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In ogni band c'è un antagonista. Uno stracciapalle. Che quando tutto va (si fa per dire) bene, porta in dote bizze per dare sfogo al proprio ego musical popolare. Le bizze possono essere: cambiamo genere, voglio andarmene, voglio primeggiare, non sopporto più tizio, e via dicendo. Nei Duran Duran, l'antagonista per eccellenza è sempre stato Andy Taylor. Cazzaro di stampo anarchico, chitarrista ruvido ma poco famelico, ha nei secoli inseguto una personalità che, permeata con la band, aveva un senso. Trasbordata al contesto solista, no. Oppure, ni.
Fatto sta che dopo aver messo la bandierina sul tetto del mondo con tre album in studio ed il live "Arena", dopo aver concesso al gruppo frangenti paralleli con gli Arcadia di Lebon, Rhodes, Roger Taylor (presenza scenica, più che altro, la sua) ed i Power Station di John Taylor, Andy Taylor, Robert Palmer e Tony Thompson degli Chic (rip) a parte del nucleo venne voglia di ricominciare, nell'anno di grazia 1986. Roger si chiamò subito fuori: nessuna vena polemica, era semplicemente stanco. Esaurito. Lo ritroveremo nel 2001 in sede di big reunion. Andy, per contro, non si chiamò fuori ufficialmente. Si diede alla macchia. Anzi: si diede ai Missing Persons per soffiare il posto di chitarrista a Warren Cuccurullo (attenzione perché questi farà il percorso inverso, rivelandosi propedeutico per la band, "Ordinary World" è roba sua ndr) e dare sfogo alla smania di un sound più heavy.
Rimasti in tre, Simon Nick e John provarono a convincere il compagno prima con le buone (collocando "We Need You", sostanzialmente piccola perla di dolcezza, come b-side di "Notorious", primo singolo estratto). Niente da fare. Allora passarono alle cattive: ciccio, ti facciamo causa. Obblighi contrattuali.
Così, Andy, svogliato e con la testa altrove, presenziò per colorare qua e là "American Science" e "A Matter Of Feeling". Ma, va da sé, buona parte del lavoro sia ritmico che in sede di assolo lo fecero Cuccurullo e lo stesso Rodgers.
Smettetela subito di intonare "No-no notorious", con cadenza truzza, perché quel frangente infarcito di paninarismo ha condannato l'album. Un album solido, equilibrato, che è ben oltre il "No-no". In "Notorious", album dai trattil Hitchcockiani ("Notorious", "Vertigo" e "Hold Me" inizialmente battezzata "Rope" ndr) c'è del buono e del bello. Vi sono personalità, uso smodato di attrezzatura, brass section con le contropalle, un chitarrista ancora troppo umile ma tenace, funk, pop, delicatezza, estrosità, potenza.
In "Notorious" c'è maturità, e nemmeno malcelata, no. Ragazzine ? "American Science" e "Skin Trade", così come "Hold Me", non hanno intenti ammaliatori. E se dolcezza e profondità fanno a spalla in "A Matter Of Feeling" e "Winter Marches On", la title track, "Vertigo" e la già citata "Skin Trade" danno evidente segno di compostezza, senso pratico, ebbrezza. Questo non significa che non si vada mai con il piede nella fossa. "So Misled" e "Proposition" sono trascurabili, forzata la prima, superficiale e campata in aria la seconda. Meglio "Meet El Presidente", che si fa comunque di gran lunga preferire nella versione remix che ha generato il singolo, terzo estratto.
La voce di Simon, si sa, è tamponata e resa plausibile in studio, che dal vivo ancora non c'eravamo, no. Ma il supporto è magnificente: i ragazzi suonano bene, ci danno dentro, non risparmiano né nucleo né dettaglio: il suono è pulito, a tratti di nicchia. A chi avesse voglia e tempo, e non sia facile ai pregiudizi, "Notorious" potrebbe finire per garbare, e molto. Per essere l'album definitivo, nel corollario dei Duran Duran. Ha venduto meno dei predecessori proprio per questo: l'isterismo stava lasciando posto alla ragione, alla presa di coscienza. Chi siamo ? Dove andiamo ? Che facciamo ?
Agli occhi di chi vi scrive, "Notorious" ed il successore "Big Thing", oscurano l'intera discografia. E, permettetemi, forse chi rompe le palle non sempre apporta input positivi al lavoro in studio. Nel caso di Andy, certamente no. Anche se, diamogliene atto, nel 2006, dopo i demo del mai uscito "Reportage", dove su sua indicazione si era picchiato duro, il nostro fu profetico quando lasciò il progetto. Progetto che venne incautamente messo nelle mani di Timberlake e Timbaland e trasumò in "Red Carpet Massacre". "Guardate che state per fare una cagata, io me ne ri-vado". Aveva ragione.
Elenco tracce testi e samples
01 Notorious (04:18)
No-no-Notorious. Notorious. Ah. No-no-Notorious
I can't read about it
Burns the skin from your eyes
I'll do fine without it
Here's one you don't compromise
Lies come hard in disguise
They need to fight it out
Not wild about it
Lay your seedy judgements
Who says they're part of our lives?
You own the money
You control the witness
I'll leave you lonely
Don't monkey with my business
You pay the prophets to justify your reasons
I heard your promise, but I don't believe it
That's why I've done it again. No-no-Notorious
Girls will keep the secrets (uh)
So long as boys make a noise
Fools run rings to break up
Something they'll never destroy
Grand Notorious slam (bam)
And who really gives a damn for a flaky bandit?
Don't ask me to bleed about it
I need this blood to survive
You own the money
You control the witness
I'll leave you lonely
Don't monkey with my business
You pay the prophets to justify your reasons
I heard your promise, but I don't believe it
That's why I've done it again.
No-no-Notorious
You own the money
You control the witness
I'll leave you lonely
Don't monkey with my business
You pay the prophets to justify your reasons
I heard your promise, but I don't believe it
You own the money
You control the witness
I'll leave you lonely
Don't monkey with my business
You pay the prophets to justify your reasons
I heard your promise, but I don't believe it
That's why I've done it again. No-no-Notorious
That's why I've done it again. No. No
That's why I've done it again. No-no-Notorious
That's why I've done it again. No-no-Notorious
No-no-Notorious. Yeah
That's why I've done it again. No-no-Notorious
No-no-Notorious. Yeah
That's why I've done it again. No-no-Notorious
No-no-Notorious
02 American Science (04:43)
It's a little bit late now
But there is times you will
Get a little bit out of hand
Making all of a spill
And if we can lay this down
You're going all the way
Take a look and I'll check it out
Cuz I can always find it
Such a lonely Place...Ooooh
This room without your face...Ooooh
Ooooooh...American Science
All night long
She can two-step and sway
Ooooooh...it's such poor manners
Don't keep me waiting
Come lay down beside me
A little megalomania
Becomes you evidently
There ain't a thing you can't acquire
With your cling-wrap plaything
Just look at this state
I crawl around in a daze
Like symptomatic case
Of your soul persuasion
Such a lonely Place...Ooooh
It moves me into place...Ooooh
Ooooooh...American Science
All night long
She can two-step and sway
Ooooooh...it's such poor manners
Don't keep me waiting
Come lay down beside me
Such a lonely Place...Ooooh
It moves me into place...Ooooh
Ooooooh...American Science
All night long
She can two-step and sway
Ooooooh...it's such poor manners
Don't keep me waiting
Come lay down beside me
03 Skin Trade (05:57)
Working on the weekend, baby
She's working all through the night
A jump into the deep end gave her
the evidence she required
Takes five; she's got pearls
Don't fake it when it comes to making money
So she smiles. But that's cruel
If you know what she thinks
If you knew what she was after
Sometimes she wonders,
And she laughs in her frustration
Doctors of the revolution gave us
the medicine we desired
Besides being absolutely painless
It's a question of compromise
They got steel.
So cool to get angry at the weekend
and go back to school
So big deal; it's what rules
When it comes to making money,
Say yes, please; thank you
Sometimes you wonder, and ask yourself the question
Would someone please explain
The reason for this strange behaviour
In exploitation's name
We must be working for the Skin Trade
I know the answer, but I'm asking you the question.
Would someone please explain
The reason for this strange behaviour
In exploitation's name
We must be working for the Skin Trade
06 Vertigo (Do the Demolition) (04:44)
Hey guys, turn it up to get sleazy
Twist it in a vice
Nobody said it was easy
Just use your naked eyes, oh
How to see and how to hide it
How to save it. Well, maybe. Maybe. Maybe
You can take it and eat it, and chew your life supply
Where's the real life in your illusion?
On the dark side your power's in confusion
Do the dance. Do the demolition
And lose the chance to hear when you don't listen
Don't you feel edgy?
Bite your lips and bleed
Conversation is empty
Abandoned in the freeze
Freedom is your condemnation
Free to say well, maybe. Maybe. Maybe. Maybe
You can take it or leave it
Just need a little hit tonight
Where's the real life in your illusion?
On the dark of power in confusion
Do the dance. Do the demolition
Don't lose the chance to hear 'cause you don't listen
Maybe. Maybe. Maybe you can try to believe it
Just need a little help tonight
Where's the real life in your illusion?
On the dark side of power in confusion
Do the dance. Do the demolition
And lose the chance to hear when you don't listen
Where's the real life in your illusion?
On the dark side of power in confusion
Do the dance. Do the demolition
And lose the chance to hear when you don't listen
Repeat for FADE:
Hear it when you listen
You don't hear when you don't listen
07 So Misled (04:03)
I,.......So Misled
In the summer of a London life
"Gold," she said, was a month before I
Realised sold instead
Babe, it's such an awful choice
Don't break my back
Take it easy, now you whipping boy
Don't wanna feel the crack
Trust my head to say lose it
Now my body's got to use it
I should not be So Misled
I should not be So Misled
Saw an advert in a magazine
Safe it said, with the satisfaction
Guaranteed to cool your head
I can't see the solution
To this state of confusion
I should not be So Misled
I should not be So Misled
I should not be So Misled
I should not be So Misled
08 "Meet El Presidente" (04:19)
Yeehh
Yeehh (yehh)... Mmm
Yeehh (yehh)... Mmm
Miss November Tuesday, bend your rubber rules
Take your time but don't take off your high heel shoes
She's in demand at dinner time, (she's in demand)
She's on the factory wall (pin-up on a factory wall)
And when the gentlemen retire (when they retire)
Guess who's in control? (control)
She blew your money on taking a cruise
If that isn't funny well, watch out teacher...
ohh ohh, when the chamber's empty.. she said,
"ohh, ohh, meet el Presidente"
Dress in flimsy clothing,
Use your lipstick line
To cover fear and loathing
With a pink disguise
You never refuse when she lies back -
Put a stripe on the union, and a star on the jack
She's on the case at dinner time (at dinner time)
She's on the evening news (seen her on the evening news)
And if you dare, step out of line (step out of line)
You're going to be abused.
You may not like it, you may not be scared,
But hell has no fury like a young girl's ego
(chorus)
-
(oooh, ooohh , dooo dooo)
(oooh, ooohh , dooo dooo)
(oooh, ooohh , dooo dooo)
You might adopt an attitude, (attitude)
Look on the moral side (lookin' on the moral side)
But if police are after you, (after you)
Where's the best place to hide? (hide)
For this production, they gave her a gun...
Ain't no director, so watch out actors!
(chorus) (chorus)
ohh, ohh, meet el Presidente
ohh, ohh, meet el Presidente
ohh, ohh!
09 Winter Marches On (03:25)
The trade's on
She drains emotion
To drink from her breast of fortune
Dreams have frozen crystal in the morning
Birth time rose
A thorn for coronation
All arise from your rest
We will find enough there to feed you
Soon you'll belong to the blest
Spare us your lives while we need you
Loud is the music the crowd is bringing
Out of my head as the winter marches on
Loud is the music. The sky is ringing
Out of my head as the winter marches on
Loud is the music the crowd is bringing
Out of my head as the winter marches on
Loud is the music. The sky is ringing
Out of my head as the winter marches on
And on
Winter marches on
10 Proposition (04:57)
"Bring back that child," she said.
Spare me the price of freedom.
Cold is my baby's head,
Blown by the wind of reason.
Even the rage behind
Cries out to see
We're still standing
Under the closing edge.
Pay for the crime of feeling.
When all your pride is dead
You must be scared instead.
[CHORUS]
A quiet word is my Proposition.
A promise made of a fierce day.
A body bleeds for this coalition.
Without surrender if you stay.
"Show me my youth," she cried.
Wasted for desolation.
Hold up the sacrifice.
Pull down your institution.
Resting while anger flies.
Question's the same.
Who's deciding after the clouds have lain.
Shame on your generation.
When all your guilt lies dead
You must be scared instead.
[CHORUS]
When all your pain lies dead
You must be scared instead.
[CHORUS (Repeating for FADE. Vocal ad lib.)]
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Altre recensioni
Di Filo96
Il risultato fu un album fuori dallo spazio e dal tempo, prezioso e omogeneo, che fece dell'eleganza il suo pallino.
A detta della band, Skin Trade è tutt’oggi l’orgoglio dell’album, se non della carriera.
