Rush Retrospective: Album 08- Moving Pictures

 

Album:  Moving Pictures

Year Released:   1981

Lineup:  

• Geddy Lee – bass guitars, keyboards, bass pedals, vocals
• Alex Lifeson – 6- and 12-string electric and acoustic guitars, Moog Taurus pedals
• Neil Peart – drums, timbales, gong, orchestra bells, glockenspiel, wind chimes, bell tree, crotales, cowbell, plywood

Overall Thoughts:

The previous albums were a mixture of shorter songs for the radio and longer epic songs.  Moving Pictures is the same way- but elevated; the overall quality of the songs, musically and lyrically, reached a higher plateau with their eighth album

The album kicks off with "Tom Sawyer", one of their best known songs.  It bursts into your head from the first note and stays with you.  It is one of those songs, like Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody", that fans can remember everything even though musically it is an incredible complicated song with different movements.  

Following is "Red Barchetta", an ode to driving and the freedom of driving.  "YYZ" is a frentic and gorgeous instrumental.  "Limelight" is a great example of Rush's ability to make enjoyable rock songs out of deeper themes (in this case, out of the concerns of being famous and constantly in the spotlight).  All of the songs are excellent and among the band's biggest hits.

"The Camera Eye" is the last song Rush wrote that is over ten minutes in length as the group.  "Witch Hunt" is a haunting song that evokes a mob, while "Vital Signs" adds some reggae to the band's musc repetoire (this will grow in other songs).

Ever since 2112, the band had been changing- adding more instruments, mixing epic songs with shorter, more radio friendly songs.  With Moving Pictures, the band reached their pinnacle of this era.  There is a reason this is often cited as the best studio album by fans.

Ranking of Rush Albums (adding as more albums are reviewed):

1. Moving Pictures
2. 2112
3. Permanent Waves
4. Fly By Night
5. Rush
6. A Farewell to Kings
7. Hemispheres
8. Caress of Steel

Top 10 Rush Songs (adding as more albums are reviewed):

1. "Tom Sawyer", Moving Pictures
2. "Working Man", Rush
3. "Closer to the Heart", A Farewell to Kings
4. "La Villa Strangiato", Hemispheres
5. "Freewill", Permanent Waves
6. "2112", 2112
7. "Fly By Night", Fly By Night
8. "YYZ", Moving Pictures
9. "Red Barchettta", Moving Pictures
10. "Making Memories", Fly By Night