February 12, 1981 - Moving Pictures

Ten days after my last release and a year after "Permanent Waves" Rush released their eighth studio album "Moving Pictures" on February 12, 1981. This album would continue the same feel as the last one, with mostly shorter, more radio-friendly songs but still a couple nods to their progressive past. This would end up being Rush's most commercially successful album of their career and some would say the peak of Rush's meteoric rise. Everything these guys make is pretty amazing so I'm sure this will be too, let's check it out!

The album kicks off with "Tom Sawyer" which was a very successful single and would become one of Rush's best-known songs. It starts with an epic keyboard note that continues to drone in the background while Neil Peart plays a nice fast drumbeat. Geddy Lee's vocals sound great as usual and after his opening line he and Alex Lifeson join the mix with a heavy riff that sounds pretty awesome. Geddy continues to sing in a very high voice in this opening verse and another epic keyboard note signals a shift to the chorus. It's a little slower paced but still sounds good as Geddy sings nicely along and it leads right back into the main riff. "Today's Tom Sawyer he gets high on you, in the space he invades he gets by on you". This cool line is followed by a computer-y synth riff that sounds pretty sweet and a nice Peart drum fill takes us to a "guitar solo". While Lifeson most certainly plays some amazing lead guitar, it's hard to call it a solo when Geddy is playing such awesome bass the whole time as well! Whatever you call it, it sounds pretty amazing and it's followed by arguably the best drum fill of Peart's studio career: he absolutely unloads and plays some fantastic drums! They tie this wonderful part right back into another verse as Rush are showing once again that they can pack a lot of awesomeness into their shorter songs. The guitar, bass and drums all continue to be excellent throughout the verse as Geddy resumes his high vocals and things lead to another chorus. They seem to be using just enough epic keyboards as whenever they come in they sound nice and fresh, not overpowering the other instruments. After the chorus it sounds like Geddy says "Tom Sawyee" in a bit of a funny lyric and the synths do take center stage at the end, but Lee makes them sound pretty sweet and Peart continues to play some great drums as the song fades to an end. A brilliant introductory song! Up next is the longer "Red Barchetta" which Peart wrote about an old car he adored. Lifeson starts things off with a cool light guitar riff and Geddy comes in with some great bass as they settle into a catchy main riff. Geddy sings a nice first verse about a place in the countryside his uncle has and they shift wonderfully from this slower riff, to a faster, heavier riff led by some sweet guitar by Lifeson. Geddy sings another verse overtop of this rockin' new riff and I really like how he delivers "run like the wind as excitement shivers up and down my spine" in his great high voice. As usual with Rush, all three guys are playing some great stuff in this verse as Geddy sings about uncovering the old car and firing it up. This verse ends with an long epic keyboard note and Lifeson begins a new guitar riff that takes things in a new, space-y direction. It sounds pretty sweet as Geddy sings a few lines overtop before Peart's amazing drumming takes things to another new part as Rush are seamlessly weaving together parts in another prog epic. A few more lines from Geddy and the first guitar solo begins with a nice start as Lifeson takes the lead and plays a smooth solo. It's not one of his fastest but it feels right in this mood as Peart plays some awesome drums in the background. They segue nicely back into the rockin' main verse as Geddy sings about drag racing in this old car and all three guys play some fantastic music. They play a final awesome verse, Peart plays a few more epic drum fills and everything stops but Lifeson's light guitar riff as they end where they began. They slowly jam out the final minute as Geddy plays some cool bass and eventually this fades to a stop. Track 3 is called "YYZ" and is named after the airport code for Toronto's main airport. It's an instrumental song that Peart begins with some very high cymbal hits in an interesting rhythm. Lifeson's guitar plays to the same rhythm and sounds pretty sweet as Peart plays his full drum kit now and Geddy plays some backing keyboards. When Geddy switches to bass things start to get serious as he and Lifeson combine for a wicked little bit that leads right into the main riff. The main riff to this song is pretty damn fantastic as all Lifeson and Lee both play some great speedy stuff and Peart chimes in with a great drum fill, always at the perfect moment. These three have such great chemistry and they're all so talented! When Lee and Lifeson separate, things sound even more amazing as they both basically start soloing, but they're not competing and make it sound so great together! The next part is an incredible stop-and-start riff where they play three bars together and the fourth is a little solo for someone. Not only is the main riff really sweet, but there are so many great little bits in the part on guitar, bass and drums that words cannot accurately describe how great it is. Peart plays an absolutely phenomenal drumroll at one point and this leads into a guitar solo by Lifeson as there is no let-up to the awesomeness on this one. It is mind-blowing great music constantly coming at you and Lifeson's wicked guitar at the end of the solo leads right into some epic synths by Geddy. Lifeson plays some nice guitar as well in this part but the synths lead the way and they sound pretty good. This leads flawlessly back into the main riff from earlier as they play another wicked wordless verse. Things still sound pretty amazing and after a final play through they end it on a great, epic note and bring this fantastic song to a finish. The final song on side one is "Limelight", another successful single that Peart wrote about being famous and living under the spotlight. Lifeson kicks things off with another really great guitar riff and Peart and then Geddy join in to form a really catchy and smooth main riff. Geddy begins the first verse in his great voice as he sings about all the attention that comes with being famous as Neil was known for avoiding all the ragings fans and cameras.  The chorus has Lifeson playing a lighter guitar and Geddy's vocals sound really great. They move into the next verse and Geddy mentions the name of the second song as he sings about being just a performer. After another slow chorus Lifeson begins a guitar solo with a couple crazy notes and proceeds to play some pretty awesome guitar! The end of the solo kind of fizzles out as they return to the chorus one final time and jam out the end of the song with some fantastic drumming by Peart. What a phenomenal first side!

Side two begins with the 11-minute "The Camera Eye" which Geddy alluded to last song. We hear some traffic sounds ar the start and Geddy plays some cool, slow synths that sound pretty epic. Peart and Lifeson eventually join this space-y opening and after about a minute and a half things switch from space-y to heavy. Geddy continues the same synths but Lifeson and Peart form a nice heavy backing riff. This part slowly dies out and after a bit more trippy synths Geddy plays a new fast keyboard part that sounds pretty catchy and Peart adds some great drum fill, one of which leads into a great new riff led by some sweet guitar by Lifeson. When Geddy finally gets off the keyboards and returns to playing bass, the first verse begins to form as both he and Lifeson play some good stuff. Geddy sings in a nice high voice as Lifeson plays some nice light guitar and Geddy plays some nice bass to keep the rhythm. They briefly return to the riff that led to this one, before moving to second verse with some different guitar by Lifeson. Things sound pretty good as they're connecting all these bits together nicely and at the end of this verse after Geddy sings "in the city!", he plays an epic synth note as they return to the heavy synth-led riff from earlier. They follow the same formula as before as Geddy plays the speedy keyboard riff and we some more excellent drumming that segues back into another verse. While the first verses were about New York, this next set are all about London, England as Geddy sings very nicely and continues to play some great bass in the verse. Inbetween lines Lifeson continues the epic main guitar riff as something great is always keeping you on your toes. They play another solid verse and things finally head into a "guitar solo". Oncr again, these quotes don't mean that Alex isn't playing some great guitar; they mean that Geddy's bass is so fantastic backing him that it's almost like a double solo! The guitar is slow at first and we really get to appreciate the great bass but Lifeson speeds things up and ends up playing one of his best guitar solos! He really starts shredding at one point as he plays some phenomenal stuff! This seamlessly moves to a new verse as Geddy hits some more high notes en touted to another "in the city!" After this flourish things go quiet and we hear Geddy play some more trippy keyboards as things slowly fade to an end. Track 6 is called "Witch Hunt" and Peart plays some really trippy chimes and percussion that I think sound great as we hear some yelling and screaming in the background. Geddy adds some more trippy synths to this weird opening that is certainly not your typical Rush, but I think sounded pretty cool. After a minute Lifeson begins a nice guitar riff and Geddy sings the first lyrics and he sounds great as usual. This slower, quieter riff is also a bit unlike Rush but the guitar is cool and Peart plays some great slow drums. Geddy plays some loud synths in the chorus and while things sound decent enough, it's certainly at a lower level than the rest of the songs we've heard thus far. Peart continues to play some great drums throughout as they play another solid, slow verse. The epic synths return but I find them a little overpowering in this one, not meshing well with the other instruments. Geddy plays some cool bass in this final chorus in addition to his synths and they end things on a loud, epic final note. The final song on the album is "Vital Signs" and Geddy is once again on the keyboards, playing a fast, pretty cool riff right from the start as Lifeson backs him with some nice guitar. It's an interesting main riff as Geddy sings quickly overtop and they shift nicely into a new riff with no keyboards, led by Lifeson on guitar and some more vocals. A drum fill leads into the chorus where Geddy plays some nice bass and Peart plays some great quick drums. The chorus has the same offbeat vibe to it and Geddy's vocals sound pretty great. When Geddy switches back to the speedy keyboard riff it's time for another verse and while Geddy Lee surely seems like a great keyboard player, it's a little disappointing to hear him play so much of them when he is such a phenomenal bassist! After the verse another great drum fill takes us to another catchy chorus and when we hear the speedy keyboards it sounds like another riff is on the way. They go a different direction with it though as they all play jam out some great stuff as the keyboards continue overtop. Geddy does some solid rambling vocals as everyone continues to jam as thing slowly fade until the end of the record. Side two wasn't quite side one, but it was still pretty good!

That is the end of "Moving Pictures" and I thought it was another fantastic album by the Canadian trio! All four songs on side one were excellent, my favourite probably being "YYZ" but they were all awesome! The second side wasn't as good as the first, but it still had some cool songs as Rush continue to release one awesome album after another. But they've had so much great music recently; where does this new offering fall on the ladder? Just like each of their last three albums, I think this newest album is better than all four of their first four albums, and that is extremely impressive! However, of these last four absolutely amazing albums I think "Moving Pictures" is the lowest and will therefore take the number four rung. All of Rush's albums have been awesome and if they can keep this up, then who knows what heights these guys will reach!