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Ovvero il disco del Disincanto.
Dopo aver visto con i loro occhi i contrasti e le ingiustizie del pianeta durante uno dei primi tour mondiali inizia per i Depeche Mode una fase più matura.
Anno 1983, la band sempre più infastidita da quella parte della stampa che li definisce New Romantic si espone in quest'album con testi politici e di denuncia. Anche i suoni si fanno più cattivi, arriva Gareth Jones alla produzione (già dietro la consolle di Einsturzende Neubauten) insieme ai suoi campionatori caricati con suoni industriali e sale grosso. Ma andiamo ad analizzare le canzoni più rappresentative di questo disco: si parte con "Love in Itself": "There was a time / when all on my mind was love / Now I find / that most of the time / love's not enough / in itself". Ed ecco il disincanto di cui sopra, Mr. Gore scopre che l'amore da solo non basta. Il brano è un contrapporsi di riff di sintetizzatore e parti jazzate di piano e chitarra acustica da non si sa quale pianobar.
Segue a ruota "More Than a Party": "lot of surprises in store this isn't a party is a whole much more!!!". I Depeche Mode riprendono concettualmente la locomotiva dei Kraftwerk e ne fanno un loop che mano mano accellera e su cui si sviluppa questa electro-ballad caratterizzata dalla voce di Dave cupa e malinconica. Bello il giro di basso, geniali le dissonanze sintetiche.
"Pipeline": i rumori della catena di montaggio assemblano un ritmo meccanico e ripetitivo. I suoni campionati di oggetti metallici che cadendo rimbalzano irregolarmente ma che sono comunque parte della catena danno all'insieme un effetto suggestivo. A sorpresa entrano arpeggi di marimba e tappeti ambient a smorzare i suoni siderurgici e ad innescare un senso di speranza su chi ascolta… come dire: non tutto è perduto, forse. Il verso "Taking from the greedy / Giving to the needy" ripetuto ad libitum sottolinea ulteriormente l'attenzione della band alll'iniquità sociale dei tempi moderni. E arriviamo a "Everything Counts": "the grabbing hands grab all they can", i brutti musi del capitalismo arraffano tutto ciò che possono. Questo brano inizia con un bellissimo pattern di drum machine al quale si aggiunge un tripudio di sintetizzatori, anche qui Dave canta alla grande le rime geniali scritte da Martin, consegnando alla storia uno dei singoli più riusciti della band.
"Shame" è una sorta di rumba elettronica mentre "The Landscape is Changing" composta da Alan Wilder sembra volerci sussurrare: abbi cura del tuo mondo, chi altri sennò? "And Then", che chiude in bellezza l'album, ci ricorda con le lunghe pennate sull'acustica e i particolari arrangiamenti vocali il pop raffinato dei primi Tears for Fears.
Il disco risulta attualissimo nei contenuti, se si pensa a ciò che succede oggi in una Cina votata ai modelli economici occidentali con operai pagati pochissimo (praticamente senza diritti), ed un'emergenza ambiente inquinato dagli scarichi. Il sound è eccellente, i suoni di sintesi sempre appropriati, la voce di Dave stupenda. Un album da ripescare (non foss'altro per questioni ideologiche) ma che rivela al suo interno brani assai pregevoli. Il disco più Industrial dei Depeche Mode.
Elenco tracce testi samples e video
02 More Than a Party (04:45)
Lots of surprises in store
This isn't a party
It's a whole lot more
We've had enough of this blind man's bluff
You've kept us in the dark for long enough
This is more than a party
More than a party
More than a party
Keep telling us we're to have fun
Then take all the ice cream so we've got none
This is more than a party
More than a party
More than a party
The failed magician waves his wand
And in an instant the laughter's gone
This is more than a party
More than a party
More than a party
Lots of surprises in store
This isn't a party
It's a whole lot more
More than a party
03 Pipeline (05:54)
Get out the crane
Construction time again
What is it this time
We're laying a pipeline
Let the beads of sweat flow
Until the ends have met through
Could take a long time
Working on the pipeline
Taking from the greedy
Giving to the needy
On this golden day
Work's been sent our way
That could last a lifetime
Working on the pipeline
From the heart of our land
To the mouth of the man
Must reach him sometime
We're laying a pipeline
Taking from the greedy
Giving to the needy
04 Everything Counts (04:20)
The handshake
Seals a contract
From the contract
There's no turning back
The turning point
Of a career
In Korea being insincere
The holiday
Was fun packed
The contract:
Still intact
The grabbing hands
Grab all they can
All for themselves
After all
It's a competitive world
Everything counts in large amounts
The graph
On the wall
Tells the story
Of it all
Picture it now
See just how
The lies and deceit gained a little more power
Confidence taken in
By a sun tan
And a grin
The grabbing hands
Grab all they can
All for themselves
After all
It's a competitive world
Everything counts in large amounts
The grabbing hands
Grab all they can
Everything counts in large amounts
06 Shame (03:51)
Do you ever get that feeling
When the guilt begins to hurt
Seeing all the children
Wallowing in dirt
Crying out with hunger
Crying out in pain
At least the dirt will wash off
When it starts to rain
Soap won't wash away your shame
Do you ever get that feeling
That something isn't right
Seeing your brother's fists
Clenched ready for the fight
Soon the fighting turns to weapons
And the weapons turn to wounds
So the doctors stitch and stitch
And stitch and stitch and stitch
And stitch and stitch
Surgery won't improve your pain
It all seems so stupid
It makes me want to give up
But why should I give up
When it all seems so stupid
Do you ever get the feeling
That something can be done
To eradicate these problems
And make the people one
Do you ever get that feeling
Something like a nagging itch
And all the while the doctors
Stitch and stitch and stitch
And stitch and stitch
Hope alone won't remove the stains
Shame
It all seems so stupid
It makes me want to give up
But why should I give up
When it all seems so stupid
07 The Landscape Is Changing (04:49)
The landscape is changing
The landscape is crying
Thousands of acres of forest are dying
Carbon copies from the hills above the forest line
Acid streams are flowing ill across the countryside
'Cause I don't care if you're going nowhere
Just take good care of the world
I don't care if you're going nowhere
Just take good care of the world
Now we're re-arranging
There's no use denying
Mountains and valleys, can't you hear them sighing
Evolution, the solution or the certainty
Can you imagine this intrusion of their privacy
'Cause I don't care if you're going nowhere
Just take good care of the world
I don't care if you're going nowhere
Just take good care of the world
Token gestures, some semblance of intelligence
Can we be blamed for the security of ignorance
'Cause I don't care if you're going nowhere
Just take good care of the world
I don't care if you're going nowhere
Just take good care of the world
08 Told You So (04:26)
And do those feet in modern times
Walk upon the flowers
And walk upon their brothers
While their heads are busy lying low
Trying to keep to cover...oh
Something went wrong
Along the way
Everybody's waiting for
Judgment day
So they can go
Told you so
Bring me my gun of itching desire
Bring me my bullets and I will fire
Sights set higher than the tall church spire
Standing in line
The blind lead the blind
Waiting and waiting
For an overdue sign
Brothers and sisters
Playing Chinese whispers
If things aren't suited
Then they'll get diluted
There's one more dead with a hole in his head
He shouldn't have said all the things he said
Many tears were shed for the blood he bled
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