Real Life

Disappointing album, really. Eh, now that we have brought the essence to light, we have separated those who read my reviews for my aimless babbling from those who, like my professors, who at the end of the check write under a three or at best a shaky four: "What did the writer want to say? ". Nothing much, but plenty of it.

Anyway, Real Life is an album that attracts my attention because it is one of the first post-punk albums, the cover looks spectacular, and Shot By Both Sides is an incredibly electrifying song. I somehow hoped that the album would lean more towards punk, considering the previously mentioned song and the previous engagement of the vocalist in the Buzzcocks, but I only got a post, from the post-punk. And it's not even that blood-curdling, scary, punky post-punk like Pop Group, PiL, or Nick Cave, but some futuristic, more conventionally rock-oriented post-punk whose main attraction is Devoto's lyrics, vocal performance, as well as whether you are attracted to improvisation with progressive and even krautrock. Unfortunately, only Devoto's vocal performance could be a passing point for me, the rest is li-la.

Nice.

This was so uninteresting I didn't notice when it was over.

"Post Punk and Art Rock" as genre descriptors typically mean an unenjoyable album for me, but that wasn't the case for this. Pretty fun, and I think it merits at least a second listen. I'll add this to my collection so I don't forget to do that.

I really wish I could give this my full attention, but I listened to Chingon on the way to work today, and I have electric mariachi on the brain

⭐⭐⭐

Jamais écouté avant.

Je ne sais pas comment j'étais passé à côté de Magazine jusque là. Real Life tombe pourtant pile dans l'époque et les sonorités que je préfère, dans cette période où les musiciens issus ou inspirés du punk commencent à en déborder les limitations sans en abandonner l'esprit. Son interprétation inventive, presque prog, du post-punk ne tape pas toujours dans le mille, mais quand ça marche, c'est brillant. Et on sent toute l'influence que Howard Devoto et les siens (en particulier le guitariste, John McGeoch) ont pu avoir sur toute une génération de musiciens, particulièrement au Royaume-Uni.

Top : Shoot by Both Sides
Flop : Recoil

Real Life by Magazine took two or three listens today before I could really form an opinion on it. I've always loved the Buzzcocks, so I was looking forward to hearing what Howard Devoto did after leaving the band. Post-punk is also very much my thing, so I had high hopes for this album.
I have to admit, I struggled a little on the first listen. Nothing particularly grabbed me, and I wasn't entirely sure what to make of it. However, by the second listen, something clicked, and the more I played it, the more I liked it.

What I really enjoy about Real Life is the variety. It takes the raw energy of punk and pushes it in a completely different direction. There's much more going on musically, with interesting arrangements, great guitar work and a darker, more atmospheric sound. The production is excellent, and the lyrics are clever, unusual and full of character.

You can hear the connection to the Buzzcocks, but Magazine are clearly doing something different. This feels like punk growing up and becoming more adventurous, without losing the attitude and energy that made it exciting in the first place. There's plenty of melody here too, which really started to stand out after a couple of listens.

The only real disappointment for me was their cover of "Goldfinger". I thought it was terrible and completely out of place compared with the quality of the rest of the album. Thankfully, there's more than enough good music elsewhere to make up for it.

Overall, Real Life is a really good album and one that definitely rewards repeated listens. I went from being fairly underwhelmed to thoroughly enjoying it, and by the end of the day I was hooked. A great example of how post-punk took the foundations of punk and turned them into something much more interesting. I'll definitely be listening to this again.

Favourite track: "The Light Pours Out of Me". What a great tune. Dark, atmospheric and full of energy. Easily the standout for me.

Least favourite track: "Goldfinger". A terrible cover and the one track I could happily do without.

Album artwork: Cool, artistic and very much of its time. A great cover that suits the music perfectly.

Bland but good.

It was really cool listening to this in yesterday’s heavy London rain. Devoto is one of the great punk era vocalists and here he’s in full paranoid voice.

it's alright

Not bad for a post punk album. Shot by Both Sides and Motorcade elevated the album a bit. Some of the other songs are more standard diddling. 2.7/5 -> 3/5

I am a big fan of post-punk from this era, and loved Shot By Both Sides when I first heard it as a teen. Despite this, Magazine has never been up there with the greats as Real Life is a bit of an uneven debut. Parts of the second half where they lean towards that early Fall make them sound more complete. I also like the more silly and melodic songs. Elsewhere I find the vocal performance a bit… performative(?) and the instrumentals lack the urgency of that single.

Jao volim Shot By Both Sides, mislila sam da sam nešto otkrila underground kad evo ih ovdje. Najbolja pjesma definitivno ali ništa posebno ne fali ni ostalima, vjerovatno najmanje mrzak post-punk albuma za mene kao hejtera post-punka.

Immediately, the cover art's stark contrasts and abstract caricatures intrigued me. For the album itself, I've apparently discovered that I have a soft spot for this kind of quirky post-punk. I enjoyed the plucky guitar work way more than I thought I would, and if nothing else, it's interesting to listen to! As the album progressed, it really unveiled itself like a slowly spreading ink blot.

Has a few nice songs on it but is sort of drudge work otherwise. Point for creativity at least.

Beetje The Fall-vibes. Best dope eigenlijk. Sterke 3, net geen 4.

Its however good you want it to be

Very solid British post punk. Parts of it sound like Bowie and that’s always fun

The Good: I’ve always preferred magazines to newspapers!
The Bad: That is’t real… life…
The Ugly: Uncertain what kind of magazine this is…

If someone would’ve bet me money, I’d have said that the opening song is more than familiar, at least to me!
I got all excited thinking that, perhaps, I’d been enjoying Real Life for longer than I thought. So I greedily clicked the wikipedia button, thinking that I would be told that Definitive Gaze has been used in mayor tv series, or movie productions… or something… to find that the name doesn’t even link to a separate Wiki page…

Then it dawns on me… I’ve been playing catch up on about 15 odd albums which, for one reason or another, I’ve not had the chance to really sit down and listen to… and this is one of them.
I have, however, started listening to this album on a couple of occasions… which means that this is where I’d heard the first song over and over again…

Now I need to consider whether or not trying to finish this list is good for my sanity…

Back to the band… I kind of like it, sometimes I love it… but at no point is there a “wow, I really needed to hear this before I die!” kind of feeling going on.

The consensus seems to be that, Mr D in all his wisdom, is pissing off one too many persons with his list.
This here not being a bad album, just uncertain why we’d have to hear it…

So yeah, sorry… 3*

Wasn’t too bad. Thought it’d be awful based on the album cover and reviews. But there’s some groove and melodies here that made my ears perk up a lot. 2.75/5

This is a terribly written review, but I ran it through a Korg synthesizer so that makes it better, right?