Classic Albums: Rush—2112/Moving Pictures

The resurrection of Rush from '70s sonic joke to beloved new millennial masters continues with this latest installment from Classic Albums, the highly regarded Behind the Music-style documentary series. As it has previously done with everything from John Lennon's Plastic Ono Band to Black Sabbath's Paranoid, this entry follows the creation of a timeless LP from original inspiration to enduring legacy. In this case, Canadian power rock trio Rush—bassist/vocalist Geddy Lee, guitarist Alex Lifeson, and drummer Neil Peart—discuss two works that would come to shape their four decades (and still going) in the music business. Their 1976 fourth studio album 2112, with its futuristic concepts and long-form performance pieces is first up, with the band explaining how the 20-minute title suite was created, while also pointing out how tracks like "A Passage to Bangkok" prepared them for the more pop/rock oriented style that would come to define Moving Pictures. For that famed 1981 album, hits such as "Limelight" and "Tom Sawyer" are deconstructed here, along with some of the more obscure literary references within the lyrics. While the focus on more than one LP does lessen the detail (although the DVD and Blu-ray releases include an additional 54 minutes of interview footage), this is still an insightful and fun document of how a fantastic band made some of their most memorable sounds. Highly recommended. (B. Gibron)