As someone who got into Rush well into the CD-age of music (around 2002/2003), I never listened to them with the idea of album sides in mind, so for me, the back half of Moving Pictures was just the rest of the album, and I never really gave much thought to it otherwise. It was just seven songs on one disc with no delineation to their placement other than the singular running order - none of the Side A vs Side B mindset.
I did know that most of the first few songs got radio airplay, and that the band played them a lot more often, but I figured that was the case for most albums. The singles were always stacked toward the front of the album, it seemed, so of course they got radio play and concert play more often.
Personally speaking, while I don't listen to Rush as much as I used to anymore, I probably pick MP less than any other album to go to when I want to listen to Rush, simply because those songs (all of them) have been overplayed by me, the radio, and the band themselves, over all the years, but that isn't to say they aren't all great, or that whatever my feelings are about them should diminish their greatness, especially for other fans who love the album. It's no wonder that Neil has said if he wished the band had another starting point, he'd have picked Moving Pictures. It's a great balance of prog and pop sensibilities that the band honed and worked toward for over 7 years up to that point.
-Marc.
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