MOVING PICTURES

Wow, I must say that I'm suprised by the amount of five-star ratings for this album. I don't think that this is even Rushs' best progressive album (Hemispheres or A Farewell To Kings are the two best).

This IS a great rock record, and a good progressive rock album. The drumming was standard-setting, and remains impressive to this day. The use of synthesizers gave the standard power-trio a unique twist, and the individual talents of Lifeson and Lee made the level of musicality very high.

Side One of the original album would be in the running for a five star rating--the side rating is 80%, which would translate to a 4 or 5 star rating.

Tom Sawyer: A true classic. Every drummer--in any genre--should learn to play this song on the drumkit! This is a great song to play for anyone who says that all prog songs have to be long to be great. 9/10.

Red Barchetta: A good song, but it never struck me as the classic that many think it is. I do tend to skip this track when I play the CD or the "Chronicles" set. 5/10.

YYZ: The best song on the album and the best live song that Rush performs. Three virtuosos play off of each other to create one of the greatest rock instrumental compositions ever recorded. 10/10

Limelight: Rock-prog, and very, very good rock-prog. A top-notch track from top to bottom. 8/10.

Side two fell off of a cliff for me. Two of the three songs are good songs, but not classics by any stretch of the imagination. 50%

The Camera Eye: This is where the album starts to loose me. The synth part is nice, and the rock parts are nice, but this track feels forced it me. It's almost as if they felt that they had to make this track 10 minutes long either to appease the prog-rush fans of their previous albums or to fill out the album time. The good moments in this song don't make up for the excess length. I think that this could be an absolutely killer 5-7 minute track, if anyone has the requisite editing software! 7/10

Witch Hunt: This track alone demonstrates why this album cannot be a progressive rock masterpiece. This is essentially a throwaway track, though it does have enough interesting musical changes to keep this above the drivel that many albums have. 3/10

Vital Signs: Another nice rock track, like Red Barchetta, that doesn't do anything special for me. The drum machine at the beginning is really annoying, but it does show how great Peart is when he comes in and plays his rear end off for the rest of the song. The song as a whole feels like a nice solid rock song played by far above- average rock musicians. 5/10

The album as a whole is a classic in the Rush library, and will appeal to most fans of rock and progressive music. My overall rating comes in at around 65%, which is just enough to give it the "excellent addition" rating that this album deserves. Close To The Edge, Selling England, Court this is not . . . not even close . . . but it is a good album.