MOVING PICTURES

By far the most overrated Rush album in the band's history. Yet it is still an excellent album that is a must for any Rush fan. The first half of the album is among the most incredible music the band has ever made, and that is saying a lot considering the overall awesomeness of their three or four previous albums. All four songs, Tom Sawyer, Red Barchetta (one of my favorite Rush songs of all time), YYZ, and Limelight are well written and balanced enough to catch the ears of just about anyone in both camps of hard rock and progressive rock listeners, let alone heavy prog. The second half of the album is just good, Camera Eye being the last Rush song to top ten minutes with great use of synth keyboard and a gradual feel to it. The two following songs are somewhat mediocre, not really anything that special and are what keep me from rating this a perfect masterpiece. I'd almost say they are somewhat reflective of what I call the "post Moving Pictures" Rush era, where overall the song writing was still good but the intellectual flare of their music declined to be just a level above much mainstream music. An excellent album that I feel deserves no more or less than four stars.