Moving Pictures - Album Discussion

[Slim]

With the excitement surrounding the 40th anniversary release, I thought it might be apt to discuss Moving Pictures next.

Surely one of the strongest of all their albums and deservedly considered a classic album, not merely in the context of the Rush canon but in all of rock music. But is it their best effort? I don't think so, though I can well understand the appeal. It hits a sort of sweet spot between accessibility and excellence and it's very accomplished.

Anyway - will post more thoughts later when I have time, probably.

[David L]

With the excitement surrounding the 40th anniversary release, I thought it might be apt to discuss Moving Pictures next.

Surely one of the strongest of all their albums and deservedly considered a classic album, not merely in the context of the Rush canon but in all of rock music. But is it their best effort? I don't think so, though I can well understand the appeal. It hits a sort of sweet spot between accessibility and excellence and it's very accomplished.

Don't tell us................Hemispheres

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz 

[Rufus_the_dawg]

Moving pictures is a great gateway album in to the Rush world

Backwards in to the Classics or forward to electronic experimentation

[Nick]

Although I never need to hear many of the tracks ever again due to over-familiarisation it's very much a career high point. The writing/playing is concise and thrilling, lyrics succinct and the production is excellent.

[pxr5]

It's a great album (apart from Witch Hunt) and I recall the day I first heard it (I went ice skating that day haha). I'd seen Rush on the PeW tour and was expecting another album like that. It was different enough, but in a good way and it still had a long track. The last really great album by Rush IMO.

[Thenop]

Everyone has their 'go to' album (mine's Power Windows) and then there's many albums I enjoy playing, taking them out every now & then, maybe reminesce a bit. Sometimes feeling more proggy, then more light hearted. But whenver I return to Moving Pictures I feel a sense of accomplishment, like Slim mentiooned before. It really feels like they have a hit a high note and from there on, it didn't really matter what was next. Exploring new things was OK, because they always had MP to fall back on.
I truly find it is a fantastic album with some of their signature tracks. It was really all brought together, the songs, the playing, the sound & production. There's a reason it sold so well - it was an album that defined it's time in a way.

The latest remaster sounds fantastic as well, has a nice 'shine' to it.

[Slim]

It's a great album (apart from Witch Hunt) and I recall the day I first heard it (I went ice skating that day haha). I'd seen Rush on the PeW tour and was expecting another album like that. It was different enough, but in a good way and it still had a long track. The last really great album by Rush IMO.

I agree that Witch Hunt is the clunker. Never liked it at all, it just feels heavy and plodding to me. Every other tune though is a gem.

My memory of listening to Moving Pictures for the first time is especially vivid and it's troubling to think that it's 41 years ago now. I don't remember buying it but I well remember introducing it to the new HiFi in my bedroom, lounging on my bed and poring through the album artwork.

I remember being so impressed by YYZ especially - it was really intriguing, surprising. There's a quirkiness and off-the-wall sophistication there which had never been evident in Rush music up until then. And a Phrygian Dominant guitar solo! (I would have just thought of it as "Eastern-sounding" at the time).

Overall though I was disappointed at first. I was probably still wide-eyed and idealistic to be hoping for something of the power and immediacy of a Something for Nothing, or the sheer grace and majesty of the Hemispheres title piece. But it grew on me.

There was a real buzz around the album in the weeks after it was released - it got a lot of credit in the music press and I remember other musicians saying that they were impressed by it. I suppose the obvious thing about it compared to the other bands of the time beloved by the hard rock crowd - UFO, Whitesnake et al - is that it's the work of a band ready to adapt, develop, change, modernise.

It's a really classy record, but as I said before - not quite peak Rush IMO.

It enhanced their commercial appeal no end of course; after Moving Pictures they never played Newcastle City Hall again. Instead I had to go and see them at some huge arena packed with excited neophytes whom I resented for gatecrashing my band and ruining my gigs.

[David L]

I couldn't get on with Witch Hunt or Vital Signs at first but nowadays I enjoy both. I think the structure of VS probably makes it more successful as a song but there are elements of the synth washes in WH that are really cool. But like you, I initially thought it was a bit of a dog with a perfunctory, simplistic riff. With hindsight though, I think they got the menacing feel about right.

The rest of the album was superb though, side one is spectacular and the production is faultless. The drums in particular have always sounded great. Terry Brown and the engineer have managed to capture the most realistic drum sound I've ever experienced on a recording IMHO. I've always been able to 'hear' the whole of the kit reacting to Neil's playing, vibrating almost....wonderful.

I always remember Leppard's Joe Elliot enthusing over it when released (may have been in an interview in Sounds or on the radio). I think he opined that side one is perfect.

One of my biggest disappointments was the continuation of the single-sleeve format that began with PeW. I loved the gatefolds that we were accustomed to but this was a period that represented a break from the past and modernisation of the band's approach, including the packaging of their product

[David L]

I remember a standout moment of my first listen to MP.

Limelight was a nailed-on hit single. Perfect length, emotionally charged, great riff and that delicious sustained note at the end of the solo overlaid with the arpeggiated motif,  it seemed to have everything...to my mind anyway. I remember playing it to my friend, John, who had no real interest in progressive, hard rock but was really into pop. Surely he had to agree, this was chart gold! (he shrugged - unconvinced)

Perplexingly, although released in the US as a single (between Tom Sawyer and Vital Signs), it was passed-over in favour of the most unrepresentative track on the record (VS) for a single release. It peaked at 41 on the UK charts.

Of course, the live version of TS peaked just outside of the top 20 after the release of ESL. I'm still certain that with a bit of promotion Limelight could have been the star ( ), in terms of singles from MP

[pxr5]

I recall clearly the day I bought Vital Signs on 7 inch single. I'd popped around to a mate's house (he was another big Rush fan) intending to go straight with him to a local record shop to get it. However, he convinced me to try Pernod that had been left over from Xmas. I had no idea how strong spirits were, and glugged down quite a lot. I remember staggering to town and not much else until I found myself in my kitchen at home throwing up while Vital Signs looped in the background. Luckily I still like VS, but I've never touched Pernod ever again.

[David L]

I recall clearly the day I bought Vital Signs on 7 inch single. I'd popped around to a mate's house (he was another big Rush fan) intending to go straight with him to a local record shop to get it. However, he convinced me to try Pernod that had been left over from Xmas. I had no idea how strong spirits were, and glugged down quite a lot. I remember staggering to town and not much else until I found myself in my kitchen at home throwing up while Vital Signs looped in the background. Luckily I still like VS, but I've never touched Pernod ever again.

Unstable condition     

[Jonners]

I think I have heard all of side 1 far too much now, although Limelight never grows tired to my ears.

The last couple of tours, and this new release has really opened my eyes to Vital Signs, and hearing a early 80s vesrio of Camera Eye is a joy

I lobe Witch Hunt, but primarily the Live Versions, especially on ASOH which is just awesome, so yes the album version does sound plodding at times. But live it is wonderful

It is my other "go to" album after PW, although I am warming to Hemispheres with time

[Fishy]

MP was my first album to buy on release..actually got my Mum who worked in Glasgow to get it for me.. I'm sure it was £3.89.....Tommy Vance had played some tracks prior to release..Red Barchetta and Limelight for sure maybe Tom Sawyer as well...Loved it on first listen on the whole but  could never get on with VS for some reason... it was obviously  a pointer in the direction they were going for the next couple of albums in terms of guitar sounds....
Then caught them live in Nov 81 for the tour at Ingliston Cow Shed in Edinburgh... side 1 has been pretty much played to death live so it's probably not an album I listen to much nowadays... but still a top album in many respects

[Matt2112]

Yes, broadly in agreement with most of the comments above; this is the quintessential Rush album and certainly the one album I'd recommend to a curious newbie.

Limelight of course has a multitude of sublime qualities, but one of the major ones for me is how they manage to make the odd and shifting time signatures of that song sound so groovy, natural and accessible.  That's a rare gift.

[R6GYY]

I caught the live version of Red Barchetta on the Moving Pictures 40 yesterday, and it caught me by surprise yet again just how good a track this is.

I keep forgetting!

Also, I think that Witch Hunt following The Camera Eye is quite deliberate, or it feels to me like it was.

The Camera Eye is beautiful, soaring, uplifting, and then the remarkable dirge (and I mean that in a good way) that is Witch Hunt really grabs your attention. Very dark, and the music absolutely sets the atmosphere for the words.

There are few Rush albums which don't have a duffer or two, and this is one of them. Not a dud track in sight, or rather, to be heard.