Album title: "Vapor Trails"
First single: "One Little Victory"

Low-quality sample of the song at: http://www.buzztone.com/rush/splash.asp

Amazon album entry at: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000065DTE/103-5233128-8610219

Track title listing:

1. One Little Victory
2. Peaceable Kingdom
3. Ghost Rider
4. Ceiling Unlimited
5. The Stars Look Down
6. How It Is
7. Vapor Trail
8. Out Of The Cradle
9. Earthshine
10. Sweet Miracle
11. Nocturne
12. Freeze (Part IV of 'Fear')
13. Secret Touch

Whoa, just noticed the "Part IV of 'Fear'" on there, CUTE.

Any guesses as to which one is the instrumental (if any)?

Ohhhh! Just saw this

I had heard there would be an instrumental, but I have no idea which one. I also heard there would be a longer song but thats kind of hard to believe with 13 cuts. I'm going to go listen to the sample now. . .

[Edit] Ok, just finished listening and I am STOKED. Starting with the drums is a great start for any Rush album (I love the beginning of "Counterparts" too). Ok, time to listen again.

I actually found partial samples of three other songs by doing a web search. Decent samples, too, approx an intro, verse, and chorus of each. I like them even better than the "single" so far.

Haven't listened to enough of the stuff to have an opinion formed yet. And of course, I need to hear the whole album in full not-compressed-to-within-an-inch-of-its-life form. But my impression so far is that they're continuing the progression they started with the directions that Counterparts and Test for Echo were taking, i.e., this one is even harder and edgier. In fact, this one kinda reminds me of Tool so far. Which is interesting, because I figured that Tool was influenced by Rush, not the other way around.

Not that I'm condoning this (please dont flame). But someone has already posted it up in newsgroups....

Nah, I'm happy with the small teasers I've already gotten and I'll wait for the album to come out so I can I buy it and have my usual ritual experience with the album art and the first listen.

I do agree that so far this sounds a lot like TFE, which isn't too suprising of course. I do admit that the heavier Rush isn't my favorite Rush, but I still like it better than most other music out there.

I acutally haven't listened to Tool yet, had not idea they might have anything to do with Rush... Any suggestions where to start?

I'm sure I will love this album 'cause, as I've mentioned before, Rush has yet to do anything I don't love. Unless they try something really wacked like rapping (oh, wait they already did that and even pulled it off in a humerous way!) this album will get a lot of playtime on the Empeg.

You should give Tool a listen. I have all 3 of their CD's, I don't think there have been more than that so far. I find that the lyrics have so much to say.

I also like Rush and will probably buy it when it comes out.

Great, as soon as I get a job I'll go buy a Tool album on your recomendation.

rapping (oh, wait they already did that and even pulled it off in a humerous way!)

What, on Roll The Bones? That was meant to be humourous? And there was me thinking it was just half-assed...

Peter (who quite likes the rest of the song)

You should give Tool a listen. I have all 3 of their CD's

Tool really has 4 studio albums. The one you are probably leaving out is 'Opiate.' There is also 'Salival' which is a DVD/CD set with live tracks and music videos on it.

Tool is one of my all-time favorite bands, but I have to say the last album is barely okay.

Tool is one of my all-time favorite bands, but I have to say the last album is barely okay.

I'm very happy to hear someone else has their head screwed on properly. I've heard people/critics/fans saying that Lateralus is the crescendo of their career. I consider it to be a step backward from Aenima, and a pretty large one at that. The good part is that now that they've gotten it out of their system, they're likely to come back with a much more solid effort next time. Unless Maynard blows his load on A Perfect Circle instead.

Aenima is a little hard to top......It is an amazing album.
Any album that followed that would have a tough time......

You're right, I don't have that one. Is it hard to find or something. I've never seen it in the stores. I'll have to track down a copy of it and I don't have a DVD player (yet) so I'll wait on finding Salival.

I agree that Aenima is the best so far and I have A Perfect Circle also.

Salival high points:

- Third Eye - live
- No Quarter

Tony,

As you seem to be quite an avid fan of these Rush guys, what do you think is their best album? After listening to that teaser I am going to go look for one of their albums to buy.

Recent albums seem to be:
2112
Moving Pictures
Permanent Waves
+ plus this new one

Are there any others worth looking at? It seems they've been around for quite a while (like 30 years).

I've never heard of them down here in Oz. Maybe I just don't recognize the name though.

ya the new rush album is great i have the whole thing.. plan on buying it when its released in stores.

Shonky,
This is a pretty difficult question because Rush has had (in my opinion) as least 4 really different sounds since they have been around (and even at that a lot of these sounds changed a lot over their albums). If you want a good overview of the band, you might want to get Chronicles, which is a two-disc set and covers their stuff from the seventies and eighties.

There are two problems with this set however:1) It does not cover their newest stuff which you may be interested in if all you have ever heard is the teaser and 2) one of the bands great strengths is to create albums with a great deal of synergy which is lost on a compilation type album. It is, however, a great value since they put 74 min worth of music on each of the two discs.

If this teaser is all you have ever heard, then you are probably interested in their newest sound, which is quite different from their sound in the eighties and seventies. If you like edgier stuff I would try Test for Echo and Counterparts. This is by no means the best of Rush, but it is the closest to what you are hearing in the sample.

The three albums you mentioned are actually some of the band’s older work, but have withstood the test of time. 2112 was in 76 and their first concept album. The "A Side" of the disc is one twenty-minute song that tells a story set in the future. This is a landmark album for Rush as the next two albums also featured concept type songs.

Moving Pictures was recorded in 1981 (I think) and is the album I most often hear people saying is Rush's best. If you want to know Rush, this is my highest recommendation for a first buy. It would be very difficult to find someone who enjoys the music of Rush and doesn't care for this one. The "A Side" of Moving Pictures has four songs and each of these still receive regular air play on my local Rock station (Ok, well they did until I got my Empeg. I have no idea what they play now). The "B side" has three songs, all three of which are very good. "Tom Sawyer" is on this album which is by far the most recognized Rush song. This album is the point they started really adding keyboards heavily into their music.

Later in the eighties Rush really got into keyboards and I think this is the point some fans got disappointed. I (and Tony as well) really like the keyboard stuff, but it sounds very different from the 2112 sound. Of this eighties stuff Tony really likes Power Windows, but I will let him sell you on that one. I like Signals and Hold Your Fire the best, but I don't think I would recommend these as first buys.

After this, the band got into a progressive sound I really don't know how to describe which really (in my opinion) only lasted two albums - Presto and Roll the Bones. The band laid off the keyboards here and really started emphasizing a clean technical sound. Roll The Bones is my favorite Rush album, but I think I am the only one who thinks that so this is probably not a good first buy either.

Counterparts was the next album and saw the band get a little heavier. It wasn't totally different from the previous albums, but it was a lot closer to Test For Echo than anything else. Test for Echo sounds (to me) a lot like the clip from the new album and was a very different sound for Rush. Though this is a great album, I really wouldn't recommend it as a first buy unless all you have heard is the newest stuff and that's what you want to buy.

Sorry to be so long winded but it’s difficult to give recommendations about Rush. I’d wait to hear from Tony before you commit any dollars, but I figured you might want to hear from more than one source because this really is a very prolific band.

Not a difficult question at all.

Without a doubt, every human being on the face of the planet should own a copy of the remastered version of Moving Pictures.

It is the single best Rock album ever made.

Well Ok. What he said

My wife tells me I talk too much. . .

Okay, as a follow up, a new Rush listener should probably buy these albums in this order:

Moving Pictures
Permanent Waves
Power Windows

If you liked the "YYZ" instrumental on Moving Pictures, then your next purchase should be:
Hemispheres
for the sole purpose of having "La Villa Strangiato". The remainder of the album is very rewarding, but takes several listens to get into.

Following that, then get:
2112
Counterparts
Test For Echo
To book-end your collection. Don't know where the new album falls into this scheme yet.

The remainder of the catalog you can fill in later. You may completely avoid the first three albums (Rush, Fly By night, Caress of Steel) as they were simply a Zeppelin clone in those days. They didn't really find their own voice until 2112 (their fourth album). Only the hardest-core fan, looking to complete his collection, needs these first three albums. Note that there is a dual-disc release called "Archives" which is just a re-issue of those first three albums and can also be avoided. Others will contend this point with me, but those people are completely wrong and have no musical taste.

Live concert albums (All the World's a Stage, Exit Stage Left, A Show of Hands, Different Stages) are a lot of fun, but don't bother getting them until after you've either got all the studio albums you want, or you've seen them live and wish to re-live the experience.

I disagree about "Fly By Night". I find myself listening to this one a lot, but then again these are just opinions. What I did when I first got into Rush was buy Chronicles first (although as Tony said "Moving Pictures" should really come first) and then used that to decide which other stuff I liked (This will give you "La Villa Strangiato", but its not the re-mastered version). Of course I've ended up liking everything, but I didn't know that at the time. Like I said before, Chronicles is not an album you'll end up listening too a lot if you really get into Rush, but it does give an amazing overview. Listening to the first and last songs makes a big impression about how much the group has changed.

All this aside I would say that Moving Pictures should be your first purchase and 2112 should follow in short order (as it's a landmark type of album with great music). Just my own humble "wrong" opinion

My problem with Chronicles is that, because it's a compilation album, you don't get that "full album" experience which is the best part of the better Rush albums. Admittedly, not all Rush albums hang together as a single unit as well as Moving Pictures does, but it's definitely an important part of listening to a Rush album.

This, actually, would be an interesting topic for discussion.

What albums can you think of that work best as a single unit? An album where you can't imagine just one song being played?

Note: The following things are excluded from this discussion because they are "given": Most Pink Floyd albums, most live concert albums, and any symphonies or rock operas. I'm talking about albums that are merely a collection of songs, but they have some magical, subtle connection between the songs that makes the whole album pull together as a cohesive unit.

I can think of very few. One of the items on this following list surprised me, but every time one of its songs comes up, I have an irresistable urge to unshuffle:

Rush: Moving Pictures
Rush: Power Windows
Rush: Permanent Waves
Queen: A Night at the Opera
They Might Be Giants: Mink Car
Peter Gabriel: So
Dire Straits: Brothers in Arms
Sting: The Soul Cages (this one borderlines on non-inclusion, it is almost an opera)
The Police: Synchronicity
U2: The Joshua Tree

Most of mine are in the neighborhood of the Progressive Rock genre because that's what I listen to the most. I'm interested in hearing other's opinions from other genres. For instance, I'm told that Elton John's "Tumbleweed Connection" fits perfectly into this discussion, however I don't own that album so I don't know about it.

And it's not just because these albums are personal favorites, or because I like all of the songs on the album. Going through my artist list, there are many on the list which I listen to frequently and are top favorites, but which do not hang together well as an album. For example, one of my all time favorite albums is Tori Amos' "Little Earthquakes". But I don't see it as anything more than the sum of its parts. It is a collection of absolutely incredible songs, every single one of them, but there's nothing special about their inclusion onto the same album. They don't flow into a single uninterruptible experience the way the others do.

What albums can you think of that work best as a single unit? An album where you can't imagine just one song being played?

The Orb, Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld
The KLF, Chill Out
Portishead, Dummy

And I think Stone Roses, Stone Roses does work "best" as a single unit, though it's the furthest thing from unlistenable as separate tracks.

And, of course, Sergeant Pepper, though I think that came in your category of "given".

Peter

Damn, I forgot Sgt. Pepper. Of course. Thanks.

Right, I'm sure there are several Beatles albums which fall into that category. My bad for not including them.

And by they way, by "can't imagine just one song being played", I didn't mean "one song is unlistenable", I meant "although an individual song might be great, once you hear the song, now you've just GOT to hear the whole album". Like eating just one potato chip.

Synergy is very important to me, the reason I don't like "best of" albums. One of the reasons I like Rush so much is that every album has a great degree of Synergy. My list will include no Rush as I am sure you are tired of hearing me talk about them.

David Wilcox - Big Horizon
Sting - Ten Summoners Tales
Def Leppard - Hysteria
Caedmon's Call - My Calm/ Your Strom
Paul Simon - Graceland

Damn, I have to get a copy of Graceland! You're so right. However, that one was stolen in one of my car thefts and I never replaced it. /me heads over to Amazon right now...

I will also agree with Hysteria, although I don't own that one any more and I'm not a huge DL fan.

I will completely disagree with Ten Summoner's Tales. After hearing Soul Cages, I expected TST to be another concept album (based on the title) and instead we got a lacluster collection of mostly mediocre random songs. There's nothing about TST that holds my attention from beginning to end the way that Soul Cages does.

BTW, the title ``Ten Summoner's Tales'' is supposed to be a ... pun? ... on Sting's real name, Gordon Sumner. So if you realize that, it no longer seems to have a thematic title.

I don't know if this falls under your category of rock opera, but Husker Du's Zen Arcade is an album that works marvelously as a unit. It's intended as an opera, but is not so blatant about it as, say, Tommy (which is also wonderful, but clearly lies in your realm of disqualification).

Others, as I quickly go through my collection:

Bob Mould - Workbook
Pearl Jam - Ten
Liz Phair - Exile in Guyville
The Pixies - Trompe le Monde
Psychedelic Furs - Book of Days (which is probably disqualified as well)
Sebadoh - Bakesale and harmacy
Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation (also maybe out, but phenomenal)
Soul Asylum - Made To Be Broken and Hang Time
Ultra Vivid Scene - Joy 1967-1990