Moving Pictures album cover
Moving Pictures

Rush

1981
Anthem

For the biggest album of their career, Canadian trio Rush went with a triple entendre for the album title/cover: movers moving emotionally moving pictures while a movie (motion picture) crew films them. The songs within were no less ambitious, despite only two lasting longer than five minutes. They fully embraced synthesizers here to great success. Side one is an unqualified triumph. Lead track “Tom Sawyer” still invades the space of radio stations to this day, “Red Barchetta” repeats the “personal liberty” theme but with a dystopian Sunday drive, “YYZ” may be the most engaging instrumental named after an airport, and “Limelight” expresses Neil Peart’s discomfort with his rockstar status in such a catchy way that it’s no surprise they became rock stars. Side two is almost as good, but its clear highlight is “Witch Hunt,” both one of their most ominous tracks and a precursor of their new wave era to come.

Jeff Treppel

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