MOVING PICTURES

Canadian power trio Rush's ninth(and eighth studio overall) album entitled Moving Pictures was released in February of 1981 to fans whom were heavily anticipating a strong follow-up to the previous year's Permanent Waves, which was Rush's first Top 5 album here in the US thanks to songs like Freewill and The Spirit of Radio. When fans first went to the stores to buy MP, the artwork must have caught some eyes. The title of the disc Moving Pictures had monumental multiple meanings. First, there is workers actually "moving pictures". Then, there are people crying because the pictures are so moving. Finally, there was a film crew making a moving picture of the whole scene on the back cover. Plus, actual moving pictures of the band at their respective instruments(on the original CD, drummer Neil Peart's photo was missing, luckily on this remaster, his photo was restored). Also, Bob Ludwig(whom originally mastered the album), did a superb job on the remastering of this remastered version. All of the songs on Moving Pictures were written by all three Rush members except*(with Pye Dubois) and +(by Geddy Lee/Peart). The album starts at full throttle with Tom Sawyer*, which was talking about modern-day heroes and using one of Mark Twain's character as a metaphor and featured rapid playing by Peart, guitarist Alex Lifeson and bassist/vocalist/keyboardist Lee, whom was singing more and more in a lower octave on this album than previous albums. The song Red Barchetta follows, and is about a person who goes to his uncle's farm and discovers a car. The music picks you up then accelerates as the song goes on and then ends as it began by dropping you off at the next location. Next is YYZ+, an instrumental named after the luggage tag code at Toronto airport. That track was used as the focal point for Neil's drum solo in concert off and on for the next nine years after this track came out. The first half ends with Limelight, which was more of Neil's song about his problems dealing with fame and was more sensitive than Alex or Geddy were in dealing with autograph hounds and stalkers and was a Top 100 hit in 1981. The second half kicks off with the 11 minute epic The Camera Eye, which was the last 10 plus minute suite Rush ever recorded and is a classic and is split in two parts. First, we're in modern day New York and then we go back to ancient times London and featured excellent guitar work by Alex and synth and bass work by Geddy. Next is Witch Hunt, which was the third part of a four-part saga called Fear and is about dealing with prejudices and injustices in the world. Interesting fact, the mob rants at the start of the track was actually multi-tracked rants and raves of the three Rush members whom were acting hyper after drinking bottles of Scotch outside of the studio(Le Studio in Morin Heights, Quebec, Canada) and it was cold outside(below freezing) and the band were drinking and bellowing to create that rant effect. Plus, the song had album Rush album cover guru Hugh Syme on synthesizers and two drum tracks by Neil to create a synth drum sound years ahead of its time. The album concludes with Vital Signs, which would not have sounded out of place on a Police album and is a great track. Moving Pictures was an instant smash peaking at #3 on the Billboard album charts and selling over 4 million copies in the US alone making it Rush's biggest seller. Today, this album still sounds fresh and hasn't aged at all. This album belongs up there with The Dark Side of the Moon, Who's Next, Hotel California, Back in Black, Appetite For Destruction, A Night at the Opera and Sgt. Pepper. A classic!!!

It's just like your it the studio with Rush! the clarity of the sound is amazing! I Love this album on BD audio I just wish the record companies would embrace the BD audio format and put everything out in this format! BD audio blows away the audio cd, mp3, flac files, every format that came before it. It's a shame that the record companies won't embrace this incredible format because some like myself still like to buy music!

Tune after tune on this album rock. Liner notes show the band's fun side and Canadian nature (really? Thanking the Montreal Canadiens and Steve Shutt?). Simply awesome