Royal Academy of Reality is an ambitious and successful summer blockbuster of a release...a sexy tour de force...glorious odes to the solar system. It's an anthem of the sun that would bust out in blows against the empire if anyone had the energy to launch a wooden ship, much less a rocket.
--VILLAGE VOICE
Possibly the most progressive American rock record of the new century. It sets an artistic standard few bands will be able to match.
--THE STATE
Overflowing with musical and intellectual ideas...flat-out astonishing.
--WIRE U.K.
Pocket symphonies of silvery guitar and warm-water singing: Abbey Road wrapped in kudzu.
--ROLLING STONE
A lavish record that's as cryptic as R.E.M. and as expansive as The Flaming Lips...warm and humane rather than aridly cerebral...their time may have come. 4 STARS.
--Q MAGAZINE U.K.
A gorgeous disc from a unique band that has been out of action too long.
--WASHINGTON POST
GRADE: A: Repeat listenings of Reality yield countless new pleasures.
--ATLANTA JOURNAL
A sprawling 70-minute voyage into deep space.
--CREATIVE LOAFING
The striking scale and superb craft of this album are impressive by any standard.
--ALL MUSIC GUIDE
This is one terrific album...a spectacular sound, one that overflows with sheer exuberance and invention...a strikingly original piece of work, and proof positive that in the grand tradition of Sgt. Pepper and Dark Side of the Moon, imagination and ambition are still vital ingredients when it comes to making music that really matters.
--SOUTH FLORIDA'S ENTERTAINMENT
NEWS & VIEWS
A rock and roll Gravity's Rainbow.
--AMPLIFIER
Exquisitely crafted songs [that] burst on the ear with the sudden force and electric sizzle of an August thunderstorm. Others open like furled flower buds, petal by petal, with imagery that's both winsome and passionate.
--TALLAHASSEE DEMOCRAT
The Swimming Pool Q's playing Georgia Music Week
Georgia Music Hall of Fame, Macon Georgia.
