• Voto:
Schermo nero. Poi, chitarra spezzettata. Poi, ritmica che ti trasforma gli arti in pistoni; poi, the problem of leisure: what to do for pleasure. Ecco la storia di una ragazza, della regina di Francia che, tra sorelle morte, noia e sesso saffico, perse la testa per la modernità. Questa storia semplice per tanti versi, trasformata nella cronaca della ricerca del piacere, della giovinezza, in questa naturalezza che non esiste più o che non è più qui. Come a dire: fornication make you happy, no escape from society.
E lo dico: mentre i miei arti si trasformavano in pistoni, la mia testa andava dritta, sulle rotaie costruite da quel punto esclamativo di Jon King, perché i punti esclamativi sono gli unici che mi parlano o che riesco a sentire.
La naturalezza non è qui o almeno non nel passaggio repentino del potere, direbbe Kant. Forse nel dispotismo illuminato, ma solo forse. Forse nell'educazione. Oppure - per dirla alla Burke - pentitevi e ringraziate Dio per la naturalezza che potrete trovare nella prossima vita, quella celeste, perché in questa vita, post-rivoluzionaria, democratica o presunta tale, del libero non dir nulla, di naturalezza non ne troverete.
Insomma, 1979 o 1789 non cambia nulla: i punti esclamativi, quelli che si spremono a vivere, reazionari lo sono sempre stati; perché è scontato: il progresso è sempre una forma di egoismo. E da sempre. Meglio la naturalezza, zero sovrastrutture, tutto dritto e poi BOOM.
E va da se che la musica dei Gang of Four - reazionari per scelta dall'alto, ma anche per capacità proprie, gruppo che va oltre il semplice significante musicale - va ascoltata isolandola da quello che la naturalezza rifiuta.
Le Peel Session sono sempre state una cosa bella, una via di mezzo tra l'artificiosità curata di un disco e la rudezza alcolica di un concerto. E allora non c'è modo migliore d'ascoltarli che con la grancassa che punge e il basso che sferracchia, nel suo esser tondo, all'inverosimile.
The Peel Sessions Album, stampato nel 1990 per conto della Strange Fruit, fu registrato in tre sedute, riproposte, sul disco, come naturalezza richiede, in rigoroso ordine cronologico. Le prime due avvennero nel 1979, a disco non ancora uscito, e snocciolano 8/13 di quello che sarà Entertainment!. Il suono è vivo, pulsa.
Apre "I Found That Essence Rare" e ci ritrova nelle orecchie un gruppo affiatato e affilato, che sembra camminare, con gioia, sulla lama di un rasoio. "5.45" è qualcosa di estraniante, come dei Joy Division che se ne fottono di consegnarsi alla bellezza e si lasciano andare alla cronaca e le chitarre, le chittarre - Andy Gill era una persona vicina a Dio - e poi arriva, arriva il punto in cui King urla. Guerrilla War Struggle is a New Entertainment. Poi, STOP.
Poi "Natural's Not in It" - la mia preferita; una, tra tutte, delle mie preferite - e quindi silenzio. "Not Great Men" è, più o meno, il punto di partenza e di arrivo di tutta la new-new wave che fino a qualche mese fa imperava e che nessuno, ora, sembra ricordare; come degli A Certain Ratio demoniaci. La sessione ritmica di "Ether" danza su quello che rimane del mondo distrutto dai proclami di Jon King ed è un bel danzare, non c'è che dire.
Nel 1981, a Solid Gold uscito, tornarono negli studi di John Peel per suonare "Paralysed", con il basso che buca, dritto per dritto, i muri di casa. La chitarra si fa ancora più secca ed aspra - come la personalità di Gill imponeva - ed è semplice percepire da dove giunga il chitarreggiare di Albini... Every man is for himself.
Registrano "History's Bunk", dove le chitarre di fanno synth, e "To Hell With Poverty" - goduriosa e pensante -, entrambe, poi, presenti nell'Ep del 1982, Another Day/Another Dollar.
Come a dire: uno scorcio di naturalezza poco prima di perderla del tutto.
Elenco tracce e testi
01 I Found That Essence Rare (03:11)
Aim for the body rare, you'll see it on TV
The worst thing in 1954 was the Bikini
See the girl on the TV dressed in a Bikini
She doesn't think so but she's dressed for the H-Bomb
(For the H-Bomb)
I found that essence rare, it's what I looked for
I knew I'd get what I asked for
Aim for the country fair you read it in the papers
The worst happens any week a scandal on the front page
See the happy pair smiling close like they are monkeys
They wouldn't think so but they're holding themselves down
(Hold themselves down)
I found that essence rare, it's what I looked for
I knew I'd get what I asked for
I found that essence rare, it's what I looked for
I knew I'd get what I asked for
Aim for politicians fair who'll treat your vote hope well
The last thing they'll ever do act in your interest
Look at the world through your polaroid glasses
Things'll look a whole lot better for the working classes
(Working classes)
I found that essence rare, it's what I looked for
I knew I'd get what I asked for
I found that essence rare, it's what I looked for
I knew I'd get what I asked for
04 At Home He's a Tourist (03:43)
At home he feels like a tourist
At home he feels like a tourist
He fills his head with culture
He gives himself an ulcer
He fills his head with culture
He gives himself an ulcer
Down on the disco floor
They make their profit
From the things they sell
To help you cover
all the rubbers you hide
In your top left pocket
At home she's looking for interest
At home she's looking for interest
She said she was ambitious
So she accepts the process
She said she was ambitious
So she accepts the process
Down on the disco floor
They make their profit
From the things they sell
To help you cob off
And the rubbers you hide
In your top left pocket
Two steps forward
(Six steps back)
(Six steps back)
(Six steps back)
(Six steps back)
Small step for him
(Big jump for me)
(Big jump for me)
(Big jump for me)
(Big jump for me)
At home she feels like a tourist
At home she feels like a tourist
She fills her head with culture
She gives herself an ulcer
Why make yourself so anxious
You give yourself an ulcer
05 Natural's Not in It (03:19)
The problem of leisure
What to do for pleasure
Ideal love a new purchase
A market of the senses
Dream of the perfect life
Economic circumstances
The body is good business
Sell out, maintain the interest
Remember Lot's wife
Renounce all sin and vice
Dream of the perfect life
This heaven gives me migraine
The problem of leisure
What to do for pleasure
Coercion of the senses
We are not so gullible
Our great expectations
A future for the good
Fornication makes you happy
No escape from society
Natural is not in it
Your relations are of power
We all have good intentions
But all with strings attached
Repackaged sex keeps your interest
Repackaged sex keeps your interest
Repackaged sex keeps your interest
Repackaged sex keeps your interest
Repackaged sex keeps your interest
Repackaged sex keeps your interest
The problem of leisure
What to do for pleasure
Ideal love a new purchase
A market of the senses
Dream of the perfect life
Economic circumstances
The body is good business
Sell outs [? out ?] maintain the interest
Remember Lot's wife
Renounce all sin and vice
Dream of the perfect life
This heaven gives me migraine
This heaven gives me migraine
This heaven gives me migraine
07 Ether (04:01)
Trapped in heaven life style (locked in Long Kesh)
New looking out for pleasure (H-block torture)
It's at the end of the rainbow (White noise in)
The happy ever after (a white room)
Dirt behind the daydream
Dirt behind the daydream
The happy ever after
Is at the end of the rainbow
Dig at the root of the problem (Fly the flag on foreign soil)
It breaks your new dreams daily (H-block Long Kesh)
Fathers contradictions (Censor six counties news)
And breaks your new dreams daily (each day more deaths)
Dirt behind the daydream
Dirt behind the daydream
The happy ever after
Is at the end of the rainbow
White noise in a white room
White noise in a white room
White noise in a white room
White noise in a white room
Trapped in heaven life style (locked in Long Kesh)
New looking out for pleasure (H-block torture)
It's at the end of the rainbow (White noise in)
The happy ever after (a white room)
Dirt behind the daydream
Dirt behind the daydream
The happy ever after
Is at the end of the rainbow
Dig at the root of the problem (Fly the flag on foreign soil)
It breaks your new dreams daily (H-block Long Kesh)
Fathers contradictions (Censor six counties news)
And breaks your new dreams daily (each day more deaths)
Dirt behind the daydream
Dirt behind the daydream
The happy ever after
Is at the end of the rainbow
There may be oil
(Now looking out for pleasure)
Under Rockall
(It's at the end of the rainbow)
There may be oil
(The happy ever after)
Under Rockall
(It's corked up with the ether)
There may be oil
(It's corked up with the ether)
Under Rockall
(It's corked up with the ether)
There may be oil
08 Guns Before Butter (04:27)
All this talk of blood and iron
Is the cause of all my shaking
All this talk of blood and iron
Is the cause of all my shaking
All this talk of blood and iron
Is the cause of all my shaking
All this talk of blood and iron
It's the cause of all my shaking
The fatherland's no place to die for
It makes me want to run out shaking
I hear some talk of guns and butter
That's something we can do without
If men are only blood and iron
O Doktor Doktor, what's in my shirt?
Just keep quiet, no room for doubt
I'm hearing talk of joy in labour
I'll tell you this you can leave me out
The motherland's no place to cry for
I want some sand to hide my head in
I'm hearing talk of strength in labour
That's something I can do without
If I'm only blood and iron
O Doktor Doktor, what's in my shirt
Just keep quiet, no room for doubt
All this talk of blood and iron
It's the cause of all my shaking
The fatherland's no place to cry for
It makes me want to run out shouting
I hear some talk of guns and butter
That's something I can do without
If men are only blood and iron
O Doktor Doktor, what's in my shirt?
Just keep quiet, no room for doubt
09 Paralysed (03:20)
PARALYSED
Blinkered, paralysed
Flat on my back
They say our world is built on endeavor
That every man is for himself
Wealth is for the one that wants it
Paradise, if you can earn it
History is the reason
I'm washed up
Blinkered, paralysed
Flat on my back
What I wanted now just seems a waste of time
I can't make out what has gone wrong
I was good at what I did
And I'm the dupe
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