Vapor Trails vs. S&A

[Mandalorian Hunter]

Ok, I'm listening to VT now, and I'm finding it really hard to say it's my second favourite rush album.

 

And I'm starting to believe everything Ken has said above.

 

EDIT: I must congratulate the creator of this thread. VT is going to be my album listen of the evening, and by tomorrow could have become my favourite album ever again.

Edited March 9, 2008 by Mandalorian Hunter

[xredsectorx]

S&A for me

[Analog Brian Kidd]

QUOTE (Cygnusx3 @ Mar 9 2008, 05:01 PM)

QUOTE (Analog Brian Kidd @ Mar 9 2008, 04:56 PM) VT is an aural abortion, badly produced, badly written, truly horrible. some people will jsut never understand the true awesomeness of Vapor Trails.......it deserves better. Some people have unclogged ears, and taste.

[toddnbeth]

VT is a pretty good album, in my opinion, but for me, SNA is superior because it is such a cohesive album, as compared to VT. All of the songs really come together to make an album which, taken as a whole, I would judge to be as good as the epic albums of the 70s. Maybe if I listened to VT as much as I have listened to SNA my opinion would change, but at this point in time SNA is my absolute favorite album.

[WCFIELDS]

VT by millions of miles.......

[rushgoober]

QUOTE (Analog Brian Kidd @ Mar 9 2008, 04:53 PM)

QUOTE (Cygnusx3 @ Mar 9 2008, 05:01 PM) QUOTE (Analog Brian Kidd @ Mar 9 2008, 04:56 PM) VT is an aural abortion, badly produced, badly written, truly horrible. some people will jsut never understand the true awesomeness of Vapor Trails.......it deserves better. Some people have unclogged ears, and taste. I swear I'm not putting him up to it!

[The Rocinante]

Vapor Trails by far. It needs a remaster though.

[Mandalorian Hunter]

I listened to both albums tonight, and I'm nowhere near reaching a decision.

 

This should be fun over the next couple of weeks!

[gleamingalloyaircar81]

This isn't even close. You have one of their top 5 albums in S&A and their worst in Vapor Trails.

[PGrace02]

Really tough choice. Both S&A and VT are my top 5 Rush albums.

In fact they are my 1 and 2 favorite albums at this moment.

 

But I sometimes skip some songs on VT (OLV, OOTC and nowadays Secret Touch-'cause I listen to the tune to death on many boots).

On S&A I don't skip any song.

So I vote for S&A by a margin.

 

I sometimes think if mixing the virtue of VT and S&A, it would be one killer album.

 

 

 

 

[Pause Rewind Replay]

This is hard.. I like VT a LOT... I don't understand at all the people who slam it.

 

I think VT gets ripped so much because even for a band that consciously changes its sound every album, VT sounds NOTHING like any other Rush album, and many fans tuned out on first listen because it wasn't what Rush, to them, was "supposed" to sound like.

 

That said, S&A is even better. Every song has a hook in it somewhere that snags in your brain and won't let go. The lyrics are great, and I love Geddy and Alex even throwing a blues touch into Bravest Face and TWTWB. A year afterward, snippets of songs I thought I didn't even like now float through my brain at random intervals (Good News First is currently lodged in there).

[maxdistortion]

Snakes and Arrows.

 

its a much superior album. there is way more sense of melody, alex has a few solos, and the album has a very relaxed mood. this was actually the type of album i was expecting when I heard that the vibe from Feedback was inspiring to them.

 

on the other hand, while I initially couldn't dig Vapor Trails, Snakes and Arrows did make me appreciate it just a little more...in the sense that the only thing I believe Snakes and Arrows lacks is a fast rocker tune. Vapor Trails has plenty of these, but its kind of one dimensional...but it was their first album since Neil's tragedies so all they wanted to do was rock out, so it was definately an album for that particular time.

 

also Snakes and Arrows gets an 8 out of 10, and Nick R. probably gave it an extra point or so because of his initiating the start of Malignant Narcissm, excellent production, and pushing the guys a little bit (I love the little segment on his suggesting to Neil to play a more driving beat on TWTWB).

 

my 2 cents. i like reading everyones responses here --good post/good comments. and not a single "horse-beating" emoticon in sight (yet), thankfully...surely some disgruntled veteran must bring one in by now:P

[Crudson]

S&A by a long way for me. VT is slowly growing on me though, even now.

[Grace2Grace]

QUOTE (Necromancer @ Mar 9 2008, 01:30 PM)

Well, if you're following my thread about Snakes and Arrows, you'd know that I feel it's a steril, adult contemporary cd. And while it's a brilliant one, it doesn't have the balls that VT has. So I go with VT. The flak about VT being produced badly doesn't take away from how good the music is on this. Even without Alex soloing like I would like him to do, the riffs and lyrics kick so much ass that I can get past the lack of Alex soloing. Maybe I'm just sick of SnA cuz CeeJ plays it so damn much.

Adult Contemporary CD? Is this thread about Presto?

[Rushman14]

Despite the production, Out of the Cradle is the best song on either album, but on the whole, S&A is more solid.

 

 

[nimagraven]

I like both, but I went with VT. It's a lot more gutsy and I think S&A even though it sounds great kinda went middle of the road a bit.. So VT got my vote in the end, minus all the production issues .

[PhilCastro]

Even though the best song from either of those albums (IMO) is One Little Victory, Snakes and Arrows is an overall better album.

[1974FAN]

Although both have spoken to me when the timing couldn't be more right, based on what I was going through in my life, I have to lean towards Vapor Trails, because I could really empathize with Neil as to what he was going through then as well.

[Fridge]

Whilst S&A is certainly not one of their great albums, it is a decent effort with one or two real gems.

 

As far as I am concerned it owns VT's sorry arse, though it too has some decent moments. Pity it was recorded underneath a swamp though.....

[Show Don't Tell]

Snakes & Arrows.

[margaret]

[snowdog2112]

QUOTE

Even though the best song from either of those albums (IMO) is One Little Victory,

 

Amazing how different opinions can be. I can appreciate the energy and power that's in that song but I still think it might be my all-time least favorite Rush song. Seriously, even lower than You Bet Your Life. Between all of the ah-hahs and hearing Geddy sing "one little victory" over and over and over it's the only Rush song that I actually consider to be grating. Obviously (for the millionth time) the sound quality doesn't help but I think whereas many songs on VT would be helped immensily by hearing a clean version OLV would not. That's cool that others get off on it though, I think virtually every song in Rush's catalog can be somebody's favorite and somebody's else's least favorite.

[WorkingAngel]

VT was sort of the comeback album after Neil's tragedies and rumors of a breakup. Some of the songs on the album I really like but I agree with just about everyone else that the sound is muddy.

 

S&A is the better album to me, though. It sounds more refined and represents the group's collective talent more. That's just my opinion, though.

[JDL2112]

It took me a couple of years to warm up to VT...

 

It took me a couple of plays to warm up to S&A...

 

I do like them both, but I'm going with S&A...

[Gompers]

In watching the other song by song poll of these two albums, I needed to revisit this thread.

 

Personally, S&A is probably one of Rush's most versatile, well-rounded, and mixed albums. Their ability as song writers comes through better than most of their releases. I think they paid more attention to the texture of each song than with the previous release.

 

I find VT to be difficult to listen to in one sitting. I have listened to what the boys do and they certainly do it well, but VT leaves me feeling empty. Many songs sound similar to the previous one sonicly.

 

That being said, VT has individually strong songs but collectively the album is far from one of Rush's best while I find S&A to be one of their best.