• Voto:
E' senz'altro uno dei pochi artisti intoccabili, alla continua ricerca di "...capire perchè in certi momenti mi sento così malinconico..." ed è proprio quella sua malinconia a dipingere candidamente le sue poesie vestite di musica e di un canto incantatore.
Ma l'ascolto di "I'm Your man" mi ha restituito un Cohen a cui non ero abituato, sapevo bene che a lui bastava una chitarra per dare un senso di compitezza alla sua arte e ora invece mi perdo tra suoni digitali freddi e prevedibili impastati da coretti insistenti e fastidiosi.
Non ho nulla contro i cambiamenti e le evoluzioni di un'artista, ma faccio fatica a scorgere un'evoluzione in questo tipo di veste musicale di chi appende la chitarra al muro e si compra un computer.
All'ascolto di questo album si ha veramente l'impressione di sentire Cohen cantare su scadenti basi precotte da chissà quale maldestro pasticcione informatico.
Ai cori ci aveva abituato a poco a poco: discretissimi ai tempi di "Songs of Leonard Cohen", presenti ma ben amalgamati in "Various Positions" e ora, a mio parere, decisamente sopra le righe.
Altra cosa che mi riesce difficile digerire è lo sfumato che conclude i brani, io lo trovo insopportabile e non degno di canzoni di tale levatura .... In "I'm Your Man" ad esempio si sfuma proprio durante il cantato... disgustoso!
I brani contenuti nel disco sono infatti all'altezza dei suoi momenti migliori, compaiono "First We Take Manhattan", "Take This Waltz", "I'm Your Man", "Tower of Song" , cantati con una forza espressiva ed una voce da brividi ...
E probabilmente è proprio questo il motivo che mi suscita un certo nervosismo: un album che avrebbe potuto essere indubbiamente eccelso viene così penalizzato da scelte a mio parere difficilmente comprensibili.
D'altra parte una spina conficcata in un mocassino è molto più fastidiosa rispetto alla stessa spina in un groviglio di rovi....
P.S. Sono consapevole che quella che nella mia testa voleva essere una recensione qui si è tramutata in uno sfogo e per lo più abbastanza confuso, ma il fine è quello di sentire i vostri pareri su arrangiamenti, cori e sfumato, magari fornendomi dei punti di vista che mi potranno far apprezzare maggiormente quest'opera.
Elenco tracce testi samples e video
01 I'm Your Man (04:27)
If you want a lover
I'll do anything you ask me to
And if you want another kind of love
I'll wear a mask for you
If you want a partner
Take my hand
Or if you want to strike me down in anger
Here I stand
I'm your man
If you want a boxer
I will step into the ring for you
And if you want a doctor
I'll examine every inch of you
If you want a driver
Climb inside
Or if you want to take me for a ride
You know you can
I'm your man
Ah, the moon's too bright
The chain's too tight
The beast won't go to sleep
I've been running through these promises to you
That I made and I could not keep
Ah but a man never got a woman back
Not by begging on his knees
Or I'd crawl to you baby
And I'd fall at your feet
And I'd howl at your beauty
Like a dog in heat
And I'd claw at your heart
And I'd tear at your sheet
I'd say please, please
I'm your man
And if you've got to sleep
A moment on the road
I will steer for you
And if you want to work the street alone
I'll disappear for you
If you want a father for your child
Or only want to walk with me a while
Across the sand
I'm your man
If you want a lover
I'll do anything that you ask me to
And if you want another kind of love
I'll wear a mask for you
02 Chelsea Hotel #2 (03:06)
I remember you well in the Chelsea Hotel,
you were talking so brave and so sweet,
giving me head on the unmade bed,
while the limousines wait in the street.
Those were the reasons and that was New York,
we were running for the money and the flesh.
And that was called love for the workers in song
probably still is for those of them left.
Ah but you got away, didn't you babe,
you just turned your back on the crowd,
you got away, I never once heard you say,
I need you, I don't need you,
I need you, I don't need you
and all of that jiving around.
I remember you well in the Chelsea Hotel
you were famous, your heart was a legend.
You told me again you preferred handsome men
but for me you would make an exception.
And clenching your fist for the ones like us
who are oppressed by the figures of beauty,
you fixed yourself, you said, "Well never mind,
we are ugly but we have the music."
And then you got away, didn't you babe...
I don't mean to suggest that I loved you the best,
I can't keep track of each fallen robin.
I remember you well in the Chelsea Hotel,
that's all, I don't even think of you that often.
03 Who by Fire (02:31)
And who by fire, who by water,
who in the sunshine, who in the night time,
who by high ordeal, who by common trial,
who in your merry merry month of may,
who by very slow decay,
and who shall I say is calling?
And who in her lonely slip, who by barbiturate,
who in these realms of love, who by something blunt,
and who by avalanche, who by powder,
who for his greed, who for his hunger,
and who shall I say is calling?
And who by brave assent, who by accident,
who in solitude, who in this mirror,
who by his lady's command, who by his own hand,
who in mortal chains, who in power,
and who shall I say is calling?
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