I've been known to whinge about the frequency with which my shuffle formula throws up Rush records (3% of the 340 entries so far), but I was looking forward to hearing this one. It was one of the two albums of theirs that came out during the two years (1980-81) when they were my favourite band.
The anticipation was acute. The first song I heard from the album was Red Barchetta, which Tommy Vance played on The Friday Rock Show some weeks before the album came out. I taped it, and must have listened to it 20 times before the album was in the shops. I think TV may also have played Tom Sawyer, and that was the first hint that something new was up: the squelchy bass synth, the elliptical lyrics and the departure from the straightforward rock beat to something that sounded like you could almost (almost) dance to it. The lyrics were co-written with Pye Dubois and at the time I was slightly bemused by Neil Peart praising his more oblique writing style. At the time, I thought that Peart's allegorical-but-literal style was the epitome of rock lyric writing. You can see that in a song like Witch Hunt, a Crucible-style morality tale that concludes: "Ignorance and prejudice / And fear / Walk hand in hand". You tell 'em, Neil.
Now I can see Peart's point, and prefer the Dubois-style lyrics. Peart himself seemed to adopt a similar style for Vital Signs. That was the really controversial track among conservative fans, with the Ska guitar sound and a sequencer run making it definitely danceable. I liked it at the time, and I like it now. I wish Rush had followed that line of thinking, instead of abandoning it.
As the obligatory long song (over ten minutes, with two 'movements'), The Camera Eye isn't a classic. But it did introduce me to John Dos Passos and the U.S.A. trilogy, which I finally got round to reading in 1988. Actually I didn't quite finish it: I got part of the way through the third book, and then put to one side for some reason. Of course, it's not the kind of thing you can just pick up again, because so many of the characters and plot developments refer back to previous books. So I'll have to start again one day. I found out that Tim has also read the trilogy, and also got part way through the third book. And, like me, he gave up with Lolita when he felt it didn't live up to its 'literary landmark' reputation. I began to wonder whether the proximity of our birthdays might be astrologically connected to this pattern of lectus interruptus.
Bringing things back on topic, have a peek and a gasp or a snigger at this animated video of the instrumental track on the album, YYZ
 MusicBrainz entry for this album
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