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Il 1972 è un anno di grazia per i Jethro Tull: prima viene pubblicato il capolavoro 'Thick as a Brick' e neanche un mese dopo arriva 'Living In The Past'. Chiamare una raccolta con il nome di “Living in the past” è già di per sé un’idea originale anche se per certi versi non si tratta solo del primo “best of Jethro Tull” .
E’ una raccolta di canzoni fino ad allora reperibili solo su 45 giri, racchiude pezzi inediti e infine è persino un live, poiché due pezzi sono registrati dal vivo. Solo una band come i Jethro Tull poteva inventarsi qualcosa di simile. Del resto nel 1972 i Jethro Tull sono sulla cresta dell’onda dopo lo strabiliante successo di 'Aqualung' e dopo i diversi cambi di formazione, sembra doveroso celebrare i primi 5 anni di attività della band.
Prima parte il chitarrista Mick Abrahams per lasciare il posto a Tony Iommi (!) e poi definitivamente a Martin Barre, poi entra John Evans alle tastiere ma parte Glenn Cornick che lascia il posto di bassista a Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond e infine il batterista Clive Bunker si sposa e appende le bacchete al chiodo, sicché Ian Anderson riattinge dal suo vecchio gruppo (la John Evan Band) e richiama l’ottimo Barriemore Barlow.
Dal punto di vista della pubblicazione questo album è un macello: canzoni che sulla versione americana di 'Benefit' non vengono pubblicate in Europa, le ritroviamo sulla versione europea di 'Living in the past' e viceversa e inoltre la versione inglese differisce da quelle sopra elencate. Se poi ci troviamo fra le mani la prima versione uscita in Cd con tre pezzi esclusi per questioni di spazio, sembra doveroso a questo punto commentare la versione da 2 cd, quella definitiva, dove tutti vengono accontentati perché sono presenti tutte le canzoni delle diverse edizioni.
Questa versione di 'Living In The Past' è meravigliosa, perché, oltre a essere cartonata, contiene anche un libricino che è uguale a quello del 33 giri originale, con foto a colori e credits canzone per canzone. Peccato che sia così difficile da trovare e soprattutto così cara (il prezzo attualmente oscilla intorno agli 80 euro).
Partiamo con il primo Cd: A Song For Jeffrey, il primo vero manifesto della musica Jethro emerso dal blueseggiante 'This Was'. Love Story è un singolo sempre del 1968, con Ian che fa cantare il mandolino con il suo magico tocco. Christmas Song è una ballata meravigliosa, sempre con il mandolino in primo piano e con gli archi arrangiati da David (ora Dee, sigh!) Palmer. La title-track è un famoso singolo del 1969, che raggiunse il numero 3 charts inglesi. Oltre ad essere stata una grande hit (una hit in 5 quarti perlopiù!) è anche una delle canzoni più belle dei Jethro Tull. Driving Song è un B-side del 1969, in cui si nota qualche rimasuglio blues, ma con un riff molto orecchiabile. Ha forse bisogno di presentazioni invece la mitica Bourèe, il più emozionante riarrangiamte in chiave rock di musica classica?
Passiamo a Sweet Dream, un singolo del 1969, con una sezione di fiati e orchestra. Ha avuto un discreto successo commerciale ed è un pezzo. Singing all day è inedita ed è un buon pezzo rock dal basso blues e con intermezzo lento. Teacher era uscita solo come singolo in Europa e sulla versione americana di Benefit, nel 1970. Ne esiste anche una rara versione senza flauto ma con l’organo hammond, in cui il cantato e la chitarra variano da quella originale. E’ un classico pezzo alla Jethro vecchia maniera, con un intermezzo stupendo dove la band si scatena. Witch’ s Promise è un singolo del 1969, con i due fantastici flauti suonati sovrapposti uno all’ altro, è un altro dei grandi classici. Inside l’abbiamo già apprezzata su 'Benefit', così come Alive And Well And Living In, ma non c’erano sulla versione americana di 'Benefit'. Just Trying To Be è una di quelle belle perle acustiche, inspiegabilmente rimasta inedita dal 1970. La voce di Anderson è al top, la chitarra acustica risente del suo tocco sopraffino e la celesta suonata John Evan ci sta dentro bene.
Il secondo Cd si apre con i 2 pezzi dal vivo al Carnegie Hall di New York, dove i Jethro si esibirono, donando gli incassi a favore di una comunità di recupero per tossicodipendenti. Dopo un’esilarante presentazione di Ian Anderson, John Evans apre le danze con By Kind Permission Of, un lungo assolone di pianoforte a coda, con pezzi di Schubert e Beethoven che saltano fuori qua e là, oltre al flauto, per poi sfociare in un finale fantastico in cui partecipa tutta la band. John Evan dimostra di essere un pianista fenomenale. In Dharma For One la star è Clive Bunker, con un assolo lunghissimo di batteria e anche lui dimostra di essere tecnicamente dotato. Da notare come questa canzone sia completamente diversa da quella di This Was, con l’aggiunta della bella parte cantata.
Wond’ring Again è indubbiamente la canzone più bella dell’album intero: Chitarra acustica da brivido, quelle poche note di chitarra elettrica messe lì a pennello, le tastiere superbamente arrangiate. Una magia unica fino alla fine, dove Ian finisce con qualcosa di simile alla Wond’ring Aloud apparsa su 'Aqualung' (ma pochi sanno che Wond’ring Again è stata scritta prima, nel 1970). Hymn 43 e Locomotive Breath sono le meravigliose e aggressive canzoni tratte da 'Aqualung'. Che voce e che assoli di flauto! La ballata acustica Life Is A Long Song è un’inedita del 1971 e vede l’esordio di Barriemore Barlow alla batteria. Up the ‘Pool parla dei ricordi della gioventù di Ian Anderson passata a Blackpool, fra un fraseggio di chitarra e l’altro. Dr. Bogenbroom comincia con un arpeggio classicheggiante dell’harpsichord ed è una simpatica canzone. For Later è una delle prime tracce di progressive puro, uno strumentale solido e ben composto, difficilissimo da suonare. Nursie è un'altra di quelle perle acustiche che avrebbe potuto fare parte di 'Aqualung'. Bellissima e struggente, riprende il tema già affrontato in Cheap Day Return, ossia il padre malato di Ian Anderson. Questo tema viene ripreso anche in Thick As A Brick (What do you do when the old man’ s gone, do you want to be him?).
In America l’album vola al numero 3 in classifica, in Inghilterra al numero 8. 'Living in the past', nelle sue molteplici versioni, è un disco fenomenale che non ci si stanca mai di ascoltare e riascoltare.
Elenco tracce testi samples e video
02 Love Story (03:07)
Going back in the morning time
To see if my love has changed her mind, yeah.
Going back in the morning time
To see if my love has changed her mind, yeah.
I know what I will find
That she is wasting time,
She could be picking roses.
Going back in the morning time
To see if my love has seen the light, yeah.
Going back in the morning time
To see if my love has seen the light, yeah.
Oh, I told her last night
She should improve her sight,
She could be painting the roof.
Going back in the morning time
To see if my love has come around, yeah.
Going back in the morning time
To see if my love has come around, yeah.
She offered me no sound,
Her head is in the ground,
She could be calling for winter.
04 Living in the Past (03:24)
Happy, and I'm smiling, walk a mile to drink your water.
You know I'd love to love you, and above you there's no other
We'll go walking out while others shout of war's disaster.
Oh, be forgiving, let's go living in the past.
Once I'd used to join in every boy and girl was my friend.
Now there's revolution but they don't know what they're fighting.
Let us close out eyes. Outside their lives go on much faster
Oh, be forgiving, we'll keep living in the past.
Oh, be forgiving, let's go living in the past.
Oh, no, no, be forgiving, let's go living in the past.
06 Sweet Dream (04:05)
You'll hear me calling in your sweet dream
Can't hear your daddy's warning cry
You're going back to be all the things you want to be
While in sweet dreams you softly sigh
You hear my voice is calling
To be mine again
Live the rest of your life in a day
Get out and get what you can
While your mummy's at home a-sleeping
No time to understand
'Cause they lost what they thought they were keeping
No one can see us in your sweet dream
Don't hear you leave to start the car
All wrapped up tightly in the coat you borrowed from me,
Your place of resting is not far
You hear my voice is calling
To be mine again
Live the rest of your life in a day
Get out and get what you can
While your mummy's at home a-sleeping
No time to understand
'Cause they lost what they thought they were keeping
Get out and get what you can
While your mummy's at home a-sleeping
No time to understand
'Cause they lost what they thought they were keeping
08 Witch's Promise (03:53)
Lend me your ear while I call you a fool.
You were kissed by a witch one night in the wood,
And later insisted your feelings were true.
The witches promise was coming,
Believing he listened while laughing you flew.
Leaves falling, red, yellow, brown, all look the same,
And the love you had found lay outside in the rain,
Washed clean by the water but nursing its pain.
The witches promise was coming,
And you're looking elsewhere for your own selfish gain.
Keep looking, keep looking for somewhere to be,
Well, you're wasting your time, they're not stupid like he is.
Meanwhile leaves are still falling, you're too blind to see.
You won't find it easy now, it's only fair.
He was willing to give to you, you didn't care.
You're waiting for more but you've already had your share.
The witches promise is turning,
so don't you wait up for him, he's going to be late.
09 Inside (03:49)
All the places I've been make it hard to begin
To enjoy life again on the inside, but I mean to.
Take a walk around the block
And be glad that I've got
Me some time to be in from the outside,
And inside with you.
I'm sitting on the corner feeling glad.
Got no money coming in but I can't be sad.
That was the best cup of coffee I ever had.
And I won't worry about a thing because we've got it made,
Here on the inside, outside so far away.
And we'll laugh and we'll sing
Get someone to bring
Our friends here for tea in the evening
Old Jeffrey makes three...
Take a walk in the park,
Does the wind in the dark
Sound like music to you?
Well I'm thinking it does to me.
Can you cook, can you sew?
Well, I don't want to know.
That is not what you need on the inside,
To make the time go.
Counting lambs, counting sheep
We will fall into sleep
And awake to a new day of living,
And loving you so.
10 Just Trying to Be (01:37)
There was a time when you were so young and walked in their way.
They made you feel they loved you all-seeing they say.
You're going wrong if their game you don't play
And that the song I sing will lead you astray.
Unfeeling, feel lonely rejection,
Unknowing, know you're going wrong.
And they can't see that we're just trying to be,
And not what we seem,
And even now believe that it's not real and only a dream.
12 Dharma for One (10:16)
Dharma, seek and you will find
Truth within your mind, Dharma.
Dharma, each to his own we say,
Together we'll end astray, Dharma.
Truth is like freedom, it doesn't fool me.
Be true to yourself, never think that you're free.
Dharma will come eventually.
13 Wond'ring Again (04:14)
There's the stillness of death on a deathly unliving sea,
And the motor car magical world long since ceased to be,
When the Eve-bitten apple returned to destroy the tree.
Incestuous ancestry's charabanc ride,
Spawning new millions throws the world on its side.
Supporting their far-flung illusion, the national curse,
And those with no sandwiches please get off the bus.
The excrement bubbles,
The century's slime decays
And the brainwashing government lackeys
Would have us say
It's under control and we'll soon be on our way
To a grand year for babies and quiz panel games
Of the hot hungry millions you'll be sure to remain.
The natural resources are dwindling and no one grows old,
And those with no homes to go to, please dig yourself holes.
We wandered through quiet lands, felt the first breath of snow.
Searched for the last pigeon, slate grey I've been told.
Stumbled on a daffodil which she crushed in the rush, heard it sigh,
And left it to die.
At once felt remorse and were touched by the loss of our own,
Held its poor broken head in her hands,
Dropped soft tears in the snow,
And it's only the taking that makes you what you are.
Wond'ring aloud will a son one day be born
To share in our infancy
In the child's path we've worn.
In the aging seclusion of this earth that our birth did surprise
We'll open his eyes.
14 Hymn 43 (03:17)
Our Father high in heaven smile down upon your son
who is busy with his money games - his women and his gun
Oh Jesus save me
And the unsung western hero he killed an Indian or three
And then he made his name in Hollywood to set the white man free
Oh Jesus save me
If Jesus saves well he better save himself
From the gory glory seekers who use his name in death
Oh Jesus save me
Well I saw him in the city and on the mountains of the moon
His cross was rather bloody he could hardly roll his stone
Oh Jesus save me
16 Up the 'Pool (03:13)
I'm going up the 'pool from down the smoke below
To taste my mum's jam sarnies and see our Aunty Flo.
The candyfloss salesman watches ladies in the sand
Down for a freaky weekend in the hope that they'll be meeting Mister Universe.
The iron tower smiles down upon the silver sea
And along the golden mile they'll be swigging mugs of tea.
The politicians there who've come to take the air
While posing for the daily press
Will look around and blame the mess on Edward Bear.
There'll be bucket, spades and bingo, cockles, mussels, rainy days,
Seaweed and sand castles, icy waves.
Deck chairs, rubber dinghies, old vests, braces dangling down,
Sun-tanned stranded starfish in a daze.
We're going up the 'pool from down the smoke below
To taste my mum's jam sarnies and see our Aunty Flo.
The candy floss salesman watches ladies in the sand
Down for a freaky weekend in the hope that they'll be meeting Mister Universe.
There'll be buckets, spades and bingo, cockles, mussels, rainy days,
Seaweed and sand castles, icy waves,
Deck chairs, rubber dinghies, old vests, braces dangling down,
Sun-tanned stranded starfish in a daze.
Oh Blackpool,
Oh Blackpool.
17 Dr. Bogenbroom (03:01)
I have one foot in the graveyard and the other on the bus,
And the passengers do trample each other in the rush.
And the chicken hearted lawman is throwing up his fill
To see the kindly doctor to pass the super pill.
Well, I'm going down, three cheers for Doctor Bogenbroom.
Well, I'm on my way, three cheers for Doctor Bogenbroom.
Well I've tried my best to love you all,
All you hypocrites and whores,
With your eyes on each other and the locks upon your doors.
Well you drowned me in the fountain of life and I hated you
For living while I was dying, we were all just passing through.
Well, I'm going down, three cheers for Doctor Bogenbroom.
Well, I'm on my way, three cheers for Doctor Bogenbroom.
19 Nursie (01:38)
Tip-toes in silence 'round my bed
And quiets the raindrops overhead
With her everlasteng smile
She steals my fever for a while
Oh, nursie, dear,
I'm glad you're here
To brush away my pain
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