• Voto:
Il leggendario menestrello inglese del rock, e la sua fenomenale band, sono ancora in forma smagliante, nonostante i cambi di formazione e gli anni che passano. E potete sentirlo in questo CD, composto da live suonati in posti e tempi differenti (1989-2001), in cui Ian Anderson fa (ancora una volta) sfoggio dei suoi virtuosismi folli ai fiati, della sua voce sempre all'altezza.
Non sto qui a descrivere "Aqualung", "Ministrel in the gallery", "Stand Up", "Thick as brick": forse proprio in questi quattro dischi si può racchiudere l'opera più significativa, riassunta egregiamente dal titolo ("Living with the past"), alquanto auto-celebrativo. Genere misto di progressive (alla King Crimson e Yes) ed hard rock classico, notevolmente arricchito dalle note di un grandissimo flautista-rock quale il leader della band. Si tratta pur sempre di un'antologia di live & acoustic-session: essa, in verità, non contiene molti pezzi fondamentali (uno su tutti, "My God", ed il suo meraviglioso assolo ai fiati), ma comunque è consigliata a chi conosce poco la band. Possiede infatti il pregio di fare comprendere al fortunato davanti allo stereo (in una sintesi di circa 74 minuti) la bellezza e le caratteristiche (anche meno note) che hanno fatto dei Jethro Tull un'icona inossidabile.
Flauto suonato magistralmente, con estro ed originalità, chitarre acustiche ed elettriche degne dei migliori The Who, uso di sincope, arresti improvvisi della batteria, e come se non bastasse numerose influenze folk e di musica medievale.
Dopo una brevissima intro, si parte con la blues/prog oriented "My Sunday Feeling": già siamo calati nell'atmosfera magica della band. Si prosegue con "Roots to Branches", la medievaleggiante "Jack in the Green", la quasi-reggae(!) "The Habanero Reel", la grintosa "Sweet Dream" accompagnata da un massiccio riff del chitarrista Martin Barre e dalle note di Anderson, e la notevole "In the Grip of Stronger Stuff". È poi il momento di due chicche ultra-classiche: "Aqualung" e "Locomotive Breath". Come non essere percorsi da un brivido nel momento in cui sentiamo il lungo assolo della prima, uguale all'originale nella prima parte e meravigliosamente variato nella seconda? Senza soffermarci poi sull'intro di pianoforte della seconda, le cui prime note fanno esaltare i presenti al concerto... è la volta della malinconica (non poteva mancare) "Living in the past", a seguire la fulminea "Protect & Survive". Nel sentirla, molti capiranno perchè Steve Harris cita questa band tra le influenze fondamentali degli Iron Maiden. "Nothing is Easy", canta Ian, mentre noi pensiamo che è piuttosto facile per lui farci restare a bocca aperta... ma siamo ancora a metà del disco! Onnipresente, è utile ribadirlo, ai fiati, a dimostrazione che uno strumento come il flauto traverso può essere parte integrante (come ritmica cadenzata o solismi da infarto) di un brano rock. E sono in pochi ad averlo fatto... Tra gli altri pezzi, citiamo l'acustica "Wond'ring Aloud", tre pezzi tratti da "The Zurich dressing room tapes" (1989) (tra cui "Cheap Day Return"), la particolare "Dot Com", infine la bella "Fat Man", il classico blues "Some Day the Sun Won't Shine for You", e l'ancora una volta medievaleggiante "Cheerio".
Se ci fosse ancora bisogno di dirlo, ogni pezzo è accompagnato dalle note del flauto traverso di Ian Anderson, e dalle sue ritmiche complesse, senza però mai "degenerare" nella sperimentazione selvaggia. Unica nota di "demerito": forse (forse...) 21 tracce in un CD del genere sono eccessive, soprattutto per chi (come me) non ama particolarmente i doppi/tripli CD e/o cofanetti vari. Voglio dire: molto meglio ascoltare gli originali, uno alla volta. E, in effetti, dopo aver ascoltato questo, la voglia è quella di riesumare TUTTI i loro dischi del passato...
Elenco tracce testi e video
02 My Sunday Feeling (04:00)
My Sunday feeling is coming on over me.
My Sunday feeling is coming on over me,
Now that the night is over.
Got to clear my head so I can see.
Till I get to put together,
That old feeling won't let me be.
Won't somebody tell me where I laid my head last night?
Won't somebody tell me where I laid my head last night?
I really don't remember,
But with one more cigarette and I think I might.
Till I get to put together,
Well that old feeling can't get me right.
Need some assistance, have you listened to what I said?
Need some assistance, have you listened to what I said?
Oh, I don't feel so good.
Need someone to help me to my bed.
Till I get to put together,
That old feeling is in my head.
03 Roots to Branches (05:34)
Words get written. Words get twisted.
Old meanings move in the drift of time.
Lift the flickering torches. See gentle shadows change
the features of the faces cut in unmoving stone.
Bad mouth on a prayer day, hope no one's listening.
Roots down in the wet clay, branches glistening.
True disciples carrying that message
to colour just a little with their personal touch.
Home-spun fancy weavers and naked half-believers --
Crusades and creeds descend like fiery flakes of snow.
Bad mouth on a prayer day, hope no one's listening.
Roots down in the wet clay, branches glistening.
Roots to branches
Roots to branches
Roots to branches
In wet and windy priest-holes. Grand in vast cathedrals.
High on lofty minarets or in the temples of doom.
I hope the old man's got his face on.
He'd better be some quick change artist.
Suffer little children to make their minds up soon.
Bad mouth on a prayer day, hope no one's listening.
Roots down in the wet clay, branches glistening.
Roots to branches
Roots to branches
Roots to branches
Roots to branches
Roots to branches
Roots to branches
05 The Habanero Reel (04:03)
Cool in the corner, tom cat sitting
on the edge of the yard; sand-flies flitting.
Orange order on a field of green.
Smothers me to smithereens.
Rum and cola, ice cubes crashing.
Jumping beans and brown eyes flashing.
Long hair swinging, tell me how d'you feel?
Well, hot and fancy, it's the habanero reel.
Troubled skin? Pour oil upon it.
She's fit to burn in her new Scotch Bonnet.
Spice up anybody's stew.
Frogs and goats and chickens too.
Barefoot in the sunshine.
Kicking empty beer cans down on the high tide line.
Big wave nearly float your dress away.
And I'm thinking that it's just another day:
just another day.
Feel that hot rush start its tickle.
Sweat is rising, taste buds prickle
with ears of bat and eye of eagle.
It's just as well it's strictly legal.
06 Sweet Dream (04:54)
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 Aqualung (08:20)
Sitting on a park bench
eyeing little girls with bad intent.
Snot running down his nose
greasy fingers smearing shabby clothes.
Hey, Aqualung!
Drying in the cold sun
Watching as the frilly panties run.
Hey Aqualung!
Feeling like a dead duck
spitting out pieces of his broken luck.
Whoa, Aqualung!
Sun streaking cold
an old man wandering lonely.
Taking time
the only way he knows.
Neck hurting bad,
as he bends to pick a dog-end
he goes down to the bog
and warms his feet.
Feeling alone
the army's up the road
salvation à la mode and
a cup of tea.
Aqualung my friend
don't you start away uneasy
you poor old sod, you see, it's only me.
Do you still remember
December's foggy freeze
when the ice that
clings onto your beard was
screaming agony.
And you snatch your rattling last breaths
with deep-sea-diver sounds,
and the flowers bloom like
madness in the spring.
Sun streaking cold
an old man wandering lonely.
Taking time
the only way he knows.
Neck hurting bad,
as he bends to pick a dog-end
he goes down to the bog
and warms his feet.
Feeling alone
the army's up the road
salvation à la mode and
a cup of tea.
Aqualung my friend
don't you start away uneasy
you poor old sod, you see, it's only me.
[Guitar Solo]
Aqualung my friend
don't you start away uneasy
you poor old sod, you see, it's only me.
Sitting on a park bench
eyeing little girls with bad intent.
Snot running down his nose
greasy fingers smearing shabby clothes.
Hey Aqualung!
Drying in the cold sun
Watching as the frilly panties run.
Hey, Aqualung!
Feeling like a dead duck
spitting out pieces of his broken luck.
Hey, Aqualung!
Whoa, Aqualung!
09 Locomotive Breath (05:26)
In the Shuffling madness
Of the locomotive breath,
Runs the all time loser,
Headlong to his death.
He feels the piston scraping
Steam breaking on his brow
Old Charlie stole the handle
And the train it won't stop going
No way to slow down.
He sees his children jumping off
At stations one by one.
His woman and his best friend
In bed and having fun.
Crawling down the corridor
On his hands and knees
Old Charlie stole the handle
And the train it won't stop going
No way to slow down.
He hears the silence howling
Catches angels as they fall.
And the all time winner
Has got him by the balls.
He picks up Gideons Bible
Open at page one
I think God, he stole the handle
And the train it won't stop going
No way to slow down.
10 Living in the Past (03:27)
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.
11 Protect and Survive (01:01)
They said protect and you'll survive ---
(but our postman didn't call)
8lbs. of over-pressure wave seemed to glue him to the wall
They said protect and you'll survive
E.M.P. took out the radio ---
(and our milk-man didn't call)
Flash blinded by the pretty lights,
didn't see his bottles fall
or feel the warm black rain arrive
Big friendly cloud builds in the West
(and our dust-men haven't called)
They left the dual carriageway at a hundred miles an hour ---
a tail wind chasing them away
And in deep shelters lurk below, sub-regional control
who sympathise but cannot help
to mend your body or your soul
Self-appointed guadians of the race with egg upon their face
When steady sirens sing all-clear they pop up,
find nobody here
And so I watch two new suns spin ---
(our paper man doesn't call)
Burnt shadow printed on the road --- now there's nothing there at all
They said protect and you'll survive
12 Nothing is Easy (05:16)
Nothing is easy.
Though time gets you worrying
My friend, it's OK.
Just take your life easy
And stop all that hurrying,
Be happy my way.
When tension starts mounting
And you've lost count
Of the pennies you've missed,
Just try hard and see why they're not worrying me,
They're last on my list.
Nothing's easy.
Nothing is easy, you'll find
That the squeeze won't turn out so bad.
Your fingers may freeze, worse things happen at sea,
There's good times to be had.
So if you're alone and you're down to the bone,
Just give us a play.
You'll smile in a while and discover
That I'll get you happy my way
Nothing's easy.
13 Wond'ring Aloud (01:54)
Wond'ring aloud --
How we feel today.
Last night sipped the sunset --
My hands in her hair.
We are our own saviours
As we start both our hearts beating life
Into each other.
Wond'ring aloud --
Will the years treat us well.
As she floats in the kitchen,
I'm tasting the smell
Of toast as the butter runs.
Then she comes, spilling crumbs on the bed
And I shake my head.
And it's only the giving
That makes you what you are.
17 Mother Goose (01:57)
As I did walk by Hampstead Fair,
I came upon Mother Goose,
So I turned her loose--
She was screaming.
And a foreign student said to me
Was it really true
There are elephants, lions too,
Piccadilly Circus?
Walked down by the bathing pond
To try and catch some sun.
Saw at least a hundred school girls
Sobbing into handkerchiefs as one.
I don't believe they knew
I was a schoolboy.
And a bearded lady said to me
If you start your raving
And your misbehaving,
You'll be sorry.
And the chicken fancier came to play
With his long red beard,
And his sister's weird--
She drives a lorry.
Laughed down by the putting green,
I popped 'em in their holes.
Four and twenty labourers were labouring
And digging up their gold.
I don't believe they knew
That I was Long John Silver.
Saw Johnny Scarecrow make his rounds
In his jet black mac
Which he won't give back--
Stole it from a snowman.
As I did walk by Hampstead Fair,
I came upon Mother Goose,
So I turned her loose--
She was screaming.
Walked down by the bathing pond
To try and catch some sun.
Must have been least a hundred school girls
Sobbing into handkerchiefs as one.
I don't believe they knew
I was a schoolboy.
18 Dot Com (04:28)
It's a wide world out there
So much wider than imagined
I can't quite put my finger on the pulse
Of your heart softly beating
Just beneath the raw silk sheen
That reflects the tints of autumn from the hills.
So punch my name.
And in case you wonder -
I'll be yours - yours, dot com.
Executive accommodation
Bland but nonetheless appealing
Waiters discretely at your beck and call
Place the tall sun-down potion
Lightly by your velvet elbow
While you compose a message on the wall.
So punch my name.
And in case you wonder -
I'll be yours - yours, dot com.
With your handmade leather valise
Packed and ready, ready waiting
Showered and dressed down lightly for the heat
Gice a clue; leave a kind word
Hint as to a destination
A domain where our cyber-souls might meet.
So punch my name.
And in case you wonder -
I'll be yours - yours, dot com.
19 Fat Man (05:06)
Don't want to be a fat man
People would think that I was just good fun, man
Would rather be a thin man
I am so glad to go on being one, man
Too much to carry around with you
No chance of finding a woman, who
Will love you in the morning and all the nighttime too
Don't want to be a fat man
Have not the patience to ignore all that
Hate to admit to myself
I thought my problems came from being fat
Won't waste my time feeling sorry for him
I've seen the other side to being thin
Roll us both down a mountain and I'm sure the fat man would win
21 Cheerio (01:36)
along the costroad, by the headland
the early lights of winter glow
i'll pour a cup to you my darling
raise it up - say cheerio
Carico i commenti... con calma
