Rush to Release Photo Outtakes From ‘Moving Pictures’ Cover Shoot
Rush are cracking open the vaults to unveil previously unreleased pictures from their Moving Pictures cover shoot. Photographer Deborah Samuel captured the iconic album cover image along with the covers for Permanent Waves, Exit … Stage Left and Signals. The outtakes are now available to the public for the first time with the release of the Deborah Samuel Collection.
The collection includes three alternate front covers and three alternate back covers for Moving Pictures, along with 12 interior album art photographs of Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee. Proceeds from the collection will go to Grapes for Humanity, which has partnered with Definitive Authentic to support the Genius 100 Foundation's Gift of Sight campaign and the Himalayan Cataract Project. The funds will help the organizations perform sight-restoring surgeries in under-resourced regions where HCP operates.
"I clearly remember the day Deborah set up for this cover and especially the interior series of the Moving Pictures photographs," Lifeson said in a statement. "I was jumping around in the dark with a bright strobe flashing away, which was disorienting to say the least, but the results fit so well with the album concept, and I loved the final photos she produced. I’m thrilled to revisit them and make the covers and these interior photos available in support of Grapes For Humanity."
Added Lee: "I'm very thankful to Deborah for generously making these rare photographs available to our fans, the proceeds of which will help bring sight to the sightless."
You can view the collection or make a purchase at the Moving Pictures 40 website.
Released on Feb. 12, 1981, Moving Pictures became Rush's most commercially successful album in the U.S., peaking at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and selling more than 5 million copies. The band continued its pivot from full-on prog toward straightforward rock 'n' roll that began with 1980's Permanent Waves. In the process, they racked up AOR radio hits with the lean, anthemic "Tom Sawyer" and "Limelight," while "Red Barchetta" and the blistering instrumental "YYZ" also became some of their best-known songs.
Since the death of drummer Neil Peart in January 2020, Lee and Lifeson have kept busy with a handful of other projects, musical and otherwise. In August, the former bandmates launched Rush Canadian Golden Ale in collaboration with the Toronto-based Henderson Brewing.
In June, Lifeson released two instrumental tracks titled "Kabul Blues" and "Spy House," his first new music in nearly a decade. Bassist Andy Curran told UCR that both tunes were part of Lifeson's side project called Envy of None, for which he had written 10 songs. The guitarist also recently guested on Tom Morello's "I Have Seen the Way" along with Metallica's Kirk Hammett.