Vapor Trails

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This article is about the album by Rush. For other uses, see Vapor Trail (disambiguation).

Professional reviews
Vapor Trails

Studio album by Rush
Released	May 14, 2002
Recorded	2001
Genre	Hard rock
Length	67:15
Label	Anthem Records (Canada) Anthem/Atlantic Records
Producer(s)	Rush and Paul Northfield
All Music Guide link Rolling Stone link
Rush chronology
Different Stages (1998)	Vapor Trails (2002)	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. 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: i.e alternating 6/4 5/4 and 4/4 in "Freeze",. The album has sold over 330,000 copies since its release.

"One Little Victory" (file info) — play in browser (beta)
- "One Little Victory" from Vapor Trails.
- Problems listening to the file? See media help.

1 Track listing
2 Personnel
3 Criticism
4 Trivia
5 Chart positions
- 5.1 Album
- 5.2 Singles
6 External links

[edit] Track listing

"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
"Freeze (Part IV Of Fear)" – 6:21
"Out Of The Cradle" – 5:03

[edit] Personnel

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

[edit] Criticism

The production of Vapor Trails has been highly criticized due to the album's 'loud' sound quality, as compared to other modern recordings, which is very unusual for a major label release. As 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 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. Some fans continue to pan the sound of Vapor Trails and many are outraged that uncertainty remains whether the album will be remastered and reissued.

It is believed, according to Power Windows' Vapor Trails news page, that the remaster will be issued at approximately the same time as Snakes & Arrows.

[edit] Trivia

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).