Vapor Trails

Alternate meaning: see contrail

Vapor Trails is the eighteenth studio album by the Canadian rock band Rush released in 2002 (see 2002 in music).

The release of Vapor Trails marked the first studio album for the band in six years (since Test for Echo in 1996). Long known for purposeful stylistic changes that defined individual albums as well as delineated the larger-scale phases of their recording career, Vapor Trails brought a shift in many fundamental aspects of the Rush sound as it had evolved over the years. On Vapor Trails there are no keyboards, no guitar 'solos', no processed-guitar tones. It has no epic fantasy/sci-fi adventures, no optimistic forward-thinking lyrics that extol the virtues of self-reliance and common sense. Perhaps most striking, Rush seems even to have abandonded their long-held policy of tempering the recording process such that what was put on an album could be reasonably reproduced live. Instead, Vapor Trails uses a more purified guitar tone, lots of vocal and guitar overdubs, and an overall darker tone to the music and lyrics. All in all, Vapor Trails offers a dramatics rethinking of Rush's fundamental musical mores, suggesting that they have embarked on yet another new direction.

Track listing

1. "One Little Victory" - 5:08
2. "Celing Unlimited" - 5:28
3. "Ghost Rider" - 5:41
4. "Peaceable Kingdom" - 5:23
5. "The Stars Look Down" - 4:28
6. "How It Is" - 4:05
7. "Vapor Trail" - 4:57
8. "Secret Touch" - 6:34
9. "Earthshine" - 5:38
10. "Sweet Miracle" - 3:40
11. "Nocturne" - 4:49
12. "Freeze (Part 4 Of Fear)" - 6:21
13. "Out Of The Cradle" - 5:03

Personnel

• Geddy Lee - bass guitar, vocals
• Alex Lifeson - electric and acoustic guitars, mandola
• Neil Peart - drums, percussion

Chart positions

Billboard Music Charts (North America) - album

Billboard Music Charts (North America) - singles