Una delle cose più difficili da fare è recensire quello che consideri il lavoro meno riuscito di una delle tue Band preferite: il problema si pone soprattutto se quelli che più ti piacciono hanno già la loro bella recensione su queste pagine e tu non vuoi incorrere nelle ire dei brontoloni DeBaseriani...
Parlando di Echo and the Bunnymen, il disco di cui mi appresto a parlare non è, a dire il vero, quello che apprezzo meno ma lo diventa se consideriamo la carriera del gruppo di Liverpool chiusa nell''84 con il bellissimo "Ocean Rain". Band tra le più significative dell'ondata PostPunk che si sviluppò in Albione a cavallo tra i '70 e gli '80, gli Echo sono da considerarsi come il Lato Luminoso di quel Periodo d'Oro del Rock Britannico che portò alla sviluppo di esperienze musicali e di costume (con esiti artistici più o meno validi) ancora adesso ben presenti davanti ai nostri occhi (e pure nei cuori e nelle teste). Parlare di Lato Luminoso può sembrare un'esagerazione ma se li si confronta con i contemporanei (e di ispirazione contigua) Joy Division o The Cure, per citare due tra i più importanti, si può ben capire che nel Buio (dell'Anima) più cupo anche una flebile fiammella NewWave può apparire come un Stella portatrice di Luce: come a dire che esistono varie intensità di nero anche nelll'oscurità.
Formatisi a Liverpool tra il '77 ed il '78 raggiunsero ampia popolarità nei primi anni '80 grazie a quattro Dischi: oltre a quello già citato "Crocodiles" ('80), "Heaven Up Here" ('81) e appunto "Porcupine" ('83). Come detto dall' '84 in poi fecero altri lavori (con tanto d'intermezzo di scioglimento e reunion) ma senza mai toccare i livelli precedenti.
Chiarisco subito una cosa: nonostante la premessa sopra, "Porcupine" non è un brutto Disco, se lo si confronta con certe porcherie derivative successive fa ancora la sua degna figura avendo in se tutte quelle caratteristiche sonore (quel particolare incrocio di Melodie accattivanti in bilico tra Pop e Psichedelia con ampie schitarrate New Wave) grazie le quali sono ancora amati. Purtroppo però presenta dei difetti abbastanza oggettivi: tra tutti, i prodromi di un primo cedimento alle Sirene del Mondo Radiofonico, soprattutto per quel che riguarda la ritmica che va fin troppo spesso a cercare compromessi con approcci danzerecci poco consoni al loro Stile. Se da una parte questa caratteristica dona uno spirito abbastanza allegro al tutto, dall'altra la rinuncia a concessioni dark (comunque presenti in altri loro dischi) a favore di una gamma di sensazioni (soprattutto orchestrali) Pop porta il tutto a diventare fin troppo frivolo e autocompiaciuto.
La senzazione che rimane alla fine dell'ascolto è quella amarognola dell' occasione persa (gusto evidentemente rimasto anche nelle papille acusticogustative di McCulloch & Co. visto che già con il successivo "Ocean Size" i nostri parvero rimettersi in carreggiata per poi perderla definitivamente già dall'Album Omonimo dell'87 a causa anche di fattori umorali intrinsechi all' ensamble): Occasione persa perchè le idee ci sarebbero state eccome e, per fare un esempio, sentire il brillante Rock, quasi stradaiolo, di "The Back Of Love" troppo ingentilito da un arrangiamento fin troppo eccessivo un pò dispiace. Ma si sa, piangere sul Latte Versato è aggiungere bagnato al bagnato perciò a guardare il bicchiere mezzo pieno canzoni come la "esotica" "The Cutter" o "God will be Gods" con il suo "sgaganga" darkwave sono comunque di assoluto spessore.
Un tre che diventa tre e mezzo di simpatia e pure perchè, se esiste l'uno, ad U2 o Simple Minds quanti gradi sotto lo zero dovremmo dare? Se non capite il riferimento sarò lieto di spiegarlo nei commenti... ma intanto pensateci...
Mo.
Elenco tracce testi e samples
01 The Cutter (03:54)
Who's on the seventh floor
Brewing alternatives
What's in the bottom drawer
Waiting for things to give
Spare us the cutter
Spare us the cutter
Couldn't cut the mustard
Conquering myself
Until I see another hurdle approaching
Say we can, say we will
Not just another drop in the ocean
Come to the free for all
With seven tapered knives
Some of them six feet tall
We will escape our lives
Spare us the cutter
Spare us the cutter
Couldn't cut the mustard
Conquering myself
Until I see another hurdle approaching
Say we can, say we will
Not just another drop in the ocean
Am I the happy loss
Will I still recoil
When the skin is lost
Am I the worthy cross
Will I still be soiled
When the dirt is off
Conquering myself
Until I see another hurdle approaching
Say we can, say we will
Not just another drop in the ocean
Ocean
Watch the fingers close
When the hands are cold
Am I the happy loss
Will I still recoil
When the skin is lost
Am I the worthy cross
Will I still be soiled
When the dirt is off
Am I the happy loss
Will I still be soiled
When the dirt is off
02 The Back of Love (03:16)
I'm on the chopping block
Chopping off my stopping thought
Self doubt and selfism
Were the cheapest things I ever bought
When you say it's love
D'you mean the back of love
When you say it's love
D'you mean the back of love?
We're taking advantage of
Breaking the back of love
We're taking advantage of
Breaking the back of love
Easier said than done you said
But it's more difficult to say
With eyes bigger than our bellies
We want to but we can't look away
What were you thinking of
When you dreamt that up?
What were you thinking of
When you dreamt that up?
Taking advantage of
Breaking the back of love
When you're surrounded by a simple chain of events
(Behind my eyes, behind my eyes)
(Your eyes don't lie)
Eventually you'll shack those shackles off
(Dreams above those eyes)
(Those eyes)
We can't tell our left from right
But we know we love extremes
Getting to grips with the ups and downs
Because there's nothing in between
When you say that's love
D'you mean the back of love
When you say that's love
D'you mean the back of love?
Taking advantage of
Breaking the back of love
What were you thinking of
When you dreamt that up?
We're taking advantage of
We're breaking the back of love
Breaking the back of love
03 My White Devil (04:41)
John Webster was
One of the best there was
He was the author of
Two major tragedies
The White Devil and
The Duchess of Malfi
The White Devil and
The Duchess of Malfi
Change in the nether
Do I get the choice
Chance in forever
When do we get the spoils
Now that love is upside-down
It's down to us to say that
Our monkey brains
Content to laugh
When laughing wanes
It's time to change
Make on the when
I will be then
You on the then
We will be then
Here it comes again
Knocking on its feet
Here it comes again
Knocking on its feet
Don't say it's life on the barrier
Don't say it's life on the barrier
Don't say it's life on the barrier
Is it enough now
To tell me you matter
When you haven't a clue how
To bring me to tears
How many leaves must you crumble
Till you believe what I told you
That's a ________ a stumble
____________________
Change in the nether
Do I get the choice
Chance it forever
When do we get the spoils
04 Clay (04:15)
Am I the half of half-and-half
Or am I the half that's whole?
I've got to be one with all my halves
It's my worthy earthly goal
It's my worthy earthly goal
It's my worthy earthly goal
Are you the heavy half
Of the lighter me
Are you the ready part
Of the lighter me
When I came apart
I wasn't made of sand
When you fell apart
Clay crumbled in my hands
Long way a life load
Statues and haloes
Am I the half of half-and-half
Or am I the half that's whole
Am I the half that's whole
Am I the half that's whole
Are you the wrongful half
Of the rightful me
Are you the mongol half
Of the cerebral me
When I came apart
I wasn't made of sand
When you fell apart
Clay crumbled in my hands
When I came apart
I wasn't made of sand
When you fell apart
Clay crumbled in my hands
If we exercise just some control
When we exercise our sum control
Oh isn't it nice
When your heart is made out of ice
Oh isn't it nice
When your heart is made out of ice
Are you the heavy half
Of the lighter me
Are you the ready part
that has entered me
Am I the "shall" in po-ten-tial
Or am I the "suck" in "cess"
Pools of delusion
Deluge me
Am I the more or less
Am I the more or less
Am I the more or less
When I came apart
I wasn't made of sand
When you fell apart
Clay crumbled in my hands
When I came apart
I wasn't made of sand
When I was the Cain
You were the Abel
When I came apart
Clay crumbled in my hands
05 Porcupine (06:00)
There is no comparison
Between things about to have been
Missing the point of our mission
Will we become misshapen?
A change of heart
Will force the nail
Nailed to the door
To all avail
There are no divisions
Between things about to collide
Hitting the floor with our vision
A focus at some point arrives
A change of mind
Will force the nail
To hit the head
And set the sail
A change of skin
Will shed the tail
Hung on the wall
For use again
A change of heart
Will force the nail...
(There is no comparison
Between things about to have been)
Smash the pig
This pork is mine
I'm pining for the pork
Of the porcupine
I'd best be on my best behaviour
Best behave yourself you hear
There are silent ways of wishing now
Wish I had what's turning round
Round the corridor
There are people there
Through the peephole I can see me down
Very nice
Some pressure feelings
You know how you hope
For something to hope for
There
What is that paper there
Paper is a collander
Collander's picking holes in me
He's ________ the holy water there
Water's paper like an impure________
A strange moment as your ______________
__________________
Paper is a collander
Collander is picking holes in me
Suck the pig this pork is mine
'Pining for the pork of the porcupine
_______________ find out
I'm beginning to see the light
06 Heads Will Roll (03:33)
Partly politic
Heads will roll
Mostly politic
God must call
Till the winning hand does belong to me
What if no one's calling
God then must be falling
If I ever met you
In a private place
I would stare you
You into the ground
That's how I'd articulate
The value of my face
The value on my face
What if no one's calling
God then must be falling
What if no one's calling
God then must be falling
What if no one's calling
God then must be falling
What if no one's calling
God then must be falling
07 Ripeness (04:51)
I found a thing in a bedroom
Change the shape of the world
For long enough
Got the boat til as far as I could
Afford it to take me
It was far enough
Mature you said at the wrong time
Broke my aging skin 'cause age was mine
Had a field day
Smelt like roses
Harvesting my thoughts 'cause it was time
When you grasped the question
Did you miss the meaning
When you met your challenge
Did you go out fighting
We will discover
Ripeness twice over
Sing your song
Worth its weight
In god gold
Curse its fate
When you grasped the question
Did you miss the meaning
When you met your challenge
Did you go out fighting
How will we recover
Ripeness when it's over
I lost something in a big room
Change the shape of the world
For long enough
When you grasped the question
Did you miss the meaning
When you met your challenge
Did you go out fighting
When you climbed on top
Did you fall on shadows
And then clambering off
Did you fall on rainbows
How will we recover
Ripeness when it's over
How will we recover
Ripeness when it's over
Neither kinder nor the kinder
Are you fuel for the fire
Neither uber nor the over
Must have others to inspire
I've discovered my Nietzche
I've discovered my Nietzche
Death should be unleashed
or something
Do tell me
What's the difference?
Do tell me
What's the difference
08 Higher Hell (05:03)
Smack in the middle of today
Got to learn new words
Merely got to simply say
I think we all misheard
Cracked in the middle of me
Have to find my heart
Smiling equates with happy
But I know they're miles apart
Just like my lower heaven
You know so well my higher hell
When confronted by
Continuing the course
Will you open up
Or do I have to force
The words right out
Of your stubborn mouth?
Stunted of course,
Guilty in their growth
Just like my lower heaven
You know so well my higher hell
Crashed through the floor today
I couldn't find my legs
Suppose you live and learn
Learn it again and again
Smack in the middle of today
Got to find new words
Merely got to simply say
I think we all misheard
Just like my lower heaven
You know so well my higher hell
(When confronted by continuing the course)
(Will you open up or do I have to force)
(The words right out)
(Of your stubborn mouth)
(Stunted of course)
(Guilty in their growth)
09 Gods Will Be Gods (05:27)
How can you pretend
When there's so much at stake
That it's a different world
And your hands don't shake
At the end of the room
And the foot of the bar
We knew that soon
We'd be making our mark
Why do you defend
The part you have to take
With your fingers on the world
Hoping your hands don't shake
When you get the time
Why not think about
Connecting yours and mine
And turning in to out
Back to the bar
I was feeling it
The hole in the floor
Was where I would sit
Positions will be lost
And things will fall in place
The falling will not stop
Till we have found our face
Oh will you mention
Oh will you mention
My name to one
Oh will you mention
My name to me
Gods will be gods
But my lord forgot
I was made out of skin
Bones will be bones
But when I came home
There was no one in
So where were you staying
While I was out playing
Was nobody laying the foundation,
The fulfilling of our killing
How can you pretend
That there's so much at stake
And it's a different world
And everything shakes
I am the ______________
You're the after taste
I am total love
I am total hate
Let's face facts
We won't mind
_________of us
We will...
10 In Bluer Skies (04:31)
What needs must be
I realised
I'm walking out
From blackened skies
You say belief
Is in our eyes
But how can I believe
In blind lies
I'm counting
On your heavy heart
Could it keep me
From falling apart
Have we been born to follow
Tied to a bitter rein
Or will we begin to grow
Bound by this simple chain
Will we evolve tonight
Sparkle like brittle stars
Can we dissolve tonight
Held by your hungry arms
I'm counting
On your heavy heart
Could it keep me
From falling apart
I would be ready
Ready to go
Was your heart heavy
Heavy with sorrow
Had you been heavy
We could have both been grown
Now your hearts heavy
Heavy with sorrow
I'm counting
On your heavy heart
Could it keep me
From falling apart
What needs have been
You'll realize
I've found myself
In bluer skies
I know belief
Is in your eyes
We can't believe
In blind light
I'm counting
On your heavy heart
To keep me
From falling apart
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