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Due album nello stesso anno, evento rarissimo di questi tempi, e in genere si tratta di operazioni commerciali: si deve battere il ferro della popolarità di "nuove scoperte" finché dura (e in genere dura poco). I Genesis nel 1976 avevano ancora una tale sovrabbondanza di inventiva da consentire loro non solo di superare brillantemente la dipartita di Peter Gabriel con un capolavoro ("A Trick Of the Tail"), ma di sfornarne a breve termine un altro. Peccato che fu il loro canto del cigno: l'abbandono da parte del timido e occhialuto chitarrista Steve Hackett sarebbe stato ben più traumatico di quello del teatrale e carismatico Peter, e allora sì che sarebbe iniziato il declino, inesorabile.
Ma "Wind And Wuthering" è un bellissimo disco, che da cima a fondo regala sensazioni tipicamente autunnali e crepuscolari. Ormai quindi si avvicina il periodo ideale per un ascolto in sintonia con gli stati d'animo che il ritmo delle stagioni provoca in noi (o per lo meno nei più sensibili). E' chiaro che anche in altri mesi non ci è preclusa la comprensione della sua atmosfera serenamente malinconica, però sicuramente d'autunno è più facile.
Dicendo "serenamente malinconica" ho già detto praticamente Tony Banks: qui siamo veramente nel suo regno. Quasi tutti i brani più rappresentativi sono sue composizioni, ma anche negli altri è sempre presente la sua inconfondibile impronta. Date queste premesse, si può facilmente intuire che l'album è costituito quasi interamente da lenti, o al limite da tipici lenti banksiani, con potenti impennate sinfoniche.
I 9 minuti di "One For the Vine" sono esemplari: dall'inizio sommesso e triste al finale strumentale, di rara intensità, è difficile rimanere indifferenti. Le lacrime sono in agguato anche nello struggente finale di "All In A Mouse's Night" (ma anche il resto buttalo via!). "Afterglow" è in assoluto una delle composizioni più ispirate dei Genesis, tutta costruita sulla preparazione ad un finale maestoso e "corale": in questo caso l'etichetta di "rock sinfonico" (che espressione bastarda!) sembra davvero appropriata. L'unica cosa che non mi ha mai convinto è la sua collocazione alla fine del disco, dopo un lungo e possente intermezzo "orchestrale" ("Unquiet Slumbers For the Sleepers...In That Quiet Earth") che la isola quasi del tutto. Quisquilie: la sostanza resta, ed è parecchia.
Anche chi è riuscito a non commuoversi fino a "Blood On the Rooftops" difficilmente potrà resistere a questo capolavoro, dovuto all'insolita coppia Collins-Hackett (Phil Collins non ha fatto solo canzonette). Introdotto dalla limpida chitarra classica di Steve Hackett, ha il suo culmine nel motivo centrale, di una disperazione tale da smuovere i macigni.
Anche l'unico brano veloce, "Eleventh Earl of Mar" presenta una bella pausa incantata e fiabesca. Quasi nulla di ordinario: giusto "Your Own Special Way", zuccherosa e semplicina, prima prova compositiva di Mike Rutherford, non a caso il meno creativo dei suoi.
Ancora una volta quindi un capolavoro targato Genesis, ma con questo l'incredibile serie è finita. Questa volta davvero.
Elenco tracce testi e samples
01 Eleventh Earl of Mar (07:44)
The sun had been up for a couple of hours,
Covered the ground with a layer of gold.
Spirits were high and the raining had stopped,
The larder was low, But boy that wasn't all.
Eleventh Earl of Mar
Couldn't get them very far.
Daddy! Oh Daddy, You Promised.
Out on the road in the direction of Perth,
Backwards and forwards in a circle they went.
Found a city half open and ready to greet,
The conquering heroes, with blisters on their feet.
Eleventh Earl of Mar
Somehow got them all this far.
Daddy! You Promised, You Promised.
See the Stewart all dressed up
He's got eyes in the back of his head.
Who came in a cockleshell boat
That could only just float,
Couldn't even lift a sword.
Dressed too fine and smelling of wine.
Daddy you've got to go!
Here comes the bishop all dressed up
He's gonna bless you if you're ready to pay.
One wave of his funny old stick,
There's a band of light across your eyes.
Waited a week still they hadn't appeared,
That glorious timing that everyone feared.
So they're riding along on the crest of a wave,
They're headed for London, And that will be their grave.
Eleventh Earl of Mar
Well he couldn't get them down that far
Daddy! I'm waiting, I'm waiting
Time to go to bed now
Never seems too keen
To be a guest now
In a house of dreams
Flying from a hillside
Beckoning the trees
A sailboat's awning
Mimicking the breeze
I'm fighting gravity falling
My Daddy won't let them get me
A voice screams seems to be calling
The face turns features are burning.
Daddy, you've got to go!
See the fifteen going by,
Tell the Lairds and the Lords
They're running backwards today,
And once again you stand alone.
Bury your memories bury your friends,
Leave it alone for a year or two.
Till the stories go hazy and the legends come true,
Then do it again. Some Things never end.
Eleventh Earl of Mar
Won't be going very far.
You Promised, You Promised, You Promised.
DADDY!
02 One for the Vine (10:00)
Fifty thousand men were sent to do the will of one.
His claim was phrased quite simply, though he never voiced it loud,
I am he, the chosen one.
In his name they could slaughter, for his name they could die.
Though many there were believed in him, still more were sure he lied,
But they'll fight the battle on.
Then one whose faith had died
Fled back up the mountainside,
But before the top was made,
A misplaced footfall made him stray
From the path prepared for him.
Off of the mountain,
On to a wilderness of ice.
This unexpected vision made them stand and shake with fear,
But nothing was his fright compared with those who saw him appear.
Terror filled their minds with awe.
Simple were the folk who lived
Upon this frozen wave.
So not surprising was their thought,
This is he, God's chosen one,
Who's come to save us from
All our oppressors.
We shall be kings on this world.
Follow me!
I'll play the game you want me,
Until I find a way back home.
Follow me!
I give you strength inside you,
Courage to win your battles -
No, no, no, this can't go on,
This will be all that I fled from.
Let me rest for a while.
He walked into a valley,
All alone.
There he talked with water, and then with the vine.
They leave me no choice.
I must lead them to glory or most likely to death.
They travelled cross the plateau of ice, up to its edge.
Then they crossed a mountain range and saw the final plain.
Still he urged the people on.
Then, on a distant slope,
He observed one without hope
Flee back up the mountainside.
He thought he recognised him by his walk,
And by the way he fell,
And by the way he
Stood up, and vanished into air.
05 All in a Mouse's Night (06:39)
Loving Couple:
I can't see you but I know you're there.
Got to get beside you cos it's really cold out here.
Come up close to me you'll soon be warm.
Hold me tightly like we're sheltering from a storm.
Mouse:
Think I might go out for a stroll
Into the night, and out of this hole.
Maybe find me a meal.
Walking along this new shag pile
Presents a problem all the while.
Nearly the door.
Suddenly he bumps into wood, the door is closed.
A voice from the bed, he'll be exposed.
Which way to run, must make for the hole,
The light's been turned on, he's blind as a mole in coal.
Now I can see they're coming at me,
They've blocked off my door, I haven't a chance in hell.
Couple:
Come on baby let the poor thing go.
I'm not sleeping with that thing around here, no.
Alright then, I'll fetch a box from below,
Guard him carefully, they're very quick you know.
Mouse:
The door's been opened, my chance to escape.
Must run out quick, better sorry than late.
I'm out on the stairs.
They won't catch me now, I've the run of the house now.
I'll make it downstairs and into the breadbin.
That would be nice.
Suddenly he bumps into fur, that's very unwise,
A cat is much quicker than men and their eyes.
The chase that ensues can have only one end,
Unless outside help steps in for our friend in need.
But now the cat comes in for the kill,
His paw is raised, soon blood will spill, yes it will.
Cat:
Hard luck mouse, this is the end of your road.
The signpost says inside me, let me bear your heavy load.
But it's not to be, that final pounce
Knocks a jar upon his head, and lays him out.
But it's all in a mouse's night
To take on all those who would fight.
Cat's Story:
There I was with my back to the wall,
Then comes this monster mouse, he's ten feet tall,
With teeth and claws to match.
It only took one blow.
06 Blood on the Rooftops (05:27)
Dark and grey, an English film, the Wednesday Play
We always watch the Queen on Christmas Day
Won't you stay?
Though your eyes see shipwrecked sailors you're still dry
The outlook's fine though Wales might have some rain
Saved again.
Let's skip the news boy (I'll make some tea)
The Arabs and the Jews boy (too much for me)
They get me confused boy (puts me off to sleep)
And the thing I hate - Oh Lord!
Is staying up late, to watch some debate, on some nation's fate.
Hypnotised by Batman, Tarzan, still surprised!
You've won the West in time to be our guest
Name your prize!
Drop of wine, a glass of beer dear what's the time?
The grime on the Tyne is mine all mine all mine
Five past nine.
Blood on the rooftops - Venice in the Spring
Streets of San Francisco - a word from Peking
The trouble was started - by a young Errol Flynn
Better in my day - Oh Lord!
For when we got bored, we'd have a world war, happy but poor
So let's skip the news boy (I'll go make that tea)
Blood on the rooftops (too much for me)
When old Mother Goose stops - they're out for 23
Then the rain at Lords stopped play
Seems Helen of Troy has found a new face again.
08 Afterglow (04:13)
Like the dust that settles all around me
I must find a new home
The ways and holes that used to give me shelter
Are all as one to me now
But I, I would search everywhere
Just to hear your call
And walk upon stranger roads than this one
In a world I used to know before
I miss you more
Than the sun reflecting off my pillow
Bringing the warmth of new life
And the sound that echoes all around me
I caught a glimpse of in the night
But now, now I've lost everything
I give to you my soul
The meaning of all that I believed before
Escapes me in this world of none
No thing, no-one
And I would search everywhere
Just to hear your call
And walk upon stranger roads than this one
In a world I used to know before
For now I've lost everything
I give to you my soul
The meaning of all that I believed before
Escapes me in this world of none
I miss you more
Carico i commenti... con calma
Altre recensioni
Di paolo1968
Questo disco potrebbe rappresentare l'ascolto ideale per una fredda serata di novembre.
Una delle più belle canzoni della storia dei Genesis, purtroppo mai suonata dal vivo!
Di paolofreddie
Il titolo è ispirato al romanzo di Emily Bronte, Cime tempestose.
Wind and Wuthering segna la fine del periodo progressive della band.
