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10cc è un gruppo art-pop-rock inglese formatosi in quartetto nel 1972, riciclatosi nel 1976 come duo + altri musicisti accompagnatori e sostanzialmente dispersosi nel 1983, anche se non sono mancati successivi, saltuari ritorni di fiamma. Il loro periodo d'oro, sia commerciale che creativo, è compreso fra l'uscita del terzo album di studio "The Original Soundtrack" (1975) e quella del sesto, "Bloody Tourists"(1978).
Nel mezzo, proprio a valle di questo quarto album di carriera datato 1976, è collocato il fatidico split fra la metà più "canzonettara" del gruppo, rappresentata dal bassista Graham Gouldman e dalla prima chitarra Eric Stewart, e l'altra metà invece più votata alla sperimentazione ed all'avanguardia, costituita dal chitarrista e tastierista Lol Creme e dal batterista Kevin Godley.
"How Dare You!" è l'album dove il gruppo ci dà dentro con più convinzione fra stranezze e stravaganze, effetti speciali e alchimie di studio, facendo svettare la visione genialoide e creativa della coppia Creme/Godley, la cui tendenza alla multimedialità ed all'arte tout court si concretizzerà ancor meglio nella successiva, celebrata e influente carriera di video-makers.
Ciò non toglie che un gusto pop leggero ma abile, inevitabilmente Beatlesiano (non per niente Stewart collaborerà, anni dopo, su alcuni lavori del suo idolo McCartney), si trovi sparso a profusione anche in questo pur stravagante disco, donando accessibilità e leggerezza a buona parte delle musiche. Insomma 10cc, nella sua formazione originaria e "classica", funzionava pienamente a due livelli: quello disimpegnato e accessibile e quello, più nobile e peculiare, definibile come surreale, ironico, dadaista, trasgressivo (ma senza esagerare, con compostezza molto british).
Un episodio strumentale apre ed intitola ("Come osi!") l'album, ripieno di percussioni e suoni elettronici, un esercizio di creatività per il dotato Godley al quale l'amico (sin dall'infanzia) Creme dà una mano coi sintetizzatori. Sono loro due accreditati come autori, ma ad un certo punto ci mette una zampata anche Stewart, con un inaspettato assolaccio di chitarra hard rock nel quale mostra tutta la sua destrezza.
"Lazy Ways" è cantata (pigramente, come il titolo impone) da Stewart e non merita particolare encomio, mostrando comunque la grande qualità e cura negli arrangiamenti, allo stesso tempo leggeri e complessi, una delle caratteristiche più rimarchevoli del gruppo.
"I Wanna Rule The World" ironizza sui deliri di onnipotenza umani ed è un vero tripudio di vocione e vocine, ottenute rispettivamente accelerando e rallentando i nastri al momento della registrazione, su una ritmica in continuo cambiamento e che poi culmina in un roboante, farneticante comizio: molto vicina alle cose più dissacranti di Frank Zappa, anche se certo non così feroce. Creme ne è l'autore ed il cantante principale.
"I'm Mandy Fly Me" è ispirata ad una pubblicità di una compagnia aerea. Estratta a suo tempo anche come singolo, è strutturata come mini-suite di cinque minuti, ricolma di appeal melodico ma anche di completi cambi di ritmo ed atmosfera. Ascoltando i suoi primi trenta secondi, prima dell'arrivo del cantato rilassato e solare di Stewart, si possono capire diverse cose sui Radiohead periodo "Ok Computer".
In "Iceberg" la formazione si getta in un arrangiamento vocale sontuosamente jazzato, alla maniera dei Manhattan Transfer, facendo viaggiare le quattro voci su e giù per un ampio intervallo tonale mentre la ritmica, come sempre, non sta ferma un attimo. Il timbro svettante è comunque quello di Gouldman.
"Art for Art's Sake" è la mia preferita: un rock molto più compatto di tutto il resto del disco, sublimato da un gran riff di chitarra ed un ritornello irresistibile. I soliti inserti Zappiani a nastri impazziti ed il magistrale uso "filmico" dei sintetizzatori fanno il resto. Stewart svetta nel canto nonché con un nasale, ma puntuto assolo di chitarra. E' uno di quei pezzi costantemente in scaletta nei loro concerti.
"Rock'n'Roll Lullaby" dispiega la speciale voce di Kevin Godley, un timbro d'altri tempi, rococò e con un qualcosa da vecchio 78 giri, quelli che giravano sui giradischi col trombone. "Headroom" è l'ennesimo pastiche molto "descrittivo", di nuovo fortemente jazzato nel suo canto ritmico e vorticoso, appannaggio in primis del suo autore principale Lol Creme.
Gran finale con "Don't Hang Up", capolavoro di carriera del batterista Kevin Godley. La migliore voce di questo quartetto (o almeno la più sorprendente, coi suoi svolazzi retrò e la sua acutezza mielosa) crea qui un piccolo, autentico Musical. La storia tratta di un Lui che telefona a una Lei (il trillo di un vecchio apparecchio inglese apre il pezzo), le spiattella fino alla noia tutto il suo amore, ed i suoi crucci visto che lei non lo considera, le descrive sogni e desideri da condividere con lei, la supplica di "Non riattaccare"...
Ma lei alla fine riattacca!... ed il brano termina col caratteristico suono di linea interrotta della compagnia telefonica britannica: ironia e romanticismo alla massima potenza in questa deliziosa canzone/quadretto, vero film di poco più di sei minuti, con le immagini lasciate alla fantasia di chi ascolta. Tutta la peculiarità dei 10cc è ben rappresentata in questo passo finale di quest'album terminale del loro periodo più estroso e istrionico. Seguiranno lavori anche ben riusciti e di successo, ma quasi totalmente poppettari anche se, sporadicamente, ironici e maliziosi e sperimentali. Il gruppo si assesterà in un easy-listening di classe ma sempre meno efficace, "osando" sempre di meno, all'opposto di questo sostanzioso album.
Elenco tracce testi samples e video
02 Lazy Ways (04:19)
Hazy Days
With Lazy Ways
You got less done but more
Out of your days
How can you work yet avoid
Getting out of your lazy ways
You'll never get up if you don't get up
You'll always stay down if you sit around
You'll never get up if you don't get up
You'll always stay down if you sit around
Hazy Days, Lazy Ways
We got less done but more
Out of our days
How can we ever recapture the feeling
Of lazy ways
You'll never get up if you don't get up
You'll always stay down if you sit around
Where nobody cares and nobody tries
'Cos a daydreams resting on the back of your eyes
On the back of your eyes
Taking five
Bring love to me with your body
Let me hold you endless, endlessly
You'll never get up if you don't get up
You'll always stay down if you sit around
Where nobody cares and nobody tries
'Cos a daydreams resting on the back of your eyes
On the back of your eyes
Hazy days, Lazy ways
You get less done but more
Out of your days
Crazy days, Lazy ways
04 I'm Mandy Fly Me (05:22)
Just like a rolling stone
I'm outside looking in
But if your chance came would you take it
Where on earth do I begin
I'm Mandy fly me ...
I've often heard her jingle
It's never struck a chord
With a smile as bright as sunshine
She called me through the poster
And welcomed me aboard
She led me she fed me
She read me like a book
But I'm hiding in the small print
Won't you take another look
And take me away
Try me Mandy fly me away
The world was spinning like a ball
And then it wasn't there at all
And as my heart began to fall
I saw her walking on the water
As the sharks were coming for me
I felt Mandy pull me up give me the kiss of life
Just like the girl in Dr. No No No No
Ah when they pulled me from the wreckage
And her body couldn't be found
Was it in my mind it seems
I had a crazy dream
I told them so but they said no no no no
I found me on a street
And starin' at a wall
If it hadn't have been for Mandy
Her promise up above me
Well I wouldn't be here at all
So if you're travellin' in the sky
Don't be surprised if someone said Hi ...
I'm Mandy fly me
05 Iceberg (03:45)
Life is a roller coaster that we all ride
Life is a roller coaster that we all ride
Life is a roller coaster that we all ride
Iceberg, I've fallen in love with an
Iceberg, its only the tip of the
Iceberg, I've heard that it's cool
I got class, I got style
But once in a while out on the town, I must go
You'd better wash out your zone
Watch out you stone bone headed woman
Watch out you bone headed man
Iceberg, it's freezin' over Second Avenue
There's not a thing that you can
Iceberg, it's freezin' over Second Avenue
You'd better believe there's nothin'
You can do about it
I was an orphan and I couldn't help it
I've been in and out of trouble
Ever since they left me in a basket on the freeway
It's me that's been doggin' your shadow
It's me that's been a shadowin' your dog
You got me hung up lock and stock and barrel
I'll always be behind you in the fog
So you better not annoy me
Or I'll do somethin' that I might regret
You'd better not annoy me, or I'll do
Somethin' that you won't forget in a hurry
And I might be back for some sloppy seconds
You've heard me heavy breathing on the telephone
My word they say that I'm belongin'
In a home for crazy people
But you know I don't belong there
I was an orphan and I couldn't help it
I'd been in and out of trouble
Ever since they left me in a basket on the freeway
Lie lie lie....
Die die die....
Hooray hooray ha ha ha
Hooray ha ha ha
Get down, get down, get down, get down
There's really not a lot that you can do
Lay down, lay down, lay down, lay down
There's really not a lot that you can do
There's really not a lot that you can do
And I might be back for sloppy seconds
Life is a roller coaster that we all ride
Life is a roller coaster that we all ride
Life is a roller coaster that we all ride
Life is a roller coaster that we all ride
07 Rock 'n' Roll Lullaby (03:59)
Listen while I sing you to sleep
With a rock 'n' roll lullaby
Close your eyes and don't you peep
This is a rock 'n' roll lullaby
Sandman's gonna get you
Snuggle down your sleepy head
It's gettin' late the Sandman said
Your dreams are waiting
It's daybreak in the land of nod
So get to sleep you little sod
Your dreams are waiting
And if you get a nightmare
Would you go and shake your Ma
Cause your Daddy's been a workin' all day
And if you go and get a glass of water by yourself
You can show us that you're older than you are
Show us that you're older
The Sandman's gonna get you
Well you're too small to understand
You're living in a wonderland
Your dreams are waitin'
If only we could be there too
And dream a dream along with you
Your dreams are waitin'
Careful that you don't get out the wrong side of the cot
Are you gonna be an angel or a devil
You're too young to reason what is right and what is wrong
Childhood dreams are gone too fast
There's no way we can make them last
We'll always love you anyway
Any way you are
Any way you are
08 Head Room (04:16)
I've never been kissed before
It's been on my list before
A flick of the wrist before would do
But when you get down to it
It's got a good sound to it
Don't meddle around with it
'Cos it's far too wit to woo
When Mummy and Daddy play
They tell me to go away
But by hanging around
I can learn all the rules
Now I've got the technique
I'm away
Develop a taste for it
A time and a place for it
Although on the face of it, it's a crime
I've nibbled the cheese of it
The birds and the bees of it
Are weak at the knees
From making honey
Every time
I'm throwing my toys away
I'm leaving the boys to play
With the boys
Gimme girls
And it's time I was breaking away
Just give me some head room
Just a little bitta head room
I need some leg room
Just a little bitta leg room
I see myself Oh Lord
I see a mess
I'm making a meal of it
I'm breaking the seal of it
I'm getting the feel of what to do
It's got a good ring to it
I'm getting a thing for it
And if there's a sting in it
I'll have met my Waterloo
My Mummy and Daddy said
You're liable to wind up dead
Oo, they've been shooting me a line
Maybe it doesn't exist at all
Oo, I've been towing the line
Now I'm hook line and sinkered
I've never been kissed before
It's been on my list before
A flick of the wrist before would do
But when you get down to it
It's got a good sound to it
Don't meddle around with it
'Cos it's far too wit to woo
I've thrown all my toys away
I'm leaving the boys to play
With the girls that you get
For a dollar a day
When you pull on their strings they say
Just give me some head room
Just a little bitta head room
I need a ball room
Up against the wall room
I need the rest Oh, Lord
I need the rest
Just give me some head room
Just a little bitta head room
Take me to your bed-room
Show a little bitta leg room
I need the rest Oh, Lord
I need the rest
Just give me some head room
Just a little bitta head room
I need some head room
Just a little bitta head room
I need the rest Oh, Lord
I need the rest
Just give me some head room
Just a little bitta head room
I need some head room
Just a little bitta head room
I need the rest Oh, Lord
I need the rest
Just give me some head room
Just a little bitta head room
I need some head room
Just a little bitta head room (Fade Out)
09 Don't Hang Up (06:16)
Hello there, how have you been
I've called a million times, but to me you're never in
I know I never had the style or dash of Errol Flynn
But I loved you
I'm doing really well, I'm as happy as a lark
I've got a new apartment, it's as safe as Central Park
And if they ever mug me when I'm walking in the dark
Would you know
Don't hang up, don't hang up
Rolled up in my camera with the big cheese up above
I stumbled from my stag night to a never ending limousine
The band went la di da di da, and I got loady do di dodied
Lousy violins began to play, and I went no no no
And as the vol-au-vents exploded
I was walking down the aisle the other way
Don't hang up, don't hang up
Don't say, Oooh
Nobody's safe in our house
Leave me alone, but, but, but, but, but, please
Leave me alone, just a mo, a minute
I'm so alone
We had some honeymoon on itchy bedding
Scum buzzing round your busy body
Dumb waiters waiting, sweating, straining
All mass-debating my woman
We got a bum Guatemala pensione
Crumbling about our ears, Ole
Even the trash man he say
You got a dustbin romance, it's going down the drain
You got a low impedance, she's got a rocky terrain
You, you got a lot to learn
You, you got a lot to learn
A lot to learn about women
You got to learn about women, women
Lots to learn about women
We've both got a lot to learn
Surprise, surprise
There's a hell of a well in your eyes
Have we won the no Nobel Prize
Has the colour run out of our dyes
Surprise, surprise
There's a hell of a well in your eyes
When the barman said “What'cha drinking?”
I said marriage on the rocks
I know I never had the style or dash of Errol Flynn
But I loved you
Don't hang up
Don't hang up
Don't say ......
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