HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''Real Life'' is the debut studio album by English
post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of music that emerged in late 1977 in the wake of punk rock. Post-punk musicians departed from punk's fundamental elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a broader, more experiment ...
band
Magazine A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...
. It was released in June 1978 by record label
Virgin Virginity is a social construct that denotes the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. As it is not an objective term with an operational definition, social definitions of what constitutes virginity, or the lack thereof ...
. The album includes the band's debut single " Shot by Both Sides", and was also preceded by the non-album single " Touch and Go", a song from the album's recording sessions. ''Real Life'' has received critical acclaim and is considered a pioneering post-punk album. It has also been described as new wave and
art rock Art rock is a subgenre of rock music that generally reflects a challenging or avant-garde approach to rock, or which makes use of modernist, experimental, or unconventional elements. Art rock aspires to elevate rock from entertainment to an ar ...
.


Background and recording

The album was written over the preceding year by the band, with
Howard Devoto Howard Devoto (born Howard Andrew Trafford, 15 March 1952) is an English singer and songwriter, who began his career as the frontman for punk rock band Buzzcocks, but then left to form Magazine, an early post-punk band. After Magazine, he went ...
providing all of the lyrics. The two earliest songs, " Shot by Both Sides" and "The Light Pours Out of Me", were co-written with Devoto's former Buzzcocks bandmate Pete Shelley. The majority of the material on the album was written by Devoto in collaboration with guitarist and founding member John McGeoch. "Motorcade" was co-written with the group's keyboardist, the classically trained composer Bob Dickinson, who played with the group in mid-1977 before being dismissed without warning at a meeting convened by Devoto in November of that year. Dickinson has cited the influence of Erik Satie on elements of the keyboard part in this song. In early January 1978, Dickinson was invited by Devoto to play for a few gigs but he declined the offer due to his ongoing postgraduate electronic music research at Keele University. The music for the album's final track, "Parade", was written by Dickinson's replacement, Dave Formula, with bassist Barry Adamson. "Definitive Gaze" was recorded for a Peel session as "Real Life" on 14 February 1978. Having toured much of the album through 1977 and early 1978, the group's then lineup of Devoto (vocals), McGeoch (guitar and saxophone), Adamson (bass), Formula (keyboards) and Martin Jackson (drums) recorded the album in sessions using the Virgin Mobile and at
Abbey Road Studios Abbey Road Studios (formerly EMI Recording Studios) is a music recording studio at 3 Abbey Road, London, Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of ...
between March and April 1978. The album was produced and engineered by John Leckie. The original artwork and monoprint for the album were designed by Linder Sterling, with photography by Adrian Boot.


Release

''Real Life'' was released on LP and cassette in June 1978. It peaked at no. 29 on the
UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...
. "Shot by Both Sides", the album's only single, peaked at no. 41 on the UK Singles Chart. The album was reissued in remastered form by Virgin/EMI in 2007, along with the other three of the band's first four studio albums, and included four bonus tracks and liner notes by Kieron Tyler.


Reception

''Real Life'' has received critical acclaim since its release. On its release, Jon Savage said in '' Sounds'': "A commercial, quality rock album then, with deceptive depths. All is not revealed." The album was ranked at no. 20 among the top "Albums of the Year" for 1978 by ''
NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...
'', with "Shot by Both Sides" ranked at no. 9 among the year's top tracks.


Legacy

''Real Life'' is included on several "best of" lists. * It was included in the 2005 book '' 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die''. * It was included in ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'''s "1,000 Albums to Hear Before You Die" list in 2007. * '' Sounds'' ranked it at No. 89 in its "100 Best Albums of All Time" list in 1986. * In 2006, '' Uncut'' ranked it at No. 37 in its "100 Greatest Debut Albums" list.


Track listing


Personnel

;Magazine *
Howard Devoto Howard Devoto (born Howard Andrew Trafford, 15 March 1952) is an English singer and songwriter, who began his career as the frontman for punk rock band Buzzcocks, but then left to form Magazine, an early post-punk band. After Magazine, he went ...
– vocals * John McGeoch – guitar, saxophone * Barry Adamson – bass guitar * Dave Formula – keyboards * Martin Jackson – drums ;Personnel * John Leckie – production, engineering * Mick Glossop and Magazine – production on "Shot by Both Sides" (original single version) and "My Mind Ain't So Open" * Hayden Bendall – assistant engineer (Abbey Road) * Adrian Boot – photography * Linder – monoprint, design


Charts


Further reading

*


References


External links

* {{Authority control 1978 debut albums Magazine (band) albums Albums produced by John Leckie Virgin Records albums Art rock albums by English artists