| A Real Life Story | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1991 | |||
| Label | Warner Bros. [1] | |||
| Producer | Greg Penny | |||
| Maura O'Connell chronology | ||||
| ||||
A Real Life Story is an album by the Irish musician Maura O'Connell, released in 1991. [2] [3] The album, rather infamously, originally included a market research card, to be mailed to Warner Bros. [4] [5]
Recorded in Nashville with session musicians, the album was produced by Greg Penny. [6] [7] "Broken Bicycles" is a cover of the Tom Waits song; O'Connell also covered, among others, Janis Ian, John Hiatt, and Lennon–McCartney. [8] [9] [10] O'Connell's sisters sang on "A Family Tie". [11]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    [12] |
| Chicago Tribune | [13] |
| The Cincinnati Post | [14] |
| The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [1] |
| MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide | [7] |
The Washington Post wrote that "the album's failings are small but bothersome... O'Connell's affection for reflective ballads occasionally leads her to sing lightweight lyrics that convey more a sense of general moodiness than real emotion." [11] Entertainment Weekly thought that "O'Connell proves a marvelous vocal actress." [8] The Chicago Tribune concluded that O'Connell "combines a gorgeous, supple voice with an impeccable taste in material." [13]
The Milwaukee Sentinel determined that, despite being an album of covers, "the result is one of the warmest and in its own way most personal albums of the young year." [15] The St. Petersburg Times stated that "the LP's best track, Larry Tagg's 'Burning My Rowboat', [is] a light-hearted number that deals with deliberate, self-imposed isolation." [16] The Cincinnati Post panned the "more contemporary sound," writing that "the backing is dull." [14] Stereo Review included the album on its list of the top 36 albums of 1991. [17]
AllMusic wrote that "the arrangements ... strike a balance between rustic simplicity and art-pop complexity without tipping too far in either direction." [12]
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "When Your Heart Is Weak" | |
| 2. | "Burning Your Rowboat" | |
| 3. | "A Family Tie" | |
| 4. | "Ireland" | |
| 5. | "Unwinding" | |
| 6. | "Guns of Love" | |
| 7. | "I Don't Know Why" | |
| 8. | "For No One" | |
| 9. | "When We Ran" | |
| 10. | "Broken Bicycles" |
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