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"Killer", uno degli album più affascinanti degli Alice Cooper e, quindi, uno dei classici del rock anni '70.Vario, ricco e stimolante, comincia subito forte con "Under My Wheels" e "Be My Lover", due magnifici pezzi hard rock molto trascinanti. Non sono certo la parte più originale dell'album, ma rimangono un ascolto decisamente piacevole (non a caso sono due dei singoli estratti di maggior successo). Apprezzabile anche la diversità di tono dei due brani, il primo più aggressivo, ironico e allusivo, il secondo più romantico e nostalgico. Ma è con la terza tappa che gli Alice Cooper decidono di spiazzarci, ed ecco "Halo of Flies", lungo omaggio (otto minuti) al rock progressivo e sperimentale, pieno di scarti, deviazioni, sezioni rock affiancate da altre quasi synth. Il tutto accompagnato da un testo quanto mai criptico, di ambiente spionistico, che esprime in modo magistrale l'atmosfera elettrizzante e misteriosa di questo brano. Ancora un inatteso cambio di stile con "Desperado", emozionante ritratto di un killer del Far West; un brano quasi folk, senza graffianti riff di chitarra elettrica ma addirittura con delicate sezioni di archi. Commovente poi l'omaggio che Furnier ha voluto rendere con questo brano ad un suo caro amico scomparso, il compianto Jim Morrison. Seguono "You Drive Me Nervous" e "Yeah, Yeah", gradevoli canzoni hard rock che tuttavia sfigurano sia davanti all'energia travolgente dei primi due brani sia davanti alle vivaci sperimentazioni degli altri quattro. L'album torna presto su livelli altissimi con "Dead Babies", la storia di una bambina morta dopo un'accidentale assunzione di aspirina, ignorata dai propri genitori. Un pezzo cupo e malato (pare che l'atmosfera gotica sia stata suggerita dal produttore Bob Ezrin), memorabile a partire dal grande inizio con il basso fino al ritornello gridato dalla voce gracchiante di Furnier, preceduto da un agghiacciante lamento infantile. Si chiude con la title-track, inquietante spaccato di una mente malata, sorretto ancora una volta da sonorità quasi prog, come la sezione con l'organo, che sembra uscita da una canzone di ELP. Ebbene, un disco vario, un po' per tutti i gusti, bizzarro e imprevedibile, come nella migliore tradizione degli Alice Cooper. Ascolto ultraconsigliato agli amanti del rock.
Elenco tracce testi e samples
01 Under My Wheels (02:51)
The telephone is ringing
You got me on the run
I'm driving in my car now
Anticipating fun
I'm driving right up to you, babe
I guess that you couldn't see, yeah yeah
But you were under my wheels honey
Why don't you let me be
'Cause when you call me on the telephone
Saying take me to the show
And then I say, honey, I just can't go
Old lady's sick and I can't leave her home
The telephone is ringing
You got me on the run
I'm driving in my car now
I got you under my wheels
I got you under my wheels
I got you under my wheels
Yeah yeah
I got you under my wheels
Yeah yeah
I got you under my wheels
The telephone is ringing
You got me on the run
I'm driving in my car now
Anticipating fun
I'm driving right up to you, babe
I guess you that couldn't see, yeah yeah
But you was under my wheels, honey
Why don't you let me be, yeah yeah
I got you under my wheels
I got you under my wheels
I got you under my wheels
Yeah yeah
02 Be My Lover (03:21)
She struts into the room
Well I don't know her
But with a magnifying glance
I just sort of looked her over, hmm
We have a drink or two
Well, maybe three
And then suddenly she starts telling me
Her life story
She says
Baby, if you wanna be my lover
You better take me home
'Cause it's a long long way to paradise
And I'm still on my own
Told her that I came
From Detroit City
And I played guitar
In a long-haired rock and roll band
She asked me why
The singer's name was Alice
I said listen, baby
You really wouldn't understand
And I said
Oh baby, if you wanna
Be my lover
You better take me home
'Cause it's a long long way to paradise
And I'm still on my own
Oh baby, if you wanna
Be my lover
You better take me hoooooome
'Cause it's a long long way to paradise
And I'm still on my oooooown
Ooooooh
03 Halo of Flies (08:22)
I've got the answers
To all of your questions
If you've got the money
To pay me in gold
I will be living
In old Monte Carlo
And you will be reading
The secrets I sold
Daggers and contacts
And bright shiny limos
I've got a watch
That turns into a lifeboat
Glimmering nightgowns
And poisonous cobras
Silencer under the heel of my shoe
The elegance of China
They sent her to lie here on her back
But as she deeply moves me
She'd rather shoot me in my tracks
And while a Middle Asian lady
She really came as no surprise
But I still did destroy her
And I will smash
Halo of flies
I crossed the ocean
Where no one could see
And I put a time-bomb
In your submarine
Goodbye to old friends
The secret's in hand
With phony papers
And kentucky flats
You never will understand
04 Desperado (03:30)
I'm a gambler
And I'm a runner
But you knew that
When you lay down
I'm a picture
Of ugly stories
I'm a killer
And I'm a clown
Step into the street by sundown
Step into your last goodbye
You're a target just by living
Twenty dollars will make you die
I wear lace
And I wear black leather
My hands are lightning upon my gun
My shots are clean
And my, my shots are final
My shots are deadly
And when it's done
You're as stiff as my smoking barrel
You're as dead as a desert night
You're a notch
And I'm a legend
You're at peace
And I must hide
Tell me where the hell I'm going
'Let my bones fall in the dust
Can't you hear that ghost that's calling
As my Colt begins to rust
In the dust
I'm a killer
I'm a clown
I'm a priest
That's gone to town
05 You Drive Me Nervous (02:28)
Yeah, you
Seem so civilized
Your mama's tryin
To run your life
Your daddy's tryin
To pick your wife
Oh no
Yeah, you run around
With all that hair
They just don't like
Those rags you wear
You say
I'm gonna pack up my stuff
I'm gonna run away
And then you say
You drive me nervous, nervous
And then I said
You drive me nervous, nervous, nervous, oh
Nervous, nervous, nervous, nervous, whoa-oh-oh
Aaah
You're out of state
You're thrown in jail
You ain't got the bread
To pay the bail
Your mom and papa come up and said
"Honey, where did we fail?"
And then you scream
You drive me nervous, nervous
And then I screamed
You drive me nervous, nervous, nervous, oh
Nervous, nervous, nervous, nervous, whoa-oh-oh
You drive me ne-ne-ne-nervous
Ne-ne-ne-nervous
You drive me nervous
Whoa
06 Yeah, Yeah, Yeah (03:39)
You can be my slave and I'll be your stranger
We could be in passion, we could be in danger
Take you off the streets, put you under my wings, yeah,
You could pull my leg or anything
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Oh yeah
You could be the devil, you could be the saviour
Well I really can't tell by the way that your behavior
I'll take you off the boat put you under my wing
Yeah, you could pull my leg or anything
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Oh yeah
I don't know what you're playin'
Don't even know what you're sayin'
You gotta leave me alone
I'm gonna go on home
Aaoh, the things are gettin' tougher
Yeah, the things are gettin' rougher
This is Alice speakin'
(Suffer!)
Yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah
You could be the devil, you could be the saviour
Well I really can't tell by the way that your behavior
Take you off the streets, put you under my wings, yeah
Yyou could pull my leg or anything
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
08 Killer (06:57)
What did I do to deserve such a fate
I didn't really want to get
Involved in this thing
Someone handed me this gun and I
I gave it everything
Yeah, I gave it everything
I came into this life
Looked all around
I saw just what I liked
And took what I found
Nothing came easy
Nothing came free
Nothing came all until they
Came after me
Yeah-hey, yeah
(What did I do to deserve such a fate?)
(I gave it everything)
(Now I need to escape)
(Someone near me, calling my name)
(I gave it everything)
(I gave it everything - sigh)
Miles and miles...
Carico i commenti... con calma
Altre recensioni
Di the green manalishi
Rozzo, sgraziato, ribelle, sadico, mostruoso e a tratti orripilante: questo è il ritratto del grandioso Alice Cooper.
Il grande capolavoro di questo disco è senza alcun dubbio Halo Of Flies, con un finale folgorante.
