I have listened to it all the way through at least six times so think I know the album pretty well now. I consider this a rock album as most of the songs are driven by guitar based riffs. It has brush strokes of prog all over it but in essence, at its core it’s rock. As I and many others have mentioned, the playing is very very good verging on brilliant. I did wish for a little more light and shade in the playing. For the most part it’s pretty full on and the three almost seem to compete at times to demonstrate technical excellence. Just for fun, I stuck on three tracks immediately after the album. Genesis Firth of Fifth, Focus, Eruption, Zeppelin, No Quarter. Each band stuffed full of technically brilliant instrumentalists who also understood the old saying ‘sometimes less is more’.
Doing that helped me in my conclusions round Moving Pictures because despite the brilliance of the playing, the songwriting/composition is not as strong and the lyrics at times are ridiculously simplistic and delivered in a way that makes it all the more obvious.
So I don’t hate Rush at all. I certainly respect their prowess enough to listen to more of their work. At the moment, I have filed them alongside bands that I sometimes listen to when the mood takes me. Bands like Wishbone Ash, ELP, Marillion but very very unlikely that I would listen to them in front of the bands that helped create their sound, yes, Genesis and Zeppelin.
So score wise, I’m conscious I have been a bit ‘Nippy’ with
@OB1 previous nominations especially Kiss . So I am tending to upgrading a 5 which is what I think the album is worth to a 6 to reflect just how good I think these instrumentalists are.
Thanks
@OB1 for such an interesting pick.