• Voto:
Se c'è -o meglio, c'era- un gruppo che, in soli due dischi, ha saputo rivoluzionare e praticamente creare un intera corrente musicale... beh, questi sono (anche) i Joy Division. Che, dopo il fulminante esordio di "Unknow Pleasures", si sono rimessi in gioco e hanno sfornato quello che può essere considerato il capolavoro assoluto della musica dark (chiamata anche gothic rock, sigh).
Innanzitutto esaminiamo il frontman della band. Tra le figure più affascinanti e angoscianti della storia del rock, Ian Curtis nasce a Manchester nel lontano 1956 e -udite udite- si toglie la vita nel 1980, poco prima l'uscita di questo capolavoro, recensito qui sotto. Schiacciato da un mondo che non può soportare, contrito in una morsa di disperazione, si chiama fuori causa; per sempre. Soffiriva di epilessia, tant'è che, per quanto concerne i concerti, non c'era mai la sicurezza che sarebbe riuscito a resistere sul palco, poiché le luci penetranti gli provocano attacchi (costringendo il gruppo a portarsi dietro un sostituto per ogni evenienza). Su di lui è stata scritta una bellissima biografia, e girato uno splendido film. La sua voce robotica, che nascondeva sotto molti strati un male esistenziale mostruoso, ha fatto storia. É lui, era lui, l'anima della band, l'estro creativo; i suoi testi sono semplicemente sconvolgenti, poetici, affascinanti come pochi, e riflettono un dolore incommensurabile. Provate a cercarne uno su internet, e ve ne accorgerete da soli. Poeta maledetto del ventesimo secolo, senza alcun dubbio. Impiccatosi, continua tuttavia a dimorare dentro di noi. Questo perché ascoltare un suo brano ruba l'anima, letteralmente. Ma veniamo al discone...
Si comincia con la sconvolgente, tribale e angosciante "Atrocity Exhibition". Stecche lancinanti e dolorose fuoriescono dal basso e dalla chitarra, mentre le percussioni si lanciano in un macabro ritmo tribale che scorre invariato dall'inizio alla fine. Sotto il marasma di suoni oscuri, Curtis cerca di cantare, anzi, di urlare... per farsi sentire. "this is the way, step inside". Ed è l'apoteosi. Senza dubbio un capolavoro. Si prosegue con la ballata "Isolation" e con la punkeggiante "Passover", due brani molto belli e perfettamente in linea con il resto dell'opera. La violenta e apocalittica "Colony" è tra i pezzi più deboli, ma si fa ascoltare. Eccoci a "A Means To An And", dal ritmo bellissimo, trascinante. Altra perla unica. L'esplosione finale è qualcosa di memorabile.
Ben arrivati ad "Heart and Soul", tra i brani più belli dell'album. La voce di Ian si fa sibillina e tentatrice, da far gelare il sangue nelle vene; mentre il sottofondo sonoro eccheggiante sembra provenire da una lugubre stanza vuota, annegata nel buio della notte. Il finale, è composto dal rumore di una saracinesca (ma ognuno la interpreta come vuole) che si chiude, si riapre e si richiude. Da antologia.
Dalle stelle alle stalle, con la bruttissima "24 Hours". Fortuna che dopo di essa, arriva una marcia funebre di altissima qualità... il vertice, "The Eternal". Probabilmente il pezzo più drammatico e oscuro di tutti i tempi. Battiti sordi, voce dall'oltretomba, cori oscuri. Una processione, nera come il pozzo dell'inferno, il testamento di Ian Curtis. Ogni tanto si sente il pianoforte, e sono piccoli sprazzi di luce in un mare senza via di uscita. Qualcosa di trascendentale, opera d'arte.
A suggellare questo enorme capolavoro, ecco una splendida ballata, "Decades", travolgente come un fiume in piena. E ci si rende conto, esterrefatti, di aver ascoltato e magari anche compreso la disperazione di un ragazzo ventiquattrenne.
Non è per tutti, ma tutti dovrebbero provare ad ascoltarlo. Una volta penetrati nelle viscere velenose, non se ne esce più.
Elenco tracce testi e samples
01 Atrocity Exhibition (06:04)
The silence when doors open wide
Where people could pay to see inside
For entertainment they watch
his body twist
Behind his eyes he says I still exist
This is the way, step inside
This is the way, step inside
This is the way, step inside
This is the way, step inside
In arenas he kills for a prize
Wins a minute to add to his life
But the sickness is drowned
by cries for more
Pray to God make it quick - watch him fall
This is the way, step inside
This is the way, step inside
This is the way, step inside
This is the way, step inside
This is the way
This is the way
This is the way
This is the way
This is the way, step inside
You'll see the horrors of a far-away place
Meet the architects of law
face to face
See mass murder on a scale
you've never seen
And all the ones who tried hard
to succeed
This is the way, step inside
This is the way, step inside
This is the way, step inside
This is the way, step inside
And I picked on the whims of
a thousand more
Still pursuing the path
that's been buried
For years of dead woods and jungles and
cities on fire, can't replace
or relate,
can't release or repair -
take my hand,
and I'll show you what was - it will be.
02 Isolation (02:53)
Be clear every day, every evening
It calls here aloud from above
Carefully watched for a reason
Mistaking devotion and love
Surrendered to self-preservation
For those who just care for themselves
But life as it touches perfection
Appears just like anything else
Isolation
Isolation
Isolation
Mother, I tried, please believe me
I'm doing the best that I can
I'm ashamed of the things
I've been put through
I'm ashamed of the person I am
Isolation
Isolation
Isolation
But if you could just see the beauty
These things I could never describe
This pleasure's a wayward distraction
This is my wonderful prize
Isolation
Isolation
Isolation
Isolation
Isolation
03 Passover (04:46)
This is a crisis I knew had to come,
Destroying the balance I'd kept.
Doubting, unsettling and turning around,
Wondering what will come next.
Is this the role that you wanted to live?
I was foolish to ask for so much.
Without the protection and infancy's guard,
It all falls apart at first touch.
Watching the reel as it comes to a close,
Brutally taking it's time,
People who change for no reason at all,
It's happening all of the time.
Can I go on with this train of events?
Disturbing and purging my mind,
Back out of my duties, when all's said and done,
I know that I'll lose every time.
Moving along in our God given ways,
Safety is sat by the fire,
Sanctuary from these feverish smiles,
Left with a mark on the door,
Is this the gift that I wanted to give?
Forgive and forget's what they teach,
Or pass through the deserts and wastelands once more,
And watch as they drop by the beach.
This is the crisis I knew had to come,
Destroying the balance I'd kept,
Turning around to the next set of lives,
Wondering what will come next.
04 Colony (03:55)
A cry for help, a hint of anaesthesia,
The sound from broken homes,
We used to always meet here.
As he lays asleep, she takes him in her arms,
Some things I have to do, but I don't mean you harm.
A worried parent's glance, a kiss, a last goodbye,
Hands him the bag she packed, the tears she tries to hide,
A cruel wind that blows down to our lunacy
And leaves him standing cold here in this colony.
I can't see why all these confrontations,
I can't see why all these dislocations,
No family life, this makes me feel uneasy,
Stood alone here in this colony.
In this colony, in this colony, in this colony, in this colony.
Dear God in his wisdom took you by the hand,
God in his wisdom made you understand.
God in his wisdom took you by the hand,
God in his wisdom made you understand.
God in his wisdom took you by the hand,
God in his wisdom made you understand.
God in his wisdom took you by the hand,
God in his wisdom made you understand.
In this colony, in this colony, in this colony, in this colony.
05 A Means to an End (04:05)
A legacy so far removed
One day will be improved
Eternal rights we left behind
We were the better kind
Two the same - set free too
I always looked to you.
We fought for good - stood side by side
Our friendship never died
On stranger waves - the lows and highs
Our vision touched the skies
Immortalists with points to prove
I put my trust in you.
A house somewhere on foreign soil
Where ageing lovers call
Is this your goal - your final needs?
Where dogs and vultures eat
Committed still, I turn to go
I put my trust in you.
In you, in you, in you
Put my trust in you, in you
07 Twenty Four Hours (04:26)
So this is permanence, love's shattered pride.
What once was innocence, turned on its side.
A cloud hangs over me, marks every move,
Deep in the memory, of what once was love.
Oh how I realised how I wanted time,
Put into perspective, tried so hard to find,
Just for one moment, thought I'd found my way.
Destiny unfolded, I watched it slip away.
Excessive flashpoints, beyond all reach,
Solitary demands for all I'd like to keep.
Let's take a ride out, see what we can find,
A valueless collection of hopes and past desires.
I never realised the lengths I'd have to go,
All the darkest corners of a sense I didn't know.
Just for one moment, I heard somebody call,
Looked beyond the day in hand, there's nothing there at all.
Now that I've realised how it's all gone wrong,
Gottas find some therapy, this treatment takes too long.
Deep in the heart of where sympathy held sway,
Gotta find my destiny, before it gets too late.
08 The Eternal (06:06)
Procession moves on, the shouting is over,
Praise to the glory of loved ones now gone.
Talking aloud as they sit round their tables,
Scattering flowers washed down by the rain.
Stood by the gate at the foot of the garden,
Watching them pass like clouds in the sky,
Try to cry out in the heat of the moment,
Possessed by a fury that burns from inside.
Cry like a child, though these years make me older,
With children my time is so wastefully spent,
A burden to keep, though their inner communion,
Accept like a curse an unlucky deal.
Played by the gate at the foot of the garden,
My view stretches out from the fence to the wall,
No words could explain, no actions determine,
Just watching the trees and the leaves as they fall.
09 Decades (06:09)
Here are the young men, the weight on their shoulders,
Here are the young men, well where have they been?
We knocked on the doors of Hell's darker chamber,
Pushed to the limit, we dragged ourselves in,
Watched from the wings as the scenes were replaying,
We saw ourselves now as we never had seen.
Portrayal of the trauma and degeneration,
The sorrows we suffered and never were free.
Where have they been?
Where have they been?
Where have they been?
Where have they been?
Weary inside, now our heart's lost forever,
Can't replace the fear, or the thrill of the chase,
Each ritual showed up the door for our wanderings,
Open then shut, then slammed in our face.
Where have they been?
Where have they been?
Where have they been?
Where have they been?
Carico i commenti... con calma
Altre recensioni
Di TenshiSell
Un senso di impotenza. La vita si sommerge, ti devasta e ti lascia incapace di reagire.
Ian Curtis stava per diventare una leggenda vivente. Ha lucidamente scelto di limitarsi ad essere una leggenda.
Di Mr.Moustache
La glaciale bellezza dell'album è indiscutibile a causa della spietata sincerità che suggerisce.
'Closer' è un album dal respiro gelido, capace di "scaldare" l'ascoltatore solo in poche e claustrofobiche occasioni.
Di andrea biacca
"'Closer' è un viaggio fatto d'incubi, di tristezza, di sollecitazioni fisiche e psichiche."
"Peccato che una mente musicale del genere si sia spenta dopo solo due dischi e qualche concerto live per pochi intimi."
Di COX
Ai Joy Division è bastato un biennio per dare alla scena post punk un incipit straordinario.
I Joy Division sanno straziarti, consumarti pian piano con la loro melodia che mette con le spalle al muro.
Di darkfall
"No words could explain, no actions determine, just watching the trees and the leaves as they fall" (The Eternal)
"Heart and soul one will burn..." - la lucidità di Ian Curtis di fronte al suo destino
