Le Go-Go's sono state un'eperienza molto turbolenta nel pieno rispetto della triade "sex, drugs and rock'n'roll". Belinda Carlisle, influenzata negativamente da una storia familiare e personale difficile, ha patito più volte gli effetti di una manciata di anni di vita sregolati e vissuti sempre sul confine dell'abisso. Con la fine della band nel 1985, avvenuta dopo una serie di sessions improduttive per il quarto album, la Carlisle insieme alla fedele chitarrista Charlotte Caffey recupera qualche pezzo dell'abortito album del gruppo per mettere in cantiere l'esordio solista.
"Belinda" esce nel 1986, l'anno nero del pop-rock in cui vengono pubblicati alcuni tra i più terrificanti e terribili lp mai partoriti infarciti di batterie elettroniche e produzioni plasticose. Rispetto agli standard dell'epoca questo lavoro è decisamente più leggero in arrangiamenti e produzione, l'intento è quello di recuperare un suono fresco di impronta Motown in netta contrapposizione con il surf-punk-rock che aveva distinto le Go-Go's nella loro carriera. Questo è evidente nel singolo "I Feel the Magic", esempio perfetto dello stile '60's della black music femminile, una canzone fresca che viene valorizzata dalla voce sempre un po' graffiante della Carlisle. Recupero dal repertorio Motown è "Band of Gold" portata al successo da Freda Payne nel 1970, la versione della Carlisle è più morbida anche se non incide molto nell'impatto generale del disco. Molto meglio con il singolone "Mad About You" con alla chitarra Andy Taylor o il pezzo potente dell'album, "Since You've Gone", scritto con il Fleetwood Mac Lindsey Buckingham. "Belinda" è un lavoro leggero e godibile ma con il difetto di essere forse poco spontaneo, il live allegato nella ristampa doppia mostra una Carlisle più a suo agio dal vivo che in studio soprattutto per via di una voce che tende allo sporco e che la farà apprezzare da George Harrison con cui collaborerà su "Runaway Horses" nel 1989.
Con i lavori seguenti le classifiche verranno conquistate da brani fm in puro stile tardi anni'80, potenti e evocativi dai ritornelli a presa rapida. Lavori onesti, lavori pop con lampi di classe come "Shades of Michelangelo" (bellissima) e "California" in duetto con Brian Wilson più altre composizioni meno note che hanno fatto di Belinda Carlisle un'icona fortemente atipica del panoroma musicale pop d'oltre oceano.
Elenco tracce testi e video
01 Mad About You (03:37)
I'm mad about you
You're mad about me babe
Couple of fools run wild aren't we
Pushing the day into the nighttime
Somewhere between the two
We start to see
Mad about you (Mad about you)
Lost in your eyes (Reason aside)
Mad about love (Mad about you)
You and I
Something 'bout you
Right here beside me
Touches the touched part of me like I can't believe
Pushing the night into the daytime
Watching the sky's first light
While the city sleeps
02 Gotta Get to You (04:06)
Here I go again
Looking to you, you pass me by
Go home and pretend
There's no one else just you and I
To be holding you
Touching you
'Cause I'm dreaming about you
But dreams aren't enough
Gotta get to you
Catch your eye
Gotta get to you
If only I could tell you why
I gotta get to you
Make you see
gotta get to you
If only you'd come 'round to me
See you everyday
You smile my way, light sparks inside
I need the words to say
To open up this heart of mine
Here we go again
So close to you, the moment's now
The chance is wasted when
I wait too long and you slip out
05 Shot in the Dark (03:24)
It's a shot in the dark
But baby I'd like the chance
Fate ain't working
So I'm taking it into my hands
No sad songs not tonight
No slow songs not tonight
It's a shot in the dark
And a chance at real romance
Who'd ever believe
I'd ever see the edge of your tan
But here in the moonlight
Looks like summer is past
You can take me, I'm yours tonight
Make me yours tonight
It's a shot in the dark
And a chance at real romance
Real romance with you, I'd like to see
Romance with you I'd like to feel
Romance with you I'd like to be
The one who does to you what it is you do to me
Shot in the dark and baby I'd like the chance
Fate ain't working so I'm taking it into my hands
Your eyes shine tonight like the first time I saw you dance
I'm gonna get to know you any way that I can
I ain't waiting not tonight
No waiting...
Shot in the dark and a chance at real romance
06 I Need a Disguise (03:59)
There's a mask on the wall
That I should be wearing
To keep you from seeing
How I'm really feeling
I'd like to be cool
And tell you goodbye
I've been such a fool
And now it's written all over my face
That I'm about to cry
I need a disguise
To hide my love
I need a disguise
You've seen too much
I fall apart when you touch me
With your eyes
I need a disguise
Oooh baby
I need to get wise
Oooh baby
I know just where you're going
And I know who you'll be seeing
If I swallow all my pride
There'll be nothing left of me
I'm so confused
It can't be denied (I think you better run now)
Either way I lose
And it's written all over my face
How I hurt inside
I need a disguise
To hide my love
I need a disguise
You've seen too much
I fall apart when you touch me
With your eyes
I need a disguise
Oooh baby
I need to get wise
Oooh baby
07 Stuff and Nonsense (04:34)
Disobey my own decisions
I deserve all your suspicions
First it's yes and then it's no
I dilly dally down to you, oh
But I've got no secrets that I battle in my sleep
I won't make promises to you that I can't keep
And you know that I love you
Here and now not forever
I can give you the present
I don't know about the future
That's all stuff and nonsense
I once lived for the future
Everyday was one day closer
Greener on the other side
Yes I believe before I met you
I assumed that your love was brighter than the stars in my eyes
Now I know how and when I know where and why
And you know that I love you
Here and now not forever
I can give you the present
I don't know about the future
That's all stuff and nonsense
09 Band of Gold (03:48)
Now that you're gone, all that's left is a band of gold
All that's left of the dreams I hold, a band of gold
And the memories of what love could be
If you were still here with me
You took me from the shelter of my mother
I had never known or loved any other
We kissed after taking vows
But that night on our honeymoon
We stayed in separate rooms
I wait in the darkness of my lonely room
Filled with sadness, filled with gloom, hoping soon
That you'll walk back through that door
And love me like you tried before
Now you've been gone, all that's left is a band of gold
All that's left of the dreams I hold, a band of gold
And the memories of what love could be
If you were still here with me
(Memories of what love could be)
(If you were still here with me)
Don't you know that I wait in the darkness of my lonely room
Filled with sadness, filled with gloom, hoping soon
That you'll walk back through that door
And love me like you tried before
Since you've been gone, all that's left is a band of gold
All that's left of the dreams I hold, a band of gold
And the memories of what love could be
If you were still here with me
I wait in the darkness of my lonely room
Filled with sadness, filled with gloom, hoping soon
That you'll walk back through that door
And love me like you tried before
Carico i commenti... con calma
