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Questo album d'esordio dei mai indimenticati Mansun ebbe vita strana (un pò come la carriera stessa della band): pubblicato nel marzo 1997 quando il quartetto di Chester era pratiamente sconosciuto, questo disco balzò al n.1 della classifica UK detronizzando niente meno che i Blur.
In un tour giapponese di quello stesso anno, i Mansun furono accolti come superstar internazionali al livello di una vera e propria "beatlemania"! Capita spesso alle band inglesi una accoglienza simile nel Sol Levante, ma per un gruppo che fino a qualche mese prima suonava nei più modesti club della Gran Bretagna si trattava comunque di un fatto straordinario. Il prezzo dimezzato dell'album portò un piccolo successo di culto per i Mansun anche in Italia, tant'è che i loro successivi lavori sono stati molto meno seguiti: ciò non toglie il fatto che "Attack Of The Grey Lantern" sia per sè un capolavoro, o quasi.
Si tratta di una sorta di concept album piuttosto anomalo per gli standard del pop anni '90, con testi che riportano a situazioni e personaggi che sembrano usciti dalle opere di Oscar Wilde. Infatti esteticamente i Mansun si proposero come una band a metà tra atteggiamenti tipicamente dandy (ricordando sia il primo Bowie che i primi Duran Duran) e un sound in ogni caso strettamente legato alla scena indipendente, e concettualmente i testi del singer Paul Draper (un perverso incrocio tra Brett Anderson e Damon Albarn) trattano di una oscura vicenda di religione, sesso e amore, lasciando trasparire una vena polemica contro le borghesi ipocrisie della società moderna.
I brani sono incastrati tra di loro anche se quasi sempre attraverso rumori improvvisi, salvaguardando la personalità di ciascuna canzone... per cui non si può parlare di un vero e proprio stile prog. L'acustica "The Chad Who Loved Me" apre il disco come se dovesse aprire un musical apocalittico, con archi imperiosi che sembrano cadere a cascate, per sfociare in un motivo molto acido e molto indie (per il 1997). "The Only Mansun's Love Song", sbeffeggiante fin dal titolo, è una ballata soffice e sottilmente viziosa… ma il meglio deve ancora arrivare.
"Taxloss", polemico singolo (accompagnato da un discusso video dove i componenti della band lanciavano banconote vere alla metropolitana di Londra), parte come garage punk elettronico un pò à la Devo per poi bloccarsi con un potente intermezzo dance irresponsabilmente irrobustito dalle chitarre elettriche… in realtà l'andamento della canzone e il suo finale dissolto e "liquido" sembra vogliano suggerire l'idea di un orgasmo. "You. Why Do You Hate Me?" è una breve ballad per voce e chitarra acustica spezzata anch'essa dall'intervento, quasi grunge, delle chitarre, ma finisce per risultare solo un gustoso aperitivo per l'apice del disco: la stupenda ed eterea "Wide Open Space", decadente e oltraggiosa, subito seguita dall'altrettanto pungente "Stripped Vicar", storia di un sacerdote dedito allo strip-tease, irresistibile nel ritornello (che pesca liberamente da "Changes", il classico di David Bowie) coadiuvato dall'ingegnoso minestrone indie/dance/pop/punk/new wave.
In tutto l'album i Mansun sembrano centrare tutti i colpi: il soft jazz psichedelico di "Disgusting", il pop a metà tra Primal Scream, Suede e XTC di "She Makes My Nose Bleed", la delicata e armoniosa "Naked Twister", il guitar rock con venature glam di "Egg Shaped Fred (fa il suo sfoggio anche una tastiera ispirata a "Hush" dei Deep Purple), e il finale pirotecnico affidato all'epica ballata ashcroftiana "Dark Mavis", che oltre a rappresentare la conclusione dell'intricata storia narrata tra un brano e l'altro, presenta anche una band capace di tendere più volte al sublime e che, alla fine, ci arriva davvero, con l'interminabile sezione d'archi che riprende il motivo iniziale, uno strepitio di malinconia e, come dire, "romanticità" destinato a imprimersi nella memoria per molto tempo.
Se vedrete mai questo disco da qualche parte (bellissima la copertina), ascoltate questa perla sperduta dello scorso decennio: costa anche poco e male di certo non vi farà.
Elenco tracce testi samples e video
02 Mansun's Only Love Song (05:55)
If I start this small debate
The centre of the universe is up for sale
If my melody should fall
The tune is unimportant as I said before
Or should I say it was the words, I should
Standing in grey lantern light
Mavis looking sexy through her dress it shines
Hiding in the vestry she recites her lines, she says
I can't see you, I love you, I miss you
I can't see you, I love you, I do
If I feel God watching me
I control the actions of his destiny
All my sentiments ring true
You feel him in the mirror laughing back at you
If I could tell you how it seems, I would
If I start this small debate
The centre of the universe is gone for sale
So my melody should fall
The tune is unimportant as I said before
If I could tell you how it seems, I would
03 Taxloss (07:02)
He'll be your taxloss lover from Liverpool
Taxloss lover if the truth be told
Taxloss lover still lives in the war
Taxloss lover touching 74
Come back to me
We want your money
Taxloss
We think you are stupid
We give you our money cos our assets are fluid yeah
We'll sell you down the river
Just remember that we said we'd deliver you
Sign on the line and we'll give you the money
and then you'll be mine and we'll fly somewhere sunny
and you'll quibble that our drivell seems unsatisfactory
You're a taxloss
Come back to me
We want your money taxloss
He's your taxloss lover and his nickname is Bert
Taxloss lover and he's always a flirt
Taxloss lover's into kinky sex
Taxloss lover wears a cracking dress
Taxloss
Mud rock
Junk pop
Chart hop
Mop top
Swap shop who'd you'd nick your cliche off
05 Wide Open Space (04:31)
I'm in a wide open space, I'm standing
I'm all alone and staring in to space
It's always quiet through my ceiling
The roof comes in and crashes in a daze
(Chorus)
I'm in a wide open space, it's freezing
You'll never get to heaven with a smile on your face from me
I'm in a wide open space, I'm staring
There's something quite bizzare I cannot see
I'm on the top of a hill, I'm lonely
There's someone here to shout to miles away
I could be back at my house, for I care
They do not hear me, it's the same old case
(Chorus x2)
06 Stripper Vicar (04:05)
Dear Mavis I'm compelled to write this letter
In the hope that you may soon be getting better
I've a feeling you should go and see a doctor
If you haven't then you know you really oughta
I was worried so I went to see the vicar
But before I could confess he first confessed to be a stripper
Dear Mavis it was very strange to see him
So I thought I'd write and ask your opinion
Should I grass on him, report him to the cardinal
Or wether I should egg him on to turn professional
If I dob on him they'll call him plastic scouser
But the only thing the stripper wears is plastic trousers
Mavis' opinion is all we really seek
Mavis' opinion is all we
Should we lie while he's still alive
Should we lie while he's still alive
'Cos when the vicar strips he gets away with it
Dear Mavis thought I'd follow up my letter
Drop a line about the fate of our poor vicar
Very tragically his time on earth is ended
Found him gagged and bound in stockings and suspenders
Dear Mavis if you tell us what our thoughts are
And I hope that they're not biased 'cos you are the vicar's daughter
Mavis' opinion is all we really seek
Mavis' opinion is all we
Should we lie now that he has died
Should we lie now that he has died
'Cos when the vicar strips he gets away with it
And we know him as our vicar
And by night a part-time stripper
And the vicar got suspended
In his stockings and suspenders
And he's making wine from water
While he dresses like his daughter
And we know that he's a rip off
'Cos we've seen him with his kit off
Should we lie now that he has died
Should we lie now that he has died
'Cos when the vicar strips he gets away with it
07 Disgusting (05:07)
You're the stranger in here, with your stanger face
You know that everyone can see it's false
Something's rotten with you, you show no regret
Like we all know that you're supposed to do
I hope you've changed the way you think
I hope you've changed the clothes you wear
I hope that you regret these things you say
I hope in time that things will change
I think you know that anyway
You've been disgraceful
It's so regretful
You're disgusting
You know you've been disgraceful
It's so regretful
You've been disgusting
You're the outcast here, you're the native of a place
You've moved and been excluded too
You create a tension, when we were the same
There was a pressure that would force you to
You're so full of venom that you'll spit into you're own sweet face, oh
Disgusting
Disgusting
You were disgusting
You know you've been disgusting
You're so regretful
08 She Makes My Nose Bleed (03:55)
She makes me bleed, oh yeah
She makes me cry
She makes me sneeze, oh yeah
She makes me sigh
(Bridge)
So bring her on down
Bring her on down from heaven
Bring her on down
Bring her on down from heaven
My only number must be must be
(Chorus)
Bring her on down by the souls of her feet
Slappin' around and making her bleed
I vowed to my god I'd give it all up
If he would bring her on down from heaven
She makes me bleed, oh yeah
Don't know her name
She makes me freeze, oh yeah
She's in my face
(Bridge)+(Chorus)
Bringe her on down by the souls of her feet
Slappin' around and making her bleed
I vowed to my god I'd give it all up
Don't know her name, don't know what she's done
(Chorus)
10 Egg Shaped Fred (04:11)
I'm sick of all this scratching around
I'm calling Fred to come and give me a hand
He's the queen of all the shops where he shops
And he's the king of all the scene, to be seen
Skinima nosebreak
Fatima toothpaste
Penelope cheapskate
Claudia farmgate
We're taking egg shaped Fred for tea
We'll make them sit strategically
We'll test their egg-ability
We'll make them meet
He only wants to get in your kecks
So he can carry out his own little test
He only wants to get in your pants
Because he knows that you have played in a band
Skinima nosebreak
Fatima toothpaste
Penelope cheapskate
Claudia farmgate
Mavis she knows
Mavis she knows
She's got all these things around her
All things to no men
She see you in hell
I'll go shopping instead
He will send his centipede to sort ya'
He stretched it out to make it two foot taller
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