MOVING PICTURES

This is the case of Rush, a group that distinguished itself for the very high technical rate of the three instrumentalists and for the desire to bring hard rock up to prog both in terms of musical composition and lyrics. Undoubtedly Rush have combined a singer-songwriter lyrics (written by Neal Peart, the drummer) with a technical expertise worthy of the greatest prog instrumentalists but, in my opinion, in terms of composition, their elaborate songs, including the suites, have not been able to reach the peaks of the best prog groups, being more than anything else overlapping, without real development, of different rhythms or melodies not well blended together.

Even in the arrangements, Rush were not be able to mix acoustic and electric moments in a coherent and organic way, acting, even in that case, with a simple superimposition of the two moments. Sometimes, the desire to show off their musical virtuosity has led Rush to sudden changes of rhythm that have made some of their compositions exhausting and, in short, in my opinion, all this has led to very well played albums with remarkable lyrics, ambitious and very appreciable albums which, however, from a musical point of view have not reached what I consider the top of the prog.

What was lacking mainly concerns the musical score, often twisted and not very smooth, the beauty of the melodies and the coherent mixture of arrangements that are now soft and after aggressive (for example, Genesis managed to passing from acoustic moments with Hackett and Gabriel to electric moments in a very good way). This analysis of mine would like to explain why Rush gave their best with Moving Pictures, an album where they gave up their great constructions, they found clear and immediate melodies and arrangements by integrating not so much the acoustic sound with the electric, but the electric rock guitar-oriented sound with the synth.pop sound, and they produced very enthralling songs with sure effect.

And so, here's to you the Rush's masterpiece.

1. Tom Sawyer (4:34) Dazzling start with electronic and synthetic sounds and guitar playing a la Queen power (A modern-day warrior/ Mean mean stride/Today's Tom Sawyer/Mean mean pride). Rush churn out a hard-pop-electronic song of easy access.and sure effect. The central instrumental piece is excellent, while towards the end the song repeats itself without adding anything new. But the power is remarkable, the sound produced is overwhelming and gorgeus. It is the commercial masterpiece of the Rush. Rating 8.5.

2. Red Barchetta (6:08) It's instead a song that takes you back to the past, more elaborate, more guided by Lifeson's guitar than the previous one. The main feature that shines through is the smoothness: Rush seem to have managed to coin a modern pop-rock synths-drums / bass-guitar sound that flows pleasantly and that comes closer and closer to the danceable. Smoothness and accessibility are the qualities that Rush lacked most, just think of Permanent Waves, or the Emispheres suite, where all those tempo changes and those crazy rhythms produced a tiring music to listen to. This track is apparently a conventional song with 3 verses and 3 choruses (with different lyrics) and a guitar solo before the third verse but the transition between the various sections is irregular and dictated by tempo changes and very pumped guitar riffs, which again remind me those of Bryan May. The ending takes place with a nuance that is too accelerated at the end of 6 minutes of exhausting song. The result, however, seems effective and satisfactory to me. Rush are inspired and manage to produce songs with a remarkable immediacy, which strikes the listener. Rating 7,5/8.

3. YYZ (4:24) XYZ is an instrumental piece where Lifeson is the master. After a beginning with percussion and bells, the intro starts with a powerful riff supported by Peart's drums, then the musical verse begins with a repetitive guitar phrase played on different scales, After that. the melody becomes predominant. Geddy Lee's Squire bass embellishes this piece, especially in the long bridge that follows the musical verse, after which comes Lifeson's solo and the soothing piece with synths which, however, doesn't have time to slow down completely: the musical verse starts again with the phrase of the guitar and ends with a crescendo. Great instrumental piece. Rating 8.

4. Limelight (4:21) The first side closes with a conventional rock ballad verse-verse-chorus-verse-verse-chorus-solo-chorus which has its best parts in Lee's melodic chorus and Lifeson's undertone solo. Geddy Lee in this song turns into a melodist. Simple but effective song. Rating 7,5.

Very well balanced first side, formed by a very smooth sequence of four songs all easily listening while maintaining the technical rate enjoyed by Rush. Of course, Tom Sawyer's masterpiece is not replicated but, overall, this is certainly the best A-side of the entire Rush discography and it results greater than that of the individual songs taken one by one.

Rating side A: 8,5.

5. The Camera Eye (10:57) The song begins with urban noises, above which the sounds of the synths rise, with which Geddy Lee now knows how to juggle in a masterly way. After a rhythmic crescendo with drums and guitar that remains one of the best pieces of the mini-suite, worthy of Tom Sawyer, the intro ends and the song comes alive with the sound of synths, very aggressive. Soon after comes Lee's voice describing massified people in New York (Grim-faced and forbidding / Their faces closed tight / An angular mass of New Yorkers / Pacing in rhythm / Race the oncoming night). The music is power-pop with a glam-rock vein.

The rhythm slows down for the chorus, where Lee shows off a melancholy singing (They seem oblivious / To a soft spring rain ...): now the melody has become beautiful, but soon after the rhythm returns to accelerate and the first chapter of the lyrics ends. The synths phrase of the intro returns, in practice the song starts all over again, and this is a defect: it would have been better, at this point, to take a suspension break with variations on the theme, or to put a guitar solo on it: so, instead the track simply repeats in a slavish way the same initial movements, with little imagination, and insisting on the frenzied rhythm with a lot of tempo changes which in the long run becomes exhausting. Fortunately, unlike in the past, here the chorus (this time Lee talks about London: Wide-angle watcher / On life's ancient tales /Steeped in the history of London) takes place with a slowdown and greater melodicity, and then a thin and acid solo by Lifeson starts, very good solo, but inexplicably Rush are in a hurry to finish the song and so Lee's singing returns and then the song fades quickly. This is the second flaw of the suite.

In practice, what do we owe these defects to? To Rush's desire to focus on powerful synth phrases, to get a strong, commercial and catchy sound, and indeed the synths pieces are worthy of Tom Sawyer, but here, in an eleven minute song, it took more expertise prog in taking care of the details, that is to make a central slowdown with variations and not to burn the song with a hasty and patchy ending: the beautiful Lifeson solo should be more enhanced and the grand finale should be obtained with care, arriving there with all the necessary steps. In short, Rush lack in this piece for their desire to produce an aggressive synth-oriented commercial sound, and in this way the song, overall, which also had great potential, remains not fully developed with success. It could have been a small masterpiece, but you have to be content with being a song with beautiful sound ideas (synth phrase of the intro, melodic refrain in calando and in a minor key, Lifeson solo) not adequately highlighted in the overall structure. Rating 7+/7,5.

6. Witch Hunt (Part III of Fear) (4:44) Atmospheric, slow song that begins with a great work by Peart on the bells and on various percussions. There are background voices and an anguished gothic vibe that has a delightful crescendo. Lee sings, rightly, The Night is Black without the Moon etc. Here the Cure and Simple Minds are around the corner. Once again Rush demonstrates that they can master the synths beautifully, in fact they are closely related to the rest of the arrangement (thanks to Hugh Syme in this case) and make the sound more epic, similar to the one that will churn out, a few years later, Wayne Hussey's The Mission. Lee's bass is excellent but it's a pity that the song ends so abruptly in the finale. Once again the Rush let themselves be conditioned by their desire to be commercial: if they had remembered their prog past they would have lengthened the ending and a masterpiece would have been released. Anyway this is a very good song, the best of side B. Rating 7,5/8

7. Vital Signs (4:47). Song with syncopated rhythm produced by synths and metallic "twang" on guitar similar to that of Police that evokes reggae (but that's something else). The sound is very beautiful. Basically it's an electronic song with a cybernetic-style syncopated system. We are now close to the dance sound of a disco but intelligently the Rush alternate the dance rhythm with harder accelerations dictated by Lifeson's riffs. Meanwhile, Lee does the usual great work on the bass that you hear especially in the final when the keyboards start, too bad that instead of a solo or a crescendo Rush they prefer a fade even one minute long. This song is also ruined by mistakes in arrangement and composition and does not exploit its potential. Another small masterpiece failed. Anyway it still remains a good song: rated 7,5.

Total Time 39:55

The second side, less homogeneous and flowing than the first, it is composed of a mini suite that would like to be a 10-minute Tom Sawyer but only manages to do so in some moments, bringing back the grueling pieces with tempo changes of the past at various times, and then by two songs that move (with some defects) in the field of synth-pop, totally different from the previous Rush production, two well-detailed songs that move the atmosphere from rock to dance-music. The album therefore loses a little homogeneity and quality, and in fact the evaluation of the B side is 7.5 / 8.

Basically the A side is a four stars Side whereas the B side is a three stars Side, but overall, I think the record as a whole deserves an 8+ which, in my grading table means that it reaches 4 stars. Viva Rush! I managed to give Rush 4 stars!

Share this RUSH review

Social review comments () BETA

---

---

Review related links

• Send comments to jamesbaldwin
• Report this review (#2598898)
• Buy RUSH music online with PA partners
• Show all RUSH MP3/Stream
• Go to RUSH page for videos, full discography with ratings, reviews and much more
• Go to Moving Pictures page for more details, where to buy and ratings/reviews
• Search the Forum for RUSH related discussions