Moving Pictures (Rush album)

Moving Pictures
Studio album by Rush
Released	February 12, 1981 (1981-02-12)
Recorded	October–November 1980
Studio	Le Studio, Morin-Heights, Canada
Genre	Progressive rock hard rock[1]
Length	40:03
Label	Anthem
Producer	Rush Terry Brown
Rush chronology
Permanent Waves (1980) Moving Pictures (1981) Exit... Stage Left (1981)
Singles from Moving Pictures
"Limelight" Released: February 1981 "Vital Signs" Released: March 1981 "Tom Sawyer" Released: May 1981[2]
Alternative cover
40th anniversary reissue

Moving Pictures is the eighth studio album by Canadian rock band Rush, released on February 12, 1981, by Anthem Records. After touring to support their previous album, Permanent Waves (1980), the band started to write and record new material in August 1980 with longtime co-producer Terry Brown. They continued to write songs with a more radio-friendly sound, featuring tighter and shorter song structures compared to their earlier albums.

Moving Pictures received a positive reception from contemporary and retrospective music critics and became an instant commercial success, reaching number one in Canada and number three in both the United States and the United Kingdom. It remains Rush's highest-selling album in the United States, with five million copies sold. "Limelight", "Tom Sawyer" and "Vital Signs" were released as singles across 1981, and the instrumental "YYZ" was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. Rush supported the album on tour from February to July 1981. In 2020, Rolling Stone ranked the album number 379 on its list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time".^[3]