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I Level 42 uscirono malconci dall'esperienza di "Staring At The Sun", l'album del 1988. Per molteplici ragioni: i fans non riconobbero al disco la stessa approvazione (in termini di vendite) riservata a "Running In The Family", la critica lo massacrò, ed infine il talentuoso Alan Murphy, chitarrista subentrato a Boon Gould che aveva abbandonato a causa dell'esaurimento nervoso, era stato stroncato dall'AIDS nel 1989.
La bandiera continuò a sventolare grazie a "Level Best" (1989), prima antologia ufficiale della band, che vendette bene.
Mark King, signor bassista e uomo di saldi principi, fece un lungo respiro e cercò di riordinare le idee. Nel 1990 il nucleo della band era composto da lui, dal tastierista originario Mike Lindup ed dal batterista Gary Husband, che aveva sostituito l'altro Gould, Phil, chiamatosi fuori per motivi prettamente artistici: non apprezzava l'impronta eccessivamente pop e commerciale scelta e approvata da Mark e Mike inaugurata con "Running In The Family". Sempre presente il tuttofare storico, il quinto elemento dietro le quinte, Wally Badarou, immerso tra tastiere, produzione e arrangiamenti.
Lindup, seppur artefice della stesura della stragrande maggioranza dei brani che andranno a comporre il nuovo album "Guaranteed", garantì una presenza in studio marginale in quanto impegnato, nel 1990, nelle registrazioni dell'album solista "Changes". Oltre a Badarou, un grande apporto alle tastiere lo fornì il batterista, Husband, impronta udibile soprattutto nell'asolo in "Her Big Day". La definizione del chitarrista rese la composizione della band piuttosto ambigua. Si alternarono prime scelte: Dominic Miller, Allan Holdsworth e Jakko Jakszyk. Quest'ultimo fu sicuramente il più assiduo, non a caso compare in copertina (nella inlay è invece immortalato, con la band, Holdsworth, ndr) e nei quattro promo video realizzati (due per il singolo omonimo, uno per "Overtime" ed uno per il terzo singolo "My Father's Shoes") mentre Miller è presente nei crediti. Lo stile inconfondibile degli assoli di Holdsworth è comunque udibile in quattro brani: la magnifica "Seven Years", laddove King trova il modo di far spiccare il basso con un giro melodico eccezionale nel refine, "A Kinder Eye", "If You Were Mine" e "With A Little Love".
Onorato dunque egregiamente l'aspetto stilistico - musicale, grazie ai purosangue sopra citati, restavano da elaborare e valorizzare i testi, da già che Boon, assiduo paroliere anche dopo essersi auto-estromesso dal progetto, passò il testimone in occasione delle sessioni di "Guaranteed". Vennero chiamati all'ovile il poetico e profondo George M. Green (notevole il contributo nella splendida "Lasso The Moon", cantata da Lindup, nella commovente "A Kinder Eye" dedicata alla suocera appena deceduta, in "The Ape", creatura di Mark King, e in "My Father's Shoes" ('give me back my father's shoes, and let me waling in....')) e Drew Barfield ("Overtime", "Her Big Day", "Set Me Up" e "She Can't Help Herself"). Per il resto, si attivarono le due pietre miliari della band, King e Lindup, mentre l'esplosiva "If You Were Mine" venne partorita, musica e testi, in solitaria da Gary Husband.
Il risultato è più che soddisfacente. Musicalmente, rispetto all'eccessivamente sottovalutato predecessore, ci si posiziona su un'altra frequenza. Per cui, non si tratta di stabilire una gerarchia: i sentieri intrapresi sono diversi. Perlomeno, non si cade più nella pochezza di episodi come "I Don't Know Why" laddove King cantava assurdità del tipo: "I don't know why you treat me like you do but baby I love you".
"Guaranteed" è un album maturo, che molti fans hanno rimpallato, schivato, perché forse un pò troppo saturo di compromessi. Ma i compromessi, spesso, sono una necessità. Qui Mark King non fa più urlare il basso, spesso lo fa sussurrare. No, non ci sono echi da "True Colours" o "World Machine", e molti l'hanno preso come lesa maestà. Non chi vi scrive: l'evoluzione spesso è una necessità, "migliore" o "peggiore" lo lascerei ad altri. Eviterei terminologie obsolete per una band che ha dato tanto, tantissmo, al panorama pop internazionale. Di certo, più di quanto abbia ricevuto.
Elenco tracce testi e video
01 Guaranteed (04:51)
Don't play this game with me
you know you came to be my world
when times were bad enough
seems I was good enough
you run out my door
you come back, and beg for more and more
just like the times before
you'll always be
Guaranteed a place inside my heart
I would never forget a single thing
always be a martyr to your heart
then you'll never regret a single thing
You think I just don't care (just don't care)
the fact is, I could not bear (could not bear)
to lose this kind of loving touch (I love your touch)
would you be bothered much?
you had so much planned (so much planned)
so take time to understand (understand)
my reasons for pulling you back to me (back to me)
you'll always be
Guaranteed a place inside my heart
I would never forget a single thing
always be a martyr to your heart
then you'll never regret a single thing
You hide so many years
(hide away)
you cried so many tears
(cried away your tears)
you think I just don't realise
(now I realise)
one thing I've come to know
(if you stay)
this pain will surely go
(all the way with me)
so soon before your very eyes
Guaranteed a place inside my heart
I would never forget a single thing
always be a martyr to your heart
then you'll never regret a single thing
Guaranteed a place inside my heart
I would never forget a single thing
always be a martyr to your heart
then you'll never regret a single thing
Guaranteed . . .
02 Overtime (04:47)
Sometimes the looks I get
from people that I've never met
it's cruel
poor hard done by you
sometimes I hear remarks
like he's a snake out in the grass
it's cruel
poor hard done by you
Well I beat around the bush a lot
don't let my feelings show
'cause if I did I'd surely hit the roof
maybe if you'd listened
you'd've known something was missing
what I say surely is the truth
Well I've been working on this overtime
you might think that I don't care
but if you look inside this heart of mine
you'll still be there
Some lovers won't admit
that all the pieces just won't fit
it's cruel
poor hard done by you
so tell me that I'm blind
to let my heart go rule my mind
it's cruel
poor hard done by you
Well I've been working on this overtime
you might think that I don't care
but if you look inside this heart of mine
you'll still be there
I've been working on this overtime
what's been done I can't repair
but if you look inside this heart of mine
you'll still be there
My wanderlust betrayed your trust
don't want forgiving
all things must change, it ain't so strange
life's for the living
(baby baby please)
I've been working on this overtime
you might think that I don't care
but if you look inside this heart of mine
you'll still be there
I've been working on this overtime
what's been done I can't repair
but if you look inside this heart of mine
you'll still be there
I've been working on this overtime
you might think that I don't care
but if you look inside this heart of mine
you'll still be there
poor hard done by you
05 Set Me Up (04:27)
Well a thing was said to me
time's your enemy
it may heal a wound, but it won't hide a scar
and the only thing to do
is to yourself be true
'cause a head that's in the clouds won't see the stars
When I was young I never walked away
I'd nail my colours to the wall
though black and white soon turned to shades of grey
there is one thing that I really know for sure
Nobody's gonna set me up
nobody's gonna set me up
There's a bitterness in you
'cause all you ever do
is to drag your spirit screaming to the floor
but you gotta make your luck
before your time is up
and they take you in your box out through the door
But I'm not saying I don't care at all
I'd rescue you before you drown
but if behind my back they start to talk
I'm a tougher kind of man this time around
Nobody's gonna set me up
nobody's gonna set me up
When you look back and see what you have done
well was it really that much fun
to laugh and kick the fallen ones
Gonna grow another skin
this one's getting thin
I've been bitten twice but never lost my nerve
well you gotta hide the hurt
when people dish the dirt
'cause if you don't try nothing that's what you deserve
There are people with their eyes of green
smiling when you take a fall
maybe a friend or someone never seen
but even with my back against the wall
Nobody's gonna set me up
nobody's gonna set me up
People said to me
time's your enemy
it may heal a wound, but it won't hide a scar
Nobody's gonna set me up
nobody's gonna set me up
And the only thing to do
is to yourself be true
'cause a head that's in the clouds won't see the stars
07 My Father's Shoes (05:14)
Even now I see him walking home at sundown
he's whistling rock of ages with his lunchbox at his side
I still recall the smell of smoke and ashes on his jacket
and that factory dust was on his shoes the afternoon he died
I swore I'd never heed that factory whistle
in a banker's cage I signed a loan against my future sins
all the neighbours shook my hand
and wished me well upon my leaving
though my father was a poor man he owned a wealth of friends
So take these boots that shine like Judas silver
and all these sad reflections on lost untravelled roads
while the rain falls on a field of bones and roses
give me back my father's shoes and let me walk in those
My stroke was good, the deals fell fast end easy
I hired the sweat of honest men and took the lion's share
my wardrobe filled with shirts of silk
and boots of tender leather
and I walked in them the halls of power
but found no comfort there
So take these boots that shine like Judas silver
and all these sad reflections on lost untravelled roads
while the rain falls on a field of bones and roses
give me back my father's shoes and let me walk in those
Lady lay these boots upon the fire
'cause lady now I swear I'll never wear this pair again
I meant to stand up straight and tall
it never was that easy
now these soles are stained from walking on the dreams
of better men
So take these boots that shine like Judas silver
and all these sad reflections on lost untravelled roads
while the rain falls on a field of bones and roses
give me back my father's shoes and let me walk in those
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