10 Hard Rock Albums You Must Hear Before You Die
6. Moving Pictures - Rush
As the '70s drew to a close, Rush had made more sonic innovations in their music than many of their contemporaries could hope to do.
After finally gaining a mass audience off of their opus 2112, things started to get really weird, with every other album flirting with new styles and increasing the song lengths to almost 20 minute exercises. It was certainly time for a change, and Moving Pictures was when this Canadian power trio shocked us all over again.
From the word go, Moving Pictures is one of the cleanest displays of musicianship ever to come from hard rock, with every single member flying off the hinges at any moment. Now that the lengthy cuts were in the rearview, these songs hold up as great bite-sized pieces of prog rock, whether it's the instrumental freakout of YYZ or the internal dissection of fame that takes place on Limelight.
It's not like these guys weren't in touch with their prog roots either, with the Camera Eye becoming one of the most episodic compositions they have ever made. Complete with some stellar pop hooks, this was like watching prog rock as interpreted by the Police. Rush didn't really need to prove themselves to anyone at this point, so to have an album this good just for the hell of it is saying a lot.