Geddy Lee has nominated Rush's 2002 album Vapor Trails as the most difficult record the band ever made.
Released six years after its predecessor Test For Echo, the longest gap between any two Rush albums, the Toronto's trio 17th studio album was made in the wake of drummer Neil Peart losing both his wife Jacqueline Taylor, and his teenage daughter Selena, two tragedies which led the heartbroken drummer to inform Lee and Alex Lifeson that they should consider him "retired." And as Lee explains in a new interview with Vulture, "The whole idea of making Vapor Trails had to be very considerate."
"Vapor Trails was a very, very difficult record to make, because it was sort of a reunion record after Neil's tragedies," Lee tells Vulture. "He disappeared from view for quite some time and found himself living in California and starting a new life. He came back to us, as he put it, 'seeking gainful employment.'
"We settled into a studio for almost a year and constructed a working environment so Neil could feel free to go in and reintroduce himself to his drums and his playing without feeling like everyone’s watching him."
