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Se “Brutal Planet” (2000) aveva mostrato con estrema efficacia le atrocità di un mondo rimasto orfano di valori e sentimenti, “Dragontown” assume dei connotati più intimisti: pur avvalendosi di elaborate tecnologie questo album si mette in luce per un sound passionale ed avvolgente vicino al superbo “The Last Temptation” (1994).
Con questo disco Alice ci prende per mano e ci guida alla scoperta della città del drago, cuore pulsante del pianeta brutale, luogo in cui le nostre angosce, i timori e le paure prendono forma affrontandoci a viso aperto. Ascoltando “Dragontown” ci addentriamo nelle più recondite profondità dell’animo umano, alla ricerca delle creature che hanno reso questo pianeta una sfera d’odio alla deriva nelle geometrie dell’universo. L’affresco tracciato da Alice assume, quindi, la magniloquenza di opere sepolte dal tempo come “Welcome to my Nightmare” (1975) e “From the Inside” (1978), proiettandone lo spirito ironico e spettrale in un futuro popolato da un’umanità artificiale. Il rodato duo Ezrin–Marlette in cabina di regia ci offre un suono nitido ed una resa impeccabile degli strumenti, sfoltendo il bagaglio tecnologico e lasciando più spazio a chitarra e batteria.
“Triggerman”, l’ennesimo potenziale hit-single sfornato dall’illusionista di Detroit, è semplicemente magnifica: le voci filtrate in apertura e i giochi chitarristici di Ryan Roxie e Wayne Swinny esaltano alla perfezione l’intera struttura melodica della composizione. Le atmosfere oscure di “Deeper” ci aprono le porte di “Dragontown”, titletrack ed ennesimo gioiello confezionato dal Nostro; segue a ruota il quadro decadente dipinto da “Sex, Death and Money” che delinea un sogwriting pungente, riallacciabile a quanto proposto dal rocker americano in “Billion Dollar Babies” (1974). La successiva “Fantasy Man” ricorda il periodo d’oro di platters come “Trash” (1989) ed “Hey Stoopid” (1991), mentre “Somewhere In The Jungle” si lascia ascoltare con piacere pur non lasciando un segno indelebile nell’ascoltatore.
Proseguendo oltre si ha modo di apprezzare ulteriormente il genio di questo artista fin troppo sottovalutato: dalla mente malata di Alice prende forma il cyber–boogie “Disgraceland", un pezzo unico, magico, semplicemente eccezionale in cui Mr. Furnier tributa sarcasticamente l’icona del rock n’roll Elvis Presley. Andando avanti ci imbattiamo in un’altra canzone di notevole spessore come “Sister Sara”, caratterizzata da un intermezzo rap piuttosto spiazzante ed ideale prosecuzione di quanto detto da Cooper in “Nurse Rozetta”, song presente nell’album “From The Inside” del 1978. “Every Woman Has a Name” è l’immancabile ballad delicata e suadente, mentre “It's much Too late” pesca a piene mani dal repertorio anni ’70, avvicinandosi allo stile del più scanzonato John Lennon. “I Just Wanna Be God”, invece, assume i connotati inquietanti di un devastante residuo della furia cieca sprigionata in “Brutal Planet” (2000), a cui si ricollega anche la conclusiva “The Sentinel”. Giunti al termine dell’ascolto di questo album, la voglia di ricominciare da capo è molto forte…
Nel 2002, l’artista di Detroit è ancora uno dei pochi musicisti che riescono a stupire la platea senza mancarle di rispetto: ”Dragontown” rappresenta l’Alice Cooper contemporaneo, uno dei pochi rockers in circolazione ad avere il coraggio di rinnovarsi senza snaturare le proprie origini o mentire a sé stesso. (Enrico Rosticci)
TRACK LIST:
01) TRIGGERMAN
02) DEEPER
03) DRAGONTOWN
04) SEX, DEATH AND MONEY
05) FANTASY MAN
06) SOMEWHERE IN THE JUNGLE
07) DISGRACELAND
08) SISTER SARA
09) EVERY WOMAN HAS A NAME
10) I JUST WANNA BE GOD
11) IT’ S MUCH TOO LATE
12) THE SENTINEL
Elenco tracce e testi
01 Triggerman (04:00)
I ain't got a name
Don't got a face
No fingerprints
Or D.N.A
I ain't got no eyes
Don't got a tongue
But I know what's going on
I'm deaf and dumb
I'm pure non-enitity
Don't even look for me
I watch you when you sleep
I am the triggerman
I am the underhand
I'll keep you on your knees
I am the brain police
I am the triggerman
I am the underhand
I'm full of dirty tricks
I'm twice as smart
And certaigly
Twice as sick
I'm allways out of sight
A shadow in the mist
I don't need an alibi
Cuz, I dont excist
Well, I am invinsible
To the naked eye
I never leave a trace
Can't be identified
I'm pure non-enitity
Don't even look for me
I watch you when you sleep
I am the triggerman
I am the underhand
I'll keep you on your knees
I am the brain police
I am the triggerman
I am the underhand
I'm full of dirty tricks
I'm twice as smart
And certaigly
Twice as sick
He's sick, he's sick
He's really,really sick
I'm pure non-enitity
Don't even look for me
I watch you when you sleep
I am the triggerman
I am the underhand
I'll keep you on your knees
I am the brain police
I am the triggerman
I am the underhand
I'm full of dirty tricks
I'm twice as smart
And certaigly
Twice as sick
I am the triggerman
I am the underhand
I'll keep you on your knees
I am the brain police
I am the triggerman
I am the underhand
I'm full of dirty tricks
I'm twice as smart
And certaigly
Twice as sick
02 Deeper (04:36)
We must complete the trip
Try not to lose your grip
No sight of solid ground
And never look straight down
Deeper, deeper, deeper, deeper
Your claustrophobic brain
Sucking you down the drain
The walls are closing in
The air is gettin' thin
The elevator broke
It when right trough the floor
It left a burning hole
Down and down and down we go
We're in a deadly spin
Hating this spin we're in
Our helpless panic grows
Down and down and down we go
Daylight is at an end
You'll never see again
You'll soon embrace the sight
This cold eternal light
The elevator broke
It when right trough the floor
It left a burning hole
Down and down and down we go
The elevator broke
It when right trough the floor
It left a burning hole
Down and down and down we go
The elevator broke
It when right trough the floor
It left a burning hole
Down and down and down we go
03 Dragontown (05:06)
Well Here you are
lying bleeding on a grimy street
see the broken glass
sparkling darkly as it cuts your feet
smell the rotting stench
the rancid odor of ocantonese
feel the toxic flames
all around you
you can hardly breathe
come with me
Come on
Iv'e got something to show you
come on
you thought that it was over
come on
your really gonna like this
come on
come on
come on
come on
come onnnnnnnnn
we can dig you a hole
deep in the ground
bury your soul
down in Dragontown
we'll be lower than low
spiraling down
as far as you are to go
down in Dragontown
open any door
remember everyone
youve meet before
oh theres a wicked young man
cooking slowly in a frying pan
and a family of bones
hung back together
sleeping all alone
then theres alice dear
and evrything that got it here
now your here
Come on
Iv'e got something to show you
come on
you thought that it was over
come on
your really gonna like this
come on
come on
come on
come on
come onnnnnnnn
we can dig you a hole
deep in the ground
bury your soul
down in Dragontown
we'll be lower than low
spiraling down
as far as you are to go
down in Dragontown
we can dig you a hole
deep in the ground
bury your soul
down in Dragontown
we'll be lower than low
spiraling down
as far as you are to go
down in Dragontown
we can dig you a hole
deep in the ground
bury your soul
down in Dragontown
we'll be lower than low
spiraling down
as far as you are to go
down in Dragontown
06 Somewhere in the Jungle (05:22)
There it stands way up high
A million bodies piled to the sky
Arms and legs, feet and hands
Impossible to understand
Countless heads, ears and eyes
Never hear, never cry
Tribal chants, tribal war
Tribal death, tribal gore
And the scaveggers are feeding
Cuz the killing fields are bleeding
Not a single soul is breathing
Cuz the Serengetti's bleedin'
And the scaveggers are feeding
Cuz the killing fields are bleeding
Not a single soul is breathing
Cuz the Serengetti's bleedin'
Listen somewhere in the jungle
You can hear the devil laughing
Somewhere
African genucide
Brother kill brother
Side by side
Wild animals show their teeth
And run away in disbelief
And the scaveggers are feeding
Cuz the killing fields are bleeding
Not a single soul is breathing
Cuz the Serengetti's bleedin'
And the scaveggers are feeding
Cuz the killing fields are bleeding
Listen somewhere in the jungle
You can hear the devil laughing
Somewhere
Somewhere the rivers will flow with blood
The mothers will cry their tears
They watch their sons die
Listen somewhere in the jungle
You can hear the devil laughing
Somewhere
Listen somewhere in the jungle
You can hear the devil laughing
Somewhere
Listen somewhere in the jungle
You can hear the devil laughing
Somewhere
Cuz the Serengetti's bleedin'
Listen somewhere in the jungle
You can hear the devil laughing
Somewhere
Somewhere the rivers will flow with blood
The mothers will cry their tears
They watch their sons die
07 Disgraceland (03:34)
I gonna tell you a story
It happened long ago
About a redneck boy
Down from tupelo
I got the slick black hair
I played a rock guitar
I liked to shake my hips, man
Then i went too far
He ate his weight in country ham
Killed on pills and woke in disgraceland
Disgraceland
Disgraceland
Disgraceland
I had a lot of girls
I had a lot of guns
When they found me dead
The whole world was stunned
Went to the pearly gates
Said, "I'm the hippest thing"
And Peter said "Well son,
We already got ourselves a king"
He lived on southern deep-fried spam
Killed on pills and woke in disgraceland
Disgraceland
Disgraceland
Disgraceland
He finished his short life
Sweaty and bloated and stoned
He ruled his domain and he died on the throne
No "Yes-Men", no colonel, he went...
...all alone...
Hey, man, that looks like me down there on the floor
I heard the devil cry
Real loud and clear
"You were the big man, there
You're just a sideman here
Well, I know your face
And I've heard your name
Looks like heaven's loss
Is gonna be my gain"
(I've got plans for you, man)
He ate his weight in country ham
Killed on pills and woke in disgraceland
Disgraceland
Disgraceland
Disgraceland
Disgraceland
Disgraceland
Well, I woke up, right here
In disgraceland
Thank you...
Thank you very much...
12 The Sentinel (03:53)
I'm not a Buddha boy
I'm not a Muslim man
I'm not a Christian or a Jew
I'm not a Mormon freak
I'm not a Catholic geek
And I'm nothing at all like you
My mind, my heart, my soul is calm
While I sit here sauteriing my c-2 bomb
Got some wires crossed
In my twisted head
Connect the green wire here or was it red?
Cause it's my fate
I operate on hate
(Hate,hate,hate,hate,hate)
I go by many other names
But now
I am the sentinel
I want the world to know
I'm sending you all to hell
I'm tired and I'm wired here to blow
There's something disturbing
Going on in my turban
I'm home, home on the range
I feel my meditation so deep within
While my medication's kicking in
Cause it's my fate
I operate on hate
(Hate,hate,hate,hate,hate)
I go by many other names
But now
I am the sentinel
I want the world to know
I'm sending you all to hell
I'm tired and I'm wired here to blow
I am the sentinel
I want the world to know
I'm sending you all to hell
I'm tired and I'm wired here to blow
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