Three 65, Day 9Rush, Moving Pictures
For the longest time, I couldn't get behind Rush; I just couldn't stand the sound of vocalist Geddy Lee's high-pitched, elvish voice. I liked the instrumentals well enough (especially loved "La Villa Strangiato"), but that voice! Like nails on a blackboard.
But eventually I came around, and Moving Pictures was a large part of that. Often considered Rush's best album, this is where the band's attempted synthesis of hard rock and new wave paid off its biggest dividends. A solid piece from start to finish, Moving Pictures will long hold a strong place in the pantheon of great albums - prog/metal or otherwise.
The album starts with the inimitable "Tom Sawyer," whose riff was later lifted by Metallica for their track "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)" (see Three 65, Day 4). Awash in synths, the song is a tribute to epic bombast, the kind of perfect album opener most artists only produce one of. This is followed immediately by what I think of as the album's strongest track, radio mainstay "Red Barchetta" - kind of a buddy comedy set in the future, and based on the short story "A Nice Morning Drive" by Richard S. Foster. Rush was always at their best when they were telling a story, and "Barchetta" paints a fascinating picture of a world without cars, and the boy who dared to race against "a gleaming alloy aircar... two lanes wide."
Other highlights include the always popular "Limelight," the instrumental "YYZ" (which I first heard in cover form, at a Primus concert - the song is about Toronto's airport, and the opening notes are Morse code!), and Rush's last epic longform multi-part suite, "The Camera Eye." The last two songs, "Witch Hunt" and "Vital Signs," are decent, but in comparison to the rest of the album, they're just not as good.
The musicianship on this album is just rock solid. Geddy Lee (vocals aside) can manhandle a bass guitar with the rest of them, while Alex Lifeson's guitar leads are explosive, and Neal Peart's drumming and percussion is a polyrhythmic display of sheer virtuosity. Later Rush albums would prove to be more monochromatic, and not as dynamic as Moving Pictures, but in 1981 - and still, today - this was the shit.
Nice to see Rush make your list, and so early, but I have a feeling it was just blind luck that you dropped it on Day 9.
ReplyDeleteThe first side Tom Sawyer-->Limelight is among the all-time great sides in rock history, back cassettes were king.
The second side may take longer to acquire a taste for, as the epic 'Camera Eye', isn't about a battle between gods, or a time when music is outlawed, but about the people of NY & London. Not a very interesting subject for an 11 minute song.
'Witch Hunt' is better than you give it credit for and occasionally pops up on rock radio and during their tours. If you can't see the bobbing torches winding their way through a dark forest during the opening of that song may god have mercy on your soul. Yes, the lyrics may be a bit preachy, but they still resonate today.
'Vital Signs' is their attempt to be The Police and would probably fit better on their previous album Permanent Waves, with all its reggae undertones.
Thank you very much for the feedback, Ted. Keep it comin'.
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