Siamo nel 1983, Lou Reed, appenna disintossicato dall'alcool e, soprattutto, dall'eroina, elabora un album dalle tonalità dolci e sicuramente più ispirate di altri dischi dei '70, "Rock'n'Roll Heart" su tutti.

L'album si apre con la title track, canzone dai toni amorosi e con un piacevole accompagnamento strumentale, che non risente troppo dei suoni anni '80. Dopo è il turno dell'ironica "Don't talk me about work", della quasi innocua "Make up my mind" e della shockante "Martial Law". È la volta allora del rock sostenuto di "The Last Shot", del rock dalle rimemberanze velvettiane "Turn Out The Light" (uno dei pezzi migliori del disco) e del divertente rock di "Pow Wow".

La voce di Lou è ispirata e lo si sente molto bene nella romantica ballata "Betrayed", a cui seguono la potente "Bottoming Out" e la lunga, ma interessante "Home of the Brave". Chiude il disco la romantica e dolce "Rooftop Garden".

Non è un disco fantastico, ma inserito nel contesto anni '80 è sicuramente un piccolo gioiello, che il vecchio Lou ha saputo elaborare e produrre con l'arte del migliore orefice.

Elenco tracce testi e video

01   Legendary Hearts (03:29)

Legendary hearts
tearing up apart
with stories of their love
their great transcendent loves
While we stand here and fight
and lose another night
of legendary love

Legendary loves
haunt me in my sleep
promises to keep
I never should have made
I can't live up to this
I'm good for just a kiss
not legendary love

Romeo, oh, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo
he's in a car or at a bar
or churning his blood with an impure drug
He's in the past and seemingly lost forever

He worked hard at being good
but his basic soul was stained not pure
and when he took his bow
no audience was clapping

Legendary hearts
tear us all apart
make our emotions bleed
crying out in need
No legendary love
is coming from above
it's in this room right now

And you've got to fight
to make what's right
you've got to fight
to make what's right
You've got to fight
to make what's right
you've got to fight to keep your legendary love

02   Don't Talk to Me About Work (02:11)

03   Make Up My Mind (02:55)

04   Martial Law (03:56)

I've declared a truce, so stop your fighting
the marshall is in town
I won't put up with no big mouth yapping
at least not while I'm around
This is my friend Ace, he's from the 8th precinct
nothing goes on that he don't know
And we've been send cause your arguments
have been going on for too long
And before one of you hurts the other one of you
I'm declaring martial law

I came, I saw, I declared martial law
I'm the marshall in the city
The jails are filled with people like you
you oughta listen to your diddy-wah-diddy
What's a girl like you doing with that lamp
you better drop it down on the floor
And son, that isn't very smart
kicking a hole in that door
Hey, Ace will you take a look at this place
and get those neighbors out of the hall
I'm declaring martial law

I came, I saw, I declared martial law
'cause I'm the marshall in the city
And if you stand away, I've got something to say
that I might even help you
Keep your hands to yourself and keep your big mouth shut
don't you touch nobody with hate-hate-hate-hate
And if all you've got is poison in your mouth
make sure that you don't speak
It's 3:30 in the early morning
don't punch, don't scratch, don't bite
Try not to take the garbage of the day
any place but outside

Now me and Mr. Ace are gonna leave this place
and this fighting's gonna end
And if we're called back, I'm gonna knock you flat
and stack you end to end

Ah, I came, I saw, I declared martial law
I'm the marshall in the city
I came, I saw, I declared martial law
I'm the marshall in the city, ooohhh
I came, I saw, I declared martial law
I'm the marshall in the city
I came, I saw, I declared martial law
'cause I'm the marshall in the city

05   The Last Shot (03:23)

06   Turn Out the Light (02:49)

07   Pow Wow (02:32)

08   Betrayed (03:13)

Betrayed by the one who says she loves you
by the one who says she needs you
above all other men
Betrayed by her fragile, vicious beauty
her father did his duty
and I lie down betrayed

Justice taught her confidence
her mother was like steel
her cousins, they're all convicts
she alone rose above that wheel
But a motorcyclist no matter how good
is slave to the oncoming truck
and the poison of her father was
her most pitiless luck

Betrayed by the one who says she loves you
by the one who says she needs you
above all other men
Betrayed by her fragile, vicious beauty
her father did his duty
and I lie down betrayed

Three of us lie in this bed
night of infamy
one of us lies on our back
her father's in her head
And quick she turns and slaps my face
and with her eyes open wide she screams
I hate you, I hate you, I hate you
but she's looking right past me

Betrayed by the one who says she loves you
by the one who says that she needs you
above all other men
Betrayed by her fragile, vicious beauty
her father did his duty
and I lie down betrayed

And I lie down betrayed
I lie down betrayed

09   Bottoming Out (03:43)

I'm cruising fast on a motorcycle
down this winding country road
And I pass the gravel on the foot of the hill
where last week I fell off

There's still some oil by the old elm tree
and a dead squirrel that I hit
But if I hadn't left, I would have struck you dead
so I took a ride instead

Bottoming out
bottoming out
Bottoming out
bottoming out

My doctor says, she hopes I know
how lucky I can be
after all it wasn't my blood
mixed in the dirt that night

But this violent rage, turned inward
can not be helped by drink
And we must really examine this and I say
I need another drink

Bottoming out
bottoming out
Bottoming out
bottoming out

I'm tearing down Route 80 east
the sun's on my right side
I'm drunk, but my vision's good
and I think of my child bride
And on the left in shadows
I see something that makes me laugh
I aim that bike at the fat pothole
beyond that underpass

Bottoming out
bottoming out
Bottoming out
bottoming out

Bottoming out
bottoming out
Bottoming out
bottoming out

10   Home of the Brave (06:55)

11   Rooftop Garden (03:04)

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Altre recensioni

Di  deldavid

 Mai la funzione "loop" di un player multimediale risulterà più utile come nel caso di questo disco.

 Fernando Saunders, a mio parere uno dei migliori interpreti di questo fondamentale strumento.