I Cult sono una creatura formata agli inizi degli anni ottanta dall’incontro tra il singer statunitense Ian Astbury ed il chitarrista inglese Billy Duffy, che già aveva un bagaglio musicale alle spalle di tutto riguardo, avendo militato nella leggendaria dark band dei Theatre of Pain. Nati come Southern Death Cult, nome successivamente modificato in Death Cult e, infine, in The Cult, la band ha auto un ruolo di primo piano nella scena hard rock americana degli eighties, soprattutto con i vendutissimi “Love”, “Electric” e “Sonic Temple”, divenendo uno dei gruppi di riferimento per la nascita dell’hard street rock americano tanto caro a bands come Guns n’ Roses e via dicendo.
Prima di approdare, tuttavia, ad un suono hard rock più convenzionale, i Cult, sulla scia del movimento dark e gothic che imperversava nei primi anni ottanta, diedero alle stampe i primi due albums, “Dreamtime” e il già citato “Love”, in cui al rock classico pesantemente influenzato dai Led Zeppelin (spesso si rimproverò ad Astbury e soci il suono molto zeppeliniano delle loro songs) e dagli Ac/dc, si accompagnava una leggera ma decisa venatura di rock gothico, tant’è che, ancora oggi, molti critici inseriscono la band dei primi due lavori nel calderone rock gotico del periodo.
“Love” rappresenta il punto più alto della loro discografia ed è stato anche l’album più venduto, trainato com’era dalla famosa hit “Rain”. Si commetterebbe, tuttavia, un grosso errore ad assorbire completamente il disco nella sua canzone più famosa, perché l’album contiene momenti davvero intensi, ripartito com’è tra la carica delle cavalcate rock rappresentata da canzoni come la sopra citata “Rain”, l’opener “Nirvana”, la title track , “The Phoenix”, “Hollow Man” in cui prevale l’aspetto più rocckeggiante fortemente influenzato dai Zep e dagli Ac/dc; le tinte gotiche di songs quali “Big Neon Glitter”, “Little Face” e dalla conturbante “She Sells Sanctuary”; il fascino malinconico della ballata “Revolution”, il rock blues di “Judith”.
Una attenzione particolare merita “Brother Wolf, Sister Moon”, in cui, come si può evincere anche dal titolo, echeggiano melodie e suoni che ci riportano alla cultura degli Indiani d’America (tema molto caro ad Astbury e che lo accompagnerà per tutta la sua carriera), e che rappresenta, a mio parere, il punto più alto dell’intero disco per intensità e per le emozioni che sa inculcare nell’ascoltatore.
In conclusione posso affermare con sicurezza che seppure i Cult non siano stati inventori di nulla ed, anzi, come più volte detto, hanno attinto a piene mani dal repertorio di Led Zeppelin e Ac/dc, si è al cospetto di una grande band che ha fatto della grinta e della dedizione la propria forza (grazie soprattutto al carisma dei fondatori Astbury e Duffy) e che ha avuto il merito si suonare sempre un rock caldo e sanguigno che ha fatto sì che molti gruppi street rock, nati sul finire degli anni ottanta, sia siano a loro ispirati.
Elenco tracce testi e video
01 Nirvana (05:28)
I float through day and night life, well most of the time
Till I hung up my blues on a nail in your wall
It rained flowers when the music began
Love all around when the music is loud
Every day, nirvana
Always this way, yeah, yeah, yeah
I wish that every day, nirvana
Always this way
I'm not looking for girls or cheap thrills and pills
Or happy to sit on your merry-go-round, no, no
I don't think there's an easy way out of here
But when the music is loud, we all get down
Every day, nirvana
Always this way, always this way, yeah
I wish that every day was like nirvana
Always this way
Take it here, now
Run this through your head
Oh, every day, nirvana
Always this way, yeah, yeah, yeah
I wish that every, like the sun, nirvana
Always this way, oh yeah, yeah
Every day, nirvana
Always this way, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Every, like the sun, nirvana
Always this way, oh yeah
Every day, nirvana
Always this way, oh yeah, yeah
I wish that every, like the sun, nirvana
Always this way
Nirvana
02 Big Neon Glitter (04:56)
Oh, drag me back, and drag me back
And drag me back, drag me back, drag me back
Through the revolution, without solution
And the walls get taller
While ye get smaller
While we get smaller
The fear is getting taller
A big neon glitter pushes onto you, oh baby
Sex from the hip at the crack of a whip, oh yeah
The wall gets taller while ye get smaller, yeah
Push against the big neon glitter, pushes onto you
None may indeed go out
Oh, drag me back, drag me back
And drag me back, drag me back, drag me back
Through the revolution, without solution
And the wall gets taller
While ye get smaller
While ye get smaller
The fear is getting taller
Neon glitter onto you, oh baby
Sex from the hip at the crack of a whip, oh yeah
The wall gets taller while ye get smaller, yeah, yeah, yeah
A big neon glitter pushes onto you, oh baby
Yeah
A big neon
A big neon
A big neon glitter
A big neon glitter
A big neon
A big neon
A big neon glitter
A big neon glitter
A big neon glitter
05 Rain (03:58)
Hot sticky scenes, you know what I mean
Like a desert sun that burns my skin
I've been waiting for her for so long
Open the sky and let her come down
Here comes the rain
Here comes the rain
Here she comes again
Here comes the rain
Hot sticky scenes, you know what I mean
Like a desert sun that burns my skin
I've been waiting for her for so long
Open the sky and let her come down
Here comes the rain
Here comes the rain
Here she comes again
Here comes the rain
I love the rain
I love the rain
Here she comes again
Here comes the rain
Oh, rain
Rain
Rain
Oh, here comes the rain
I love the rain
Well, I love the rain
Here she comes again
I love the rain
Rain
Rain
06 Phoenix (05:08)
Yeah
Oh, dig this
Like the heat from a thousand suns that burns on
Rising ever higher
A phoenix from a pyre
My eternal desire
I'm on fire
I'm on fire
I'm on fire
I'm on fire
Like a kiss from the lips of Ra that burns on
The pleasures getting wilder
Circling ever higher
A servant of desire
I'm on fire
I'm on fire
I'm on fire
I'm on fire
Like the heat from a thousand suns that burns on
Rising ever higher
A phoenix from a pyre
My eternal desire
Like a kiss from the lips of Ra that burns on
The pleasures getting wilder
Circling ever higher
A servant of desire
I'm on fire
I'm on fire
I'm on fire
I'm on fire
Like the heat from a thousand suns that burns on
Rising ever higher
A phoenix from a pyre
My eternal desire
My eternal desire
My eternal desire
My eternal desire
Fire
07 Hollow Man (04:47)
It's so nice to get
Get away for a day
I see a hollow man gun in hand
Gun in hands it points my way
He follows me everywhere and everyday
I got to get away
I won't miss him if he goes away and stays away
Just a hunter for the devil
Hollow man hollow man hollow man
Just a hunter for the devil
Hollow man
Hollow man
Hollow man
It's so nice to get
Get away for a day
I see a hollow man gun in hand
Gun in hands it points my way
You know he follows me everywhere and everyday
I got to get away
I won't miss him if he goes away and stays away
Just a hunter for the devil
Hollow man hollow man hollow man
Just a hunter for the devil
Hollow man
Hollow man
Just a hunter for the devil
Hollow man hollow man hollow man
Just a hunter for the devil
Hollow man
Hollow man
Hollow man
08 Revolution (05:29)
Pictures of never ending dreams
I can't see what these images mean
Locked inside me
Can't set the rainbows free
Like perishing flowers
They sag and twist and die
There's a revolution
There's a revolution, yeah
There's a revolution
There's a revolution
Sorrow
What does revolution mean to you?
To say today's like wishing in the wind
All my beautiful friends have all gone away
Like the waves
They flow and ebb and die
There's a revolution
There's a revolution
There's a, there's a revolution
There's a revolution
There's a revolution
There's a revolution
There's a revolution
There's a revolution, yeah
Joy or sorrow
What does revolution mean to you?
To say today's like wishing in the wind
All my beautiful friends have all gone away
Like the waves
They flow and ebb and die
There's a revolution
There's a revolution
There's a revolution
There's a revolution
Revolution
Revolution
Revolution
Revolution
Revolution
Revolution
Revolution
Revolution, yeah
09 She Sells Sanctuary (04:24)
Oh the heads that turn
Make my back burn
Oh the heads that turn
Make my back burn
The sparkle in your eyes
Keeps me alive
The sparkle in your eyes
Keeps me alive
And the world and the world
The world turns around
And the world and the world
The world drags me down
Oh the heads that turn
Make my back burn
The fire in your eyes keeps me alive
The fire in your eyes keeps me alive
I'm sure in her you'll find
The sanctuary
I'm sure in her you'll find
The sanctuary
And the world and the world
The world turns around
And the world and the world
The world drags me down
Ah...
Hey-yeah...
And the world
And the world turns around
And the world and the world
Yeah, the world drags me down
And the world
Yeah, the world turns around
And the world and the world
The world drags me down
Sanctuary
Sanctuary
Sanctuary
Sanctuary
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