Dopo la cosiddetta "prima trilogia" -costituita da "Ten", "Vs" e "Vitalogy"- i Pearl Jam si erano definitivamente consacrati come uno tra i più grandi gruppi rock degli anni Novanta. Dopo tre simili capolavori, si poteva essere legittimamente incuriositi verso il futuro: adesso cosa sfornerà la band di Eddie Vedder e soci? Nel 1996, due anni dopo "Vitalogy", i Pearl Jam diedero la loro risposta: "No Code".
Quest'album non è come i precedenti, è qualcosa di... diverso. A parer mio, è un punto d'arrivo, sia perché, ascoltando la voce della sperimentazione, i Pearl Jam ottengono risultati artistici di livello notevole, sia perché da qui in avanti la band di Seattle conoscerà il suo declino (pur continuando a produrre lavori di qualità). Le atmosfere dei primi dischi vengono smorzate, ovattate, il gruppo si apre a strumenti nuovi, quali la sitar di "Who You Are" e la fisarmonica di "Smile". Insomma, la voglia di stupire ancora una volta c'è, a costo di lasciare scontenti i fan più intransigenti e ancorati al passato.
"No Code" si apre con "Sometimes", che, dopo aver ammorbato l'ascoltatore col basso di Jeff Ament, conduce a un brano vecchio stile, "Hail Hail". Si continua con la sopraccitata "Who You Are", che si regge su pochi rilassanti accordi che placano il furore del pezzo precedente; "In My Tree", poi, permette al nuovo batterista Jack Irons di dar sfoggio di tutta la sua bravura. Dopo "Smile", in cui la chitarra elettrica si fonde con la fisarmonica, si arriva a uno dei capolavori del disco: "Off He Goes", splendida ballata acustica dal ritmo lento, impreziosita dalla voce di Eddie (ma quale canzone non lo è?). Il tempo di altri tre brani -l'indiavolato "Habit", "Red Mosquito", dove si sente l'influenza di Neil Young, e il velocissimo "Lukin"-e si giunge a "Present Tense": secondo la mia modesta opinione, un capolavoro assoluto. Musica, testo, struttura... da brividi. Il chitarrista Stone Gossard scalda l'ugola-in maniera giusto passabile, per i miei gusti- nella successiva "Mankind"; "I'm Open" comincia tenebrosa col parlato di Eddie per essere poi pervasa da un'atmosfera "solenne". Il disco si conclude con la deliziosa ninnananna "Around The Bend", dedicata alla figlia di Irons.
Essendo una svolta nella ricerca musicale dei Pearl Jam, "No Code" richiede molto probabilmente di essere ascoltato più volte perché possa essere apprezzato: la prima volta che l'ho sentito pensavo fosse spazzatura, ora è uno dei miei album preferiti. La qualità resta alta: i Pearl Jam l'hanno semplicemente incanalata attraverso nuove vie. Da scoprire.
Elenco tracce testi samples e video
01 Sometimes (02:40)
Large fingers pushing paint...
You're God and you got big hands.
Colors blend... the challenges you give, man.
Seek my part, devote myself.
My small self like a book amongst the many on a shelf.
Sometimes I know, sometimes I rise.
Sometimes I fall, sometimes I don't.
Sometimes I cringe, sometimes I live.
Sometimes I walk, sometimes I kneel.
Sometimes I speak of nothing at all.
Sometimes I reach to myself, dear God.
02 Hail, Hail (03:41)
Ah, is there room for both of us?
Both of us apart?
Are we bound out of obligation?
Is that all we've got?
I get the words and then I get to thinking.
I don't wanna think, I wanna feel.
How do I feel?
How do I?
If you're the only one, will I never be enough, yeah.
Hail, hail the lucky ones.
I refer to those in love, yeah.
Oh, how I'd love you till the day I die... and beyond.
Are we going to the same place?
If so, can I come?
It's egg rolling, thick and heavy.
All the past we carry.
Oh, I could be new.
You under-estimate me.
If you're the only one, will I never be enough, yeah.
Hail, hail the lucky ones.
I refer to those in love, yeah.
I sometimes realize I could only be as good as you'll let me.
Are you woman enough to be my man?
Bandaged hand in hand.
Black lining,
On the run in a race that can't be won, yeah.
Oh, hail, hail the lucky ones.
I refer to those in love, yeah.
If you're my only one...
So good, you, only one...
I want to be your one...
Enough, you won, your one, your one...
04 In My Tree (03:59)
Up here in my tree, yeah.
Newspapers matter not to me, yeah.
No more crowbars to my head, yeah.
I'm trading stories with the leaves instead, yeah.
Wave to all my friends, yeah.
They don't seem to notice me, no.
All their eyes trained on the street, yo, oh.
Sidewalks, cigarettes, and scenes... tempted.
Up here so high I start to shake.
Up here so high the sky I scrape.
I'm so high I hold just one breath here within my chest, just like innocence.
Eddie's down in his home.
Oh, the blue sky, it's his home.
Eddie's blue sky home.
Oh, the blue sky, it's his home.
I remember when, yeah,
I swore I knew everything, oh yeah.
Let's say knowledge is a tree, yeah.
It's growing up just like me, yeah.
I'm so light, the wind he shakes.
I'm so high, the sky I scrape.
I'm so light I hold just one breath and go back to my nest, sleep with innocence.
Up here so high, the boughs they break.
Up here so high, the sky I scrape.
Had my eyes peeled both wide open,
And I got a glimpse of my innocence.
Got back my inner sense.
Baby, got it, still got it.
05 Smile (03:52)
Don't it make you smile?
Don't it make you smile?
When the sun don't shine? (Shine at all...)
Don't it make you smile?
Don't it make you smile?
Don't it make me smile?
When the sun don't shine, it don't shine at all.
Don't it make me smile?
I miss you already... I miss you always.
I miss you already... I miss you all day.
This is how I feel..
I miss you already... I miss you always.
Three crooked hearts and swirls all around... I miss you all day.
Three crooked hearts and swirls all around, yeah.
Don't it make you smile?
Don't it make you smile?
Three crooked hearts and swirls all around.
07 Habit (03:35)
Seen it happen to a couple of friends.
See it happen and the message it sends.
Taking off for what's an obvious fall.
Just to see what all the fuss is about.
It's not your way.
Not your way.
It's not your way.
Another habit says it's in love with you.
Another habit says it's love's overdue.
Another habit like an unwanted friend.
I'm so happy with my righteous self.
It's not your way.
Not your way.
It's not your way.
Never thought you'd habit.
Never thought you'd habit.
Never thought you'd habit.
I never thought you'd... never thought you'd...
Never thought you'd habit.
Never thought you'd habit.
Never thought you'd habit.
I never thought you'd... never never thought you'd...
Never thought you'd habit.
Never thought you'd habit.
Never thought you'd habit.
Never thought you'd habit.
Never thought you'd habit.
Never thought you'd habit.
Speaking as a child of the 90's...
Never thought you'd habit.
Never thought you'd habit.
Never thought you'd habit.
I never thought you... Never thought you.
Never thought you'd habit.
Never thought you'd habit.
Never thought you'd habit.
I never thought you... Never never thought you.
Never... Never me. Never you. Never me.
08 Red Mosquito (04:03)
Watched from the window with a red mosquito,
I was not allowed to leave the room.
I saw the sun go down, and now it's comin' up,
Somewhere in the time between.
I was bitten, must have been the devil,
He was just payin' me a little visit,
A-reminding me of his presence,
Lettin' me know he's a-waitin' for me...
Red man's your neighbor, call it behavior,
While you're climbing up slippery hills,
Two steps ahead of him, punctures in your neck,
Hoverin' just above your bed...
Hoverin' just above your bed...
I was bitten, must have been the devil,
He was just payin' me a little visit,
A-reminding me of his presence,
Lettin' me know he's a-waitin', he's a-waitin' for me.
If I had known then what I know now...
09 Lukin (01:02)
Drive down the street can't find the keys to my own fucking home.
I'll take a walk so I could curse my ass for being dumb.
I'll make a right, after the arches, stinking grease and bone.
Stopped at the supermarket people stare like I'm a dog.
I'm going to Lukin's.
I've got a spot at Lukin's.
I knocked the door at Lukin's.
Open the fridge. Now I know life is worth.
I found the key but I return to find an open door.
Some fucking freak who claims I fathered, by rape, her own son.
I find my wife, I call the cops, this days work's never done.
The last I heard that freak was purchasing a fucking gun.
10 Present Tense (05:46)
Do you see the way that tree bends?
Does it inspire?
Leaning out to catch the sun's rays.
A lesson to be applied.
Are you getting something out of this all-encompassing trip?
You can spend your time alone redigesting past regrets, oh.
Or you can come to terms and realize,
You're the only one who can't forgive yourself, oh.
Makes much more sense to live in the present tense.
Have you ideas on how this life ends?
Checked your hands and studied the lines.
Have you ever believed that the road ahead ascends off into the light?
Seems that needlessly it's getting harder
To find an approach and a way to live.
Are we getting something out of this all-encompassing trip?
You can spend your time alone redigesting past regrets, oh.
Or you can come to terms and realize,
You're the only one who can't forgive yourself, oh.
Makes much more sense to live in the present tense.
11 Mankind (03:28)
You'll be...
Going out with radio.
Going out with disco.
Going out like bacchanal.
I'll be...
Going out with telephone
Going out alone.
To the radar zone.
It's all just inadvertent imitation,
And I don't mean mine.
It's all across this nation.
If it's just inadverdent simulation,
A pattern in all mankind,
What's got the whole world fakin' it?
I'll be...
Playing with my magazine.
Using up my Listerine.
Like Ovaltine.
And you'll be...
Dipping in your battleship.
For the latest tip.
For the latest dream.
It's all just inadvertent imitation,
And I don't mean mine.
It's all across this nation.
If it's just inadverdent simulation,
A pattern in all mankind,
What's got the whole world fakin' it?
If it's just inadvertent imitation,
A pattern in all mankind,
What's got the whole world fakin' it?
What's got the whole world fakin'?
What's got the whole world fakin'?
What's got the whole world fakin'?
What's got the whole world fakin'?
What's got the whole world fakin'?
What's got the whole world fakin' it, yeah?
12 I'm Open (02:57)
A man lies in his bed in a room with no door.
He waits hoping for a presence, something, anything, to enter.
After spending half his life searching, he still felt as blank as the ceiling at which he stared.
He is alive, but feels absolutely nothing.
So is he?
When he was six, he believed that the moon over head followed him.
By nine, he had deciphered the allusion, trading magic for fact.
No trade backs.
So this is what it's like to be an adult.
If he only knew now what he knew then.
I'm open.
I'm open.
Come on in, come on in.
Come on in, come on in.
I'm open.
I'm open.
Come on in, come on in.
Come on in, come on in.
Lying sideways atop crumpled sheets with no covers.
He decides to dream, dream up a new self for himself.
Carico i commenti... con calma
