December 21st, 2022 - Getting Stereohopic With Moving Pictures

 

Hello and happy Wednesday hop heads, rockers, movers, and shakers!  The Meista here pairing one of my favorite albums, the brilliant "Moving Pictures" (Fortieth Anniversary Box Set), 8th album by the legendary Rush and a tasty and hoppy Stereohopic IPA Vol. 5 (Strata & Ekuanot) from the Lagunitas Brewing Company!  Hell yeah!!

Album Info:

• Artist: Rush
• Title: "Moving Pictures" (Fortieth Anniversary Box Set)
• Recorded: 1981 at Toronto Sound in Toronto, Canada
• Release date: February 12th, 1981 (8th studio album by Rush)
• Record company: Anthem Records 
• Production: Terry Brown and Rush
• Album cover art: Hugh Syme (art direction, graphics, cover concept)
• Personnel: Geddy Lee (lead vocals, bass guitar, bass pedals, Minimoog, Oberheim polyphonic synthesizer, OB-X, and Moog Taurus), Alex Lifeson (electric and acoustic six-string and twelve-string guitar, and Moog Taurus), and Neil Peart (drums, timbales, gong, bells, glockenspiel, wind chimes, bell tree, crotales, cowbell, and plywood)
• Guest musician: Hugh Syme (synthesizer on "Witch Hunt")
• Musical style: Progressive metal, progressive rock, hard rock
• Sound: Completely original, powerfully engaging, and wonderfully complex, "Moving Pictures" stands as a testament to the talent of this trio.  It is inventive, imaginative, and totally rocking! It is an amazing performance that captures not only the brilliance of Rush's songwriting, but the vigor and intensity of these musicians!  I really cannot convey in words how incredibly important this album was to me as a teenager and still is to this very day!  "Impressionable" is most definitely an understatement! 
• Major themes: etc.
• Notes: The album was the band's biggest selling album in the U.S. and remains their most popular and commercially successful studio recording to date, mainly due to two songs: "Tom Sawyer" and "Limelight". 
• Tracks: 

Disc 1: Studio Album

1. "Tom Sawyer"
2. "Red Barchetta"
3. "YYZ"
4. "Limelight"
5. "The Camera Eye"
• "I. (a.k.a. New York)"
• "II. (a.k.a. London)"
6. "Witch Hunt" (Part III of "Fear")
7. "Vital Signs"

Disc 2: Live In YYZ 1981

1. "2112 - Overture"
2. "2112 - The Temple Of Syrinx"
3. "Freewill"
4. "Limelight"
5. "Cygnus X-1 Book II: "Hemispheres" - Prelude"
6. "Beneath, Between and Behind"
7. "The Camera Eye"
8. "YYZ"
9. "Broon's Bane"
10. "The Trees"
11. "Xanadu"
12. "The Spirit Of Radio"
13. "Red Barchetta"
14. "Closer To The Heart"
15. "Tom Sawyer"
16. "Vital Signs"
17. "Natural Science"
18. " Working Man / Cygnus X-1 - Armageddon: The Battle of Heart and Mind / By-Tor & The Snow Dog / In The End / In The Mood / 2112 - Grand Finale"
19. "La Villa Strangiato"

Brew Info:

• Brewery: Lagunitas Brewing Company (Petaluma, California)
• Website: http://www.lagunitas.com/
• Brew: Stereohopic IPA Vol. 5 (Strata & Ekuanot)
• Style: American India Pale Ale (IPA)
• Serving: 12 ounce bottle
• ABV: 7.2%
• IBUs: 65
• Ingredients: Strata and Ekuanot hops
• Pour: The Stereohopic pours a fairly clear, golden-yellow hue with a bright white, thin, yet frothy head with good retention and sudsy lacing.
• Nose: The nose is nice blend of berry, citrus, and tropical fruit aromas.  There are aromas of grapefruit rind, tangerine, strawberry, peach, tangerine, guava, papaya, light pine resin, herbal tea, and burnt toffee.
• Taste: The taste of the Stereohopic follows the nose with flavors.  There are notes of pine, pink grapefruit, toasted biscuit, and soft caramel/toffee. 
• Mouthfeel: Medium to full-bodied with moderate carbonation, the mouthfeel is crisp and juicy with a dry, slightly bitter finish.

Overall pairing: The delicious, bright, sweet, and invitingly punchy aromas and flavors of the Stereohopic IPA are perfect for the complex, yet heavy-duty rockin' punch of Rush's "Moving Pictures"!  Those bright, juicy flavors go so very well with soaring guitars and soaring vocal performances!

Cheers!!