Real Life - Imperfection Limited 2cd Edition

Disc One

Imperfection
Oblivion
Celebrate
We Shall Overcome
Another Brick In My Head
I Love Love
Kamikaze
Painless
Babylon
Kiss Like This
Beautiful Thing

Disc Two

Celebrate (Don Nadi 2004 Mix)
Imperfection (Tycho Brahe Remix)
Kamikaze (Real Life Aero Mix)
Imperfection (Voice Industrie Mix)
Oblivion (Daybehavior Mix)
Celebrate (Neuropa Mix)
Kamikaze (Wideband Network Mix)
god Tonight (Beat Me Senseless)
Celebrate (FMU Mix)
Oblivion (Real Life Lexicon Mix)
Celebrate (Wave In Head Mix)

Initially, this album was self-released by Real Life through their website, hand-signed and numbered. After that edition of the album sold out rather quickly, A Different Drum contacted the band and worked out a deal to re-release the album for the US, with a added track ("Oblivion") and a bonus disc of remixes. This album is the follow up to 1997's "Happy", but isn't nearly as industrial oriented as that album was. This one shows the band returning to their synthpop roots.. to a point.

To be perfectly honest, my first reaction on listening to this cd was less than impressed. The melodies weren't sticking with me, and none of the songs really made themselves memorable. When I went back and listened to "Happy", the 1997 album that preceded this album, I heard songs that immediately stayed with me. This album took longer to grow on me. However, the first song to really break through for me was "Oblivion". Not only was this the featured single for the album.. it's also the best song on the album. A great chorus, and the piano touches are just perfect. "Painless" and "Kiss Like This" were also songs that stood out after the first listen.

But there are several songs that just come across as not very polished (writing-wise: They are all very smooth on the production end). "Kamikaze", "Imperfection", "Celebrate" and "I Love Love" all sound like they were written very quickly. Not very deep lyrically, and "Kamikaze" in particular has a lyrical slapdash feel.

The remix disc is where the album's value really comes in. There are some really great remixes here, such as Don Nadi's mix of "Celebrate" (Which Neuropa, Wave In Head and FMU also remixed very well), Tycho Brahe's remix of "Imperfection", Voice Industrie's mix of the same track, and Daybehavior's remix of "Oblivion" are all excellent. Also Real Life turn in a wonderful Lexicon mix of "Oblivion". However, not even Wideband Network's remixing skills can save "Kamikaze".

The album overall is really a mixed bag. There's some good songs here, but also several that seemed like filler to me. This is one to listen to samples of first, then decide if you want to pick it up...

Added:  Saturday, June 05, 2004
Reviewer:  Jason Baker
Score:
Related web link:  Official Website
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Language: eng