Idea to do Moving Pictures instead of a live album...

[currygoat11]

This source from 1981 says it came from Neil:  "Something got into Neil about doing a studio album instead and the more he thought about it, the better the idea seemed. He brought it to us, and Alex and I started getting excited about it."

 

This one from 202x says the idea came from Cliff Burnstein: "I remember we had played New York, and he came to the gig and we were talking about doing a live album. And he kind of said to us guys, ‘You know, Permanent Waves was so great that maybe you should think about going straight back in the studio to do another record.’ "

 

[Edit]:  ahh some clarity from this: "Originally it was going to be a live album then somebody put a bug in Neil's ear about maybe we should not do a live album and he got thinking about it and he got real fired up about it and he talked to us and we got real fired up about it and we said "Hey yeah! Let's cancel all our plans and do a studio album" so it was some of the sort of excitement of changing horses in midstream that led to this album being..."

 

Thank you Cliff and Neil =)

Edited February 20, 2023 by currygoat11

[YYZ Working Man]

and the stars alligned at morin heights once again.

[Bahamas]

And if you check out and listen to "Strombo" and Rush on the 40th Anniversary of Moving Pictures...it's about 40 -50 minutes, not posting where the exact time stamp is for the reference... but very Canadian.

(look for George Stroumboulopoulos - if you have the keyboard skills) They also refer to Cliff Burnstein, both Alex and Geddy. 

 

And, if I may say, George also refers to an earlier interview with Neil about the thirtieth anniversary of Moving Pictures. Be prepared for nostalgia, just saying.

Edited February 21, 2023 by Bahamas
Underlining Cliff Burnstein

[malm_51]

I think the trend was every 4 albums then a live album! I think the live album would have been great though!! Then Moving Pictures would have been different to some degree??

[grep]

I'd love to travel to the alternate universe where that live album was recorded just to hear what they would do, and how it would be different from what we know of the HEM and PeW tours.

[Lurkst]

8 hours ago, grep said:

I'd love to travel to the alternate universe where that live album was recorded just to hear what they would do, and how it would be different from what we know of the HEM and PeW tours.

 

Part of it did appear on side 2 of ESL.

I imagine the album would follow a similar format to Exit, with no repeat songs from ATWAS. Filling out the length with the version of Cygnus X1 books 1 & 2 from the PW tour, plus Natural Science, would potentially have made an album like this:-

 

Side 1

Spirit of Radio 

Freewill

Xanadu 

 

Side 2 

Bangkok 

Closer

BB&B

Natural Science

 

Side 3

Cygnus X1 Books I & II

 

Side 4

The Trees

Jacob's Ladder

La Villa Strangiato

 

No room for a drum solo in there though. Maybe that's why Neil didn't wanna release it? 

 

 

 

[Alexmai]

14 hours ago, grep said:

I'd love to travel to the alternate universe where that live album was recorded just to hear what they would do, and how it would be different from what we know of the HEM and PeW tours.

 

As far as I know, the St. Louis' Kiel Auditorium bootleg from PeW IS that live album. It's so good because it should have been an official release...

...there are tough several songs already on ATWAS, so I don't know.

 

 

Edited February 22, 2023 by Alexmai

[currygoat11]

Yeah per this source

 

"so when we went over to Britain, we recorded about ten dates so we've got about 50 reels of tape sitting around somewhere."

 

So in June 1980, about 10 shows were recorded. Who knows if all these tapes still exist, we know some do:

 

of course the Permanent Waves 40th live tracks include Manchester (Jun 17/18) and London (Jun 4-8) + one song from St Louis Kiel Auditorium (Feb 11-13).

 

(2112 Deluxe Edition also came with A Passage To Bangkok (Manchester Apollo, Manchester, England - June 17, 1980) + it's duplicated on PW 40th)

 

So with PW 40th anniv + the St. Louis Kiel Auditorium bootleg + side2 of ESL, yes I think we're getting a fair representation of what this live album may have sounded like.

 

 

Edited February 23, 2023 by currygoat11

[Lurkst]

7 hours ago, currygoat11 said:

Yeah per this source

 

"so when we went over to Britain, we recorded about ten dates so we've got about 50 reels of tape sitting around somewhere."

 

So in June 1980, about 10 shows were recorded. Who knows if all these tapes still exist, we know some do:

 

of course the Permanent Waves 40th live tracks include Manchester (Jun 17/18) and London (Jun 4-8) + one song from St Louis Kiel Auditorium (Feb 11-13).

 

(2112 Deluxe Edition also came with A Passage To Bangkok (Manchester Apollo, Manchester, England - June 17, 1980) + it's duplicated on PW 40th)

 

So with PW 40th anniv + the St. Louis Kiel Auditorium bootleg, yes I think we're getting a fair representation of what this live album may have sounded like.

 

As a near Glaswegian I'd certainly love to hear the rest of the show that Closer To The Heart was recorded at for Exit 

[ytserush]

On 2/22/2023 at 7:20 PM, currygoat11 said:

Yeah per this source

 

"so when we went over to Britain, we recorded about ten dates so we've got about 50 reels of tape sitting around somewhere."

 

So in June 1980, about 10 shows were recorded. Who knows if all these tapes still exist, we know some do:

 

of course the Permanent Waves 40th live tracks include Manchester (Jun 17/18) and London (Jun 4-8) + one song from St Louis Kiel Auditorium (Feb 11-13).

 

(2112 Deluxe Edition also came with A Passage To Bangkok (Manchester Apollo, Manchester, England - June 17, 1980) + it's duplicated on PW 40th)

 

So with PW 40th anniv + the St. Louis Kiel Auditorium bootleg + side2 of ESL, yes I think we're getting a fair representation of what this live album may have sounded like.

 

 

 

 

I think so too.

[Ged Lent's sis]

On 2/22/2023 at 1:33 AM, malm_51 said:

I think the trend was every 4 albums then a live album...

Yes, I assumed that was part of the plan because of the AtWaS liner notes seeming to hint at that, at least retrospectively upon ESL's release.

[ytserush]

14 hours ago, Ged Lent's sis said:

Yes, I assumed that was part of the plan because of the AtWaS liner notes seeming to hint at that, at least retrospectively upon ESL's release.

 

I think it just happened that way.

 

There were reasons for each.

 

Exit...Stage Left (live album intended to be released before Moving Pictures)

A Show Of Hands (Record deal ending with that album)

Different Stages (Band on hiatus)