This album has been submitted by a user and is not included in any edition of the book.
Real Life is the debut studio album by Joan As Police Woman (Joan Wasser), released by Reveal Records in the United Kingdom on June 12, 2006, and a year later in the United States. "I Defy" was co-written by the Antony and the Johnsons' singer Antony Hegarty, who also contributed vocals to the track. In September 2006, she performed a live-session at the BBC. The album has received much critical acclaim, being variously described as "splendidly slinky", "a magical journey", and "a fine showcase". In her review in The Guardian, Caroline Sullivan described the album as "pensive and gentle; sometimes stately of tempo, sometimes slightly breathless, but always erring on the side of lovely understatement." In early 2008, Real Life won in the 7th Annual Independent Music Awards for Best Pop/Rock Album.
Didn't think I'd like this but it was really good.
I'm a sucker for a beautiful voice and well-crafted, interesting songs, and this certainly qualifies. Will listen again. 4 stars.
Rating: 8/10 Best songs: Eternal flame, The ride, I defy, Christobel, Save me, We don’t own it, Endless supply of poison
This was a pretty nice listen for a sleepy morning on a plane. I liked all of it and a few of the songs I thought were particularly good (Eternal Flame comes to mind).
This didn't do a lot for me. I didn't dislike it but it's a female vocal style I'm not particularly inclined to and the whole chanteuse thing has never been a genre I favored.
Nothing too special.
Very 3. Much drama.
Nice
Couldn’t read any kind of personality from this one at all, struggling to even recall a memorable line or chord progression. Not sure what’s meant to make this stand out from the crowd of similar artists of the time, whatever it is I’m not seeing it.
He has a melancholic voice and performance, and his songs take me to moments of introspection. They sound to me like songs someone would be playing in the background at a bar. It's a bit heavy because of its length.
This album was, simultaneously, both full of mood/vibe and completely devoid of it. A noticeable absence of rhythm presented a considerable hurdle, which the reviewer struggled and ultimately failed to overcome. The voice droned, lyrics unintelligible and vocal lines drawn out in excruciating non-smoker-fakes-it huskiness. The urge to open a beverage - an oft-trusted marker of musical enjoyment - relishing that sharp *crack* as the seal breaks, letting a little foam spray around and engaging in a brief display of conspicuous enthusiasm, became suddenly as abhorrent to the reviewer as it no doubt is to Joan when she's forced to ply her trade outside late-opening cafes - the nuanced smell of triple-malt whiskies replaced by the disgusting reek of pigswill lagers, the artiste herself at risk of the great unwashed asking her, in their infinite ignorance, about Norah Jones. A "punk" detour at some point failed to boost either my interest or the artiste's expected incoming indie cred. Simply put: while this album jazzily sneers at the audience in arrogant self-importance, in return it offers very little reward or thanks for listening. It demands respect without understanding the concept. It is, ultimately, a product of ego rather than love of craft. So I would take a squirty shit on a physical copy of this, right in front of Joan. And while doing that squirty shit, I'd say, "this is what I think of your artsy, jazzy, knockoff Norah Jones garbage". 1/5.