Rush

Introduction

Since the mid 70's Rush have produced a strangely appealing mix of heavy rock and Progressive music.  They've made songs about necromancers and black holes and more recently life and philosophy.  The line-up has remained the same since the second album, and it's utterly amazing how much music they can make since there are only the three of them:

Geddy Lee - vocals, bass, keyboards
Alex Lifeson - guitars
Neil Peart - drums (and song lyrics)

Their musicianship is quite brilliant although some may find Lee's singing difficult - he has a high voice, but it's started to deepen over recent years.  Lifeson is an excellent guitarist although he doesn't seem to go in for solos much any more.  Peart's drumming is very good but he's not one of my favourites; he does manage to fill the sound stage with a mass of hits.  His lyrics however can be sublime.

Over the years I've bought more Rush albums that I care to count, I have every studio album (not too keen on live albums); they've taken up as much of my listening time as any other group.  Since their truly Progressive years they have become more and more radio-friendly and many fans will have dropped by the wayside.  I'm sure more fans will have joined as well, and some like me will have stayed with them.  Probably since Grace Under Pressure I have enjoyed the new albums for a good 10-15 listens and then not picked them up again.  I'm not sure what it is but I just don't seem to be able to resist each new Rush album despite knowing that it's not going to be a cracker.

[ Album Cover ]

Vapor Trails
by Rush

Released 2002
Label: Anthem
Catalogue: 6682510962

[ Reviewed August 2002 ]

After a break of about 6 years Rush are back with a new album and as mentioned I found myself buying it.  Many people thought that there might not be another Rush album after drummer Neil Peart suffered the tragedy of losing his wife and daughter in the same year.  The previous album Test For Echo was not one of their best, although it was very certainly notable as being the heaviest they'd produced.

Vapor Trails begins with One Little Victory in a pretty frightening way; take the heaviest track they've done and double it, no treble it.  You are met with an unpleasant wall of grunge-like guitars and hammering drums with a distorted Geddy Lee sounding like he's fighting to make his way to the front of the mix.  There isn't much in the way of tune either.  I almost threw the thing out on the strength of this alone but having spent the money I kept on listening.  The rest of the album didn't sound much better so you must be prepared for a couple of unrewarding spins before it seems to make any sense.

There's not much to say about the songs as there are 13 of them that are all pretty similar.  In the days when there were 8 tracks on an album they were easily identifiable.  There are too many lyrics to take much notice of as well.  It's notable that there are no synths or keyboards of any sort on the album which might please those who didn't like the 90's releases.  It doesn't sound like it has many overdubs, mainly guitar/bass/drums and voice.  A typical song sticks to the formula of previous albums, it has Lee making the majority of the tune with his voice accompanied by the instruments.  I was going to list a couple of the standout tracks but as I started flicking through, quite a few of them turned out to be good.  Just avoid the first one.  Oh, and I would've liked to see an instrumental track on here but never mind.

I'll concentrate instead on what the band are doing.  Peart is drumming away and putting in his usual quality performance.  Lee is singing away as ever but his voice is not always too clear as they've gone for a slight distortion effect.  Plus he can be obscured by the huge guitar sound.  He has brought in an interesting new element to his style of singing but I'm sorry I just can't put it into words! You'll know it when you hear it; he sort of goes "Way-yay-yay-yay".  Oh never mind.  He's probably playing excellent bass lines, but mostly you can't hear them for the huge guitar sound.  You can check him out though on Vapor Trail.  The star of this album is without doubt Lifeson.  He is doing some fine work here although sometimes it doesn't seem like he's doing much that's very difficult.  Don't expect any solos, no I don't think there's one, but he's constantly working hard in a similar way to The Edge of U2.  The guitar is in one of two modes; either repeatedly playing a little tune or hitting the same note several times before moving on to another one and doing it again.  Do check out the awesome distortion on Freeze. 

I find that I really like the majority of this album and many times I've caught myself wandering around the house singing the chorus to the title track or The Stars Look Down.  It's not a great album but in parts it's very good although it remains to be seen what I think of it in a year's time.  It has me pulling all the right faces at the frantic guitar work.  It is easily the heaviest album I have; heavy rock music usually turns me off completely.  I felt sure that this would be the last Rush album that I'd be buying but now I'm not so sure.  Listening on the headphones on my PC I desperately want to get home and try it again on the hi-fi.  Even when Rush have a 'bad' day, there are few who can touch them.

Tracks:
1.One Little Victory5:08
2.Ceiling Unlimited5:28
3.Ghost Rider5:41
4.Peacable Kingdom5:23
5.The Stars Look Down4:28
6.How It Is4:05
7.Vapor Trail4:57
8.Secret Touch6:34
9.Earthshine5:38
10.Sweet Miracle3:40
11.Nocturne4:49
12.Freeze (part IV of "Fear")6:21
13.Out Of The Cradle5:03
total time 67:15

[Back to index]   [Music home]

Copyright Steve Bachini