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 > Wire (1) > wire.jpg

THE WIRE
September 2003

by Ed Ward

The Swimming Pool Q's came up in Georgia at about the same time as R.E.M. and The B-52's, and were signed to Danny Beard's DB Records. But unlike their contemporaries they were a bit arty and lacked a killer pop hook instinct. The Q's never went away, though, and main man Jeff Calder and producer Phil Hadaway, along with the other group members and various guests, worked on his album for the better part of a decade. The result is a surprisingly lush, sumptuous, song cycle overflowing with musical and intellectual ideas, set to productions that's Spectorian in its density, but far less ham-fisted.

Calder's voice seems amazed by all it describes, which is largely the miracle of life-specifically life lived on the landscape of the US South: its earth, its sky, and of course the Mississippi River. Musically, it's a delicate balancing act: one too-loud guitar solo, one misplaced accent, and the record might have become ponderous. As it is, I might have left off the last song, "Alpha Centauri's Rise", if only because "The Wheel of the Sun" is such a perfect closer.

Nevertheless, having it there by no means diminishes the record's impact, which is considerably enhanced by mostly saying what has to be said and getting out within four-minute songs. The exceptions are the last track and the remarkable "Deep South", which would have wound up on The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds had Brian Wilson grown up in Georgia.

Calder and Hadaway are a killer team: who else would have thought to start a track ("Wheel of the Sun") with VU drummer Moe Tucker's patented thudding only to overlay it with multi-tracked Highland piping, and then season it with glass harp? But Calder (sometimes with Hadaway) can also write a melody, as the instantly bonding chorus of "The Radio in Memphis" demonstrates.

Royal Academy of Reality could well acquire the same cult status once 'enjoyed" by Pet Sounds and Love's Forever Changes. The Swimming Pool Q's are a working group, and although I don't think their live shows sound like this, anyone who can come up with something so flat-out astonishing should be encouraged.