Real Life - Happy + Happier Limited 2 CD

Disc One

Everything Explodes
Virus
I Did What I Did
Happy
Girl jesus
Satisfied
Skin
Deep Sleep
Learning How To Breathe
Meltdown

Disc Two

Everything Explodes (Pre War Mix)
Virus (Millennium Metal Mix)
Happy (Rebel Without A Cause Mix)
Satisfied (Denial Mix)
Girl jesus (World Club Mix)
Meltdown (Insomnia Mix)
Skin (Out Of Body Mix)
Deep Sleep (Momentum Dance Mix)
Meltdown (Machine Mix)
I Did What I Did (911 Mix)
Deep Sleep (Terraplane Mix)
Learning How To Breathe (East Of Eden Mix)

Way back when I reviewed the single disc edition of this album, I honestly didn't give it a fair consideration. I dismissed it mostly based on the industrial influences that are incorporated into the sound of this album, and, looking back after a few years, they weren't nearly as bad as I thought they were. It's still a much harsher album than the band's previous work (AFAIK), but it still has a definite pop core to each song.

This limited edition of the album was released in 1999, with a slight alteration of the tracklist from the 1997 US edition of the album and the addition of a bonus remix disc entitled "Happier", which included remixes by the band, as well as D Nadi, C Snape, C Cansella, and A Calaitizis. The limited edition also has totally different artwork from the first edition of the album.

As I mentioned before, the band here has a much heavier sound that some of their previous very synthpop-oriented releases. That's especially apparent in tracks such as "Everything Explodes" and "I Did What I Did", where the powerful guitars come to the front and help the track rock out. My personal favorites from this album have always been "Skin" and "Deep Sleep", and even after all this time those two tracks really stand out to me. But the whole album throughout is much more enjoyable than I remembered it being..

The bonus disc includes remixes of each track on the cd, with "Deep Sleep" and "Meltdown" both being remixed twice. I found the deep bass groove of the "Happy" remix to be a neat new twist to the song, and I've liked the "Skin" remix ever since I first heard it on one of the Now Music For Pop People compilations. Both the remixes of "Meltdown", the Machine mix (slow) and the Insomnia (fast) are excellent alternate versions of the song. Overall, though I found some of the mixes less than stellar ("Everything Explodes"), this is still a high-quality limited edition release and worth picking up if you find a copy...

Added:  Sunday, February 01, 2004
Reviewer:  Jason Baker
Score:
Related web link:  Official Website
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Language: eng