Monday, August 15

August 15, 2016 - Rush - Tom Sawyer (1981)


Moving Pictures was one of the first albums I ever bought. I picked it up at a record store in Northbrook Court. I loved the glossiness of the sleeve, the glossy smell...hey, it still has it!




And the cover, with all the moving pictures meanings: men moving the pictures, people weeping due to being emotionally moved by the pictures and, on the back, the realization that this is a movie, aka a moving picture. Pretty clever, eh?

Lady crying because they are taking away her favorite painting: Naked Man in Pentagram


Hey Lou, how much we gettin paid to carry around the painting of the woman on fire? I dunno, Crosby. Don't touch the painting, kid.

I would sit there studying the entire cover and sleeve as the record played...transfixed and mystified.

Tom Sawyer challenged my 13 year old brain, first because the name of the song was a children's book character I knew about, but the lyrics were esoteric and spoke of "today's Tom Sawyer", a different one, a warrior, with 'mean mean pride.'

Fantastic opening synthesizer and drums. The heavy crunch of guitar. The singer with the high-pitched shriek.

Catch the mystery... 

Today's Tom Sawyer he gets high on you and the space he invades he gets by on you....
1:33 the trippy modulated synth of Geddy Lee.
2:00 the radical angular guitar solo of Alex Lifeson.
2:32 and 2:36 Neil Peart's amazing drum fills that are my favorite moments of the song.

He knows changes aren't permanent - but change is. (he put a twist on it there, you see).

catch the spirit catch the spit. (huh?)

And who is this Dubois character who co-wrote the lyrics? Eh professor? Ah yes, lyrics by Dickens and Poe, shall we?

and the video. PLEASE watch the video...geeky geniuses at work in a lab in the snow. Then watch the Limelight video for a quick glimpse of the snow dog.






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