Moving Pictures (album)

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Moving Pictures

Studio album by Rush
Released	January 30, 1981
Recorded	October - November 1980 at Le Studio, Morin Heights, Quebec
Genre	Progressive rock Hard rock
Length	40:04
Label	Anthem Records (Canada) Mercury Records
Producer(s)	Rush and Terry Brown
ARTISTdirect link All Music Guide link Rolling Stone link
Rush chronology
Permanent Waves (1980)	Moving Pictures (1981)	Exit...Stage Left (1981)

Moving Pictures is the eighth studio album by Canadian rock band Rush, released in 1981 (see 1981 in music). The album was recorded and mixed at Le Studio, Morin Heights, Quebec.

A classic rock album, Moving Pictures became the band's first Platinum selling album in the U.S. hitting #3 and remains the band's most popular studio recording to date (certified Quadruple Platinum (4 million copies sold) on January 27, 1995).

Following the formula of their previous album, Permanent Waves, Moving Pictures follows a more radio-friendly format and includes the hit single "Tom Sawyer", as well as other radio standards such as "Red Barchetta" and "Limelight".

1 Songs
2 Track listing
3 Personnel
4 Charts
5 Miscellanea
6 Remaster Details

[edit] Songs

With a title reference to Mark Twain's fictional character, "Tom Sawyer" is an abstract commentary on a free-thinking "modern day warrior". Likely Rush's best-selling single, it is also a mainstay in Rush's live show. Lyrics for this track were written in collaboration with Max Webster lyricist Pye Dubois.

The second song on Moving Pictures is "Red Barchetta". Lyrics were inspired by the short story "A Nice Morning Drive" [1] by Richard S. Foster. Peart, however, has reported that the car that inspired the song's title is a Ferrari 166 MM Barchetta.

Next is the Grammy-nominated instrumental "YYZ". The song's title is the IATA Airport Code for Toronto Pearson International Airport. It is played repeatedly in Morse code (-.--/-.--/--..) at the beginning of the song. A staple within their live-performance repertoire, "YYZ" is widely seen as a signature Rush song, and the band's most popular instrumental.

"Limelight" is another perennial radio favorite. The lyrics are autobiographical, based on Peart's own dissatisfactions with fame and its intrusions into personal life. The song contains two self-references: one, the line "All the world's indeed a stage", references their live album All the World's a Stage (as well as the famous line by William Shakespeare) while the line "caught in the camera eye" references the next track, "The Camera Eye". Alex Lifeson's guitar solo on the track is often hailed as one of his finest performances.

Side two of the original vinyl release opened with "The Camera Eye", which would be Rush's last "epic" song, clocking in at almost eleven minutes. Lyrically and musically it is an attempt to capture the energy and moods of two of the English-speaking world's great cities: New York (first verse) and London (second verse). Unlike all the other songs on the album it has never been performed live since the Moving Pictures / Exit Stage Left tours of 1981/82. It usually tops internet polls for the song which fans would most like to see the band perform live again.

The sixth song "Witch Hunt" initially features voices (that according to Alex Lifeson on In the Studio with Redbeard, which devoted an episode to Moving Pictures, were recorded outside Le Studio in sub-zero temperatures with the band and crew were ranting and raving in a humorous way) and sound effects made by Lee's Oberheim keyboards, before jumping into the rock section of the song. "Witch Hunt" would become a part of the Fear series of songs, which includes "The Weapon" from Signals, "The Enemy Within" from Grace Under Pressure, and "Freeze" from Vapor Trails.

Rounding out the album is "Vital Signs", which starts off with a distinctive sequencer part made by Lee's OB-X synthesizer, shows distinct reggae flavor—the experimentation with which was likely inspired by The Police. Reggae influences would later creep into tracks found on the band's next studio release Signals.

[edit] Track listing

"Tom Sawyer" (file info) — play in browser (beta)
- "Tom Sawyer" from Moving Pictures
- Problems listening to the file? See media help.

"Tom Sawyer" – 4:33
"Red Barchetta" – 6:06
"YYZ" – 4:24
"Limelight" – 4:19
"The Camera Eye" – 10:56
"Witch Hunt (Part III of Fear)" – 4:43
"Vital Signs" – 4:43

[edit] Personnel

Geddy Lee - Bass guitar; Mini Moog; Oberheim polyphonic; OB-X, Taurus pedal synthesizer, vocals
Alex Lifeson - Electric and Acoustic Guitars, Taurus pedals
Neil Peart - Drums, timbales, gong bass drums, orchestra bells, glockenspiel, tubular bells, wind chimes, cowbells, bell tree, crotales, plywood
Paul Northfield - Engineer
Hugh Syme - guest appearance playing synthesizers on "Witch Hunt", art direction, cover concept and design.
Deborah Samuel - photography
Robbie Whelan - assistant engineer
Bob Ludwig - mastering and remastering
Peter Jensen - digital mastering and editing

[edit] Charts

Album - Billboard (North America)

Year	Chart	Position
1981	Billboard's Pop Albums	3

Singles - Billboard (North America)

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1981	Limelight	Mainstream Rock Tracks	4
1981	Tom Sawyer	Mainstream Rock Tracks	1
1981	Limelight	Pop Singles	55
1981	Tom Sawyer	Pop Singles	44

[edit] Miscellanea

The Ontario Legislature, circa 2006

At – 8:56 into "The Camera Eye," a background noise can be heard; some people think that this noise is Geddy Lee burping and stating "Oh God..." In fact, it is the sound of two Londoners - a refined voice saying "Hello" followed by a working class "Mornin' guv'".^{[citation needed]}
On the cartoon Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, the album was used as the highest alert level of a parody of the Homeland Security Advisory System.
In Brazil, the MacGyver television series used "Tom Sawyer" as its theme Music[2]
Incident at Channel Q, 1986. This movie, directed by Storm Thorgerson, the man responsible for the Pink Floyd covers, is about a quiet suburban neighborhood that declared war on a heavy metal music VJ. During a chase scene they are playing "The Camera Eye" as one of the characters is wearing a Rush t-shirt.[3]
"The Camera Eye" has not been played live since 1983.(05-25-83-Royal Highland Exhibition Centre. Edinburgh, Scotland)
The album cover is a monument to triple meaning. On the front cover there are movers who are moving pictures. Then there are people crying because the pictures passed by are emotionally "Moving". Finally, the back cover has a film crew making a "moving picture" of the whole scene.[4]
The album cover was taken in front of the Ontario Legislature Building in Queen's Park, Toronto.
The making of the album cover was paid by the band since the record company had said it would cost too much to create.
In the first CD pressings of "Moving Pictures" (released in August of 1983) the first beat of "Tom Sawyer" was omitted by mistake.
In the original album, credit was given to "Love Man and the Love Machine." In the re-issue this was clarified to credit Peter Jensen and Digital Recording Systems Company. The "Love Machine" was the band's compliment to the sound of the Sony PCM-1600 digital recording system run by Jensen ("Love Man").

[edit] Remaster Details

Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs issued a Gold CD remaster in 1992. That release is now out of print.[[5]]

A Mercury Records remaster was issued in 1997.

The tray has a picture of three fingerprints, light blue, pink, and lime green (left to right) with THE RUSH REMASTERS printed in all caps just to the left. All remasters from Moving Pictures through to Hold Your Fire are like this. This is just like the cover art of Retrospective II.
The remastered CD restores all of the original vinyl artwork including the lyrics plus the moving picture of drummer Neil Peart which was missing on the original CD issue.