THROUGH THE CAMERA EYE

This is one of the lesser known Rush video's, released in 1984, a year later put on a laser-disc but we still have to wait on a DVD release. It's the era that Rush looked like dressmen on the catwalk, especially the handsome Alex. The music turned into more swinging and the trio blended styles like ska, reggae and new wave into their early Eighties 'powerprog', obviously influenced by The Police.

This video contains six tracks from the studio albums Signals and Grace Under Pressure that were released in those days and Vital Signs and the 'stage favorite' Tom Sawyer (a live-version from the Exit Stage Left video) from Moving Pictures, my favorite Rush album. Most of the tracks are recorded as video clips like Distant Early Warning with a small boy who travels around the world on a rocket (based upon the famous scene of Slim Pickens riding an atomic bomb in Stanley Kubrick his classic movie Dr. Strangelove), the catchy Subdivisions (Geddy Lee on the huge Oberheim synthesizer) featuring a kind of nerd from the Toronto suburbs, Afterimage with Victorian-like images and an inspired Neil Peart and the exciting Countdown including NASA footage of the first space shuttle launch, this epitomizes the connection between Rush and spacecraft concerning the element technical skills and an adventurous mind. One of the highlights is the final part of the swinging composition Vital Signs, very compelling with a soaring synthesizer sound, propulsive guitar riffs on a white Fender Stratocaster and dynamic drumming, a very captivating and distinctive Rush sound in the mid-Eighties!

Not their best video but recommended to all Rush fans. My rating 3,5 stars.