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Febbraio 1976: stormi di giornalisti specializzati, neri come uccellacci del malaugurio, annunciavano la prossima fine dei Genesis a partire da questo album. Del resto se n'era andato dal gruppo un certo Peter Gabriel, non so se rendo l'idea... Con il senno di poi, quasi trent'anni dopo possiamo dire che i becchini dei Genesis dovevano ancora allungare il collo per parecchi anni, e non solo grazie alle famigerate "canzonette di Phil Collins", che negli anni '80 tennero in vita, un po' svuotato, il prestigioso marchio, ma piuttosto grazie alla presenza tra i superstiti di due musicisti seri, anche se non molto carismatici, come Tony Banks e Steve Hackett.
A Phil Collins, ancora ben lontano dall'imporre il suo stile "easy listening", va però il grande merito di aver costituito la soluzione al problema che sembrava più insolubile: e ora chi canta ? Sempre con il senno di poi si può pensare: ma come hanno fatto a non accorgersi che una voce più "gabrieliana" di quella di Peter Gabriel ce l'avevano in casa? (peraltro Phil aveva già all'attivo qualche piccolo precedente vocale). Sia come sia, la soluzione più naturale fu poi quella attuata in "A trick of the tail" che dal punto di vista dell'inventiva melodica mantiene i Genesis su quei livelli di fantasia straripante, a tratti quasi barocca, che aveva incantato nei primi anni '70. Caso mai sono i testi a perdere un po' del loro fascino surreale, ed è qui che si sente l'assenza di Peter Gabriel. Ma l'imprevisto è in agguato e Mike Rutherford, che è un po' il "manovale" del gruppo, inventa non si sa come lo "Squonk", mostriciattolo che piange continuamente per la sua bruttezza ed è perennemente inseguito dai cacciatori, ma appena questi lo raggiungono si dissolve in lacrime. Roba degna delle migliori favole gabrieliane.
"Squonk" è il pezzo decisamente più rock, con un grande Phil Collins alla batteria; altri brani veloci, dalla ritmica un po' più complessa, sono "Robbery assault and battery", con Banks che sfoggia due assoli di sintetizzatore da urlo, e "Dance on a volcano", dal finale tiratissimo e così moderno da non sembrare roba del '76. Ma il nocciolo è costituito da composizioni di grande dolcezza, come "Entangled", un trionfo di chitarre acustiche che gradualmente lasciano lo spazio ad un poderoso finale "corale" (è il mellotron di Tony Banks che fa queste magie).
Bellissima, di una tristezza oserei dire ciajkovskiana è "Mad man moon", tipica composizione alla Banks, con inizio sommesso, ponte centrale sinfonico e ripresa del tema iniziale. Struttura simile ha anche "Ripples", con un inconsueto (per i Genesis) ritornello orecchiabile; a dare i brividi è però il ponte centrale, strumentale. Ottima anche "A trick of the tail", ballata un po' meno acustica delle precedenti. Viene inaugurata anche l'usanza genesiana di fare una specie di riepilogo finale dei principali motivi. Qui è "Los endos" a svolgere la funzione di collage strumentale di temi tratti da "Dance on a volcano" e "Squonk", legati da un connettivo ritmico tiratissimo e trascinante (Phil Collins in questo frangente furoreggia).
Difficile se non impossibile trovare un punto debole: il funerale dei Genesis è rimandato a data da definire.
Elenco tracce testi samples e video
02 Entangled (06:26)
When you're asleep they may show you
Aerial views of the ground,
Freudian slumber empty of sound.
Over the rooftops and houses,
Lost as it tries to be seen,
Fields of incentive covered with green.
Mesmerised children are playing,
Meant to be seen but not heard,
"Stop me from dreaming!"
"Don't be absurd!"
"Well if we can help you we will,
You're looking tired and ill.
As I count backwards
Your eyes become heavier still.
Sleep, won't you allow yourself fall?
Nothing can hurt you at all.
With your consent
I can experiment further still."
Madrigal music is playing,
Voices can faintly be heard,
"Please leave this patient undisturbed."
Sentenced to drift far away now,
Nothing is quite what it seems,
Sometimes entangled in your own dreams.
"Well, if we can help you we will,
Soon as you're tired and ill.
With your consent
We can experiment further still.
Well, thanks to our kindness and skill
You'll have no trouble until
You catch your breath
And the nurse will present you the bill!"
03 Squonk (06:29)
Like father like son
Not flesh nor fish nor bone
A red rag hangs from an open mouth.
Alive at both ends but a little dead in the middle,
A-tumbling and a-bumbling he will go.
All the King's horses and all the King's men
Could never put a smile on that face.
He's a sly one, he's a shy one
Wouldn't you be too.
Scared to be left all on his own.
Hasn't a, hasn't a friend to play with, the Ugly Duckling
The pressure on, the bubble will burst before our eyes.
All the while in perfect time
His tears are falling on the ground
BUT IF YOU DON'T STAND UP YOU DON'T STAND A CHANCE.
Go a little faster now, you might get there in time.
Mirror mirror on the wall,
His heart was broken long before he ever came to you.
Stop your tears from falling,
The trail they leave is very clear for all to see at night
all to see at night.
In season, out of season
What's the difference when you don't know the reason.
In one hand bread, the other a stone.
The Hunter enters the forest.
All are not huntsmen who can blow the huntsman's horn
By the look of this one you've not got much to fear.
Here I am, I'm very fierce and frightening
Come to match my skill to yours.
Now listen here, listen to me, don't you run away now
I am a friend, I'd really like to play with you.
Making noises my little furry friend would make
I'll trick him, then I'll kick him into my sack.
You better watch out... You better watch out.
I've got you, I've got you, you'll never get away.
Walking home that night
The sack across my back, the sound of sobbing on my shoulder.
When suddenly it stopped,
I opened up the sack, all that I had
A pool of bubbles and tears - JUST A POOL OF TEARS.
All in all you are a very dying race
Placing trust upon a cruel world.
You never had the things you thought you should have had
And you'll not get them now,
And all the while in perfect time
Your tears are falling on the ground.
The Squonk is of a very retiring disposition and due to its ugliness, weeps constantly. It is easy prey for hunters who simply follow a tear-stained trail. When cornered it will dissolve itself into tears.
True or False?
05 Robbery, Assault and Battery (06:16)
The streets were deserted though the police were alerted,
They considered the phone call a hoax.
Furtively glancing then jauntily prancing
The youth caught the guards unaware.
Slipping between them he ought to have seen then
The eyes and their owner so near.
With torch shining bright he strode on in the night
Till he came to the room with the safe.
"Hello son, I hope you're having fun."
"You've got it wrong Sir, I'm only the cleaner."
With that he fired, the other saying as he died,
"You've done me wrong," it's the same old song forever.
Robbery, assault and battery,
The felon and his felony.
Robbery, assault and battery,
The felon and his felony.
Picked up the diamonds and bundles of fivers
He pushed them well down in his sack.
But the alarm had been sounded, he was completely surrounded
But he had some more tricks up his sleeve.
"Come outside with your hands held high."
"You'll not get me alive Sir, I promise you that Sir."
With that he fired, the other saying as he died
"You've done me wrong," it's the same old song forever.
Robbery, assault and battery,
The felon and his felony.
Robbery, assault and battery,
The felon and his felony.
"He's leaving via the roof, the bastard's got away.
God always fights on the side of the bad man."
"I've got clean away but I'll be back some day,
Just the combination will have changed.
Some day they'll catch me, to a chain they'll attach me,
Until that day I'll ride the old crime wave.
If they try to hold me for trial
I'll stay out of gaol by paying my bail
And after I'll go to the court of appeal saying
"You've done me wrong," it's the same old song forever."
Done me wrong - same old song - done me wrong.
07 A Trick of the Tail (04:35)
Bored of the life in the city of gold
He'd left and let nobody know.
Gone were the towers he had known from a child,
Alone with the dream of a life
He travelled the wide open road,
The blinkered arcade,
In search of another to share in his life.
Nowhere.
Everyone looked so strange to him.
They've got no horns and they've got no tail
They don't even know of our existence.
Am I wrong to believe in a city of gold
That lies in the deep distance, he cried
And wept as they led him away to a cage
Beast that can talk, read the sign.
The creatures they pushed and they prodded his frame
And questioned his story again.
But soon they grew bored of their prey
The beast that can talk?
More like a freak or publicity stunt.
Oh
No.
They've got no horns and they've got no tail
They don't even know of our existence.
Am I wrong to believe in a city of gold
That lies in the deep distance, he cried
And broke down the door of the cage and marched on out.
He grabbed a creature by the scruff of his neck, pointing out:
There, beyond the bounds of your weak imagination
Lie the noble towers of my city, bright and gold.
Let me take you there, show you a living story
Let me show you others such as me
Why did I ever leave?
They've got no horns and they've got no tail
They don't even know of our existence
Am I wrong to believe in a city of gold
That lies in the deep distance, he cried
And wept.
And so we set out with the beast and his horns
And his crazy description of home.
After many days journey we came to a peak
Where the beast gazed abroad and cried out.
We followed his gaze and we thought that maybe we saw
A spire of gold - no, a trick of the eye that's all,
But the beast was gone and a voice was heard:
They've got no horns and they've got no tail
They don't even know of our existence
Am I wrong to believe in a city of gold
That lies in the deep distance
Hello friend, welcome home.
08 Los Endos (05:46)
There's an angel standing in the sun.
There's an angel standing in the sun,
Free to get back home.
Carico i commenti... con calma
Altre recensioni
Di London
Hai voglia di immergerti in un mondo fantastico, di fuggire dalla realtà per una manciata di minuti.
Sei quasi alla fine, le note che segnano la chiusura, le senti in lontananza? Arriva il momento di svegliarti e abbandonare il pazzo mondo del 'Trucco della Coda'.
Di Savickas
Avete rotto er cazzo co' Peter Gabriel.
Di paolofreddie
Phil si dimostra, per il momento, il degno successore di Peter Gabriel.
Un album meraviglioso che entra di diritto tra le perle del progressive.
Di VinnySparrow
"Ascoltarlo ad occhi chiusi è estasi pura!"
"La band è riuscita a tirar fuori dal cilindro un disco grandioso anche senza il loro leader."
