MOVING PICTURES

Considered by most to be the pinnacle of Rush's career, Moving Pictures perhaps marked the best balance between their progressive and streamlined synthesizer sound. By this time they had moved far past their Zeppelin clone days and have forged their own sound out of their influence, and they had begun their experimentation with synthesizers but did not over saturate their music with it as would be the common complain of later albums.

From an instrumental standpoint, Moving Pictures marks Rush's finest hour, except perhaps for Hemispheres. From the opening of "Tom Sawyer" this can be seen clearly. Each member of the band, though especially Neil Peart, delivers one of the finest performances of their careers. Little needs to be said of the technical prowess of these three men so I will say little of it. The songs are very much in the same vein as Permanent Waves, except more synthesizer heavy and with a more notable influence from the growing New Wave movement, especially The Police. The only song which comes out of left field (sounding drastically different from Permanent Waves material) is "Vital Signs" which draws a strong reggae influence to great effect. The band's compositions are top notch, but for really the first time in their career, despite having a natural sound progression between each album, the band sounds slightly lifeless. The great vigor and energy that's always expressed in their music seems to be duller on Moving Pictures than ever before. This is reflected in two good songs "The Camera Eye" and "Witch Hunt" which remove themselves from being called great because of a certain deadness in the tracks.

I think Moving Pictures falls considerably short of being Rush's greatest. I think the same is the case for many who enjoy a wide range of their catalogue. Nothing is wrong with any songs per se, but in delivery the band sometimes sounds tired paving the way for the change that would come on their follow-up album.