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"It Still Moves" è la terza prova in studio della creatura di Jim James, vero deus ex machina dei My Morning Jacket. James, scrive i pezzi e produce il disco che esce per la ATO, label fondata da quel geniaccio di Dave Matthews, all'epoca del disco, costola della RCA. Oliati i circuiti, la macchina di Lousville sembra pronta a partorire il disco della maturità. Spicca su tutto una composizione che potremmo definire, "torrenziale".
Una tracklist di dodici pezzi, dieci dei quali hanno una durata compresa tra i cinque e i nove minuti. Arrangiamenti, dunque, articolati e con chiari riferimenti ad un retaggio musicale che spazia dal blues, all'hard rock classico, per arrivare a registri southern e alt-country. Nonostante James abbia deciso di ispirarsi ad uno spettro sonoro piuttosto ampio, la prova risulta densa e decisamente compatta (salvo qualche eccezione). Rari sono i momenti in cui, il lavoro di James e soci mostra il fianco; del resto, in un disco di oltre settanta minuti, sono accettabili dei momenti di stanca.
"Mahgeetah", testimonia la provenienza sudista del gruppo (Kentucky); traccia d'apertura del disco, ha chiaramente i connotati di una southern - song, intrisa di quella vena "alternative" che pervade il pentagramma dei "Jacket". "Dancefloors", sembra uscita direttamente dalle sessions di "Exile on Main St." degli Stones. Il sapiente utilizzo di una sezione di fiati, rende corale un pezzo dal finale travolgente. "Golden" (uno dei due pezzi a stare sotto i cinque minuti) è una ballad alt-country, con tanto di armonie vocali in perfetto stile country. "Master Plan", mostra un hard - rock energico che richiama il Neil Young di "Rust Never Sleep". Nulla viene lasciato al caso, James muove le redini facendo sapiente uso delle proprie conoscenze musicali. "One Big Holiday" è il pezzo che vale un'intera carriera, una di quelle canzoni destinate alla coverizzazione più sfrenata. Esecuzione e produzione impeccabili, arrangiamento da urlo, una rock song perfetta senza sbavature. Le riproposizioni di questo pezzo dal vivo mostrano un intreccio chitarristico, tra Jim James e Johnny Quaid, da brividi. L'eterea e chilometrica "I Will Sing You Songs" mostra come i My Morning Jacket abbiano imparato a destrutturare il formato canzone e ad utilizzare anche registri psichedelici. L'alt- ountry di "Easy Morning Rebel", diverte e trascina. L'alcoolica chitarra di "Run Thru" ricorda l'impareggiabile "Cortez the Killer", altro pezzo destinato a diventare un classico da concerto e inserito, dalla rivista Rolling Stones, tra le 100 performance chitarristiche migliori di sempre. Nella seconda parte, il pezzo si trasforma in un hard-rock sfrenato e trascinante, per poi tornare al tema dell'intro, mostrando le grandi capacità del gruppo a creare arrangiamenti, alternando più registri nella medesima canzone.
Un momento di stanca è rappresentato da "Rollin' Back", una ballata davvero troppo lunga e decisamente "lenta". Stanca dalla quale si salva "Just One Thing", con i suoi tre minuti di durata, il pezzo più breve dell'intero album. Una ballata anche questa, che si lascia piacevolmente ascoltare. "Just One Thing" e "One in the Same" chiudono l'album, non senza lasciare nell'ascoltatore l'idea che si poteva essere meno prolissi.
La trasbordante vena del gruppo e le tracce chilometriche non costituiscono una limitazione, ad esserlo è, semmai, la scelta di una scaletta troppo prolissa, alla quale, probabilmente, avrebbero giovato un paio di tagli. Con qualche messa a punto (arrivata con il successivo "Z") i My Morning Jacket dimostrano di poter stazionare nell'universo alternative americano, ricoprendo un ruolo di primissimo piano.
Elenco tracce testi samples e video
01 Mahgeetah (05:56)
Sittin' here with me and mine, all wrapped up in a bottle of wine
Little we can do... we gon' see it thru somehow
So... now are you ready to go? my lady
I been waitin' on the boat here I been waitin' so long
"Can he se me? does he feel me? does he know me at all?"
"Does it shiver? always deliver? does it know me at all?"
Bang! Bang! goes the night, all wrapped up in the firelight
Don't "rock bottom", just listen, just slow down
So... now are you ready to go, my lady?
I been waitin' on the boat here, I been waitin' so long...
02 Dancefloors (05:38)
daybreak. nightfall. long as I believe
there ain't nothing glowin like this skin you're showin
and the keys you gave to me
nightjails. poolhalls. some things are everywhere
so for the past I'm diggin a grave so big, it will swallow up the sea
oh I know... that it's easy... there's no trouble waitin for me
dancefloors. headlights. in my blood there's gasoline
for an urban boy on a dirty tour I never felt so clean
loaded questions in an automatic world
you just won't be seein the things you need,
as if you thought you would
oh I know... it's never easy... when there's trouble waitin for me
03 Golden (04:39)
"Watchin' this stretch of road,
Miles of light explode,
Driftin' off the thing I've never done before.
Watchin' the crowd roll in,
Out go the lights, It Begins.
Feeling in my bones I've never felt before.
People always told me,
That bars are dark & lonely,
And talk is often cheap & filled with air.
Sure sometimes it thrills me,
But nothing could ever chill me,
Like the way they make the time just disappear.
Feelin' you're here again,
Hard on my skin again,
Feelin' good a thing, I've never known before,
What does it mean to feel?
Millions of dreams come real,
Feeling in my soul I've never felt before.
And you, you always told me,
No matter how long it holds me,
If it falls apart or makes us millionaires,
We'll be right here forever,
Go through this thing together,
And on Heaven's Golden Shore, We'll lay our heads."
04 Master Plan (05:05)
I've got a masterplan babe,
I been workin on it from the start.
Pluggin in all of the numbers, watchin it on all of the charts.
Just cause it starts off slow babe,
Doesn't mean it don't have a heart.
You'll be walkin round showin off someday
And it'll take you right back to the start.
It's everything that you want babe.
It's everything that you need.
Soft and warm al the time, make you want it over and over.
Strong on the horizon,
But ends up bein really so sweet... oh so sweet.
Sometimes I wanna lay down babe.
Sometimes I wanna stand up and fight.
Sometimes it runs its course in a day.
Sometimes it goes for night after night.
Know that it will start off strong babe,
And it will end up weak in the end.
Just like the heart you break of a love babe,
Just like the hand you take of a friend.
It's everything that you want babe.
It's everything that you need.
Soft and warm all the time, make you want it over and over.
Strong on the horizon,
But ends up bein really so sweet... oh so sweet...
05 One Big Holiday (05:21)
"Wakin' up, feeling, Good & limber,
When the telephone, it ring.
Was a bad man from California,
Tellin' of a stone he'd bring.
And of, better days,
From this town, we'd escape,
If we, holler loud, and make our way,
We'd all live, One Big Holiday.
So we listened &, Up the river,
And recorded all the sounds,
Was some shakin' & some, record playing,
All the leather kids were loud."
08 Run Thru (05:45)
Oh shit run! oh shit run! oh shit run thru the ghetto.
They will hear you.
Mornin' bell tolls at home, rings loud back where I come from, calls me back.
Often times I would hope and pray, then faith came my way.
Oh shit run! oh..............
It's what appears to me, it's what appears to me.
Oh shit run! oh..............
It's what appears to me, it's wha appears to me.
It's what appears to me.
Ahhhhhhhh...................
09 Rollin Back (07:50)
just in the nick of time you got me... while I was sittin here
time I don't think I waste it, it just seems to disappear
sippin the wine you got me, while eyes were rollin back
long hours and hard hard things just bring heart attacks
oh oh oh you had me, wrapped up in your mystery...
when the light vanished from on high
oh I'll never say I knew you, but my heart can't wait
to meet you on the other side
when I think about the story. one thing seems pretty clear
the warm things you left behind they still want you here
but only in time you find... that all things come back around
and just like the frown, we'll turn them upside down
oh oh oh you had me. wrapped up in your mystery...
when the light vanished from on high
oh i'll never say I knew you
but my heart cant wait
to meet you no the other side.
11 Steam Engine (07:26)
So I do believe, none of this is physical
At least not to me
So, I do believe
That anywhere it goes
It's always with me
It's not the dream
That makes you weak
It's not the night that makes you sleep
But it's a voice, and it's a choice
To call you out, or stay at home
So, I do believe
None of this is physical
At least not to me
So I do believe
That anywhere it goes
It's always with me
It's not the beast, it's not the sheets
So soft and warm, all over me
But it's the touch, you need so much
To move around on this green earth
Take your money and your drugs
Take your money and your drugs
To anyone who wondered
What old jebus meant to me
Take him out to go diving
In red patoka sea
The brain melts in the twilight
With the boar and moving trees
Your skin looks good in moonlight
And Goddamn those shaky knees
The fact that my heart's beating
Is all the proof you need
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