VAPOR TRAILS

A couple of things regarding this review, I was reading Neil Pearts' Ghostrider for a few months last year, yes a slow reader, but it is the kind of book full of diary notes and journals and consequently it became a labor of love just to read it, a bit like a self enacted journey for myself at the same time. Vapor Trails is no small surprise to ardent Rush fans, the album released post Peart's family tragedies as in the death of his daughter and subsequently his wife. The book and album go hand in hand especially as the lyrics as usual are written by Peart. It's release was the culmination of Peart surviving the tragedy, forging ahead with his new life, wrestling his demons, courtesy of his beloved BMW bike travelling Canada, USA and Mexico. His fellow band members occassionally connected with Peart on his journey as friends to offer their love and support, never once suggesting or pressuring his return to making music.

So when Vapor Trails came about , circa six years after Test For Echo it had a special meaning not only for Rush fans but also as a cathartic release for the band, who in essence are ' Family'. The music is full of renewed energy, passion as though each band member have put just a little extra into every aspect of their performances. The lyrics are accutely personal and fragile but with hope and purpose each song increases respectively by another notch as if exposing new light at the end of the tunnel. The music is heavier with a harder edge to it and the album is a great conceptual work. IMO this review would suffer by individualizing each song as they are all extraordinary but ' One Little Victory', ' Ghostrider' and ' The Stars Looks Down' are just for starters but ' Peaceable Kingdom' IMO the highpoint, lyrically and musically, as hard hitting as a1200cc BMW bike dismissing an insect at high speed, leaving nothing but the whiff of a thin vapor trail. Essential listening.