MOVING PICTURES

Moving Pictures was the first Rush album I heard, and it is still one of my favourites. It continued the transition which started with Permanent Waves. That transition from the prog rock to the more synth based era was finished with Signals, but that's a different story. Movin Pictures acts as a kind of a watershed between the two distinctive eras of Rush, containing elements from the past, as well as signs of what tomorrow would bring.

Moving Pictures is usually being held in high esteem, and lauded as their masterpiece. While I think that it is a great album, I'm in disagreement over its masterpiece status. Admittedly, it does contain some of the very best songs they have ever made, both in the pop and prog sense. Tom Sawyer, Red Barchetta, YYZ, Limelight, they are all classics. But then comes the second side with The Camera Eye, Witch Hunt and Vital Signs. While those three songs are good, maybe even great, they lack something which I can't put my finger on. For example The Camera Eye, which tries to be an epic too much, but drags on a bit.

So for me, Moving Pictures is a great album, but not a masterpiece. 4 stars.