Faking the Band is a weekly feature detailing the latest in downloadable content for Rock Band.

Good news and bad news, gamers. Good news first.

We’ll be enjoying our stay in the 1980s for another week with Rush’s seminal album Moving Pictures, the record that spawned such hits as “Tom Sawyer” and “Limelight.” It’s true that Rock Band players have seen these songs before, either on disc or as DLC, but they were merely covers of the classic tunes. Now that Harmonix and Rush have developed an excellent relationship, the master tracks are coming out of the woodwork, just like July’s “Closer to the Heart” and “Working Man (Vault Edition).”

Today’s batch of DLC isn’t all familiar territory, of course. In fact, two songs in particular will change the Rock Band experience forever! First, there’s “YYZ,” a Grammy-nominated staple of the Rush catalog. Veteran guitarists and bassists, the ones who played Guitar Hero II in its heyday, already know they’re in for a fun and challenging time, and one simply has to mention Neal Peart to get giddy armchair drummers, but what about the vocalists? After all, “YYZ” is an instrumental piece. That means no singing. None. Nada. Well, that means four minutes and twenty-five seconds of sandwich-making or taking a restroom break. “YYZ” will give singers out there time to rest and relax their vocal cords, and it will tell gamers that instrumentals are A-OK for future DLC. “La Villa Strangiato” anyone?

Second, there’s “The Camera Eye,” an epic and often requested fan favorite. Emphasis on the epic here, as the song lasts for nearly eleven minutes, making it one of Rush’s longest tracks. Like “YYZ,” it’s a good indicator of other mammoth compositions being possible DLC. The Mars Volta’s “Tetragrammaton” and Pink Floyd’s “Sheep” come to mind.

Now that bad news mentioned earlier! As of 5:08 PM, Moving Pictures still wasn’t available for download due to some “technical difficulties,” as reported by Harmonix Director of Community Development Sean Baptiste on the game’s official forums. Looks like gamers might have to wait another day or so while things are settled. Expect a short update here at TVGB the minute Moving Pictures hits the Xbox LIVE Marketplace.

Rush - Moving Pictures [160 MS points per song / 880 for full album / all masters]

• “Tom Sawyer (Original Version)”
• “Red Barchetta”
• “YYZ”
• “Limelight (Original Version)”
• “The Camera Eye”
• “Witch Hunt”
• “Vital Signs”

Update: Straight from Sean Baptiste, Director of Community Development at Harmonix: “Unfortunately, due to unforeseen technical difficulties, we won’t be able to release Rush’s “Moving Pictures” this week. We’ll be working on it as hard as we can, but it looks like it could be a couple of weeks to fix. In the meantime we will be moving around our schedule so we still have DLC coming out each week (including this week, info to follow in another announcement). Look forward to some exciting news this weekend, from PAX and elsewhere.”

No “Red Barchetta” this week, gamers, but there will be replacement DLC, so keep your chins up!