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Song By Song Battle: Vapor Trails (Remixed) vs. Snakes & Arrows


diatribein
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Finally the battle of what I consider to be the best post 80s RUSH album against the one that sadly eliminated synthesizers entirely from RUSH music. It is no secret which one of these I like better, but I know the general sentiment on the board is the opposite. I put "Remixed" in parenthesis because for the purpose of this battle a song from Vapor Trails is from either release. Here we go:

 

 

One Little Victory < Far Cry

Ceiling Unlimited > Armor and Sword

Ghost Rider < Workin' Them Angels

Peaceable Kingdom < The Larger Bowl

The Stars Look Down > Spindrift

How It Is > The Main Monkey Business

Vapor Trail < The Way The Wind Blows

Secret Touch > Hope

Earthshine < Faithless

Sweet Miracle < Bravest Face

Nocturne > Good News First

Freeze (Part IV of "Fear") > Malignant Narcissism

Out Of The Cradle < We Hold On

 

 

Win for Snakes & Arrows, but closer than expected at 7-6. The closest battle for me was at #3 where my favourite song from Vapor Trails loses to one of my favourites from Snakes & Arrows. That really illustrates how this battle format doesn't show the complete picture. On the surface the two albums appear close, but my favourite song from Vapor Trails wouldn't beat my fifth favourite off of Snakes & Arrows. Only one battle was won by a song I dislike and that is at #12, where Fear defeats instrumental #3. I just find instrumentals boring, and that for me is the one weakness of Snakes & Arrows. Lastly, since this is a thread created by me, I would appreciate not reading any more Bravest Face bashing. It is one of my all time (not just from this album or era) favourite RUSH songs. Those who hate it have made their opinions abundantly clear over and over and over again, so how about if you dislike the song just vote for Sweet Miracle and leave it at that. Parish notes on battle #10 expounding hate are not required.

Edited by diatribein
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One Little Victory < Far Cry

Ceiling Unlimited <Armor and Sword

Ghost Rider < Workin' Them Angels

Peaceable Kingdom > The Larger Bowl

The Stars Look Down < Spindrift

How It Is <The Main Monkey Business

Vapor Trail < The Way The Wind Blows

Secret Touch > Hope

Earthshine > Faithless

Sweet Miracle - Bravest Face

Nocturne <Good News First

Freeze (Part IV of "Fear") < Malignant Narcissism

Out Of The Cradle < We Hold On

 

Snakes wins almost definitively.

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Vapor Trails wins easy. I love every song on VT. I only like some of SA.
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Far Cry

Ceiling Unlimited

Ghost Rider

Peaceable Kingdom

The Stars Look Down

The Main Monkey Business

Vapor Trail

Secret Touch

Earthshine

Sweet Miracle

Nocturne

Freeze

Out of the Cradle

Edited by Stormtron
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Vapor Trails wins easy. I love every song on VT. I only like some of SA.

 

Same for me. TMMB is the only S&A winner in a direct match-up such as this.

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Finally the battle of what I consider to be the best post 80s RUSH album against the one that sadly eliminated synthesizers entirely from RUSH music. It is no secret which one of these I like better, but I know the general sentiment on the board is the opposite. I put "Remixed" in parenthesis because for the purpose of this battle a song from Vapor Trails is from either release. Here we go:

 

 

One Little Victory < Far Cry

Ceiling Unlimited > Armor and Sword

Ghost Rider < Workin' Them Angels

Peaceable Kingdom < The Larger Bowl

The Stars Look Down > Spindrift

How It Is > The Main Monkey Business

Vapor Trail < The Way The Wind Blows

Secret Touch > Hope

Earthshine < Faithless

Sweet Miracle < Bravest Face

Nocturne > Good News First

Freeze (Part IV of "Fear") > Malignant Narcissism

Out Of The Cradle < We Hold On

 

 

 

Any VT victory over Snakes has always been small on TRF. There’s another thread (which I can’t find) where Snakes took down VT.

 

http://www.therushforum.com/index.php?/topic/97922-vapor-trails-v-snakes-and-arrows/page__mode__show

 

http://www.therushforum.com/index.php?/topic/92114-vapor-trails-vs-snakes-arrows/page__hl__%2Bvapor+%2Btrails+%2Bsnakes+%2Barrows

 

 

This one’s a 3 way battle but Snakes does take second place with VT in last.

 

http://www.therushforum.com/index.php?/topic/95748-vapor-trails-vs-snakes-arrows-vs-clockwork-angels/page__hl__%2Bvapor+%2Btrails+%2Bsnakes+%2Barrows

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One Little Victory < Far Cry...not crazy about either, Far Cry squeaks out a win

 

Ceiling Unlimited > Armor & Sword...’not so bad’ defeats ‘not so interesting’

 

Ghost Rider > Workin’ Them Angels’...how else was I going to vote?

 

Peaceable Kingdom > The Larger Bowl...an easy call

 

The Stars Look Down > Spindrift...one of my below average Rush tunes easily eliminates one of my least enjoyable Rush

 

How It Is < The Main Monkey Business...simian!

 

Vapor Trail > The Way the Wind Blows...two good tunes

 

Secret Touch > Hope...I like both but solo Lifeson couldn’t take down himself + Lee + Peart

 

Earthshine > Faithless...obliteration!

 

Sweet Miracle > Bravest Face...I don’t like one and the other is likely my #1 worst Rush

 

Nocturne > Good News First...don’t care about either but the lyrics on the latter made me vote for the former

 

Freeze < Malignant Narcissism...both okay songs. I used to like Malnar a lot more when it was new.

 

Out of the Cradle > We Hold On...another pair I don’t care about

 

 

Final score...

Vapor Trails: 10

Snakes & Arrows: 3

 

No surprise for me.

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One Little Victory < Far Cry

Ceiling Unlimited > Armor and Sword (blowout)

Ghost Rider > Workin' Them Angels (blowout)

Peaceable Kingdom > The Larger Bowl

The Stars Look Down > Spindrift

How It Is > The Main Monkey Business (a little close)

Vapor Trail > The Way The Wind Blows

Secret Touch > Hope (close, but so different)

Earthshine > Faithless

Sweet Miracle -> Bravest Face

Nocturne > Good News First

Freeze (Part IV of "Fear") < Malignant Narcissism (a little close)

Out Of The Cradle > We Hold On

 

An 11-2 victory...no surprise as S&A only has 4 listenable songs.

 

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Vapor Trails wins easy. I love every song on VT. I only like some of SA.

 

Same for me. TMMB is the only S&A winner in a direct match-up such as this.

 

I could do without it. Nothing on Vapor Trails for me is to be skipped. Nothing on Snakes matches anything on VT. I do enjoy the acoustic and folky vibe of the album but that's it.

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Considering how much better VT is than Snakes, a competition organized in this manner only yields an 8-4 margin for VT.

 

In a battle between Peaceable Kingdom and the Larger Bowl there can be no winner, and Snakes takes the first contest, the last two, and TMMB wins over the nonetheless enjoyable How It Is.

Edited by laughedatbytime
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One Little Victory < Far Cry

Ceiling Unlimited > Armor and Sword (blowout)

Ghost Rider > Workin' Them Angels (blowout)

Peaceable Kingdom > The Larger Bowl

The Stars Look Down > Spindrift

How It Is > The Main Monkey Business (a little close)

Vapor Trail > The Way The Wind Blows

Secret Touch > Hope (close, but so different)

Earthshine > Faithless

Sweet Miracle -> Bravest Face

Nocturne > Good News First

Freeze (Part IV of "Fear") < Malignant Narcissism (a little close)

Out Of The Cradle > We Hold On

 

An 11-2 victory...no surprise as S&A only has 4 listenable songs.

 

All the same votes as mine except that I chose the Monkey song.

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One Little Victory Far Cry

Ceiling Unlimited Armor and Sword

Ghost Rider Workin' Them Angels

Peaceable Kingdom The Larger Bowl

The Stars Look Down Spindrift

How It Is The Main Monkey Business

Vapor Trail The Way The Wind Blows

Secret Touch Hope

Earthshine Faithless

Sweet Miracle Bravest Face

Nocturne Good News First

Freeze (Part IV of "Fear") Malignant Narcissism

Out Of The Cradle We Hold On

 

I had a hell of a time with Ghost Rider over Workin' Them Angels and Freeze over MarNar.

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Far Cry

Ceiling Unlimited

Workin’ Them Angels

The Larger Bowl

Spindrift

How It Is

The Way The Wind Blows

Hope

Faithless

Sweet Miracle

Good News First

Malignant Narcissism

We Hold On

 

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One Little Victory << Far Cry

Ceiling Unlimited = Armor and Sword

Ghost Rider > Workin' Them Angels

Peaceable Kingdom and The Larger Bowl - neither

The Stars Look Down and Spindrift - neither

How It Is < The Main Monkey Business

Vapor Trail > The Way The Wind Blows

Secret Touch > Hope

Earthshine >> Faithless

Sweet Miracle and Bravest Face - neither

Nocturne and Good News First - neither

Freeze (Part IV of "Fear") < Malignant Narcissism

Out Of The Cradle and We Hold On - neither

 

VT wins barely, 4:3.

But for this matchup I consider only VT Remix, because original blows.

Edited by Texas King
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VT for the lyrics energy and passion, Snakes for the production and reinclusion of instrumentals and proper guitar solos

 

 

Shurely shome mishtake? hic...

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Only picking songs I like from both albums and excluding the ones I think are only “okay” and lower, this is what I’d be left with:

 

Ghost Rider

Peaceable Kingdom

The Main Monkey Business

Vapor Trail

The Way The Wind Blows

Secret Touch

Hope

Earthshine

 

This would be a very good album to me and would best Clockwork Angels and any 90s Rush album.

Edited by JohnnyBlaze
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This will be a challenge for me. A lot of songs I don't like much on both, but some I like a lot. Neither album are anywhere near my top ten Rush albums. I always found Snakes to be a much better album, though. Vapor is near the bottom. My favorite track, though, is from Vapor (of these two). So it will be interesting.

 

 

So, there was a surprisingly close race. 7-6 Snakes win. A lot of battles put two songs that have annoying moments against each other, so while Vapor may have 'won' some of those, that's only because the annoying moments of Snakes really disappoint me. I HATE a lot of Geddy's vocal affectations on that album, to the point some great music ends up annoying me. Even though on the whole the songs are 'better' than Vapor (in which he also uses some of those same vocal annoyances too often.) I don't know what it is, but whatever things he's doing only bothers me on those two albums.

 

Still, Earthshine is superb, How It Is is also great. Neither song has that vocal problem. One Little Victory would be the best on Vapor, but that's where he introduces his vocal annoyance for the first time. It must be the 'start low then go super high' thing. But it isn't the pitch, it's how he's reaching it. I hate it. Also used in the otherwise very nice Stars Look Down.

 

For Snakes, Far Cry is stellar. The music itself is great throughout the record. I love the instrumentals. Again, it's the vocal thing. Perhaps the three instrumentals are a big part of why I find Snakes superiors. Probably, since Monkey and Malignant are the second and third (in no particular order) on Snakes after Far Cry.

 

All that said, Earthshine is the best track on both albums.

 

One Little Victory < Far Cry

Ceiling Unlimited > Armor and Sword

Ghost Rider > Workin' Them Angels

Peaceable Kingdom < The Larger Bowl

The Stars Look Down < Spindrift

How It Is > The Main Monkey Business

Vapor Trail < The Way The Wind Blows

Secret Touch < Hope

Earthshine > Faithless

Sweet Miracle > Bravest Face

Nocturne > Good News First

Freeze (Part IV of "Fear") < Malignant Narcissism

Out Of The Cradle < We Hold On

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After reading everyone else's comments and thinking about the songs without the vocal choices I hate so much, I think I disagree with my album assessment above. On second thought Vapor DOES have the better songs- musically.

 

It just has more of what annoys me so much about both albums. But strip that away and my love for Earthshine and I actually do think Vapor was better. Especially when I remember that 2 of the top 3 songs on Snakes for me are instrumentals.

 

Still, I like Snakes better because Being annoyed sucks. I'd rather be bored. (So Snake win? :huh:)

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One Little Victory < Far Cry

Ceiling Unlimited < Armor and Sword

Ghost Rider > Workin' Them Angels

Peaceable Kingdom > The Larger Bowl

The Stars Look Down > Spindrift

How It Is < The Main Monkey Business

Vapor Trail > The Way The Wind Blows

Secret Touch > Hope

Earthshine > Faithless

Sweet Miracle > Bravest Face

Nocturne > Good News First

Freeze (Part IV of "Fear") < Malignant Narcissism

Out Of The Cradle < We Hold On

 

Vapor Trails wins 8-5. No surprise as it's easily the album I prefer of the two.

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