See No Evil

Rush - Vapor Trails

Guest Review by Tom Price

 

For every Rush fan, 2002’s ‘Vapor Trails’ is only remembered as the “ugly duckling” of the band’s otherwise exalted and acclaimed back-catalogue. When it was recorded the trio had only just got back together after a lengthy hiatus, and in their own words were “learning how to be Rush again”. Even after its release bassist/singer Geddy Lee, guitarist Alex Lifeson and drummer Neil Peart still admitted that they were not fully happy with the finished product. But in late 2013 a ‘remixed’ version of the album hit the shelves, and from this listener’s point of view at least, the record has been vastly improved. All the instruments sound a lot crisper, not as muddy as they did on the original version. The drums have been ‘beefed up’, the bass is even more thunderous and the guitar is back in your face. Put simply, it finally sounds like a Rush album! Die-hard fans of the band will instantly love this new and fresh version, but people who were turned-on to Rush after hearing 2012’s ‘Clockwork Angels’ will definitely get a kick out of this modern rock record with the unmistakable progressive edge that is the band’s calling card. Looks like this ugly duckling has matured into a beautiful swan after all!