MOVING PICTURES

Permanent Waves (in my humble opinion, Rush's masterpiece) was definitely a transitional album. The progressive excesses of the past were discarded, tasteful synths were given prominence, and everything was focused more towards the mainstream while still retaining the trademark Rush sound.

With the album under discussion now, Moving Pictures, the transition is complete. This is the template that Rush will be following for the next two decades, and it is a very appealing template indeed, despite omitting some aspect of their music that we prog fans really loved. Rush has found a way to appeal to fans of heavy metal and arena rock without alienating us.

Truly, the production on this album is amazing. Strong songs backed up with a high quality production made this one of the must have albums for extremely diverse fan bases. While this is not one of the masterpieces of prog, this is one of those albums that bring in listeners from across the entire spectrum of music lovers.

4 stars. It's an excellent addition to anybody's musical collection, whether they are prog fans or not, but it's not quite a materpiece. This is one of those albums that you share with your friends to bring them into progdom.