Real Life

The album starts with the noise of a metallic fly buzzing -- as suggested by the cover image -- before launching into "Imperfection," which asserts "I'm in love and love is what I like" as being David Sterry's "imperfection." The album continues to mine territory similar to Happy -- darkwave dance music with Real Life's signature contagious hooks, only anchored now to much more nightmarish goth imagery and tones. Highlights include "Oblivion" ("Here, in my heart, I am running out of virtue"), the breezy "I Love Love" ("Do what you want to/God will understand") and the razor's edgy "Kamikaze" (which almost recalls early Real Life in its melody lines). George Pappas' keyboards are front and center and sound like his life is depending on them -- which is interesting, as Pappas was suffering from Chron's Disease at the time and was working to complete the album frantically before being hospitalized. The vitality of those keyboard tracks come through in tracks like the plaintive, "Painless," on which Sterry abandons the vocoders and delivers a performance that sounds like his classic '80s vocals: "Who am I to live or die?/Ordinariness is painless." This track, in particular, captures the life and death urgency of "Oblivion" and the struggles its creators went through during its making. It is a work of passion -- much like early Real Life albums, in form if not in sound, and it is a refreshing return to form for one of new wave's classic bands. The album continues the band's combination of new wave and darkwave, yet still manages to create some classic dance tracks in the process. As with Happy, Oblivion came with a bonus disc of remixes, many of which make the original songs even more dance-worthy (including the opening track, which makes "Celebrate" even more angelic by enhancing its female choral vocal). After this album, George Pappas would leave the band to create Alien Skin, his own solo project, while Sterry has continued to take Real Life on tour with their 20-plus years worth of impressive material. ~ Tomas Mureika, All Music Guide