Fans of any band with a significant discography to their name will be familiar with the creative arc, which plots the highs and lows of a band's career. And many would agree that 'Moving Pictures' was the album, which saw Rush at the top of the piste about to ski down for hot chocolate and melted marshmallows. For me it's hard to say as 'Permanent Waves' makes as convincing a case especially here in the UK where 'Spirit Of The Radio' set rock hearts fluttering as it reached an impossible number 13 in the charts. And so I arrive at 'Moving Pictures' with a little scepticism - I know it's good but is it all that?

The short answer is yeah. It's one of their most rounded albums containing a high quota of accessible songs of which 'Tom Sawyer' and 'Limelight' need no reintroduction. But it's here that I should introduce the whys and wherefores of this reissue.

On this bumper 2CD set we have no extra tracks - although that's no surprise - but we do have three videos - only for die-hard Rush fans really as they're in-studio videos and not particularly interesting to the Rush-casual. Disc 1, as you might expect, is the plain vanilla album - but with remastered audio. Disc 2 contains a plethora of versions which sound as technical as the band themselves - DTS 5.1 Dolby Digital, 5.1 Surround and PCM stereo. And not only that - 96kHz/24-bit 5.1 versions in DVD-AUDIO format.

To the Rush-casual this may seem a little bit of overkill. Maybe to the Rush-dedicated too? I don't know but it would seem that you need a DVD-AUDIO player to take it to the 24-bit max and how many of us have that? I thought I did. But I don't.

With a quick flip comparison between this version of 'Moving Pictures' and my older version I find that I'm not really that picky or precious about the 'improvements' in sound quality from this remaster - the album sounded good back then - it sounds good now - what's the problem? I have other misgivings too. Why all these surround sound remasters of classic albums? I'm happy with good old stereo. These albums weren't conceived as surround so why make them surround now?

With that said I get a tape measure and calculate the intersection between my myriad speakers and keep my head still within the designated area. Naturally the synths are the instrument that most easily lend themselves to swirling around the room where they play hide and seek in the dark corners.

The opening and closing omnipresent guitar harmonics of 'Red Barchetta' really place the listener in the middle of things and it's here that you really start appreciating how well this album is recorded. Geddy Lee's bass sounds incredible - as it does in the stereo versions but the spaciousness here really draws attention to it. The flanged Alex Lifeson solo also becomes a sonic highlight.

'YYZ', with its mesmeric finger cymbals, is another mystical experience with Neil Peart's toms and percussion creeping up behind you while Lifeson's exotic solo remind you just how different a guitar player he is from the mainstream rock guitarists.

'The Camera Eye' utilises the surround effects to maximum potential in the cinematic intro but it's also the longest and my least favourite song so I'm happy to hear the eerie and dissonant opening strains of 'Witch Hunt', which has a surprising killer guitar riff that I'd all but forgotten about. Things get even better with final track 'Vital Signs' which is a completely immersive experience benefiting immensely from the 5.1 treatment.

I suppose a comparison could be drawn between 3D films and their 2D counterparts. No one needs a 5.1 surround sound album but going back to the original can be a decidedly flat experience after you've experienced it.

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