Real Life (studio album)
by Magazine
Top 20 albums of 1978 (
Price
eBay
Condition: Very Good
eBay
Condition: Good
Magazine bestography
Real Life is ranked as the best album by Magazine.
(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).
Upcoming concerts
Listen to Real Life on YouTube
Real Life track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 83 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
1
Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.
Real Life rankings
Latest 20 charts that this album appears in:
RockyRaccoon
O.T.
Liedzeit
Norman Bates
johnner
Sandrof1969
dihansse
paladisiac
LadyGodivaYou can include this album in your own chart from the My Charts page!
Real Life collection
Showing latest 20 members who have this album in their collection | Show all 94 members
Real Life ratings
where:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.
Showing latest 5 ratings for this album. | Show all 243 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
75/100  | 10/04/2025 08:27 | Imaybeparanoid | | 71/100 |
75/100 | 09/15/2025 19:18 | AledJames | | 68/100 |
75/100 | 08/09/2025 20:36 |  djrodo | | 81/100 |
90/100 | 05/06/2025 00:41 | ForARide | | 88/100 |
70/100 | 02/20/2025 13:08 |  SomethingSpecial | | 82/100 |
Rating metrics:
Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)
This album is rated in the top 2% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 79.2/100, a mean average of 77.6/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 79.5/100. The standard deviation for this album is 15.8.
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Real Life favourites
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Real Life comments
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Great track after great track after great track, but yeah the vocals are a bit harder to get into.
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Glad to know I'm not the only one who consider this album as an underrated masterpiece. Howard Devoto envisioned a unique sound right in the middle of the punk glorious days and delivered with his band one of the first statements of post punk. A circus atmosphere makes me feel the album as a true performance on stage although this is a studio album.
If I have to encourage you to listen to one song only, please give "Burst" a chance. It sounds like a dark and intimate post punk act by Ziggy Stardust. My favourite in the album closely followed by "My Tulpa" and "Shot by Both Sides"
Favorite Tracks:Shot By Both Sides, Burst, The Great Beautician In The Sky
Goliath 05/11/2019 17:53
This is in my top 100, a truly unique album.
Ex Buzzcock's frontman Howard Devoto hires a punk guitarist, prog keyboardist and funky bassist then adds his own idiosyncratic vocals to create something that really shouldn't work - but actually still sounds great today.
planetneutral 05/18/2018 12:30
I liked this more than I expected. Definitely some weaker songs, but very solid as a debut.
exileonthehell 02/14/2016 05:52
Nice, it's a little bit funky but that's what makes it good
Very enduring album.
meccalecca 04/17/2013 17:38
Under-appreciated classic. Deserves to be as beloved as "Chairs Missing"
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