• Voto:
Al volo amici DeBaseriani recensisco brevemente questo album dei Chumbawamba, perché ho appreso oggi (giovedì 24 ottobre) che il gruppo chiuderà i battenti dopo 30 anni e poco più di (non sempre) onorata carriera.
Beh, devo dire che forse si tratta di una scelta saggia: dopo il 2000 non trovo album capaci di brillare come nel passato. Sarà bene concludere e lasciare all'iniziativa privata delle persone il portare avanti, ora, la memoria di questo gruppo.
Andiamo subito a questo "What You See Is What You Get" (il cui acronimo ha a che fare col campo informatico): nel 2000 una mattina il Tg1 annuncia con Marco Betello l'uscita di "She' s got all the friends" e l'attesa di un grande successo per l'estate (a ripensarci mi meraviglio che una rete come la Rai parlasse allora di un gruppo come i Chumbawamba, se neanche Vasco Rosi meritava così tanta attenzione).
In Italia non ce li filiamo e anche all'estero sembra che dopo "Tubthumper" le cose non vadano bene.
Ma cos'è questo album? Si tratta di un concept di canzoni, intervallate da una serie di spezzoni, in cui si prende di mira la cultura pop, il mondo delle boy-band e la politica. La comune di Leeds (i Chumba) spera di poter vedere precipitare un aereo con a bordo politici e personaggi famosi come Bono degli U2 (siamo in periodo di Giubileo e di "Annulla il debito" - declamato da Jovanotti al Sanremo di quell'anno).
"WYSIWYG" è debole rispetto al precedente, ma non è realizzato male e suona bene. Colonna sonora della mia estate 2008 (dopo otto anni mi ero ricordato della canzone "She's got all the friends"!), annovera di brani importanti oltre a "She's got", anche "Celebration, Florida" e il rifacimento a cappella di "New York Mining Disaster 1941" dei Bee Gees, quando ancora non spopolavano con il falsetto di "Staying alive" (siamo nei '60).
Il difetto dell'album è che non ha forza e robustezza nei brani e nella loro coesione, rispetto a "Tubthumper" dove le canzoni (anche qui legate da spezzoni) risultano forti e robuste sia nella struttura ("Amnesia" e "Smalltown", per esempio) che nella coesione stessa.
Cionostante "WYSIWYG" è uno degli album che ho casa a cui sono più affezionato. E' interessante e a suo modo coinvolgente, ma adatto a un'esibizione in locali da pubblico piuttosto ridotto.
Ho finito. Dò un bel arrivederci ai Chumbawamba, concludendo che il tempo di "I get knocked down..." e "She's got all the friends..." lo porterò sempre con me.
Ciao
Elenco tracce testi e video
04 Hey Hey We're the Junkies (01:58)
Good evening, topping nightcast--a possible link between murder and music
Hey, hey, we're the Junkies!
Hey, hey, we're the Junkies!
Sticky pages in Hello with Hopper as Nero on Rome
See the social big guns going bang, bang, bang
Hey, hey, we're the Junkies!
Hey, hey, we're the Junkies!
Hey, hey, we're the Junkies!
No Xmas for Junkies..
Who put the U
Who put the U
Who put the U in the wamba?
So fashionably blue
Crime never pays, heroes are handsome,
So fashionably blue
Pretty children are popular, ugly children cynical
So fashionably blue
Mothers never work, single women always do
So fashionably blue
Politics doesn't exist, automobiles screech when they come to a stop
So fashionably blue
All problems are solved in slightly less than half an hour
13 The Standing Still (01:32)
Once upon a time
Days of wine and roses and smug suburban swine
Same old songs, same old cabaret
A fairytale in Notting Hill
Take your partners for the standing still
Once upon a time
Not so happy ending for the Mersey and the Tyne
Who said the story had to end this way?
A fairytale on Beeston Hill
Take your partners for the standing still
Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid...
14 She's Got All the Friends (03:11)
Turn down the lights
Kick off your shoes
And relax with that special someone
She's got all the friends that money can buy
She's the apple of her daddy's eye
She's got all the friends that money can buy
She's the apple of her daddy's eye
The family money has a magnetic pull
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Her social diary is always full
And both her faces--so easy on the eye
And everyone worth knowing is kissing her behind
She's got all the friends that money can buy
She's the apple of her daddy's eye
She's got all the friends that money can buy
She's the apple of her daddy's eye
Style has a price without much change
Yeah, yeah, yeah
If you have to ask then it's out of your range
And both her faces--so easy on the eye
And everyone worth knowing is kissing her behind
She's got all the friends that money can buy
She's the apple of her daddy's eye
She's got all the friends that money can buy
She's the apple of her daddy's eye
Oh ah, oh ah, oh ah, oh ah...
Versace and Prada mean nothing to me, to me...
Well, you can buy your friends, but I'll hate you for free
Hate you for free...
She's got all the friends that money can buy
She's the apple of her daddy's eye
She's got all the friends that money can buy
She's the apple of her daddy's eye
She's got all the friends that money can buy
She's the apple of her daddy's eye
You see, it's magic, and it shouldn't work
I still look at it most surprised it does
Hmmm, ahem, pass it along...
Pass it along, pass it along...
Pass it along...
What's the matter? You make too much money buddy?
16 Celebration, Florida (03:13)
The good folks pull together
It's july 4th forever
Down in celebration, florida
The neighbors bring you coffee
And everyone's always happy
Down in celebration, florida
There's a bake sell at the schoolhouse
And they're selling innocence
They're keeping out the deviants
To protect the residents
Of celebration, celebration, florida
They're buying up nostalgia
For a time they can't remember
Down in celebration, florida
They're sharing homemade corn chips
Even the dogs get facelifts
Down in celebration, florida
There's a bake sell at the schoolhouse
And they're selling innocence
They're keeping out the deviants
To protect the residents
Of celebration, celebration, florida
There's nation fighting nation
There's kids with malnutrition
But not in celebration, florida
Social engineering
It gives you that fuzzy feeling
Down in celebration, florida
There's a bake sell at the schoolhouse
And they're selling innocence
They're keeping out the deviants
To protect the residents
Of celebration, celebration, florida
Celebration, celebration, celebration, florida
Well, it's
It's very conventional, i don't know, and it's, it's, kind of just
Relies on some kind of simplistic folk ideology.
That's true, actually i'd agree with that.
20 Knickers (00:21)
There's a hole in your knickers, dear calvin Ba-ba-black sheep, have you any wool? Dramatic! Now let's see what happens with ba-ba-black sheep Dear calvin, there's a hole in your knickers, a hole
21 Lie Lie Lie Lie (02:32)
Lie lie lie lie lie lie lie lie lie lie
Lie lie lie lie lie lie lie lie lie lie
I failed the audition for celebrity squares
Your life is a dream, then you wake up
You watch Friends together, then you break up
I could win an Oscar, I could be so sincere
Lie lie lie lie lie lie lie lie lie lie
My psychic make up--it's all over the place
Your life is a dream, then you wake up
You watch Friends together, then you break up
I'd like to thank you all, through this flood of tears
Lie lie lie lie lie lie lie lie lie lie
Lie lie lie lie lie lie lie lie lie lie
Thank you... thank you... oh, thank you...
Lie lie lie lie lie lie lie lie lie lie
Lie lie lie lie lie lie lie lie lie lie
Lie lie lie lie lie lie lie lie lie lie
Lie lie lie lie lie lie lie lie lie lie
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