The Swimming Pool Q's - Royal Academy Press

Royal Academy of Reality

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

Administration

Royal Academy Press > The Republican (1)

The Republican

The Swimming Pool Q's, The Royal Academy of Reality (Bar/None) 4 1/2 stars

Just as R.E.M. showed the world there was another meaning to Southern Rock in the early 1980s, there was a fellow cutting edge troupe from Georgia that made music just as mystical without ever getting near the attention that they deserved. The thrill is hearing that The Swimming Pool Q's sound every bit as wondrous now as they did then, on this, their first full-length album in 10 years. The richly atmospheric sounds seem more psychedelic than in the past, thanks no doubt to instruments like glass harp, Clavioline, harpsichord, bagpipes, tamboura, sitar and even a Chinese instrument known as the chang.

Weaving around the Q's guitar-based grit and a series of standouts penned mostly by Jeff Calder, the music comes brilliantly into focus on tracks like the dream-spinning "Yesterday's Rain," the incredibly beautiful, Brian Wilson-flavored "Deep South" and another cut that could have fit perfectly on "Pet Sounds," "The Wheel of the Sun." That latter song features the Velvet Underground's Moe Tucker banging away on drum and tambourine. The album also includes some sublime work by Anne Richmond Boston, the band's vocalist during its prime time. She came back on board late during these sessions, but sparkles on several cuts here, especially the duet with Calder on "The Radio in Memphis." Breathtaking and bold, Royal Academy of Reality, is a major comeback from a truly underrated band. It's also one of the very best albums of 2003.

Kevin O’Hare