LogFAQs > #933503159

Panthera posted...

I've always really liked Snakes and Arrows. Might even be in my top 5 Rush albums actually. Not entirely sure about that but it's in the running at least. Also we're four albums in and one of my two least favourites hasn't appeared yet (the other being Caress of Steel), so that's something for me to look forward to seeing where it ends up

I can see this. It'd be a fair few spots higher if I were trying to rank strictly objectively.

Mr Lasastryke posted...

the s/t outright sucks aside from working man imo. as you discuss in the writeup, you can emulate the SOUND of led zeppelin but that doesn't mean you're suddenly going to write another whole lotta love. also, john rutsey is no john bonham.

I do think sucks is a strong word to be using here. I also think that while Rutsey is no Bonham, I do think he's a solid drummer that could be substituted into a large number of bands from that era (If you put stylistic differences aside) and it'd be a sidegrade at worst. The songwriting is definitely a far bigger issue than the actual music. I can see where you're coming from though.

15. Vapor Trails
Great: Mood Maker
Terrible: Production Quality

Just looking at the list of tracks, I sort of want to rank this album higher than I am. But as I already alluded to, this album is an absolute mess from a production standpoint, to the point that it hurts every single track on it. I know that it got remastered properly at some point, which significantly helps. But knowing that I was originally intended to listen to these songs in the way they are on the original album hurts. A lot. However, this is a very well-known and discussed topic so I won't dwell on it especially hard. Just know that it single-handedly knocked this album down multiple spots. I can absolutely say I unconditionally love every album here outside of the bottom two and there aren't huge gaps basically anywhere anymore, so it could even be more than that depending on my mood.

Regardless, this album is a very heavy, in-your-face album broken up by a couple lighter tracks. And most of the tracks here are brilliant at imparting that energy and excitement on the listener (me). Like, I literally get the same rush (No pun intended) and get put in the same state of mind from listening to this album as I do from doing things like watching my favorite sports teams play a close game. The opening track, One Little Victory, also drives this home pretty hard, which is sort of funny. Following it up with Ceiling Unlimited continues the trend.

The next track, Ghost Rider, is a slightly different case. I'll start by saying that I absolutely love this track, and if I were ranking individual songs, it'd be top 10, probably just failing to crack top 5. And it's a lot more subdued of a song than the previous two. But it is massively effective at influencing my mood, imparting Neil's sense of loss and frustration and the desire to overcome them myself (Which is undeniably a positive thing). When I heard Neil had died, putting this song on was the first thing I did.

Even the other tracks that are supposed to be emotionally heavier, downer pieces (Given that this album was the first one back after the band's hiatus and what happened to lead to that hiatus, it's unsurprising that the aforementioned themes of loss and frustration are pervasive, and there are references to the September 11 attacks in the US, which happened while this album was being recorded) have similar impacts on me. Looking specifically at tracks like Secret Touch, Vapor Trail and Sweet Miracle I think makes my point for me. I suppose the case could always be made that the songs failed to properly hit their mark because of this, or I missed the point, but even then I'll continue looking at these positively, especially in the "You were looking for meaning to overcome the lowest point in your life, and this is what you had after finding it" sense.

Regardless, literally the only thing keeping this from being higher is the aforementioned production quality. And the fact that we've already hit the point where I can definitively say I love every album here, and the middle 10-12 albums here (Snakes and Arrows to #4 or 5 or so) could all easily shift around multiple spots some days, if I were to re-make this list.