Customer Reviews

Life's Hard & Then You Die

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Two guys from Liverpool - couldn't sing, couldn't play their instruments - produced one of the best albums ever made! Moral: the muse will out.

The upbeat tracks are really inventive - Driving Away From Home, the architypal road song; Rope, giving us all hope; Ed's Funky Diner, where your fellow customers are everyone you ever wanted to meet.

The downbeat tracks are just so affecting - The Better Idea, reminding us there are still those worse off than us; Hang On Sleepy Town, a beautiful love song.

In between there's the epic tension of everyday life in Happy Talk and the tongue-in-cheek philosophizing of Space.

Finally, the great Humanist anthem that is The Sweet Life.

Cherish. Thanks, guys.

I would think that the only reason people even know about this band is that they owned this amazing album once before and are contemplating getting it back.

I remember seeing the video for SPACE back in 87' and had to have it. I would have been happy with just that one good song on the album but to my surprise there were so many more, in fact the whole album is great.

If I had to limit my collection to 5 albums from the 80's this would have to be in there.

These songs are still fresh an inventive. In fact if you were to play Ed's funky Diner on the radio today people would think it's a new hit song.

This is the 3rd time I have bought this album and the last was most expensive, you would never see this in a record store these days, thank you Amazon!

I wasn't in any way expecting what I found on this Album when I bought it in 1987, but to say it's one of my Top 20 favourites of all time would slightly understate the case. There is something indefinable about the music here that both captivates and unsettles, with the chart-entering 'Driving Away From Home' bearing litle resemblance to the rest of the selection.

This is an intelligent and extremely well-realised Album that belies its simplistic origins. For those of you who are genuinely moved by soaring harmonised vocals (courtesy of The Christians), ironic folk rendition, rolling Spanish guitars and tongue-in-cheek meanderings, I would seriously recommend this to you (and I'm a Dance music fanatic!). It's TheThe, Alanis Morissette and World Party all combined, and has a humour that is slightly left-of-centre.

It's Immaterial undoubtedly knew they'd produced a winner for Siren/A&M Records, but in the same way the album is produced they would have just winked knowingly and acknowledged it all with a wry smile. I too am glad there are people around the globe who have listened to and cherish this disc. Recommended.

If you're reading this hit the "Add to Shopping Cart" button now. This is one of those rare, hard to find gems that you're very lucky to have come accross. I'm just glad my older brothers heard them as I was a little to young when they first came out. Even if you've never heard of them, just buy it anyway. If you don't like it afterward, you have miserable taste and no one will ever love you.

It seems people, with or without a specific knowledge of music, agree unanimously on It's Immaterial's originality. Even people which do not like their music atmospheres (very varied and mixed indeed) have to admit "Life's Hard And Then You Die" is a very carefully done and thought album.

When I was 17 the mere listening of "Rope" helped me to overcome an unfathomable state of crisis I was passing through. The lyrics are probably among the finest produced in the whole 1980s decade, in the same class of Depeche Mode, Stranglers, Killing Joke, The The, the early OMD and ABC, ranging all over the spectrum of human experience. "Space" is particularly clever without being pretentious, and the aforementioned "Rope" is a great social commentary on the loss of direction and meaning of contemporary culture ("The truth is dead I've heart it said, be careful what you read").

I seriously think you must have it.

With all due respect to Mr. Sweeting's opinions listed above, I recommend this album to anyone who loves broody, atmospheric pop played with smoldering passion and wry professionalism. What made this album a keeper were songs like "Driving Away From Home" and "Rope"; there is so much mood present that you feel right beside the narrator/driver of "Driving". And at a time when most other Brit bands were recording ditties about how they felt like machines and loved their new Casio keyboards, It's Immaterial kept things close to the heart by adding acoustic guitar flourishes and harmomica. Britpop fans (those who've developed a liking for groups like Shack, Shed Seven, James) will relish this release. It's good to see this album available once again. It's been out of print for far too long. Totally recommended!

I have had the vinyl since it's initial release and was lucky enough to find a copy of the CD (on A&M) in a $1.99 bin some time ago. Driving away from Home(especially the remix) is great driving (no pun intended) music. One of those many albums that you probably never knew existed unless you were in the right place (ie NYC) at the right time ('80s). Highly recommended as is the 2nd (& apparently out of print) "SONG"

This album is not what you'd think 80s music to be. It is definitely off-beat and unlike anything else in my 80s CD collection. However, it is excellent music (if a bit simplistic), that will catch your ear and demand repeated listenings. Their follow-up album, "Song", just wasn't as good and suffered from a lack of creativity compared to "Life's Hard and Then You Die". This disc, however, is recommended!

One of my all time favourites since 1987. It isn't the singing but it's the subtlety of the music. It's got all sorts of styles varying from happy to sad, intimous to aloud. It's got it all. All our pop cd's got stolen once and this cd was one of the first I bought to replace it

Several years ago I looked for this album on a CD since my cassette tape had long ago worn out. It was nice to finally find it on CD and it is as good as I remembered. Infinitely better than the most of the 80's schlock that you hear on the radio, both then and now -- a real classic that is worth owning because you'll hear it nowhere else.