There was a good article that came out sometime in the 00s that talked about the 'loudness' war that the recording industry was going through in the late 90s/early 2000s. they talked about designing the sound to be listened to on ear buds and that 'loud' songs were better for radio. This ruined the sound on good audio systems as everything in the song is the same volume, no longer mixed up and down to bring forward some bits compared to others. They used Rush's Vapor Trails as a prime example. I don't know if this is the original article, but it does talk about this album.
https://www.soundporter.com/post/the-loudness-wars-and-what-i-ve-learned