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Resignated Joy: Rush and Vapor Trails (2013) Oct 5 Posted by bradbirzer http://progarchy.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/rush-vapor-trails-remixed.jpeg?w=604If only. . . . Listening to the re-released and remixed version of Vapor Trails (originally released May 14, 2002) over the last several days has been akin to a great hike in the Rockies with my brothers. Clean air, deep conversation, and almost ceaseless movement through ever-changing vistas. Indeed, I often think how much I’d love to have Neil Peart as an older brother. He’s 15 years old than I am, and I doubt if any figure (and, be prepared to be shocked–I was a nerd kid; I read everything I could find) influenced my own view of life and the world more than did Peart, especially between my 13th birthday and my 21st. During the most troubling parts of my childhood, the Canadian drummer always seemed to offer some of the best advice I received in those days. And, without exaggeration, I can say that some of the lyrics on Moving Pictures, Signals, Grace Under Pressure, and Power Windows saved my life–quite literally and truly. I owe Peart a lot. I know I’m not alone. There are, at the very least, a generation of us North Americans who were guided far more by Peart than by any of our teachers, our pastors and ministers, and, even, our extended relatives. Certainly, between roughly 1981 and 1986, given a choice between spending time with headphones on listening to Rush or watching TV, I would’ve (and did) choose Rush every time. The images Geddy, Alex, and Neil evoked had far more power–at least in my mind, heart, and soul–than that of any exec, writer, or actor associated with the small screen. I’ve never lost my love of or appreciation of Rush. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve only grown with them. In particular, I’m happy to note, I’ve celebrated with them. Much of what I knew in the 1990s (those somewhat dreary, pre-marriage graduate school years) came from the internet forum (new in those days), the National Midnight Star and the long-involved discussions of Rush, the lyrics, and the music. The three members of Rush continued to guide me–again, much like my older brothers, always a bit ahead of me in life, always willing to share wisdom with the pesky, somewhat annoying, little brother. And, of course, as we all did, I mourned with them. When word arrived of Neil’s double losses in the late 1990s–the death of his daughter and his wife–I was devastated for him. At the time, Neil disappeared, and we all, more or less, assumed Rush was done. Rumors abounded that Neil had gotten on his motorcycle and just taken off. Several friends and I looked for him in the news–an odd announcement here or there might reveal a small detail or a hint. Could he be in Texas, hiding out, looking for a small band to form, perhaps to heal? Perhaps he’d driven to Argentina or Chile. As it turns out, we were partially right. Neil, as he soon revealed, had indeed been traveling throughout North America on his touring motorcycle, looking for solitude and solace. After reemerging from a year on the road, he rejoined Geddy and Alex, and the band recorded one of its best albums, an album, as Neil has explained, of victory and redemption. This would be reason enough to love Vapor Trails. But, the album is also a stunning work of art. Little did I know when Vapor Trails came out in 2002 that my wife and I would experience something similar, losing our third daughter, Cecilia Rose, named after a great aunt as well as the patron saint of music, in August 2007. Neil would once again–though at a distance–serve as older brother, helping me understand our own terrible and confusing loss. But, this is not the post to go into this. Suffice it say, I understand what Neil experienced. http://progarchy.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/vt-remix-box.jpg?w=300&h=248Vapor Trails Vapor Trails, as I saw it then, and still do, is three very important things. First, it’s the most intense album Rush had written and produced since Grace Under Pressure (my favorite Rush album; an album that defined the rather broken, tense world of the 1980s for me). Second, what’s not to love? The album, even in its resignation and mixed tone, is nothing if not a celebration of life, a tribute of two brothers, supporting and loving the third, helping Neil grieve and helping him overcome. Geddy and Alex throw themselves into this album, as does Neil. Third, the album is the beginning of an entire re-emergence of Rush, a more rocking as well as more progressive Rush. It’s nearly impossible for me to separate Vapor Trails from Snakes and Arrows and Snakes and Arrows from Clockwork Angels. It’s as though Rush tapped into the very essence of the third wave of prog, having been early pioneers in the genre in the 1970s, and adding their own very Rushian spirit to the movement in the first and second decades of the twenty-first century. Complaints–but not from me A lot of long-time Rush fans complained about Vapor Trails when it came out, and many still do. For the diehard Rush fan, Vapor Trails is accepted, but it rarely ranks high. The key excuse for not liking the album has always been, first and foremost, that it was poorly mixed and mastered. I would never have even considered this as an issue unless others had told me it was. Perhaps I just don’t have the right ears, but I’d always assumed the album was meant to have a bit of a post-grunge, hollowish, sound. I’d assumed this sound quality was a part of its charm. If, however, the remixed and released version of Vapor Trails is what Rush originally had wanted, then, I finally understand some of the grumblings over the last 11 years. The remixed 2013 version is a piece of sonic brilliance, an audiophile’s equivalent of an 8- pound bag of peanut M&Ms from Costco, even with the blue dye number 3. Whatever my own aural limitations, I’m hearing things with the 2013 release that I’d never even imagined with the 2002 version. Every instrument is punctuated and individually enhanced while yet remaining rather seamless in its integration with every other instrument. This is one tight band. Themes Not surprisingly, the emotional tone of the lyrics is all over the place. One Little Victory: exactly what it states, victory of life over death. Ceiling Unlimited: hope. Ghost Rider: resignation and penance. Peaceable Kingdom: wishes. The Stars Look Down and How It Is: fate and acceptance. Vapor Trail: fleeting and ephemeral. Secret Touch: stoic fortitude. Earthshine and Sweet Miracle: wonder and grace. Nocturne and Freeze Part IV: unworthiness. Out of the Cradle: victory and pronouncement. If anything, the 2013 version only highlights Neil’s very personal and confessional lyrics. Indeed, if Grace Under Pressure examines the state of the world and laments, Vapor Trails examines the state of the soul and rejoices. . . mostly. http://progarchy.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/neil-four-corners.jpeg?w=604http://progarchy.com/2013/10/05/resignated-joy-rush-and-vapor-trails-2013/

Q: Do you believe in God? Alex: No.When I was younger I did. My mother is not super-religious, but she has a belief. My father was the total opposite. He though religion was a crock. In my early teens I started to question it all. I had friends who were Jesus freaks, others were just very spiritual, and we had these great long discussions about these things. But as I get older it just becomes a less and less sensible thing to think about.

I liked the part where he talks about taking E and listening to Tool with his wife. I know he is cool, but damn!

Here is Geddy on religion: http://youtu.be/VL_7pVb2lI0

Greetings, Geddy gals! I have returned! :) I'm looking forward to sitting back later tonight (y'know, after all my unpacking chores and catching up on family correspondence to let 'em know I'm all alive and well and not lost in Hawaii - though I tried, goodness knows I tried to get lost in Hawaii) and checking out all that I've missed in here in the past three weeks. And little funny story: right at the last minute, just before we were leaving on this trip, I decided that I didn't want to be away from Geddy's visage, so I uploaded a bunch of photos - 89 of them, it turns out - onto my cell phone, so I could peek at them when I was feeling homesick for Geddy. What a great idea that was! And,,. in three weeks, I've listened to exactly two Rush songs. Two! Whereas before I've been listening to at least an hour every day, with my walking to work and all that! The songs, BTW? 'How It Is' and 'Everyday Glory'. I had a hankering. Can't wait to listen to some good music today, and try out my new Vapor Trails remixed cd that was here when I got home last night! Anyway, just a 'hello' to you all, and I'll be back later! I've missed you! :)

I'm falling more and more in love with this record every time I listen to it. It's amazing to listen to in the dark on headphones. There's a tremendous amount of subtlety in this record that lends itself very well to the kind of close and completely absorbed listening that I love to do to find my centre. Neil is quite subdued on this record, audibly still re-finding his feet, but Alex is doing his magic in all kinds of intricate, subtle and adventurous ways all over it, and Geddy's bass positively dances underneath it all, unifying the relationship between the guitar and the drums in that indescribable way he has, like the sphere that unites the heart and the mind. So many cool sounds in these songs, textures in the music weaving in and out. Busy and a little impenetrable, yes, but in that way it's a bit like an old antique shop that to the casual glance appears cluttered and chaotic and surely filled with junk, but reveals itself to be a storehouse of treasures when the glancer pays close enough attention to actually look. I love :rush:

I'd sell whatever someone is willing to buy! I'd like Monday as my day, that way my week can start off with a bang ;)

I'll sell a kidney!

Soft, hip-thrusting Geddy. I'd mortgage my house! Oh and if I could be in the rotation I'd like Wednesday nights.

1982. I heard New World Man on the Radio and loved it. A few days or so later I heard Tom Sawyer and thought it was on the same record. Yes...I said record. My friend got a copy (Maxell tape...some of you will remember those) and we went into his finished basement to listen to it. His sister, who was in high school, came in and said, "That's good, but if you want to hear a real rush album try this." She handed us Permanent Waves. This was the first album I heard all the way through. We eventually listened to the rest of Signals, but not until getting through PeW twice.

I got into Rush about a year ago. I had heard of them before, but had never really listened to their music (or so I ignorantly thought), and decided I should check them out. At that time, a local radio station was playing several of their songs, only I didn't realize it was Rush because my knowledge of music was, alas!, shamefully pathetic. I liked the music, but I didn't know what to make of the singer. Then my brother-in-law educated me on the fact that what I was listening to was Rush. One day I caught the tail-end of "Working Man," and that, my friend, is when it happened: the Geddy Lee Mystique descended upon me and I was hooked from that moment on. I listened to their first album, was blown away, and then proceeded to listen to the rest of their discography. It was awesome. So, so awesome.

:mwah: I wonder if I have enough money to pay him to run into my house and do that move each night? I think we should start a Kickstarter to raise the money for it and work out some sort of rotation for who gets Geddy hip thrusts that night.

That gif was the happiest accident I've ever had! I was making a bunch of gifs and picked a random time frame to see what screenshot set I had and that's what I got. Here are some more gifs of Geddy being adorable for you all http://i.imgur.com/uTVLieB.gif http://i.imgur.com/e4lPbC7.gif http://i.imgur.com/iSbQnYX.gif http://i.imgur.com/PEhC5c7.gif

Anything like this ever happen to you? I wore my Rush shirt to football practice the other day. The kids asked me about my shirt, and as I was getting ready to reply, another coach sets in with "You never heard of Rush? The greatest rock drummer ever, 2112 being the most epic album of all time", etc, etc. I actually was a little irritated. Rush is MY band dammit!

How about: "Peaceable Goober" Dream of a Peaceable Goober Dream of a Goobs without spite He thinks that all his opinions Are the only ones that are right! :clap: Are you kidding me? No one should dream about Goober

I've got a Vapor Trails project on the way too. I'm rewriting the lyrics to all 13 songs! It's gonna be a concept idea telling the life story of rushgoober and why he hates the world so very much, but channels all the hate into an album by RUSH to keep himself from going off-the-rails apeshit and getting arrested. I'm gonna keep some of the lines in (such as "slack jawed gaze" and "The vacant laugh of true insanity" which seems appropriate for goober) but mostly it'll be all-new or slightly altered material! :P

On the FM radio in 1977 or 1978 I heard "Closer To The Heart" - I didn't like it then and still don't like it today. Fast forward a few years, one day a song came on and I asked "What is the name of this song and who does it?" It was "The Spirit of Radio".

It was Neil Peart, wasn't it.

Welcome back! I don't blame you for wanting to get lost in Hawaii. What a beautiful place. You've definitely been missed here though. Glad you'll be able to give the new Vapor Trails a listen today. It's stellar.

That is a great article. My feelings to a tee.

Wow. That was uncharacteristically candid. Great interview though. It was refreshing to read something different.

The first song I ever heard---and I liked it immediately---was Spirit. I remember thinking that it sounded a little like Styx, but that there was no way that Styx could be that cool. This was 1980 and I was either 11 or 12 years old. I grew up in the Washington, D.C. metro area, and many of my early Rush experiences came piped through the rock radio station there, DC 101. The following year, I was introduced more thoroughly. During the summer of 1981, I was hanging with a friend in Fairfax, Virginia and somehow Rush came up. He told me that his older brother had been a fan for years, and he led me over to the stereo system. I had heard Tom Sawyer on the radio and I'm sure was asking about it. He put Moving Pictures on the turntable, and I grabbed the headphones and sat and listened to all of Side A, and at least a couple of times. It was a revelation, and I can trace my lifelong pursuit back to that one experience. Red Barchetta sealed the deal. KISS was out after that. Nearly 30 years later I visited my friend's parents and told them about about that day. They walked me back through their house to show me the stereo and the headphones, and it was nice to see where it all began.

That's awesome but to many songs. They can't play that amount of songs any more. I know they are fantasy sets but you need to keep them to about 26 songs at the most 27. 10 in the first set, 13-14 in the second and 3 in the encore. Have fun! Love the encore by the way! :codger: Yeah these were just made while I was on my laptop, just got back on my actually PC and getting ready to edit them a bit. Its incredible how many good songs these guys have! So true! There is no Rush song that I just flat out hate.

This part of the Afterimage video is enough to stop my heart. He just seems so sad! Cheer up Professor! http://i.imgur.com/SZf3y4Q.gif

I agree. He was very pretty when he was younger...in the best way possible. Plus I feel like he somehow got prettier the older he got for a while. Since he went from this: http://i.imgur.com/nhW3sIM.gif to this http://i.imgur.com/hi5xOlp.gif to this http://i.imgur.com/sDUsYxJ.gif

My husband put on "The Trees" I asked him what the f**k did he think he was doing and why did that nerdy guy singing sound like the way he did. What a bunch of NERDS. It took him about two years until he tried again...

I'll take Fridays. Great way to start the weekend. :D

He's pretty sexy in the witch hunt video on the grace under pressure tour...

:mwah: I wonder if I have enough money to pay him to run into my house and do that move each night? Mmmm, soft focus Geddy. He looks as fabulous as Joan Collins!

Arthur

Clockwork Angels is a superior album. But I love the fact I can finally enjoy listening to the songs I like on Vapor Trails.

Oh, I think that's on everyone's mind...

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y288/Bluefunk/Rush/Alex128.jpg http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y288/Bluefunk/Rush/1005472_561172530586349_1110032071_n.jpg http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y288/Bluefunk/Rush/040728Arc-Zivojinovich2_t600.jpg http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y288/Bluefunk/Rush/gggggg-1.jpg http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y288/Bluefunk/Rush/RUSH108_zpsba614fae.jpg http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y288/Bluefunk/Rush/Rush07Marysville127.jpg http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y288/Bluefunk/Rush/tumblr_lxll8bRpJ51r8jxbbo1_500.jpg http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y288/Bluefunk/Rush/tumblr_lyopwvh0NU1qh7odco1_500.jpg http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y288/Bluefunk/Rush/4821420056_2f900e402a_b.jpg http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y288/Bluefunk/Rush/Alex-Lifeson-Ethan-Miller-Getty-Images.jpg http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y288/Bluefunk/Rush/tumblr_mnesqbyBhy1s45bp8o4_r3_250.gif

Due to unrealisticly high expectations I was disappointed with Clockwork Angels upon first listen. That being said, I like the album, but its just not what I thought it would be at all.

Every time you double post a kitten dies so don't do it! (Or go out of your way to do it depending on how you feel about cats.)

LOL! Then the drumming must grab you! They are so much better without Portnoy! Winery Dogs is shite. Disagree and disagree. Mangini is amazing. They made their best music with Portnoy come on man. And The Winery Dogs CD is killer (just picked it up) and for the record....Portnoy's drums sound incredible. Not only just his superb playing. Sonically it smokes Magnini's sound on the new DT album. I can't believe they went with the snare sound on this record. Keeping it real...it is really a major sonic flaw on an otherwise fantastic record. Just downright criminal how dead his snare sounds. I liken it to the lousy 80's hairband snare sounds. It's really....puzzling. Anyway my personal take on that. But Earl is all about "lousy 80's hairband snare sounds" :P

Just picked this up. So far...half way through it. I really dig it. Really solid accessible rock music...great playing of course. Portnoy's drums sound incredible as always.

It was the summer of 1980 and I was the biggest Disco Freak. Yes I even knew the dance moves to Travolta’s Saturday Night Fever spectacle. I would only listen to the pop stations in town and occasionally, they would play this weird music called rock. Songs from Elton John, Billy Joel, Journey and Foreigner amused me. Then in the summer of 1981 my best friends older brother would be pick us up from Jr. High in his white Duster (remember those?) Anyway, he would pick us up and blast the only two 8–track cassettes he own at ear piercing levels. Back and Black and Hi Infidelity made our ears bleed for 8 long months. Consequently, we were transformed into rockers after that year. I began learning all those REO Speedwagon songs on my little split- keys organ. I became the Biggest REO freak, I even premed my hair at one point But that’s a whole other story. The Following year I had become so good at performing these REO songs I entered in the Schools Battle of the Band and performed a pretty descent rendition of “Take it on the run.” Soon after my performance, a long haired band played a song I wasn’t familiar with. It was dynamic and powerful and had strange time changes. They finished their set and I approached the guitarist and asked, “What was that you guys played?” He gave me a frown and said “The Spirit of Radio by Rush. You’ve never heard of it? Go listen to WSHE and you will.” That night I turned my dial to 105.9 and began to listen. Moving Pictures was just released and RUSH was all over the airways. I was taken aback how I had never heard any of these great songs. Anyway I started learning these songs as well which caught the attention of another friend of mine in our choir class. He was a huge RUSH fan and invited me to his grandmother’s house. When I enter his room I was amazed by his collection of guitars and his Moog which I took too and started playing The Camera Eye off the bat. I fell in love with it. The next day I was at the local music store buying myself my first actual keyboard, a very pricey Roland Juno 106. The next day I went to my friend’s house with keyboard in tow and set up shop in his bedroom. After jamming through several MP songs, he looked at me and said “ OK you’re ready!” “Ready for what” I asked? “Ready to get you mind blown!” He replied. He turned his back and placed a record on his player. It was Hemispheres and my mind was blown. We must have spent the rest of the afternoon learning The Trees. We became really close that year. Anyway, in that year ended and a new one began. Later, on a sunny fall morning of 1982 my friend and I sat patiently in choir watching the clock tick by to head off to the local record store (Specs) to buy the new RUSH album being released. The classed dismissed and we headed out at top speed to it. All we could do is sit in class and look at the cover. Signals…Cool. We got out of school and went directly to his house to hear it. The Needle went onto the vinyl and my world changed. Keyboards! OMG! This band that has captivated me like no other is now playing songs with heavy keyboards. Did they know I was listening to them now? Was this album for me? Anyway I learn “Subdivisions” in a day. The next I learned “Countdown” and turned my focus to Losing It. I was already inamorata with the lyrics but when I started learning it. I was in heaven. Those arpaggiated passages, the violin and the 5/4 time signature it was perfection to my young ears. I couldn’t get enough of the song and learned it well. Later that year RUSH announced their appearance at the Hollywood Sportatorium in Sunrise Florida for March 17th and 18th for 1983. I camped out and bought my ticket. It was a long wait but the night finally came and sat in that sold out arena and waited. The lights went down, the crowd went nuts and the three stooges came on followed by The Spirit of Radio, that crazy song that started to whole damn thing. Four songs later Geddy began pounding on that F# octave and I pounded along with him. I spent the rest of the night waiting for Losing It which never came but was treated to Countdown in all its glory! I left that arena completely changed. I knew what I wanted out of life and how I wanted to do it! I began playing in bands all around town, meeting musicians and finally recording my own music under the name Axiom, which kinda sounds a bit like RUSH. Well ,you can hear the influences anyway. It’s been a long journey and a great one and it all began in 1981 with a Cover band playing “The Spirit of Radio”!

Loving The Final Cut love!!!

He couldn't have started you with a better representation of the bands work than that!

I was the bass player in my first band at age 17 and the drummer said there was a band that I really needed to hear called Rush. He pulled out the album A Farewell to Kings and put on Xanadu through our PA. I was blown away. Went out and bought the album the next day.

2 demerits, you're put on Double Super Secret Probation abd a dbouel shto agin plesaes

MTV introduced me to Rush via the "Tom Sawyer" video. I was five or six years old, and was absolutely mesmerized by the drummer and his massive kit. I tried to recreate it in my bedroom with Lincoln Logs boxes. That's when Rush first carved out space in my conscience. The next thing I remember from there is the MTV "World Premiere" of the "Distant Early Warning" video. I think Martha Quinn introduced it. (I was obsessed with MTV as a child. It was my babysitter most nights.) I became a complete fan later, through the Chronicles release.

You get use to it. I'll assume Bottrill took an artistic liberty that it wasn't needed, and didn't include it. It doesn't really hurt the song.

Despite still trying to digest the latest from Dream Theater and Fates Warning, I did manage to spend a bit of time with the new remix. A couple of things that jumped out at me was that the drums are now more subdued and the vocals elevated. The thing I disliked the most is the emptiness I heard in songs like Ceiling Unlimited and Freeze. They did not sound nearly as "full" in certain sections.

Yeah uhhhh I'll just be sitting here staring at this... forever. Can you read my mind ladies........

Not to be rude, but how does a Rush fan, who posts on a Rush forum, not have Vapor Trails Remixed yet? It blows my mind! One who hasn't got around to it yet! I guess there are really different levels of Rush fans. Personally, since 1984, I had to have every new album the moment it came out!

I don't want to look them in the eye, unless I'm armed with a flamethrower.

Put Michael Bolton or Bieber on the stereo. Plug in the headphones, and place the headphones directly onto the wife's belly. The kid will be out in no time.....

My wife and I saw Norm live. I don't know if I've ever laughed so hard in my life. Very funny man, and a criminally underrated comedian.