Questo album è una lezione di vita: t’insegna che i sogni sono bellissimi, ma ad un certo punto diventano strani e inquietanti e quando te ne accorgi significa che stai per svegliarti. Ecco quello che è successo con i Belle and Sebastian. Un sogno lungo tre album, uno più bello dell’altro, uno più emozionante dell’altro, uno più osannato dell’altro, poi qualcosa comincia a cambiare, tutto è ancora bellissimo, ma hai la sensazione che non sia più come prima, che tutto presto finirà e anzi è gia finito.
Stuart David, il bassista storico, se n’era appena andato, ma noi (plurale maiestatis) eravamo convinti che nulla sarebbe cambiato, che in fondo era Stuart Murdoch la vera anima del gruppo, e che l’unica vera cosa davvero indispensabile era la voce aggraziata di Isobel Campbell. L’illusione resse con questo album, ma crollò miseramente con le release successive, che, checché se ne dica (e i pareri divergono), sono quanto meno imbarazzanti per chi aveva scritto i capolavori che aveva scritto.
L’album…ah sì, l’album..che volete che dica…è un disco dei Belle and Sebastian, gente che la musica la scrive (la scriveva) e la suona DA DIO. Ma che comincia a perdersi per strada. E allora usa i trucchi del mestiere per rimediare. E’ un po’come se ci avessero messo il liquore in questa torta, per coprire il gusto della crema che cominciava ad inacidirsi.
I Belle e Sebastian si affidano agli arrangiamenti sontuosi (archi a profusione, trombe, flauti, organi e addirittura clavicembali), e quando non basta ci provano con l’innocenza disarmante di pezzi come “Family Tree”, tanto insopportabilmente naif, quanto irresistibile, che dopo averla ascoltata vorresti tanto essere in un pub di Glasgow e poter offrire un drink ad Isobel, la creatura più dolce della terra.
Alla fine tendi a soprassedere sugli episodi meno riusciti (“Don’t Leave The Light On Baby”, “Nice Day for a Sulk”) e a farti abbagliare dalla indiscutibile maestria musicale dei nostri, che in “The Model”, “Waiting For The Moon To Rise” e “Wrong Girl” dimostrano, come al solito, di saperci fare, e pure tanto.
Si dice che prima di questo album i Belle and Sebastian dovessero registrare in quattro-cinque giorni, mentre qui per la prima volta gli furono concessi tempi e mezzi illimitati, visto il successo ormai raggiunto. Forse è stato questo a rompere l’incantesimo, fatto sta che da allora nulla è stato più come prima e due anni dopo anche la Campbell avrebbe lasciato la compagnia.
Elenco tracce testi samples e video
01 I Fought in a War (04:07)
I fought in a war and I left my friends behind me
To go looking for the enemy, and it wasn't very long
Before I would stand with another boy in front of me
And a corpse that just fell into me, with the bullets flying round
And I reminded myself of the words you said when we were getting on
And I bet you're making shells back home for a steady boy to wear
Round his neck, well it won't hurt to think of you as if you're waiting for
This letter to arrive because I'll be here quite a while
I fought in a war and I left my friends behind me
To go looking for the enemy, and it wasn't very long
Before I found out that the sickness there ahead of me
Went beyond the bedsit infamy of the decade gone before
And I reminded myself of the words you said when we were getting on
And I bet you're making shells back home for a steady man to wear
Round his neck, well it won't hurt to think of you as if you're waiting for
This letter to arrive because I'll be here quite a while
I fought in a war, and I didn't know where it would end
It stretched before me infinitely, I couldn't really think
Of the day beyond now, keep your head down pal
There's trouble plenty in this hour, this day
I can see hope I can see light
And I reminded myself of the looks you gave when we were getting on
And I bet you're making shells back home for a steady man to wear
Round his neck, well it won't hurt to think of you as if you're waiting for
This letter to arrive because I'll be here quite a while
02 The Model (03:55)
I will confess to you
Because you made me think about the times
You turn the picture on to me and I'll turn over
The picture was a masterpiece of comic timing
But you wouldn't laugh at all
And I wonder what the boy was thinking
The picture was an old collage of something classical
The model with the tragic air
Because without a doubt he'd given up the fight
The ghost of somebody at his side
I will confess to you
Because I didn't think about the message
As I walked down the alleyway it was a Sunday
And all my friends deserted me because you painted me
As the fraud I really was
And if you think you see with just your eyes you're mad
'Cause Lisa learned a lot from putting on a blindfold
When she knew she had been bad
She met another blind kid at a fancy dress
It was the best sex she ever had
I'll send a dress to you
Because it's needing badly taken in
But I was so embarressed that I missed your party
It was me that paid for it eventually
Because you know how much I wanted
To meet your friend the star of stage and local press
The dream of all the bowlie kids that hang around here
And I'm no different from the rest
I'm not too proud to say that I'm okay with
The girl next door who's famous for showing her chest
You're not impressed by me
But it's a funny way for you to tell me
A whisper in a choir stall
The man was talking about you simultaneously
Frankly, I let my heavy eyelids flutter
Because I have been sleeping badly lately
I know you were historical from all the books I've read
But I thought you could be bluffing
And with this chance I've missed I feel remiss
It's days and months before I see you again
03 Beyond the Sunrise (04:08)
Joseph was travelling with a heavy load
His dreams were broken and deep sorrow flowed from his brow
Closer to sundown he prepared to rest
Set down the burden,
lay upon his chest
Then she came
Sir, come to me and I will keep you warm
Taste hope in my skin and faith with the dawn
You will rise
Beyond the sunrise that is where we live
Feeding our counsel and true comfort give
Travelling men
Joseph was sure the liquor had caused this dream
His eyes were sure that heaven was not her scene
She was no saint
Sir, come to me and I will keep you warm
Taste hope in my skin and faith with the dawn you will rise
04 Waiting for the Moon to Rise (03:07)
All the way back home
I'm telling you I caught the sun
Creeping up behind my shoulder
And another day's begun
I was following a trail
I'd never been along before
Chasing darkened skies above me
Looking like the spring
Like the winter
And the morning
If there's a place I want to go
Then I'll be there with you
'Cos in my dreams the things
I'm wishing for
Keep coming true
Now a new day comes
Clears the darkness out of sight
And the shadows that were sleeping
Come and dance beneath the light
And I'm trying hard to hide
Keeping the sun out of my eyes
Close them tight
And now I'm waiting for the moon to rise
Don't try to say to me
That this was never meant to be
'Cos the days are long where I come from
The next few days I'm free
There's a train I want to catch
But it won't leave here for a while
Till darkness fills the eastern sky
And streetlights stretch for miles
Through the spring
And the winter and the morning
06 The Wrong Girl (03:20)
I went looking for my darling, I went looking for a sign
and I found her in the morning, somewhere in the back of my mind
I'm not what I could be, I need a true love
I went looking and I found one
The wrong girl
The wrong kind
The wrong hand to be holding
The wrong eyes to go searching behind
The wrong dream to have on my mind
09 Women's Realm (04:30)
I don't care whether you hear this
I don't care if I'm alone here singing songs to myself
There's nobody else around, around
Meet you up at the Indian part of the town
The town's shut down, the people left with their bags
Their kids so there's not a sound a sound
But I must get from there to here
There's a small voice crying on the other side of the river from here
It's too late to phone her now
What went wrong, your grades were good
It would take a left wing Robin Hood to pay for school
Your dad's a boozer and you keep him alive
Just a minute close your eyes
If we settle for this compromise I'll stay with you
The river looks so good tonight
I don't know what's with your friend
She met a boy and at the summer's end
She said she'd had enough of playing games
I don't care cause I'm by myself
All the dancers left but I can't dance
So I will stay and clean the mess they left behind
But I dream as I set to scrub all the floors, the walls
I'm thinking of a song or two, a boy a girl and a rendezvous
Are you coming or are you not?
There is nothing that would sort you out
There's nothing I could say or do
You're going to crash, I'll set the bails in front of you
Are you coming or are you not?
There is nothing that would sort you out
An interesting way of life
Deny yourself the benefits of being alive
You slept better in a sleeping train in a shed in a station
With a torch and a Woman's Realm to keep you warm
To keep you company
You slept better in a sleeping train in a shed in a station
With a torch and a Woman's Realm to keep you company tonight
10 Family Tree (04:04)
I've been feeling down
I've been looking round the town
For somebody just like me
But the only ones I see
Are the dummies in the window
They spend their money on clothes
It saddens me to think
That the only ones I see are mannequins
Looking stupid, being used and being thin
And I don't know why I hang around with them
The way they act, I'd rather be fat than be confused
The way they act, I'd rather be fat than be confused
Than be me in a cage
With a bottle of rage
And a family like the mafia
I've been feeling blue
And I don't know what to do
And I never get a thrill
And they threw me out of school
'Cause I swore at all the teachers
Because they never teach us
A thing I want to know
We do Chemistry, Biology and Maths
I want Poetry and Music and some laughs
And I don't think it's an awful lot to ask
So won't you please get up off your knees, and let me go
So won't you please get up off your knees, and let me go
Cause I'm here in a cage
With a bottle of rage
And a family like the mafia
If my family tree goes back to the Romans
Then I will change my name to Jones
If my family tree goes back to Napolean
Then I will change my name to Smith
If my family tree goes back to the Romans
Then I will change my name to Jones
If you're looking at me to be an accountant
Then you will look but you will never see
If you're looking at me to start having babies
Then you can wish because I'm not here to fool around
You can wish because I'm not here to fool around
You can wish because I'm not here to fool around
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