and he is my main influence. I just don't know if I enjoy all the chording and layering of bass tracks, though. I love the fact that there are no keys on the record, but the trade off is the many guitar, bass and vocal layers. It will be interesting to see how they pull it off live.

Even though they are a forward-looking "progressive" band, I would have liked to see Rush go with an even more organic approach, as in, vocals, guitar, bass and drums, with an occasional rhythm guitar track, like they did, back in the day. I know they'll never "go back" to the MP/PW/AFTK style of music writing, but perhaps in the way they approach future recordings, they might.

Thanks!

Gwon

 

[TheLongshot]

The recent stuff just doesn't have the POWER and RAWNESS of say, 'The Camera Eye' or 'Hemispheres'. To me, it seems back then it was more about PASSION, but now it's more about just recording music. Just my [very] humble opinion. I still enjoy the new stuff.

Man, I do have to disagree with you. I think there's more passion on this album than I've seen in years from these guys. Certainly not denigrating the last 10-15 years or so, since I love those albums, but this seems to be a step up in the energy levels here.

Someone mentioned that they thought this was the most comercial album. I disagree. I think it is probably their most risky. I feel that way because there are a lot of ways on this album that the've diverged from the norm in recent years. "How It Is" has got to be one of the most Un-Rush songs that I've heard from these guys. It is cool to see these guys still suprising me.

As I listen to it, I keep hearing more and more in these songs. Most of the songs have grown on me in some fashion. The only two that haven't are "One Little Victory" (The "Stick It Out" of this album) and "Out Of The Cradle". Everything else I either like or love. "Secret Touch" still kicks my ass.

They can't come here soon enough.

Jason

 

[ScottH]

Okay, now that I've been able to listen to an "original" copy a few times, I have to admit I'm disappointed in the production quality. Some of the tracks seem muddy and even "crackle" at times. I've only been able to listen to it in my car system, so I haven't heard it in my "good" (read - expensive) system, but I'm almost afraid to because that system isn't very forgiving.

After listening to really poor quality MP3s for a month, I've come to realize why those MP3s sounded so bad. This is really disheartening because I thought the music had potential.

 

[Ivan Lindenfeld]

Ivan grabs the handle brake and brings the train to a screeching halt....
Wait a minute, do you mean to tell me the crackling from the left side is not my crappy Monsoon upgrade being broken in my VW but bad mastering on the CD?!? I have only listened to this album in my car, as I can't seem to wrestly the good stereo from my wife since it's primarily an HT.
Bottom line is this: I have a newVW and something is wrong besides crackling in the speakers. I'll spare you the details. But if this is a problem with the pressing then we need to figure it out and inform someone. anyone got Geddy's home phone number.
Great album, better than COunterparts only because it is more consistently good. And I really like Counterparts.
EDIT: I have pinpointed the worst crackling on the album. At about 1:19 into Starstruck you can hear it in the left channel. I was listening to my ripped WMA version of the CD at 192K. It's also on the CD itself so it's not an anomoly of ripping. Of course, knowing RUSH it's actual noise recorded from stars from Earth.

 

[Gwon Chang]

No joke, artichoke, I heard the crackling too. TRINET is now up and you can see the thread started about this distortion/non-distortion here. Keep in mind that it may require a password and it will load slow because it's a very busy board. You might also try the main page for all things RUSH!!!!
WE HAVE ASSUMED CONTROL!!!
Gwon

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

Can someone who has the album tell me who did the mastering?

 

[ScottH]

I don't have it with me, but I know it was engineered by Paul Northfield. I don't know if that means he mastered it.

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

No, they'll usually have someone else master it, which is where that crackling would come from - pushing the limiters too hard so there are digital overs that some players respond to worse than others.

Speaking of Rush - has anyone got Neil's "A Work in Progress" DVD? It's kind of pricey, but I'm pretty interested in it.

 

[Gwon Chang]

I have the WIP video :b but in my defense, it was purchased many years ago!

It is an amazing video, but quite long. And Neil, as much as I love Rush, is a very long winded talker. Just think of his lyrics and you pretty much get how he speaks. But it is very cool to watch him play to every track on T4E. Luckily I happen to like T4E so it was quite cool. He really breaks everything down and there are some great camera angles. If I had the extra $$, I'd buy the DVD version.

Gwon

 

[ScottH]

No, they'll usually have someone else master it, which is where that crackling would come from - pushing the limiters too hard so there are digital overs that some players respond to worse than others.

If this is what happened, it is absolutely shocking to me that a band as technically profound as Rush would let something like this go. I DEMAND an explanation! Please tell me there was a large group of defective discs that went out or something.

 

[MichaelAW]

Are there specific places where there's cackling? Reason I ask is that I have the European release (R2 ) and while listening to it with headphones yesterday I didn't notice anything awry.
Howie Weinberg at Masterdisk, NYC mastered the album, and "additional mastering and sequencing" was done by Roger Lian, also of Masterdisk.
My version was made in Germany.

 

[Sam Hatch]

Well thank God other people are hearing these problems too! I've been hearing this sort of distortion on new releases more and more. Every year or so CDs seem to get louder and louder, and my reference volume settings have to keep getting lower - but if this sort of 'cooked' disc is the sound of the future, color me dismayed. 'Test For Echo' is a little bit quieter than 'Vapor Trails' and sounds great.

Maybe Rush should drop their Dirk, Lerxst and Pratt nicknames in favor of Snap, Crackle and Pop!

Looks like it may be time to import this one...

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

Masterdisk is a well respected mastering facility, and Howie has been around for eons, so I suspect this moves further down the replicating chain, possibly a faulty glass master. There is not a lot of margin with today's mastering standards (which are driven by marketing, who want the loudest album possible - most mastering engineers HATE have to squash material as much as they are told to) when it comes to overs, as these discs are being made right on the brink of full scale digital, which will not translate on lower quality DACs. I don't have a copy of the CD to scope yet.

It would be interesting to compare mint marks from those who can hear distortion,also if you had the time/track it occured when I do pick up the CD I could check it out on the digital analyser.

 

[Ivan Lindenfeld]

1:19 in Starstruck. Blatantly obvious. I think it's probably a reproduction problem.

I tried to get a hold of atlantic records via their website but it's all marketing. When you have a bad DVD you call the customer service number. Anyone have their liner notes and does it have a number?

 

[Gwon Chang]

Last I checked, there was no song called Starstruck on the CD. Is it Earthshine you're talking about?

Gwon

 

[Ivan Lindenfeld]

Dammit! Earthshine, yes. I just verified it again. Thanks for the correction.