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Real to Real Cacophony
Studio album by Simple Minds
Released	23 November 1979
Recorded	September 1979
Studio	Rockfield (Rockfield, Wales)
Genre	Post-punk art rock (proto) synth-pop new wave
Length	40:46
Label	Zoom Arista
Producer	John Leckie
Simple Minds chronology
Life in a Day (1979) Real to Real Cacophony (1979) Empires and Dance (1980)
Singles from Real to Real Cacophony
"Changeling" Released: January 1980

Real to Real Cacophony (sometimes incorrectly referred as Reel to Real Cacophony) is the second studio album by Scottish rock band Simple Minds. It was released on 23 November 1979 through record labels Zoom and Arista.

Recording

Real to Real Cacophony was recorded and mixed in five weeks at Rockfield Studios. According to producer John Leckie the band had only four songs ("Premonition", "Factory", "Calling Your Name" and "Changeling"), the rest of the album was written in the studio.

Dissatisfied with their first album Life in a Day, the band this time went for a completely different approach to find a sound of their own, working more spontaneously and incorporating the opportunities, potential and atmosphere of the studio in the compositional procedure. German Krautrock was a major influence on the album, with the band adopting a more experimental, electronic sound drawing influences from the motorik, repetitive grooves of bands such as Neu!, Kraftwerk and La Düsseldorf.

Release

Real to Real Cacophony was less successful than Life in a Day, it did not chart, nor did its only single, "Changeling". This was partly due to poor promotion and marketing by Arista Records who did not like the album and released the single two months after the album.

The 2002/2003 reissues by Virgin Records incorrectly render the album's title as Reel to Real Cacophony, and the opening track as "Reel to Real". The new spelling also appears in the discography section of all the inlays in the 2002/2003 Simple Minds remastered edition series. Subsequent editions render the title of both the album and track correctly.

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Pitchfork	8.5/10
The Rolling Stone Album Guide
Smash Hits	8/10

Real to Real Cacophony has been generally well received by critics. In Sounds, John Gill wrote: "Real to Real Cacophony shows a considerable – and brave – progression. It captures some of the shock-effects of the avant-garde, some of the emotional power of outfits like the Pop Group, yet still retains the best of the Minds tight and trebly riffing. File under impressive." The Guardian noted the "controlled considered style based on the mid-Seventies art-pop of Bowie and Ferry," writing that "it's clever and derivative ... but still worthwhile". Smash Hits' Red Starr found that "this excellent, imaginative young band disappear into a whirlpool of electronic effects, Magazine and Bryan Ferry impersonations. After repeated plays the strength of the music and feeling (lyrics largely inaudible) win through for a memorable if still only partly enjoyable album."

Retrospectively, Andy Kellman of AllMusic praised Real to Real Cacophony, saying that it marked the point "where Simple Minds ventured beyond the ability to mimic their influences and began to manipulate them, mercilessly pushing them around and shaping them into funny objects the way a child transforms a chunk of Play-Doh from an indefinable chunk of nothing into a definable chunk of something", and calling it "an achievement that's on a plane with other 1979 post-punk landmarks like Metal Box, 154, Entertainment! and Unknown Pleasures". Eric Chappe of CMJ New Music Monthly highlighted Simple Minds' "determination to constantly add unexpected touches to the arrangements". Bob Stanley wrote in Record Collector that the album "should be hailed as a singularly strong post-punk-into-synth-pop bridge but the shadow of 'Belfast Child' looms over their legacy." Trouser Press was more lukewarm, remarking that the album "lives up (or down) to the clever title".

Track listing

All lyrics are written by Jim Kerr; all music is composed by Simple Minds (Kerr, Charlie Burchill, Derek Forbes, Brian McGee, Mick MacNeil)

Personnel

Adapted from the album's liner notes.

Simple Minds

• Jim Kerr – vocals, arrangements
• Charles Burchill – guitar, violin, saxophone, arrangements
• Derek Forbes – bass guitar, arrangements
• Brian McGee – drums, percussion, arrangements
• Michael MacNeil – keyboards, arrangements

Technical

• John Leckie – producer, engineer, mixing, arrangements
• Mariella Frostrup (credited as "Mariella Sometimes") – tape operator
• Paul Henry – sleeve, packaging
• Graphyk – sleeve graphics
• Sheila Rock – sleeve photography
• Trevor Rodgers – sleeve photography

References

1. "dream giver redux | press releases | real to real cacophony | album and tour press release". www.simpleminds.org. Retrieved 19 June 2022.
2. ^ Kellman, Andy. "Real to Real Cacophony – Simple Minds". AllMusic. Retrieved 15 February 2013.
3. Huey, Steve. "Simple Minds". AllMusic. Retrieved 6 December 2015.
4. Mitchell, Matt (21 July 2023). "The 50 Greatest Synth-Pop Albums of All Time". Paste. Retrieved 26 July 2023.
5. Breihan, Tom (2 October 2020). "The Number Ones: Simple Minds' "Don't You (Forget About Me)". Stereogum. Retrieved 31 July 2023. Over the next five years, Simple Minds cranked out seven albums of twitchy, claustrophobic, sometimes-experimental new wave.
6. "Real To Real Cacophony". simpleminds.com. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
7. Morley, Paul (5 January 1980). "Close The Box Open The Minds". New Musical Express. p. 41.
8. Sean Albiez, David Pattie Kraftwerk: Music Non-Stop 2011, page 156
9. "Changeling". Dream Giver Redux.
10. Tangari, Joe (15 April 2004). "Simple Minds: Reel to Real Cacophony / Empires and Dance". Pitchfork. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
11. The Rolling Stone Album Guide. Random House. 1992. p. 638.
12. ^ Starr, Red (13–26 December 1979). "Albums". Smash Hits. Vol. 1, no. 27. p. 29.
13. Gill, John (1 December 1979). "Simple Minds: Real to Real Cacophony". Sounds. Retrieved 15 February 2013.
14. Denselow, Robin (5 December 1979). "Rock". Arts. The Guardian. p. 11.
15. Chappe, Eric. "Simple Minds: Real to Real Cacophony". CMJ New Music Monthly. Retrieved 15 February 2013.
16. Stanley, Bob (July 2019). "Bob Stanley". Record Collector. No. 494. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
17. Schlosberg, Karen; Robbins, Ira. "Simple Minds". Trouser Press. Archived from the original on 22 August 2011. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
18. "Simple Minds official website - Studio Albums: Real to Real Cacophony". simpleminds.com. Retrieved 21 April 2021.
19. Themes for Great Cities - A New History of Simple Minds by Graeme Thomson, p. 93 (Constable/Little, Brown, 2022, ISBN: 978-1-47213-401-1)

External links

• Real to Real Cacophony at Discogs (list of releases)

• 1979 albums
• Simple Minds albums
• Albums produced by John Leckie
• Arista Records albums
• Albums recorded at Rockfield Studios