The Owl Posted January 22, 2011 Share Posted January 22, 2011 I had a thread on this topic a couple of years ago, and I was gonna bump that, but for some reason I could not find the thread in search...... so just gonna re-do the thread here. Vapor Trails, is there a more controversial Rush album, or a more polarizing album? In this thread I want us to ignore the bad production quality of this album, which is something we can all agree on as being awful... but focus on the lyrics, the music and how the music relates to said lyrics. At first Vapor Trails was less than impressive upon first listen.. (which was around the time I started getting into Rush on a hardcore fan basis) I liked the album, but did not feel the album to be "standout" and certainty not fitting for a so-called "comeback" album....... and I held that opinion for a while. Then about 2 years ago I read Neal's novel "Ghost Rider", and the book did a great job explaining and conveying the emotional state which led to the group of songs that would become "Vapor Trails". Knowing the story behind the songs changed my opinions of the album as a whole. Vapor Trails probably has, maybe not the "Best", but some of the most powerful lyrics I think Neal has written, knowing where he is coming from... and has lead to a great appreciation of that album. I just re-read the book recently and thought this a good topic to bring up again. Vapor Trails musically, lyrically, and defiantly production wise, is far from the best rush album... but I like it... but I find it hard to appreciate an album more, or why it was written and recorded in the first place than Vapor Trails... and I have those opinions because of reading "Ghost Rider"... just my opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NobodysHeroine Posted January 22, 2011 Share Posted January 22, 2011 Yes, absolutely. Reading Ghost Rider has given me, in partcular, a far better appreciation of the song of the same name, which happens to be my favorite on the album. While Vapor Trails may be polarizing, as you said, one must appreciate all that Neil -- and the band itself -- had experienced to get to that point. It is truly a blessing that Neil found the strength to live again, to find love and happiness after both things had been taken from him. It is a blessing that he is still here. Thanks to whatever God there exists, Neil was being watched over. It may not be my favorite album, but it has grown on me since I read Ghost Rider. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Owl Posted January 22, 2011 Author Share Posted January 22, 2011 I really enjoyed Ghost Rider....... and I liked when he had themes running through the book that became songs... The phrase "One Little Victory" comes up alot in the book. The album progresses like the book in a way... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Owl Posted January 22, 2011 Author Share Posted January 22, 2011 Goobs, I know you hate this album, but have you read "Ghost Rider" yet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HowItIs Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 Definitely, Owl. After the TM show last summer, I sought out Ghost Rider. I had lost my Mother several months before that and was not getting anything from the various grief books I'd looked at. No, what I needed was the story of how another stoic intellectual handled grief: someone whose story would resonate with me. Neil helped me so much more than those other books. Then I started listening to Vapor Trails with new ears, as it were, and found what you have mentioned. The lyrics of Ghost Rider describe Neil's inner and outer landscape so well. And One Little Victory... well, there just isn't a better song they could have opened the album with - THIS is Neil's "happy song." Of course, I love the song I took my UID from... who among us hasn't been there? "When today is all that we can see..." I'm re-reading Ghost Rider at the moment and last night I came across something that made me smile. In a journal entry in Mexico, Neil wrote on December 9, 1998: "Maybe it will be okay..." Thanks to those Angels he's been working, it was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMWriter Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 ...I started reading Ghost Rider before I got my hands on a good number of the songs. (Still searching for the rest until I can get a CD!) But when I did start reading it and realized just how much he had gone through emotionally, I seriously think it's a miracle he did go back to Rush and back into the music business. It made me really look at him differently as both a person and a musician (and writer). (In a good way!) My impression was that he really is just a guy, just another human being, but he expresses himself in such a way that it just astounds me. It takes real heart and a real gift to put what he feels into words and -- and then to share it with the world? People say that the eyes are the windows to the soul. Maybe that's true, but I can say from experience that the words from a writer's mind are just as much a look, too. I'm going to sound like my broken AFTK record, but it's just amazing. So yes, after that long schpeal, I can say that it has made me appreciate Vapor Trails. Is it a perfect album? No. (Mastering was kind of iffy.) But it's got so much raw emotion in it. The music, the lyrics.. It's a very heavy album but it's powerful. I get as emotional listening to some of those tracks as I do listening to "2112" -- which hits me every time I play it! (Wow, that turned out long. Can you tell I like novelling?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
In A Tidewater Surge Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 You get emotional listening to 2112? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xanadu93 Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 QUOTE (The Owl @ Jan 22 2011, 02:30 PM)Neal C'mon, man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMWriter Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 QUOTE (In A Tidewater Surge @ Jan 22 2011, 10:52 PM) You get emotional listening to 2112? I do! I find it a very powerful song. I think it's about the love and freedom of music, and about the human spirit, and how awful it is when all that just gets ripped away.. Maybe I read too much into some of these songs, but that's just my impression. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeddysMullet Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 I haven't read Ghost Rider. I keep thinking about it, but I've read Roadshow and Travelling Music, and I'm afraid that Ghost Rider will just make me dislike Neil too much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatchetaxe&saw Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 QUOTE (GeddysMullet @ Jan 23 2011, 04:23 PM) I haven't read Ghost Rider. I keep thinking about it, but I've read Roadshow and Travelling Music, and I'm afraid that Ghost Rider will just make me dislike Neil too much. Actually, Ghost Rider humanises ol' Grumpy Drawers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cygnals Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 In a way it has as I enjoy VT alot (imo their best in a long time). Lyrically, it's a very moving, therapeutic (if you will) verbalization of what Neil went through. How can one not empathize/relate to pain, agony, fear, soul searching? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cygnus_thegodofbalance Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 I tried reading Ghost Rider, but I couldn't get into it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Owl Posted January 23, 2011 Author Share Posted January 23, 2011 QUOTE (Xanadu93 @ Jan 22 2011, 11:53 PM) QUOTE (The Owl @ Jan 22 2011, 02:30 PM)Neal C'mon, man. I am also a fan of "Neal Morse" (spocks beard) sorry if I get the different spellings between the 2 Niel/Neals mixed up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rushgoober Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 QUOTE (The Owl @ Jan 22 2011, 03:20 PM) Goobs, I know you hate this album, but have you read "Ghost Rider" yet? No, and if I have to read an entire book to appreciate an album, that's much farther than I'm willing to go. I've read enough of Neil's blogs or snippets of blogs to know I have no interest in reading an entire book by him. If that makes me less of a fan, then so be it, but I care about this band for their music, not for the details of their personal lives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
micgtr71 Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 My friend mentioned that VT was far more interesting after reading it. I will have to check it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Owl Posted January 23, 2011 Author Share Posted January 23, 2011 QUOTE (rushgoober @ Jan 23 2011, 04:15 PM) QUOTE (The Owl @ Jan 22 2011, 03:20 PM) Goobs, I know you hate this album, but have you read "Ghost Rider" yet? No, and if I to read an entire book to appreciate an album, that's much farther than I'm willing to go. I've read enough of Neil's blogs or snippets of blogs to know I have no interest in reading an entire book by him. If that makes me less of a fan, then so be it, but I care about this band for their music, not for the details of their personal lives. I was only trying to make a joke......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GuitarPlyr01 Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 I read it a few years ago. Had been sitting in my den since. I just recently came into a newer appreciation for VT. So I started to re-read it. We'll see how I feel at the end. I'm one of those people that will sometimes take the meanings of songs for something different then what they were originally written to mean. So maybe finding the truths behind some of the songs will change my attitude about some of them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ranger J Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 I only finished the book on Friday, took me about a month to get through it. It was a great read, although I was a little disappointed at the end. As for the most part it was very fluent and well written though I couldn't help but feel the end was a little 'rushed' ("is that it?") and could have been fleshed out a bit more. I loved the subtle hints of the development of the vapor trails lyrics in parts of the text. I loved the quirky humour that emerged every now and again. I was glad to discover that there is some one else that shares the same cynicism on much of the world as me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1 of the 7 Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 QUOTE (CMWriter @ Jan 23 2011, 12:37 AM) QUOTE (In A Tidewater Surge @ Jan 22 2011, 10:52 PM) You get emotional listening to 2112? I do! I find it a very powerful song. I think it's about the love and freedom of music, and about the human spirit, and how awful it is when all that just gets ripped away.. Maybe I read too much into some of these songs, but that's just my impression. Heck yeah! The timing of the kid being moved to suicide just before the impending change that would have saved him and given him a mission in life? This is Great Tragedy territory for sure. "I don't think I can carry on/ Carry on this cold and empty life/ Oh...noo" has made my eyes water more than once. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drbirdsong Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 I was a fan since Permanent Waves so the 'comeback' of Vapor Trails was a big event. A lot had changed in my own life since Test For Echo. The album finally arrived and it was hard to get into until How It Is started and then the whole album just blossomed and it will always hold a special compartment in my heart. Anyone who ever lost a loved one can probably relate. I read Ghost Rider a bit later and it floored me. I expected to read about Neil Peart having a universally hard time, but the man remains himself. He is who he is and he does not apologize. He merely reports his situation. The book and the album mark a time that followers of the band can relate to and yet it also makes a significant impact on new followers of the band. Timeless is and always will be timeless. After we are all gone folks all over the world will remember the book and the album. Even if it is just a few then it will probably be worth while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Todem Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mystic Slipperman Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 I dug most of the songs and lyrics on Vapor Trails right away, in spite of the mastering. Timing played a part in it for sure..... my wife was beginning to get interested in Rush during the time that they were recording VT, so we were naturally both excited to see them live (her first). And "One Little Victory" was a great battle cry. A thrilling moment in time. But there's more to it than that. My close friend's cancer had aggressively returned around the time of VT coming out (brain tumor) and we all feared the worst. He was a massive Rush fan...we actually drove him to the Irvine gig even though we didn't have tickets together. It was the last concert he ever saw; 3 weeks later he was gone. After he died, the lyrics to VT took on added meaning. When I read the book some time later, my appreciation for the songs on this album only grew deeper. I ALWAYS think of him whenever anything from VT pops up on the shuffle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metaldad Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 QUOTE (The Owl @ Jan 22 2011, 05:20 PM) Goobs, I know you hate this album, but have you read "Ghost Rider" yet? It's hard to read anything under a cloud of smoke and a haze of acid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tarkus406 Posted January 25, 2011 Share Posted January 25, 2011 It would make me appreciate the album more if the book read "This record sounds like garbage, so dont worry, we're definately remastering it!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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