• Voto:
Allora... cosa dire, un album spettacolare, che però non vanta della freschezza sperimentele di Fireball o della potenza spettacolare di In rock; comunque è un gran album contenente molte delle piu famose canzoni dei Purple tipo Higway Star, Lazy, Space Truckin, il singolo When a Blind Man Cries, senza dimenticare Smoke On The Water... che però vanta di una certa popolarita anche tra quelli che ascoltano tuttaltro che hard rock. Non trovi uno per strada che ne canticchi il ritornello, e questo a fastidio perche non è che la conoscono ma la fischiettano.
Ci sono in tutto 7 canzoni piu il singolo di When a Blind Man Cries... si parte con Higway Star, con una bella intro di Hammond e con le urla graffianti di Ian Gillan, la canzone parla in sostanza di una macchina, ed è una delle più belle, ha un ritmo molto veloce reso soprattutto da Blackmore che con la sua tecnica produce un effetto Machine Gun. Per non parlare degli assoli, abbastanza nella norma per Lord ma uno anzi il più veloce assolo di chitarra per quegli anni. Poi c'è Maybe I'm A Leo, Pictures Of Home bella e molto epica e poi Never Before che sono bellissime canzoni ma poco conosciute perchè non verrano quasi mai in quegli anni eseguite nei live; poi viene il turno di Smoke, una bellissima canzone con uno dei migliori riff sulla faccia della terra anche se è molto semplice, la canzone parla del loro arrivo a Montreux nella fine circa del '71 e delle difficoltà che hanno avuto per registrare quest' album, a causa delle condizioni in cuii dovevano registrarlo, in pratica ogni momento correre dal freddo Grand Hotel al Rolling Stone Mobile Studio. La canzone inoltre vanta di un memorabile assolo!
poi c'e Lazy, si può dire che dopo la inquietante intro di Lord si tratta di una canzone rithm'n'blues basata sugli assoli di un Lord e un Blackmore che si sfidavano al loro meglio: la canzone ha anche una piccola sezione cantata che è interrotta da un assolo di fisarmonica. L'album chiude con Space Truckin bellissima canzone che però non ha niente di speciale apparte la grinta che rinchiude... e di un altro bell'assolo targato Blackmore.
Concludo dicendo che l'album è fantastico ma che pero soffre il confronto con il mitico Made in Japan che ne esalta le migliori canzoni!
Elenco tracce testi e samples
01 Highway Star (06:08)
Yeah---
Nobody gonna take my car, I'm gonna race it to the ground
Nobody gonna beat my car, it's gonna break the speed of sound
Ooh it's a killing machine
It's got everything
Like a driving power, big fat tires and everything
I love it, and I need it, I feed it
Yeah it's a wild hurricane
Alright, hold tight, I'm a highway star
Nobody gonna take my girl, I'm gonna keep her to the end
Nobody gonna have my girl, she stays close on every bend
Ooh she's a killing machine
She's got everything
Like a moving mouth, body control and everything
I love her, I need her, I seed her
Yeah she turns me on
Alright, hold tight, I'm a highway star
Nobody gonna take my head, I got speed inside my brain
Nobody gonna steal my head now that I'm on the road again
Ooh I'm in heaven again
I've got everything
Like a moving ground, an open road and everything
I love it, I need it, I feed it
Eight cylinders all mine
Alright, hold tight, I'm a highway star
Nobody gonna take my car, I'm gonna race it to the ground
Nobody gonna beat my car, it's gonna break the speed of sound
Ooh it's a killing machine
It's got everything
Like a driving power, big fat tires and everything
I love it, and I need it, I feed it
Yeah it's a wild hurricane
Alright, hold tight, I'm a highway star
I'm a highway star
I'm a highway star
02 Maybe I'm a Leo (04:52)
Peeping round the door I got a big surprise
Couldn't see a thing but open skies
They've taken her away where is she now
Wish that she was here wish she'd hold my hand
Maybe she could laugh maybe understand
Why was I so cruel where is she now
Acting like a fool I had to make her cry
Maybe I'm a Leo but I ain't a lion
I'm hurting oh so bad, I want her now
03 Pictures of Home (05:07)
Somebody's shouting
Up at a mountain
Only my own words return
Nobody's up there
It's a deception
I'm alone here
With emptiness eagles and snow
Unfriendliness chilling my body
And whispering pictures of home
Wondering blindly
How can they find me
Maybe they don't even know
My body is shaking
Anticipating
The call of the black footed crow
I'm alone here
With emptiness eagles and snow
Unfriendliness chilling my body
And whispering pictures of home
Here in this prison
Of my own making
Year after day I have grown
Into a hero
But there's no worship
Where have they hidden my thrown
I'm alone here
With emptiness eagles and snow
Unfriendliness chilling my body
And whispering pictures of home
05 Smoke on the Water (05:42)
We all came out to Montreux
On the Lake Geneva shoreline
To make records with a mobile
We didn't have much time
Frank Zappa and the Mothers
Were at the best place in town
When some stupid with a flare gun
Burned the place to the ground
Smoke on the water
A fire in the sky
Smoke on the water
They burned down the gambling house
It died with an awful sound
Funky Claude was running in and out
Dragging kids out the ground
When it all was over
We had to find another place
Swiss time was running out
It seemed that we would lose the race
Smoke on the water
A fire in the sky
Smoke on the water
We ended up at the grand hotel
It was empty, cold and bare
And with the rolling truck stones thing just outside
We made our music there
With a few red lights and a few old beds
We made a place to sweat
No matter what we get out of this
I know I know we'll never forget
Smoke on the water
A fire in the sky
Smoke on the water
06 Lazy (07:22)
You're lazy Just stay in bed
You're lazy Just stay in bed
You don't want no money
You don't want no bread
If you're drowning you don't clutch no straw
If you're drowning you don't clutch no straw
You don't want to live you don't want to cry no more
Well my trying ain't done no good
I said my trying ain't done no good
You don't make no effort no not like you should
Lazy you just stay in bed
Lazy you just stay in bed
You don't want no money
You don't want no bread
07 Space Truckin' (04:34)
Well we had a lot of luck on Venus
We always had a ball on Mars
Meeting all the groovy people
We've rocked the Milky Way so far
We danced around with Borealis
We're space truckin' 'round the the stars
Come on let's go Space Truckin'
Come on
Space Truckin'
Remember when we did the moonshot
And Pony Trekker led the way
We'd move to the Canaveral moonstop
And every 'naut would dance and sway
We got music in our solar system
We're space truckin' round the stars
Come on let's go Space Truckin'
The fireball that we rode was moving
But now we've got a new machine
Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah the freaks said
Man those cats can really swing
They got music in their solar system
They've rocked around the Milky Way
They've danced around the Borealis
They're Space Truckin' everyday
Yeah yeah yeah yeah
Space truckin'
Yeah yeah yeah yeah
Space truckin'
Yeah yeah yeah yeah
Space truckin'
Yeah yeah yeah yeah
Space truckin'
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Altre recensioni
Di blackmore 72
"Smoke on the Water... la canzone immortala le difficoltà che i Purple hanno incontrato durante la registrazione dell'album."
Highway Star... la canzone si fa subito notare con la sua spaventosa carica, in cui si fanno largo gli assoli di Lord prima e quello di Blackmore dopo.
Di Filippo Guzzardi
«Il riff più celebre del secolo» riferito a Smoke On The Water.
«Questo è l’album per eccellenza dei Deep Purple».
