re: Moving Pictures
Are there any particular songs that derailed you getting into a band? “Red Barchetta” is that song for Rush for me. As a song it doesn’t suck: it just raises no emotion in me, and it followed “Tom Sawyer”, which is one of the most irritating songs in the rock canon for reasons I can’t articulate. That instrumental after that is cool. Then the rest of the album gets back on track.

If track 2 had been any of their better songs, instead of what was a replacement-level song at best, I might be a Rush fan now instead of an appreciator. If you smell what I’m cooking. “Jacob’s Ladder” is great, I’m listening to Exit: Stage Left now. Something from that period that had never sunk in when I’ve gone through the albums. The guitar solo pumps and cooks to specification.

i’ll think of other examples.