Moving Pictures

Rush: Geddy Lee (vocals, bass, synthesizer); Alex Lifeson (acoustic & electric guitars); Neil Peart (drums, timbales, bells, percussion).
Additional personnel: Hugh Syme (keyboards).
Recorded at Le Studio, Quebec, Canada in October & November 1980.
Rush: Geddy Lee (vocals, bass, synthesizer); Alex Lifeson (acoustic & electric guitars); Neil Peart (drums, timbales, bells, percussion).
Additional personnel: Hugh Syme (keyboards).
Recorded at Le Studio, Quebec, Canada in October & November 1980.
Personnel: Geddy Lee (vocals, mini-Moog synthesizer, bass guitar); Alex Lifeson (guitar, acoustic guitar, 12-string guitar); Neil Peart (glockenspiel, drums, cowbells, timbales, crotales, wind chime).
Liner Note Author: David Fricke.
Recording information: Le Studio, Morin Heights, Quebec (10/1980-11/1980).
Photographers: Deborah Samuel; Fin Costello; Perry Samuel; Yaël Brandeis; Phillip Kamen.
Arrangers: Rush; Terry Brown.
MOVING PICTURES is the intersection between Rush's '70s art-rock style and their sequencer-laced '80s efforts. An incredible stylistic leap for the band, the songs here incorporate reggae, percolating synth and even a new wave-tinged early '80s pop sensibility. "Tom Sawyer," the ultimate alienated-teen saga, is the album's best known song. "Red Barchetta" picks up where 2112 left off with futuristic, sci fi-oriented lyrics. The instrumental "YYZ" is as far into straight-up progressive rock as the band had ever ventured. Things get socio-political on the ominous "Witch Hunt," and a Jamaican flavor enlivens "Vital Signs." The increased reliance on synthesizers and sequencers would later become irksome to old school Rush fans, but on MOVING PICTURES, electronics are tastefully applied to further the group's musical vision, making for what just might be their finest batch of songs.