3.0 out of 5 stars
Improved Remastered Version, December 18, 2006
"Imaginary Friends" (June 9, 2004) is the remastered re-release of the second CD from A.C.T which was originally released in March of 2001. A.C.T is 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, the bonus track is "Mouse in a Maze", their interpretation of the song by Saga, and which is a significant improvement over "New Age Polka" (which appeared on the Avalon release). The CD also has a CD-ROM feature called "The Making of Imaginary Friends"
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".
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