By-Tor.com

I love this album, and I thought the songs played live held their own with the "classics". In fact, when I saw Rush last week, I thought "Secret Touch" KILLED...you could tell many folks in attendance were unexpectedly blown away, and the applause showed. One of my favorite performances of the night.

There's something definitely wrong with the mastering, 'tho. I could never put my finger on it, but one day when I had the CD on, I reached over to grab something up against the speaker. With my ears at very close range, it dawned on me that the damn thing's just plain distorted, even at a low volume. That's one CD I'll be looking forward to getting the remaster treatment.

Nevertheless, the songs prevail...the CD's been in the changer since I bought it 2 years ago...

The main way I can tell that there is something wrong in the mix/mastering is when I listen to the MP3 disc I've made which features every Rush studio track except for the ones on Feedback. The disc is a mixture of tracks taken from the CDs in the case of HYF, RTB, CP, and VT while the rest have been taken from my vinyl/cassette copies. The sound quality between the CDs and the vinyl is easily noticable and the VT tracks sound like the vinyl copies (if that makes sense).

Eh???

Its quite simple really.

I've transfered all my Rush studio albums (except Feedback) onto an MP3 disc. HYF, P, RTB, C, and VT are all from bought CD copies. The rest are from CDs I've made from cassettes made from my original vinyl copies, with the exception of T4E which is from a pre-recorded cassette. With me so far. Now, due to age and a great deal of play, my vinyl copies are not in the best condition anymore and the sound transfer to CD is not perfect (minor hiss, crackles, rumbles, pops and, in some cases, a bit of distortion - basically, what you'd expect from a less than perfect source).

Now, listening to the MP3 disc, when you compare the retail CDs to the home made CDs it is easily to hear the sub-standard sound quality, especially when one sort is played after the other. The exception to this is VT which sounds only marginally better than my homemade CDs and far worse than the other retails.

Does that make it any clearer?

I think I'm more confused now than I was before...

Just take it from me - the production on VT ain't as good as on the other albums

My first reaction to this album was "Wow, this sucks."

This album took a long time to grow on me, and now I consider it the best Rush album since Moving Pictures. But at first, I thought it was the most horrible Rush album I'd heard. Maybe it was the production/mastering, or maybe it was the latest stylistic reinvention. I don't know.

Some of the songs had to be played LOUDLY before I began to appreciate them (especially "Ghost Rider" and "Peaceable Kingdom"). Still others had to be experienced throught the magic of a walkman at work ("Ceiling Unlimited", "Nocturne"). In any case, this album is currently one of my most frequently listened to Rush albums, simply because it is so different. I am definitely looking forward to what the band will bring us next, because this is a stylistic reinvention that has really caught my attention.

But Alex...how's about some solos next time, eh?

Mechanix wrote:My first reaction to this album was "Wow, this sucks."

This album took a long time to grow on me, and now I consider it the best Rush album since Moving Pictures. But at first, I thought it was the most horrible Rush album I'd heard. Maybe it was the production/mastering, or maybe it was the latest stylistic reinvention. I don't know.

Some of the songs had to be played LOUDLY before I began to appreciate them (especially "Ghost Rider" and "Peaceable Kingdom"). Still others had to be experienced throught the magic of a walkman at work ("Ceiling Unlimited", "Nocturne"). In any case, this album is currently one of my most frequently listened to Rush albums, simply because it is so different. I am definitely looking forward to what the band will bring us next, because this is a stylistic reinvention that has really caught my attention.

But Alex...how's about some solos next time, eh?

Yup, some fabulous tunes on VT... no question.

Ah, Vapor Trails. . .

I have to say that Rush really stepped up a notch on this one. The music is not as accessible as their previous tunes, but, I think, it is their greatest achievement to date. I think because of the complexity or the non-standard instrumental arrangements, it takes a little bit to digest it, but it's quite satisfying.

So I'm curious as to what the NEXT album will be like.

Perplexia wrote:The music is not as accessible as their previous tunes, but, I think, it is their greatest achievement to date.

I agree. But you know, I think the album's inaccessibility is one of it's strongest aspects. There is not a hit single to be found, and I'm totally fine with that. It essentially sounds like Rush just jamming out on whatever they feel comfortable with, and I'd much rather have that than an album full of songs like "Time Stand Still".

There has been lots...LOTS...of debate over the album's clanky garage production/mastering, and while I at first thought the album sounded horrible, I've actually come to appreciate the noisy overload. The more aggressive songs (such as "Secret Touch") benefit greatly from this swirling wall of chaos effect that the production gives it. The flipside to this is that the mellow moments of the album sound somewhat grating on occasion (which I think was purely intentional on the band's part). Overall, though, I think it doesn't need to go through any remastering or any of that crap. It has a sound of it's own, and should not be made to sound like other Rush albums.

Mechanix wrote:There is not a hit single to be found, and I'm totally fine with that.

Oh, I don't know...I think How It Is could have worked on the radio. I think it would have done much better than OLV. It's "catchier"...

Immortal for a Ltd Time wrote:

Mechanix wrote:There is not a hit single to be found, and I'm totally fine with that.

Oh, I don't know...I think How It Is could have worked on the radio. I think it would have done much better than OLV. It's "catchier"...

(bumping this because I can )

"How It Is" did get some airplay, as did "One Little Victory", "Ghost Rider" and "Secret Touch". I don't think "How It Is" worked better in the radio context than the other three songs. Of all of them, "Ghost Rider" fit the format the best, though I would hardly call it an immediately catchy tune. There is an inaccessibility factor with the songs on that album that I find appealing.