Take a deep breath, old rockers, because what I am about to tell you will make you want to cry. 2011 marks 30 years…. Yes, THIRTY FREAKING YEARS since Rush released the landmark album Moving Pictures. All those fond memories you have of “Tom Sawyer,” “Red Barchetta,” “YYZ,” “Limelight” – and that’s only the first side – remember when albums and cassettes had two sides? Yep, the great times cruising the streets, cranking up Side II songs like “The Camera Eye,” “Witch Hunt” and “Vital Signs” are 10,950 days old – and that does not include Leap Years.

The funny thing about being a rock nerd is that you REALLY do remember those days. Almost 11,000 twenty-four hours periods later, and I still can picture driving up and down Main Street with my cassette player blasting out this album. I can still smell the inside of the arcade I was hanging at and I can still taste the cold beer I slammed out back in the parking lot. I can still smell the burning…well, don’t need the future grandkids reading that… suffice it to say, I still remember it all…and well.

Now, to celebrate the fact that this great music has been around for three decades, a deluxe edition of Moving Pictures has been released. There is a CD and a DVD. The CD and the DVD audio are the true gems, as the songs have never sounded more alive. You actually feel the wind in your hair as Geddy Lee cruises through the countryside in his Uncle’s car. The gilded cage becomes clearer than ever before and you really do catch the spit during “Tom Sawyer.” Well, that was kind of gross, catching spit and all, but you get the drift or you can at least catch the drift…

The DVD is for audio freak Rush fans as the entire album is presented in Dolby 5.1 and PCM Stereo and also in Advanced Resolution Surround Sound and Advanced Sound Stereo. I am not sure what the fuck that all means but when you crank it up it really sounds good. Rush also threw in the videos to “Tom Sawyer,” “Limelight” and “Vital Signs.” There are also a ton of good pictures in the CD booklet, as well as a nice essay by that famous Rolling Stone writer with the wild hair, David Fricke.

Rush were the best band in the world in 1981 and this celebration of Moving Pictures is a wonderful testament to that time. Before the original release of this album Rush were the band had no girl fans. Their music was music for both music’s sake and for the sake of young, nerdy, intelligent, often not very handsome future computer experts. Somehow, and this is the miracle, Rush crossed over into the mainstream with this release. While not a lot of chicks made a girls night out of a Rush concert, the occasional geek with a girlfriend got her to attend the concert on this tour as she kind of even liked “Limelight” and “Tom Sawyer” – all but the spitting part. And since he was there with a girl… he was King of the Nerds.