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I giudizi su questo ritorno della band scozzese che per anni ha illuminato le giornate adolescenziali di una generazione cresciuta con le note e i racconti di "If You're Feeling Sinister" e "The Boy With An Arab Strap" si rincorrono qua e là per la rete e per i canali d'informazione musicale senza trovare un bilanciamento, un parere che metta tutti d'accordo. E io purtroppo non faccio eccezione.
L'attesa per questo "The Life Pursuit" è stata placata dai fugaci ascolti in rete da un mese a questa parte, che lasciavano presagire una mossa più decisa verso il pop radiofonico (o almeno verso il pop per come lo intendono i Belle & Sebastian) con abbondante uso di tastiere e la chitarra acustica relegata in secondo piano. La prima cosa che mi è venuta in mente ascoltando questo nuovo album è che la conoscenza enciclopedica della storia del rock da parte dei singoli musicisti è venuta finalmente fuori e questo si sente nella molteplicità di riferimenti (un arpeggio, un battito, un'invenzione sonora) a generi musicali che la band non aveva minimamente fatto intuire di potersi ritenere in parentela: ed è questo forse l'aspetto che ha lasciato molti completamente spiazzati, me compreso (ma fino a un certo punto).
Sulle prime, il singolo "Funny Little Frog" (con quel pianoforte che ricorda molto l'intro di "Death On Two Legs" dei Queen) non mi piaceva, e diversi pezzi li trovavo semplicemente disgustosi (Song For Sunshine è una delle canzoni più orrende che abbia mai ascoltato)... però però, dopo qualche ascolto più attento e meno vincolato da beceri pregiudizi, ho rivalutato questo nuovo disco, sicuramente migliore di "Dear Catastrophe Waitress". È chiaro che i Belle & Sebastian, dopo avere dettato legge in ambito indie per anni, volessero ammiccare a un pubblico più vasto, e questo non è certo un reato se è abbinato a un mantenimento di livello alto e di una produzione valida (e non è un traguardo impossibile nemmeno in campo mainstream, vedi Gorillaz)... se era questo l'obiettivo, si può dire perfettamente centrato appunto con "Funny Little Frog" (che pur non convincendomi ancora ne riconosco il potenziale catchy), "The Blues Are Still Blue" (bel riffone à la T. Rex e cadenza looureediana), "To Be Myself Completely" (purissimo northern soul, il brano migliore), e le due canzoni che si avvicinano maggiormente al suono del passato, "Another Sunny Day" e "Dress Up In You"... queste canzoni che ho citato meritano ampiamente di stare nel "best of" del loro repertorio. Il problema ora è: e le altre? Mai sentita in un disco una sequela più schizofrenica di alti e bassi: pezzi che risentiresti per tutta la vita alternati ad altri che skippi di continuo... forse si salva il sofisticato funk caraibico un pò smithsiano di "For The Price Of A Cup Of Tea" ma le altre sembrano francamente delle b-sides, per quanto posso sottilmente apprezzare la ricerca (da parte di chi? chi sarà il "colpevole"?) di allusioni alla bubblegum music dei primi anni '70.
Alla fine propendo per l'ipotesi che la band scozzese volesse proprio provocare nell'ascoltatore l'effetto che ho sentito anch'io: ancora non ho capito se questo sia un disco geniale o un brusco passo falso. Probabilmente sarà il disco dei Belle & Sebastian che venderà di più, ma, per una volta, non sono così sicuro che la virtù stia nel mezzo.
Elenco tracce testi samples e video
01 Act of the Apostle (02:55)
Morning prayers took the girl unawares
She was late for class and she knew it
The broadcaster had a voice that was soothing
She couldn’t tell if it was a man or woman
A patch of sun fell onto her neck
She put her head on her arms on her desk
The lesson today was Acts of Apostles
The crazy hippies, they’re running scared
She shut her eyes and imagined the desert
No cars, no mobiles, just sun and bread
What would she look like standing by the well?
More like a women and less like a girl
“Oh, if I could make sense of it all!
I wish that I could sing
I’d stay in a melody
I would float along in my everlasting song
What would I do to believe?”
Later on she plays Morning Has Broken
She knows she’s bad
She is slowing everbody down
The choirmaster, usually a bastard, knows her mother’s sick
He’ll be nice to her
She thinks that she shouldn’t be there at all
Her worries make everything else seem trivial
“Oh, if I could make sense of it all!
I wish that I could sing
I’d stay in a melody
I would float along in my everlasting song
What would I do to believe?”
05 Dress Up in You (04:23)
I'm the singer, I'm the singer in the band
You're the loser, I won't dismiss you out of hand
Cos you've got a beautiful faith
It will take you places
You kept running
You've got money, you've got fame
Every morning I see your picture from the train
Now you're an actress!
So says your résumé
You're made of card
You couldn't act your way out of a paper bag
You got lucky, you ain't talking to me now
Little Miss Plucky
Pluck your eyebrows for the crowd
Get on the airplane
You give me stomach pain
I wish that you were here
We would have had a lot to talk about
We had a deal there
We nearly signed it with our blood…
An understanding
I thought that you would keep your word
I'm disappointed
I'm aggravated
It's a fault I have, I know
When things don't go my way I have to
Blow up in the face of my rivals
I swear and I rant, I make quite an arrival
The men are surprised by the language
They act so discreet, they are hypocrites so fuck them too!
I always loved you
You always had a lot of style
I'd hate to see you on the pile
Of ‘nearly-made-it' s
You've got the essence, dear
If I could have a second skin
I'd probably dress up in you
You're a star now, I am fixing people's nails
I'm knitting jumpers, I'm working after hours
I've got a boyfriend, I've got a feeling that he's seeing someone else
He always had a thing for you as well
Blow in the face of my rivals
I swear and I rant, I make quite an arrival
The men are surprised by the language
They act so discreet, they are hypocrites forget them
So fuck them too
06 Sukie in the Graveyard (03:00)
Sukie was a kid, she liked to hang out in the graveyard
She did brass rubbings, she learned you never had to press hard
When she was finished hanging out she was all alone
She decided that she better check in at home
There was an awful row between her mum and dad
They said she hadn’t done this, she hadn’t done that
If she wanted to remain inside the family home
She’d have to tow the line, she’d have to give it a go
It didn’t suit Sukie
She took her things and left
Sukie was a kid, she liked to hang out at the art school
She didn’t enroll, but she wiped the floor with all the arseholes
She took a bijou flat with the fraternity cat
She hid inside the attic of the sculpture building
She had a slut slave and his name was Dave
She said, "Be my photo bitch and I’ll make you rich"
He didn’t believe her but the boy revered her
He got her meals and he got her a bed
He watched behind the screen and she started to undress
He never got far
Just lookin’ and playing guitar
Autumn hanging down all the trees are draped like chandeliers
Now Sukie saw the beauty but she wasn’t wet behind the ears
She had an A1 body and a face to match
She didn’t have money, she didn’t have cash
With the winter coming on, and the attic cold
She had to press her nose on the refectory wall
They served steamed puddings, she went without
She had to pose for life for all the scholars of art
She didn’t feel funny, she didn’t feel bad
Peeling away everything she had
She had the grace of an eel, sleek and stark
As the shadows played tricks on the girl in the dark
Sukie was a kid, and she liked to hang out in the graveyard
Sukie was a kid, and she liked to hang out in the graveyard
Sukie was a kid, and she liked to hang out in the graveyard
Sukie was a kid, and she liked to hang out in the graveyard
07 We Are the Sleepyheads (03:33)
Tired like the beggar with the cold inside his bones
Looking for the pleasure that he knew was so far gone
So far gone
I took a turn to myself
And I was surprised, cause I saw everyone who ever I had loved
I felt a whole lot better after that
People look at us and they think were doing fine
People look at us cause they see us all the time
All the time
But they never take to us
We’ve been in this town so long we may as well be dead
So long as people turn their heads
And cross the street whenever we walk on by
Someone told the truth when it really mattered most
The beauty of the moment is the beauty sadly lost
Sadly lost
So I went around to your house
Over tea and gin we talked about the things we read
In Luke and John the things he said
And now it’s morning we are the sleepyheads
09 Funny Little Frog (03:08)
Honey lovin you is the greatest thing
I get to be myself and I get to sing
I get to play at being irresponsible
I come home late at night and I love your soul
I never forget you in my prayers
I never have a bad thing to report
You’re my picture on the wall
You’re my vision in the hall
You’re the one I’m talking to
When I get in from my work
You are my girl, and you don’t even know it
I am livin out the life of a poet
I am the jester in the ancient court
You’re the funny little frog in my throat
My eye sight’s fading, my hearing’s dim
I can’t get insured for the state I’m in
I’m a danger to myself I’ve been starting fights
At the party at the club on a Saturday night
But I don’t get disapproving from my girl
She gets the all highlights wrapped in pearls..
You’re my picture on the wall
You’re my vision in the hall
You’re the one I’m talking to
When I get in from my work
You are my girl, and you don’t even know it
I am livin out the life of a poet
I am the jester in the ancient court
You’re the funny little frog in my throat
I had a conversation with you at night
It’s a little one sided but that’s allright
I tell you in the kitchen about my day
You sit on the bed in the dark changing places
With the ghost that was there before you came
You’ve come to save my life again
I don’t dare to touch your hand
I don’t dare to think of you
In a physical way
And I don’t know how you smell
You are the cover of my magazine
You’re my fashion tip, a living museum
I’d pay to visit you on rainy Sundays
I’ll maybe tell you all about it someday
12 For the Price of a Cup of Tea (03:19)
For the price of a cup of tea
You’d get a line of coke
For the price of a night with me
You’d be the village joke
For the price of a pint of milk
I’ll tell you all I know
About the state of the world today
Sit down, enjoy the show
She had several hours to find a place to stay
Try the coffee shop, but somewhere on the way
She heard about a place, somewhere she could go
Walked a couple of blocks to her destination
For the price of a cup of tea
You’d get a seven inches
Soul black vinyl to stop your tears
You can use my stereo
You might be the village joke but
Don’t listen to the gossip of the other folk
She just wants to be accepted in this place
There’s something in her face
She will always seem exotic and aloof
If you want to know the truth
Her friend the stars dripping from the jewelled sky
When she was passing by
Would keep her calm
There was people that she knew, at least she thought she did
Be easy on the kid!
She took her winter coat from her plastic wrapper
Pushed back her fringe, see her birthmark
She can finally be the person she wanted to be
13 Mornington Crescent (05:40)
Mornington Crescent
I think of you
Rain in the southeast
Men feeling blue
Men with their bowlers
Kids with their spats
Ladies with chauffeurs
Dogs wearing hats and jackets
Rich apartments
Old punk posters
Tartan garments
I love the exquisite array
I love the camp as camp parade
The possibilities suggest themselves to me
I’m feeling free
Mornington Crescent
The sun in the east
I’ve got a job on
For a Senegalese rich arbitrator
In African law
To paint his apartment, strip down the walls
Came down between us lately
Lust and want and need just caved in
‘Is it wise?’
The answer’s no
It never is but since you ask
We pause thoughtfully, for twenty seconds reprieve
Then it’s off with the briefs
Mornington Crescent
Sin is my game
We’ll all be lined up
Irrelevant fame
Next to the broker, the nurse and the drunk
I was a joker, the wannabe punk that got lucky
Had a good time
Life became fruitless
Egotistic swine to all your friends
All the ladies and the men
The possibilities suggest themselves to me
We’re a little too free
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Altre recensioni
Di Teddi
Mi sono segretamente innamorato di “The Life Pursuit” e, come quando si è all’inizio di una storia (d’amore), ne sono diventato letteralmente dipendente.
Mi rilassa con le sue atmosfere delicate e mi eccita con i suoi ritmi accesi, mi stupisce per i suoi arrangiamenti cristallini e le sue esecuzioni impeccabili.
Di Almotasim
Come passare da disegni a pastelli acquerellabili ad uno colorato con gli evidenziatori fluorescenti...
Questi pezzi sono affabili, entusiasmanti, estivi, ti interpellano in modo quasi, inusualmente, insolente.
