"I Men At Work erano un gruppo australiano che raggiunse uno straordinario successo sulla scia dei Police. Il loro cocktail di Reggae, Rock, New-Wave, che riprendeva abilmente il primo, fresco sound di Sting & Co., li aveva portati a vendere nella sola America oltre quindici milioni di dischi, con i loro album "Business As Usual" e "Cargo". Il sound dei Men At Work era così simile a quello dei Police prima maniera, che la stampa internazionale riesumò la storica rivalità tra Beatles e Rolling Stones..."
Questo è quanto ho trovato scritto, come piccola digressione, su un libretto dedicato a Police uscito nel luglio 1990.
I Men At Work si formarono in Australia nel 1979, a Melbourne, su impulso del cantante e chitarrista Colin James Hay, nato in Scozia il 29 giugno 1953 ed emigrato in Australia all'età di quattordici anni assieme alla sua famiglia. Attorno a questo leader carismatico si riuniscono Greg Ham (coetaneo di Colin), suonatore di flauto, sax ed altri strumenti, Ron Strykert (classe 1957), chitarra solista e voce, il bassista John Rees e il drummer Jerry Speiser.
Firmano per il colosso internazionale CBS e pubblicano negli States il loro debut album nell'agosto del 1982, intitolandolo ironicamente "Business As Usual" (da una frase di Winston Churchill): l'album esplode nelle chart internazionali, trainato da due singoli di successo quali "Who Can It Be Now" e "Down Under".
Di fronte a questo fenomeno Pop-Rock la stampa musicale avverte il bisogno di inventare fiabe e novelle per spiegare il successo del disco, perciò arrivano i primi paragoni con gli autori di "Message In A Bottle", ma la realtà è che il deus ex machina Colin Hay aveva notevoli capacità come songwriter, attingendo dal filone giusto per creare piccole grandi gemme Pop-Rock spensierate, senza fini politici dirompenti, private di qualsiasi riferimento polemico.
Quindi troviamo in questo "Business As Usual" undici pezzi orecchiabili, perfino ballabili, senza innovazioni particolari di sound, ma con una bellissima misura. Come l'opener "Who Can It Be Now" che presenta già gli ingredienti del suono di questi cinque aussie: batteria asciutta e precisa, un bassista lineare, un sassofonista ispirato ed un chitarrista, Ron Strykert, che dietro le quinte (solo questa volta) riprende il sound Rock di "Reggatta De Blanc", ma in maniera più compassata, senza mettersi sopra gli altri strumenti; il tutto coeso dalla voce calda ed unica di Colin Hay, capace di creare tonalità soffuse, di salire quando occorre, senza strafare, con un timbro inconfondibile: i Men At Work sono un gruppo Rock a tutto tondo, anche grazie alla bravura di Greg Ham, una risorsa musicale in più che dispensa suoni di piffero e anche ottime svisate al sax.
Il pezzo "Down Under" col passare degli anni diventerà un secondo inno nazionale australiano, come nella chiusura delle Olimpiadi di Sidney 2000 con trentaquattromila persone a cantare nella canzone icona dei Men at Work, dedicata alla nazione d'origine.
C'è spazio per un brano punk come "Helpless Automaton", firmato da Ham, che si segnala per il ritmo della batteria simile a quello di Lol Tohlrust dei Cure: sembra di sentire "10:15 Saturday Night" accelerata. "Catch A star" è un brano Reggae dominato dalla voce di Colin Hay ma anche dalla sei corde spumeggiante di Strykert. Occorre precisare però come siano le coordinate sonore dell'album a rimembrare la terra dei canguri, le piccole pennate di chitarra che evocano il sole a picco oppure i fiati che forniscono quel flavour esotico che permea pure la dolciastra canzonetta "People Just Love To Play With Words", l'unico punto debole dell'album.
Un momento riflessivo è affidato alla track di chiusura "Down By The Sea", una ballata sottomarina caratterizzata da un cantato pacato ed un ritmo lento, quasi a voler evocare i fondali oceanici, grazie alla chitarra in souplesse e al sax sfuggente. Il sigillo più alto del disco è però "Touching The Untouchables", impreziosita dal cantato solenne, in una strofa simile addirittura a Mark Knopfler, e dal sax bizzarro, mai banale.
I nostri cinque rockers non sono degli assi degli strumenti tipo Stewart Copeland o Andy Summers, pur essendo bravi e capaci, nemmeno possono contare su una capacità compositiva come quella di Sting per l'arco di cinque album coi Police. Sono però dotati di garbo, gusto per la forma canzone semplice, ludica, che fa divertire la gente in qualsiasi posto si trovi, perfino in discoteca. Se Colin Hay avesse avuto una folgorante carriera solista (come lo Sting "Tartaruga Blu") i Men At Work sarebbero entrati ai pascoli alti della storia della musica Rock, sopratutto ricordati dalla gente.
"Business As Usual" non ha mutato il corso della musica popolare, ma opere come questa, nel panorama Pop-Rock degli anni '80, sono indimenticabili. L'album è stato pure ristampato con due canzoni live: "Underground" e "Who Can It Be Now"; ci sono pure due inediti: "Crazy" divertente Rock 'n' Roll scanzonato, e lo strumentale "F19".
I "Lavori In Corso" continuano.
Elenco tracce testi e video
02 I Can See It in Your Eyes (03:33)
By your leave, I think that I'll be going now
I think I've stayed a little long
I looked up all my mother's recipes
I can't think what I did wrong
We go to a restaurant, but you don't like wine
You say it's love you want, but there is no time
I realize, I can see it in your eyes
You keep staring at the floor
I used to look at your school photographs
But I don't have them anymore
I wonder who's in my old college rooms
Or stuck on my old locker door
I dream of the ships at sea, on a stormy night
I wish that it was me, but I wake in fright
I realize, I can see it in your eyes
I've only got myself to blame
Winter kisses when your lips were blue
Like chasing wild geese in the snow
Pressing faces on the window panes
But that's a long long time ago
We go to a restaurant
You say it's love you want
I realize, I can see it in your eyes
You're moving on to something more
03 Down Under (03:46)
Travelling in a fried-out Kombi
On a hippie trail, head full of zombie
I met a strange lady, she made me nervous
She took me in and gave me breakfast
And she said
"Do you come from a land down under
Where women glow and men plunder
Can't you hear, can't you hear the thunder
You better run, you better take cover."
Buying bread from a man in Brussels
He was six foot four and full of muscle
I said, "Do you speak-a my language?"
He just smiled and gave me a Vegemite sandwich
And he said
"I come from a land down under
Where beer does flow and men chunder
Can't you hear, can't you hear the thunder
You better run, you better take cover."
Lying in a den in Bombay
Slack jaw, not much to say
I said to the man, "Are you trying to tempt me
Because I come from the land of plenty?"
And he said
"Oh! Do you come from a land down under (oh yeah yeah)
Where women glow and men plunder
Can't you hear, can't you hear the thunder
You better run, you better take cover."
04 Underground (03:08)
Don't take the fire from your eyes
Must make them feel the heat
They build castles underground for the rich and politic elite
Keep all the home fires burning,
Don't let the lights go out
The streets are empty, and there's nobody about.
We'll be alright in the morning time, yeah
We're doing fine, I'll see you on the night line
There's no need for you to fight, boys,
Hang up all your guns
Find your mask and as best as you can, get ready to run
Keep all the food lines moving,
Don't come cry'n' for more
The signs were there, you should have bought connections before
We'll be alright in the morning time, yeah
We're doing fine, I'll see you on the nightline
It's such a big joke
It's the talk of the town
All the planets to whom I spoke
Are trying their best to play it down
Don't take the fire from your eyes
Must make them feel the heat
But my head's unsteady
I can't seem to keep my feet
We'll be alright in the morning time, yeah
We're doing fine, I'll see you on the nightline
Jump off the Eiffel Tower
Just have a look around
Move fast, in the tunnels of the underground
Move fast, in the tunnels of the underground
Let's go!
05 Helpless Automaton (03:24)
I stay in my room,
All alone in the gloom,
What need I of light?
Machines they can see in the night,
And I feel no pain
Metal heart and a metal brain,
But something is wrong
'cause I still feel that signal coming in so
I stand at your door,
I guess I'll wait a moment more
Your hall light comes on
And now my turn to fire upon
But I wheel away
Defer my plight, for another day
To dream of your face
But a video scren takes its place
Hey, oh it's true
I'm a helpless automaton, Make an ultimatum to you
Hey, it's true
Machin'ry in my pocket, I've even got a docket from you
I went to the man, I told him a robot is what I am,
But he just smiled, said I was a fractious child
"Distrusted not Rusted" That's why I feel so disgusted
But I know he's wrong, 'cause I haven't felt this way for very long
Hey, it's true,
I'm a helpless automaton, make an ultimatum to you
Hey, it's true
Machin'ry in my pocket, I've even got a docket from you
I'm a helpless automaton, make an ultimatum to you
Hey, it's true
Machin'ry in my pocket, I've even got a docket from you
It's true
I'm a helpless automaton, make an ultimatum to you
Hey, it's true
Machin'ry in my pocket, I've even got a docket from you
from you
from you
07 Be Good Johnny (03:39)
Skip de skip, up the road
Off to school you go
"Don't you be a bad boy Johnny
Don't you slip up
Or play the fool"
"Oh no Ma, Oh no Da,
I'll be your golden boy
I will obey ev'ry golden rule"
Get told by the teacher
Not to day-dream
Told by my mother:
Be good Be good
Be good be good be good
Be good be good be good be good (johnny)
Be good be good
Be good be good be good
Be good be good be good
Be good be good be good
Be good (johnny)
Be good be good.
"Are you going to play football this year, John?"
"Nah!"
"Oh, well you must be going to play cricket this year then,
are you Johnny?"
"Nah! nah! nah!"
"Boy, you sure are a funny kid, Johnny, but I like you! So tell me,
what kind of a boy are you, John?"
I only like dreaming
All the day long
Where no one is screaming
Be good be good
Be good be good be good
Be good be good be good be good (johnny)
Be good be good
Be good be good be good
Be good be good be good
Be good be good be good
Be good be good be good
Be good be good be good
Be good be good be good
Be good be good be good
be good be good be good
be good be good be good
be good be good be good
Johnny!
08 Touching the Untouchables (03:42)
Hello to you, my sweet young friends
Have you got money perhaps you could lend?
I wash my leather face in the afternoon sun
My shirt's turn my time's near done
Touching the untouchables but they don't know
Respect the disrespectables, but in the end you know
You turn away, what can I say?
Spend my nights in the telephone booth
I make sure I leave the phone off the hook
There are no Jones' and I pay no rent
I have to stand straight because my back's so bent
Tell my secretary I ain't takin' any calls,
And if you want to find me, just ask the boys...
Down at the wall...That's where I'll be...
Oh...
Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh
Park bench and cigarettes
Can you help me get off this fence?
Can't you see, I'm just an old man
Tryin' hard, do what I can
Touching the untouchables but they don't know
Repect the disrespectables, but in the end you know
You turn away, what can I say?
You'll never, never know
You'll never know
09 Catch a Star (03:32)
Experience babe, kickin' stones and cans
Experience babe, cigarette-stained hands
It's not too late, hear it in the wind
It's not too late, feel passion creepin' in
Intoxication, familiar smells of the hotels
Infatuation, of knowing who you are
You and I, You and I, You and I,
Arrow through my heart,
Catch a star.
Isolation, rows and rows of cars
Isolation, like Jupiter and Mars
Staring faces, set in celluloid
Welcome to the late show, starring Null and Void
Complications, things get in the way
Sweet sensation of knowing you are near and not too far
You and I, You and I, You and I,
Arrow through my heart
Catch a star.
You and I, You and I, You and I,
Freeway through your heart
Catch a star.
Catch a star!
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