Per tutti coloro che hanno amato le atmosfere eleganti del cosiddetto sophisti-pop inglese, gli Everything But The Girl sono stati un nome imprescindibile e questo The Language of Life del 1990 si colloca al vertice del loro periodo “new cool” (ci sarà poi una virata “dance”, ma è un’altra storia).
Quinto album in studio, conferma l’approccio dei precedenti riguardo la combinazione tra la voce ammaliante di Tracey Thorn e la scrittura melodica di Ben Watt, con l’importante novità della produzione “americana” di Tommy LiPuma. Vecchia volpe della fusion più nobile, LiPuma inserisce alcune preziose collaborazioni come il bassista John Patitucci o il batterista Omar Hakim e poi ancora Michael Landau (chitarra elettrica) e Joe Sample (ex-Crusaders; al piano nella title track); Russell Ferrante (ex-Yellowjackets; ancora al piano per «Meet Me In The Morning» e «Take Me») e le due chicche dei tenorsassofonisti jazz Michael Brecker («Driving» e «Letting Love Go») e Stan Getz, il quale rifinisce l’album in bellezza nella conclusiva «The Road».
Le classiche sonorità di EBTG si arricchiscono allora di affascinanti sfumature jazzate intrecciate alle liriche romanticamente melanconiche di Ben Watt (miglior pezzo «Driving») oppure sottilmente affilate quando è Tracey a prendere la penna.
Sono solo tre le canzoni a sua firma, ma da questo punto di vista sono anche le più interessanti e tutte con una punta di autocoscienza femminile davvero inconsueta per quegli anni. Prendiamo «Meet Me In The Morning»: “I haven’t come to be a stranger / I haven’t come to break your home / I haven’t come to harm your children / I’ve come to be your love”. E similmente nella title track: “Cause you never learned to speak the language of life / And here you are a grown man who can’t talk to his wife / And the children you just don’t understand” oppure nella sarcastica «Me and Bobby D» riferita a Bob Dylan: “Tell me, is it true that you beat your wife?”. Il tutto sempre con la sua voce suadente e senza aver mai l’aria di farci un predicozzo sull’incomunicabilità maschile!
E poi c’è una cover da Womack & Womack («Take Me») in cui – confrontando la versione sottilmente erotica di EBTG con l’innocua canzoncina originale – meglio si apprezza il concetto di sophisti-pop di cui parlavo all’inizio.
Ultima nota per la parte grafica, davvero impeccabile: ben disegnata, completa di tutti i testi e le informazioni discografiche e arricchita in copertina da uno scatto assai “modaiolo” di Nick Knight, già allora una star del fashion shooting.
In conclusione: un ottimo album
Elenco tracce testi samples e video
01 Driving (03:59)
Oh loverboy To you I belong
But maybe one day you'll wake
and you'll find me gone
But loverboy
If you call me home
I'll come driving
I'll come driving fast as wheels can turn
Oh loverboy I know you too well
and all of my lonely secrets
To you I tell
The highest of highs
The lowest of lows
I'll come driving
I'll come driving fast as wheels can turn
Stretching away as far as my eyes can see
Deserts and darkness, my hand on the wheel
loverboy, please call me home
A girl can get lonely out here on the road
You see Some days I find the old ways
Frighten me too easily
I leave my key and say "I'm too young"
But loverboy
If you call me home
I'll come driving fast as wheels can turn
04 Me and Bobby D (04:09)
Me and Bobby D don't get along that easily.
You told the world, "Be free, love life".
Tell me, is it true you beat your wife?
You see, me and Bobby D don't get along that easily.
You told the world, "Skip rules fave fun".
Knocked her from here to kingdom come?
How many girls have you had today?
And how many bottles have you downed today?
And while you're on the skids, who's minding the kids?
Go to sleep Bobby D, here's a kiss,
don't worry your pretty head about this.
Me and Saint Jack K never had too much to say.
It's easy driving with your feet,
with some good ol' girl in the passenger seat
watching the road all day,
"Oh honey, what funny things you do say."
But while you're out of your head
who's making the bed?
Go to sleep Bobby D, here's a kiss,
don't worry your pretty head about this.
Go to sleep Saint Jack K,
don't worry your tiny head today
Me and old Bobby D don't get along that famously
A saviour and a seer? Maybe,
but he never meant that much to me.
Sure, I'd love a wild life,
but every wild man needs a mother or wife.
The seven seas you roam
and who's waiting at home?
07 Imagining America (04:59)
Oh, and how he loved you
Oh, and how he loved you
Oh, and you believed him
Oh, and you believed him
You said you both deserve better
You both deserve better
Could make it a real thing
Could make it a real thing
On a clear day
You can see the sea from your place
On a fine day
You can still remember his face
He just kept right on...
Imagining America
He just kept right on...
Imagining America
And he was so handsome
He was so handsome
It was 1919
It was 1919
Sailing to New York
Sailing to New York
Just for you
Just for you
It was a clear day
Waiting from the quay, saw him
Was a fine day
Standing with the world before him
He just kept right on...
Imagining America
He just kept right on...
Imagining America
Don't he have no feelings...
always feel like mountains
and deserts and stars
Cities have been tamed
and they all know your name
They have money
and houses and cars
(sax solo)
So I stand here
So I stand here
In his footsteps
In his footsteps
We deserve better
We deserve better
And I can make it a real thing
And I can make it a real thing
It's a clear day
It's a clear day
Only in a final embrace
Only in a final embrace
It's a fine day
It's a fine day
The world remember our face...
The world remember our face...
And I just kept right on...
Imagining America
And I just kept right on...
Imagining America
We keep on, we keep
Imagining America, America
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Altre recensioni
Di alcol2
Mai gli EBTG avevano osato tanto, mai più toccate queste vette.
Una felice dimostrazione che a volte le scelte migliori vengono agli artisti da vie inaspettate.
