Rush Fan Central

Epignosis wrote: Textbook wrote: Epig's right about Vapour Trails. Yes it's the epitome of the loudness-wars-problem but that doesn't make the songs bad. When it gets released in a remixed version, I expect its critical stock to improve immediately.   However, he is wrong about liking Dog Years. WRONG. Oh hush.  You too wish you were a tortoise from Galapagos (or a span of geological time).

Nice!!

Epig's right about Vapour Trails. Yes it's the epitome of the loudness-wars-problem but that doesn't make the songs bad. When it gets released in a remixed version, I expect its critical stock to improve immediately.

Textbook wrote: I'm just talking about in the initial aftermath of an album's release. There's the people who hear it right away and go OH MY GOD BEST THING EVER and then there's a second wave of people who hear the album upon encountering that hype. Generally, they are less impressed as a direct result of the hype elevating expectations.

I listened to the album before experiencing the hype and am not all that impressed by it so far.  It's not bad...but not blowing me away either.

Catcher10 wrote: I don't have a problem with VT sound....I only have the CD and I played it last night and there are a few loud portions. It is well documented by Alex they are not happy with the production.....But the album is pretty damn good IMO. There are some beast songs like Earthshine and Secret Touch.  Many of the songs are excellent......for me it has that special feel since before this I really thought they were done......Thankfully they are not.   I have heard some of the digital downloaded versions and those are pretty bad, especially the iTunes version......horrid. But my CD copy when the album came out is very good on my system.

interesting..
I think Vapor Trails is a pretty  good album (on a par with Presto) with half a dozen good tracks and none that I can't listen to- it's certainly way better than Test for echo ( 2 songs I can stand), Counterparts  (3 decent tracks) and Roll the bones (3 or 4 decent tracks).
That's all just personal preference of course but I was surprised at the comments about poor production. I thought it has a more stripped down sound on purpose. Again i  have the CD and it seems fine.

Textbook wrote: Rushfan4: The second wave of listeners is usually less enamoured than the first, due to the first getting a bit carried away in their reaction and raising the second wave's expectations too high.

rushfan4 wrote: StyLaZyn wrote: rushfan4 wrote: I gave it a first listen last night, and to be honest I was pretty disappointed in it.  I thought that the sound was really bad and Geddy's singing was really bad.  The worse part for me though was the concept.  I read the lyrics along to the music while listening to it and I found it to be disappointing.  I expect that my opinion will improve with further listens but that said, my first listen was a disappointment. Hoping it does after a few more listens for you. I think there is some great material.  I really hope that it does too.  I expect that it will.  Unfortunately, my first impression was kind of a let down.  I will probably listen a few times without the lyrics in front of me to see if I think it sounds better that way.

Edited by Horizons - June 13 2012 at 11:31

rushfan4 wrote: I gave it a first listen last night, and to be honest I was pretty disappointed in it.  I thought that the sound was really bad and Geddy's singing was really bad.  The worse part for me though was the concept.  I read the lyrics along to the music while listening to it and I found it to be disappointing.  I expect that my opinion will improve with further listens but that said, my first listen was a disappointment.

Hoping it does after a few more listens for you. I think there is some great material.

I gave it a first listen last night, and to be honest I was pretty disappointed in it.  I thought that the sound was really bad and Geddy's singing was really bad.  The worse part for me though was the concept.  I read the lyrics along to the music while listening to it and I found it to be disappointing.  I expect that my opinion will improve with further listens but that said, my first listen was a disappointment.

Snow Dog wrote: OMG! My Fanpack just arrived!!!!!!

Epignosis wrote: StyLaZyn wrote: Epignosis wrote: I think the album to beat is Vapor Trails.  That's an incredible album and my favorite since Hemispheres. Seriously? With that horrid production? Hemispheres is the pinnacle Rush release with me as well but VT is near the bottom these days. I started liking it when I heard it in bits and pieces, but I simply can not sit down and listen to the entire thing. The production is bad, sure, but the compositions and performances are amazing.  Hell, the production of Nursery Cryme is atrocious, but people seem like it just fine.

In this day and age, there is no excuse for poor production, especially from a band that has been around for decades, IMO. I do not find most VT compositions to be anything great, or even melodic. How It Is and One Little Victory are my favorites but the rest of the CD is mostly dogs, maybe better than Dog Years.