Is This Real?
| Is This Real? | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by Wipers | ||||
| Released | January 1980 | |||
| Recorded | October 1979 at Recording Associates in Portland, Oregon | |||
| Genre | Punk rock, post-punk | |||
| Length | 33:55 | |||
| Label |
Park Avenue (original) Sub Pop (CD) Jackpot (LP reissue) | |||
| Producer | Greg Sage | |||
| Wipers chronology | ||||
| ||||
Is This Real? is the debut studio album by the Portland, Oregon-based punk rock band the Wipers. Originally released on vinyl in January 1980 by Park Avenue Records.
The album was reissued on CD by Sub Pop in 1993 without consulting the band. On the Sub Pop reissue, the three tracks from the Alien Boy EP were added.
In 2001, it was digitally remastered by Sage and reissued again on his own Zeno Records as part of a 3-CD set, with the track list altered so that the song "Alien Boy" appeared together with the other three tracks of the Alien Boy EP, after "Wait a Minute".
It was reissued on LP by Jackpot Records in 2006, remastered again from the original tapes that Sage provided to the label.
Release and reception
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [1] |
| Robert Christgau | B+ [2] |
Initially wanting to put it out through his own Trap Records, Sage decided to release the album through Park Avenue Records, hoping that it would give them slightly wider distribution. Before it was released, Park Avenue insisted that the band re-record the album at a professional studio, as it was originally recorded at the band's rehearsal studio on a 4-track recorder. When finally released, the album was not promoted and received little attention, only developing a cult following in the band's hometown. The album (and the band's music in general) gained a slightly wider audience during the early 1990s when grunge band Nirvana covered the songs "Return of the Rat" and "D-7" on a Wipers tribute album and the group's Hormoaning EP. Nirvana vocalist/guitarist Kurt Cobain listed Is This Real? at number 46 in the top 50 albums he thought were most influential to their sound in his Journals in 1993.[3][4] BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel stated in a 1993 interview that it was one of his top 20 favorite albums and "Wait a Minute" was covered by My Vitriol on their "Cemented Shoes" single in 2000.
In recent years, Is This Real? has been regarded as a classic punk rock album of the 1980s. Stephen Howell of Allmusic, in his retrospective review, rated the album 4 out of 5 stars and stated that the production "leaves much to be desired with its tinny-sounding drums, but fortunately, the negatives don't outweigh the positives."[1] He also stated that Sage wrote "fairly simplistic songs with power chords, but each melody infects your brain like a fever" and noted that much of the album has a dark and ominous feel but that it was "made interesting" on the song "Alien Boy".[1] Music critic Robert Christgau gave the album a B+ and said "there are similar bands in dozens if not hundreds of American cities" but that the album is distinguished by Sage's vocals, which he described as being "detached but never silly, passionate but never overwrought--and economical one-hook construction."[2]
Track listing
All songs written and composed by Greg Sage.
| Side + | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length | ||||||||
| 1. | "Return of the Rat" | 2:37 | ||||||||
| 2. | "Mystery" | 1:46 | ||||||||
| 3. | "Up Front" | 3:04 | ||||||||
| 4. | "Let's Go Away" (Listed as "Let's Go Let's Go Away" on the original release) | 1:47 | ||||||||
| 5. | "Is This Real?" | 2:39 | ||||||||
| 6. | "Tragedy" | 1:59 | ||||||||
| 7. | "Alien Boy" | 3:18 | ||||||||
| Side - | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length | ||||||||
| 1. | "D-7" | 4:04 | ||||||||
| 2. | "Potential Suicide" | 3:35 | ||||||||
| 3. | "Don't Know What I Am" | 2:56 | ||||||||
| 4. | "Window Shop for Love" | 2:59 | ||||||||
| 5. | "Wait a Minute" | 3:05 | ||||||||
Total length: |
33:55 | |||||||||
Personnel
Production
- Greg Sage – producer
- Bob Stoutenberg – engineer, recording
- Mark Helm; Mike King – cover art
- Jay Elliot – sleeve art
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Howell, Stephen. Is This Real? at AllMusic. Retrieved 17 July 2005.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Christgau, Robert (April 28, 1980). "Christgau's Consumer Guide: The Wipers: Is This Real?". The Village Voice. Retrieved 16 November 2011. Also posted at "The Wipers > Consumer Guide Reviews". Robert Christgau. Retrieved 16 November 2011.
- ↑ "Top 50 by Nirvana [MIXTAPE]". Retrieved 8 May 2013.
- ↑ Cross, Gaar, Gendron, Martens, Yarm (2013). Nirvana: The Complete Illustrated History. p. 164. ISBN 978-0-7603-4521-4.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||