MOVING PICTURES

This is definitely one of the best albums by RUSH, which I nowadays consider as my favorite progressive band. To give you the right picture of this masterpiece of prog, I'll review every song on this album separately:

"Tom Sawyer" What could I possibly say about this brilliant opener, that hasn't been said before? This song has always been one of my favorites, even though it's not very complex or "progressive". After the nice chorus Geddy Lee begins to play one of the most memorable keyboard-patterns in prog, followed by a cool guitar solo by Alex Lifeson. Neil Peart's stunning drum fills makes this song even better. Even though I'm not a big fan of fade-out endings, it sounds good enough in this song.

"Red Barchetta" A nice, energetic tune with very impressive verses. I wouldn't say this is one of my favorite songs, but it's pretty good and I like it a lot.

"YYZ" Wow! How can such a short instrumental be such a great song? The fast & furious riff after the morse-code-intro is excellent, not to mention all the other riffs in this brilliant song. This song proves that Rush is probably the most talented band ever. Neil Peart beats his drums like an animal while Geddy Lee plays the most awesome basslines. After another nice solo by Lifeson comes the emotional synth-part, followed by a couple of riffs from the beginning. Definitely one of the best songs in this album.

"Limelight" Another nice rock song with beautiful melodies. This song does includes one of the best solos by Alex Lifeson, and also one of the best lyrics by Neil Peart. Geddy Lee's voice is at it's finest as well. Once again, I have to say that this is one of my favorite songs on this album.

"The Camera Eye" After a bunch of short prog songs comes the highlight of this album. Even though the intro is a bit too long, this is still the best song on this album besides Tom Sawyer. I don't consider this song as an "epic", because it's only a quite normal song with two almost identical parts added together.

"Witch Hunt" This very underrated song begins with a spooky intro followed by a simple riff and mysterious vocals by Geddy Lee. The song itself is quite simple, but I still like it very much. I'll never get tired of the scary atmosphere and brilliant vocal melodies of this song. In my opinion the song is too short, it should have been longer. Maybe even epic? Well, it's still good enough.

"Vital Signs" The reggae-influenced song that ends this album is clearly weaker than the other tracks, but that's only because all the other tracks are nearly perfect, and this one is "only" good. In my opinion Witch Hunt should have been the last track on this album, but it doesn't matter that much.

What can I say? A masterpiece of progressive music, definitely. The album is full of classic Rush songs and underrated songs as well. Sadly this album was the end of "The Golden Era", and even though Rush has done fine albums after this one, they have never reached the level of this album.