A molti musicisti semisconosciuti è capitato di tirare fuori dal cilindro una hit memorabile e poi tornare immediatamente nell'anonimato: si sa, le leggi che governano le hit-parades sono a volte bizzarre e la dea della fortuna è notoriamente cieca; a volte però queste meteore delle charts sono gente con le carte in regola per poter puntare ad un successo di proporzioni assai maggiore a quello estemporaneo da one-hit wonder, ad esempio i Fastball: un bel po' di gente li ricorda per "The Way" del 1998, una melodia estremamente accattivante, voce incisiva e melodica al punto giusto, un corposo e piacevolissimo sound pop rock guitar oriented ed un testo tutt'altro che stupido e banale; considerando che, come dimostra questo "Painting The Corners: The Best Of Fastball" del 2002 "The Way" non è assolutamente un caso isolato, com'è possibile che un power-trio di tale talento non sia annoverato tra le stelle del rock contemporaneo? La risposta è racchiusa in 3 fottutissime lettere: MTV; eh già, l'entità malefica che proprio in quel periodo aveva portato al successo "artisti" come i Green Day e i Blink 182 che spopolavano tra i teenagers e che di lì a poco avrebbe contribuito all'ascesa al potere dai Coldplay al titolo di imperatori assoluti del rock fighetto mondiale che interesse poteva avere a sostenere questo anonimo trio texano dal look poco cool il cui cantante fino all'uscita del secondo album ha continuato a lavorare in un cimitero di Austin?
Perfetto riassunto del loro sound caratteristico, questo best of del 2002 comprende canzoni dai primi tre album dei Fastball: "Make Your Mama Proud" del '96, "All The Pain Money Can Buy" del '98 e "The Harsh Light Of Day" del 2000: il trademark del trio capitanato dal cantante, bassista e tastierista Tony Scalzo è un semplice ed efficacissimo power-pop declinato in varie forme, da veloci schegge ai limiti del punk come "Make Your Mama Proud", "Human Torch" e la travolgente "Emotional" alle tastiere reggae di una perfetta pop song come "Out Of My Head", arrivando a toccare inflessioni quasi grunge in ballate dal sapore amaro come "Slow Drag", che sembra quasi aleggiare l'ombra delle Hole di "Pretty On The Inside", o ancora l'atmosfera conturbante e quasi rarefatta del gioiello "Vampires", gli arrangiamenti vagamente sixties di "Love Is Expensive And Free", e ovviamente il godibilissimo power pop di "Are You Ready For The Fallout", "You're An Ocean", "Fire Escape" e "Sooner Of Later": riffs che entrano subito in testa, basso corposo e pulsante, melodie energiche e di grande impatto, testi intrisi di ironia; agli antipodi dell'insulsaggine imperante nel mainstream rock post-grunge. In un impeto di schietto ego da musicista, Tony Scalzo ha dichiarato: "I think there's a couple of bands that are still putting out real good quality guitar rock song, and I think we're one of them". In tutta sincerità, non me la sento proprio di dargli torto.
Non avranno di certo cambiato la storia del rock, ma le canzoni dei Fastball sono ottime e graditissime compagne di viaggio in qualsiasi momento della giornata: trasmettono una bella sensazione di passione e sincerità; niente look, niente pose studiate a tavolino, nessun tipo di divismo, puro e semplice amore per la musica, e di questo Tony Scalzo, Miles Zuniga e Joey Shuffield possono sono essere orgogliosi; orgogliosi della loro carriera che nella più totale indifferenza prosegue imperterrita, orgogliosi di essere stati bidonati da MTV, orgogliosi del fatto che Bono non si degnerà mai di duettare con loro, orgogliosi di essere i Fastball e di non aver sacrificato la propia dignità sull'altare del successo, e scusate se è poco...
Elenco tracce e testi
02 Emotional (02:20)
She was looking right through me like I was made out of glass
a la la la la la
Heaven, lie and tell, comes back like up at a check
Why do you get so emotional?
Why do you get so emotional?
Why do you get
Smokin' and drinkin', tryin' to kick stuff Monday night
Smokin' and drinkin', tryin' to kick start Monday night
I try and I try
A sneaky feeling is coming over me
Why do you get so emotional?
Why do you get so emotional?
Why do you get so emotional?
Why do you get so emotional?
She said
03 Out of My Head (02:33)
Sometimes I feel
Like I am drunk behind the wheel
The wheel of possibility
However it may roll
Give it a spin
See if it can somehow factor in
You know there's always more than one way
To say exactly what you mean to say
Was I out of my head? Was I out of my mind?
How could I have ever been so blind?
I was waiting for an indication
It was hard to find
Doesn't matter what I say, only what I do
I never mean to do bad things to you
So quiet that I finally woke up
If you're sad then it's time you spoke up too
Was I out of my head? Was I out of my mind?
How could I have ever been so blind?
I was waiting for an invitation
It was hard to find
Doesn't matter what I say, only what I do
I never mean to do bad things to you
So quiet but I finally woke up
If you're sad
Then it's time you spoke up
Too
04 Fire Escape (03:21)
Well I don't wanna be President
Superman or Clark Kent
I don't wanna walk 'round in their shoes
Cause I don't know who's side I'm on
I don't know my right from wrong
I don't know where I'm going to
I don't know about you
I'll be the rain falling on your fire escape
And I may not be the man you want me to
I can be myself, how 'bout you?
I don't wanna make you mad
I don't wanna meet your dad
I don't wanna be your dream come true
'Cause I don't know just what I've found
I don't know my sky from ground
I don't know where I'm going to
I don't know about you
I'll be the rain falling on your fire escape
And I may not be the man you want me to
I can be myself, how 'bout you?
I'll be the rain falling on your fire escape
And I may not be the man you want me to
I can be myself, how 'bout you?
I can be myself, how 'bout you?
I can be myself
How 'bout you?
06 Slow Drag (03:37)
Slow drag off a cigarette
Slow drag and I'm lying in my bed
All the world is sleeping like a baby tonight
I wanna lay you down
In the ground, alright.
Slow drag and I can't get up now
Slow drag. You've been messing with my mind
All the world is sleeping like a baby tonight
I wanna see you dead
Laying in the muddy ground
You're nothing to me
Nothing to me
Nothing to me no more
All the world is sleeping like a baby tonight
I wanna see you dead
Laying in the muddy ground
You're nothing to me
Nothing to me
Nothing to me no more
07 Are You Ready for the Fallout? (03:11)
I was wondering how you're feeling
i thought I saw you kneeling
And holding your gut last night
It looked like you were praying
But I heard someone saying
You had been in an awful fight
You get the worst of it everytime
Lashing out with no reason or rhyme
To lose all this rage, at so tender an age
Little baby growing up in a rat cage
Chorus 1:
Are you ready for the fallout?
Who you gonna call out?
When does it finally come to blows?
I think that you're forgetting
The blood that you'll be letting
Has a price on it, no one knows
You may be suffering in your sleep
You may be getting in WAY too deep
And you may not care for advice that I share
In one ear and out the other
Chorus 2:
Soon you will learn how to swallow a tear
So when you're old you can cry in your beer
Do you spit at the face staring back in the mirror?
Do you have any self respect?
Chorus 2
Well what the hell did you expect?
Chorus 1
Are you ready for the fallout?
Who you gonna call out?
One word was missing :
You may be getting in WAY too deep
08 Dark Street (03:27)
When will it stop raining? When will these dark clouds go?
some days I get so low, but you turn me around, you turn me around
won't you come down to my dark street, and shine a light
'cause I need your sweet sunshine
Won't you come down to my dark street, and shine a light
'cause I need your sweet sunshine
You take away my sadness and the pain inside my heart
sometimes I fall apart, but you turn me around, you turn me around
Won't you come down to my dark street, and shine a light
'cause I need your sweet sunshine
Won't you come down to my dark street, and shine a light
'cause I need your sweet sunshine
sunshine
Won't you come down to my dark street, and shine a light
'cause I need your sweet sunshine
Won't you come down to my dark street, and shine a light
'cause I need your sweet sunshine
oh yeah, oh come on down, come on down
and never leave my sky again
shine your love light, love light, love light, love light
down on me, down on me
09 You're An Ocean (03:18)
Can you make it easier
For me to understand
How you're holding my heart
In your trembling hands?
Eyes that rise to meet me halfway
Up among the stars
You may be from Venus I'm definitely not from Mars
You're an ocean you're an ocean
Settle down settle down
What's the commotion?
I'm an Island
But you're an ocean
It's a stormy sea of love and emotion
You got me suspended motionless in time
Make the warm wind circle round
My head just like ya do
If I could do it,
I'd be doing it to you
I believe I'd buy whatever you would sell to me
Nothing in my life ever came with a guarantee
You're an ocean
You're an ocean
Settle down settle down
What's the commotion?
I'm an island
But you're an ocean
It's a stormy sea of love and emotion
You got me suspended motionless in time
I believe I'd buy whatever you would sell to me
Nothing in my life ever came with a guarantee
You're an ocean
You're an ocean
Settle down
Settle down
What's the commotion?
I'm an island
But you're an ocean
It's a stormy sea of love and emotion
Ya got me suspended motionless
Ya got me suspended motionless
Ya got me suspended motionless in time
11 Human Torch (02:41)
Sunrise six o'clock and I'm still sleeping
I don't have to work on Saturday
But I do anyway
'Round the corner right on up through the shop
I come creeping, but it don't matter anyway
'Cause I know it's just as well
And even so I feel like hell
You can say that it's alright
But I am not that kind
And I can see the forest through the trees
I am on my knees
I don't know if I'm supposed to stay
Or if I'm supposed to leave it all
Behind the door the world outside still spins
Waiting there behind the door
But I won't let it in
Not today, not tomorrow, not next week
You're just gonna have to pay five bucks to see the geek
'Cause I know it's just as well
And even so I feel like hell
You can say that it's alright
But I am not that kind
And I can see the forest through the trees
I am on my knees
I don't know if I'm supposed to stay
Or if I'm supposed to leave
Please draw your attention
High above the center ring
Up in the rafters
Five hundred feet above the crowd My hair is soaked in kerosene
My clothes are wet with gasoline
You only get to see this once
The human torch is going down
Going down
12 Sooner or Later (02:39)
I'm gonna get under your skin
Sooner or later
I'll find the key that lets me in
Sooner or later
Yea 'cause you just can't keep me down
Yea 'cause you just can't keep me down
I'm gonna take my time all right
Sooner or later
You gonna let me treat you right
Sooner or later
Yea 'cause you just can't keep me down
Oh if you'd only give me
Time
Is really all that I need
To push it through
To make you see
I'll make you see
I'm gonna take my time all right
Sooner or later
You gonna let me treat you right
Yea 'cause you just can't keep me down
Yea 'cause you just can't keep me down
Time
Is really all that I need
To push it through
To make you see
I'll make you see
Sooner or later [Repeat]
13 Love Is Expensive and Free (03:03)
You can talk to me about powder kegs
how I'm sitting on one right now
You could warn me about candles at both ends burning
from the outside in
But don't tell me about true love
'Cause I don't think you really know
You need to pay the cost
You need to feel the loss
'Cause love is expensive and free
Love is expensive and free
Talk to me about appearances
I tell you lately they mean less and less
Do your best to keep me occupied
It's hard to concentrate, I must confess
Don't you tell me about heartbreak
'Cause it ain't written in the stars
You need to pay the cost
You need to feel the loss
Love is expensive and free
Love is expensive and free
Love is expensive and free
Allright, you got me
Don't you worry about my baby
Her eyes are open all the time
I could never dare deceive her
Much less remove her from my mind
I didn't talk to you about true love
I didn't think you'd understand
We need to pay the cost
We need to feel the lost
Love is expensive and free
Love is expensive and free
Love is expensive and free
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