SOUTH FLORIDA'S ENTERTAINMENT NEWS & VIEWS
By Lee Zimmerman Music Columnist
Listening with Lee Zimmerman

The Swimming Pool Qs: Royal Academy of Reality (Bar/None)

Let's get the obvious out of the way first. This is one terrific album, possibly the best album the Swimming Pool Qs have ever offered, with the possible exception of their classic self-titled debut for A&M. Certainly it's their most ambitious. With 20 tracks and arrangements that incorporate an elaborate array of instrumentation, including moog, melotrons, trumpets, autoharps, vibraphones, xylophone and bagpipes, it provides a spectacular sound, one that overflows with sheer exuberance and invention.

Dormant for the better part of a decade, the Qs reemerged last year with an expanded re-release of their first album, The Deep End, and a reunion of the band's original members Jeff Calder, Bill Burton, Tim DeLaney and Bob Elsey and, most notably, singer Anne Richmond Boston. Even so, no one could have expected,or even hope for, an album so rich in melody and magic. The title notwithstanding, Royal Academy of Reality maintains a definite cosmic connection, a sensual, surreal quality that pervades such songs as "Nocturnal Transmissions," "Sky Land," "What Is Beyond" and "The Discovery of Dawn." Frequently trippy and psychedelic in sound, these songs begin on an ominous note before suddenly bursting forth with cascading choruses and assertive outpourings. Think Pink Floyd musing about the cosmos with Fleetwood Mac, given its shimmering sheen and seductive trappings. There are other references as well, from "Deep South," which sounds like an unused outtake from the Beach Boys  Smiley Smile to the quirky qualities that recall the B-52's in the songs "Pharaoh's Rocket" and  "Yin Yang."  

Still, comparisons aside, Royal Academy of Reality is 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.