Vapor Trails
Reviewed by Sean Prophet
Vapor Trails was one of
the most anticipated Rush releases ever. It is the
Canadian trio's first album since "Test for Echo" (1996). Rush has been in limbo
since shortly after the close of the "Test for Echo" tour. For many years rumors
of the demise of Rush circulated--always proving to be unfounded. But the rumors
always seemed to center around drummer and lyricist Neil Peart. First it was
thought that he might have brain cancer. Then some people thought Rush would
never be the same when Peart retooled his heavy metal drumming style with
jazz-method drum teacher Freddie Gruber prior to "Test for Echo." This time,
though, the all-too-sad-and-real news involved twin tragedies: Peart's
19-year-old daughter Selena Taylor died in a single-car accident in August of
1997. Less than a year later in July 1998 Peart's wife Jackie died of
cancer.
It took much of the intervening time for Peart to "get better,"
in the words of Alex Lifeson, the band's guitarist, quoted in the Calgary Sun.
Peart got married again in 2000, and by early 2001, he, Lifeson, and
vocalist/bassist Geddy Lee were back in the studio.
Rush is a band with a
nearly 30 year career, having received accolades such as a star on the Canadian
walk of fame, being inducted into the Order of Canada and--according to the
band's official website--are honorary members of the Dutch Royal Family. And
both Lee and Lifeson had released their own side projects since "Test for Echo."
Having sold more than 35 million albums in their career, expectations were high
for "Vapor Trails." The reconstituted Rush spent more than a year on the
recording--according to Neil Peart's album bio--it took that long mainly to write and
sift through the material, and to be happy enough with it to "abandon" it (since
art is never truly finished).
So...drum roll please, Neil...the album is
a big success! Charting on the Billboard top 200 at number 6, it is also number
2 on the Internet album chart, just behind the ultra-commercial-maketing-machine
that is Moby. I heard the single "One Little Victory"
when I was driving a U-Haul truck (about the only time I'd be caught dead
listening to the radio). Commercial radio for me is just one step above noise.
If I can't choose the music--I'd rather have silence. But on this day, before I
even heard Geddy Lee's vocals kick in, I knew I was hearing new Rush. What a
feeling. The last time that happened was in 1985 when I heard "Manhattan
Project" on the radio just prior to the release of "Power Windows."
May
14, the day of the album release, there was a brush fire in the Sepulveda pass.
So my normal hour commute up the 405 looked to be turning into 3. So I figured
I'd hit the coast route and stopped in Santa Monica to pick up "Vapor Trails."
(I grabbed the Moby album "18" as well. It's pretty good, in its own way. I'd
give it a 7.) Well, a few other people had the idea of taking the coast highway
also and I got through about 5 or 6 songs before I even left Santa Monica. I
don't know if it was the traffic or what, but I was really disappointed in
the album on first listening. It sounded thick and one-dimensional--and the
songs seemed ordinary. Other than the radio hit "One Little Victory", nothing
stood out to me.
Fitting a new work of art into one's expectations is
always like breaking in a new pair of boots--be prepared for some pain and
blistering before it's over. Especially if the artist is a favorite--as Rush is
with me, and has had profound influence on my life. I always preferred the big
production numbers to the stripped down feel. "Vapor Trails" is VERY stripped
down. Like "Test for Echo," there are no keyboards or orchestration on this
album.
I think I was expecting more of a return to Rush's earlier
glory--not necessarily their radio hits, but songs like "Mission," "Chain
Lightning," "Vital Signs," "Force Ten," "The Camera Eye," etc. But it seems they
made a conscious choice to use simpler song structures, almost no soloing, and a
very in-your-face guitar sound. And who am I to argue with 35 million albums? I
was ready to write this off as the inevitable Rush concession to putting out a
commercially successful record. But I decided to give the album 10 spins or so
before passing judgement.
Now the good news: It worked! Upon repeated
listening, the textures come alive. What may have seemed like overly simple drum
parts showed their genius and elegance. What Freddie Gruber did for Peart is to
teach him how to play REALLY hard stuff and make it sound easy. No more huge
kits or flashy tom fills--just solid drumming and that signature Peart
committment to self-improvement and evolution.
Geddy
has been busy as well. His voice continues to improve, and he
can still hit the high notes. But he takes on some new adventures this time: The
man with the trademark screech-heard-round-the-world that debuted in 1974 has
finally given in to falsetto! His vocal harmonies (falsetto and not) are far
denser and more complex than ever before. His vocal pads also take the role in
many places of providing the texture of the missing keyboards. In the bass
department, Ged is as solid as ever, and on this album uses a lot of bass
chords. The tonality of his bass ranges from the Rickenbacker growl to the
rounder sustained high notes that (sort of) help justify not using
keyboards.
Lifeson at times plays louder and
heavier than in the past, but still manages to keep his lightness, softness, and
sensitivity when needed. I was gratified to hear some chords that I hadn't heard
since the Signals/Grace Under Pressure/Power Windows period. But much about the
heavy guitars on Vapor Trails can be compared to a modern Metal, Grunge and
Alternative sound.
Now on to content: After spending some time with the
liner notes, it's clear that Neil Peart will retain his title as the king of
alliteration and poetry in rock. Normally circumspect about his literary
influences, on Vapor Trails, Peart gives credit to his inspiration for nearly
every song. (You'll find this info on the album
bio.)
The title cut, "Vapor Trail," is
about the darkest song I've heard since "Between the Wheels." I expected to hear
the dark influence of Peart's personal tragic experience on this album. But the
desperation in "Vapor Trail" seems to be for the Earth, which is depicted in
flames on the cover. There is a parallel theme in the song, and that is the
other meaning of "Vapor Trail"--a contrail left by an airplane. (One television
producer I know who's not too fond of Rush wondered why they would name an album
after a fart!) But maybe it's also a metaphor like a Tibetan sand
painting--everything that's in the world will eventually meet it's end and all
that will be left will be a vapor trail--less than even a memory.
It's
always been hard for me to understand how when Rush writes songs about weighty
subjects, they still modulate into major keys. That's what bugged me about
"Vapor Trail:" How can you sing lyrics like "Swept away like voices in a
hurricane"--obviously the description of a destructive event--in a major key
that makes it sound happy? Then I think back: even "Between the Wheels" shifts
into a major key "The wheels of time just pass you by..." Must be a Lee/Lifeson
thing--when I sell 35 million albums, I'll tell them how to write their
songs.
Thematically, the album used tarot cards to symbolize the
archetypes discussed. In "Peaceable Kingdom" a song related to the events of
9.11.01 and the fundamentalism that spawned them--Peart makes great use of these
archetypes. On the page with the lyrics for that song, the tarot card is "The
Tower" (in flames). "All this time we're burning like bonfires in the dark,
while a billion other blazes are shooting off their sparks. Every spark a
drifting ember of desire, to fall upon the earth and spark another fire." My
favorite track on the album.
"Earthshine" is a beautiful poem of devotion
to whomever or whatever created this universe. It is a simple but powerful ode
to the beauty and wonder of the play of light between our planet and its
satellite. Peart has always been half-scientist, and his poetic half has brought
many seemingly sterile physical phenomena into the realm of the mystical and
magical.
"Out of the Cradle" is another standout track. A song about
life: "Maybe time is a bird in flight, endlessly mocking. Here we come, out of
the cradle, endlessly rocking..."
"Secret Touch" takes a bit of a
zen approach, and is also I believe autobiographical. It describes the dilemma
of one suffering from depression, and being numb--even to the rhythms of nature.
He uses the line "there is never love without pain." Something I'm sure he knows
well. He closes that song with "life is the power that remains." Bravo,
Neil.
Bravo, Rush!