Customer Reviews

Imaginary Friends

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"Imaginary Friends" (March 23, 2001) is the second CD from A.C.T; a Swedish progressive metal band. This particular release is the Avalon release which was the Japanese release of their second CD. This CD has 15 tracks, including six regular works, and then a longer work titled "Relationships" which includes the next eight tracks, which also have the hidden track "Catherine". Lastly, there is a bonus track, "New Age Polka", but unlike the bonus track included on the Avalon release of their first album, "Today's Report", this bonus track doesn't really fit in with the rest of the album. It is simply a demo which was recorded in 1996.

As with their first album, this one is musically strong and it is the vocals that are the weakest part. The album opens with several strong numbers, including "Take It Easy", "Hippest Flop", "A Supposed Tour", "Biggest Mistake", and the title track "Imaginary Friends". However the longer piece, "Relationships" (The Long One), is significantly weaker than the opening numbers of the album. Even with Tomas Erlandsson's wonderful hidden track "Catherine" (his swan song to the group), I have to rate this album as slightly lower in quality than their first album.

The band includes Jerry Sahlin (synthesizers, vocals, backing vocals, Vocoder, synthetic drums on "Mr. Unfaithful"), Ola Andersson (electric and acoustic guitars, backing vocals), Peter Asp (bass, percussion, backing Vocals), Herman Saming (lead vocals, backing vocals, silent trumpet), and Tomas Erlandsson (drums, percussion, backing vocals, lead vocals and keyboards on "Catherine"). Their co-stars for this album are "The Acting Orchestra", which includes Anna Blomkvist (violin 1), Karolina Sjöholm (violin 2), Diana Crawford (viola), and Lisa Fagius (cello). They also have Pelle Saether who provides some vocals on "Imaginary Friends" and backing vocals on "Biggest Mistake".