• Voto:
La new wave è una musica spesso ermetica, quasi "sgradevole" ma ricca di intuizioni preziose e geniali, capace di fondere rock e avanguardia; sicuramente i Pere Ubu costituiscono un valido esempio di quanto detto: in bilico tra Velvet Underground e Captain Beefheart la band di Cleveland ha saputo esprimere un sound capace di padroneggiare il rumore senza timore con riferimenti frequenti anche alla psichedelia, al free-jazz e all'elettronica.
Con "The Modern Dance" (1978) gli Ubu esprimono la condizione di alienazione e angoscia dell'uomo nella società industriale (come appunto la città di Cleveland) che con i suoi spietati meccanismi economici e sociali determina l' inevitabile morte spirituale dell'individuo; la musica dei Pere Ubu assume caratteristiche paradossali: è sia espressione della rassegnazione umana e delle sue angosce ma allo stesso tempo è anche musica anarchica (espressione di ribellione) totalmente libera da schemi tonali, che si configura come opposizione alla presenza del rock all'interno di meccanismi industriali, come contestazione del rock in quanto moda e merce. "Non Alignment Pact" è un crossover di vocalizzi sguaiati , distorsioni elettroniche, chitarrismi ipnotizzanti e ritmi essenziali e primordiali; "Modern Dance" esprime al meglio i concetti di alienazione e delirio per mezzo di ritmi ossessivi e martellanti e grazie ad un utilizzo anti-estetico dell' elettronica che enfatizza il clima tragico e straniante del brano. Seminale anche l'apocalittica "Street Waves" che ripercorre le tematiche di "Modern Dance"; pregevoli anche le ermetiche ballate "Real world" e "Over my head" mentre "Laughing" testimonia la varietà del sound degli Ubu in cui confluiscono sonorità jazz e dissonanze psichedeliche. "Sentimental Journey" è un valido esempio di musica dadaista, musica intesa come rumore e baccano, ma mai fine a sè stesso in quanto ancora una volta capace di esprimere ottimamente le angosce e le contraddizioni della civiltà industriale.
La danza moderna dei Pere Ubu assume connotati turpi e tenebrosi, il suo unico scopo è quello di scavare all'interno dell'animo umano per portare in superficie le sue paure, i suoi deliri e le sue perversioni: il canto sgraziato di Thomas è la voce della disperazione e della follia che si leva quasi in modo irridente e cinico sullo sfondo di una civiltà apocalittica.
Elenco tracce testi samples e video
01 Non-Alignment Pact (03:19)
I wanna make a deal with you girl
and get it signed by the heads of state
I wanna make a deal with you girl
be recognized round the world
It's my nonalignment pact
Nonalignment pact
Sign it!
Nonalignment pact
At night I can see the stars on fire
I can see the world in flames
And it's all because of you
or your thousand other names
Peggy
Carrie Ann
and Betty Jean
Jill
Jan
Joan
and Sue
Alice
Cindy
Barbara Ann
It's all because of you
It's all because of you girl!
It's all because of you
It's all because of you girl!
Sign my nonalignment pact
Nonalignment pact!
It's my
nonalignment pact
02 The Modern Dance (03:29)
Down to the bus
into the town
our poor boy can't get around
Eight fifty-five
down at the show
she leaves early
He'll never know
Cuz our poor boy
believes in chance
he'll never get the modern dance
Under the door there's an eye on the place
He watches for the shadows race
Watch real close
Look real fast
He's in touch
It'll never last
Cuz our poor boy
believes in chance
he'll never get the modern dance
03 Laughing (04:37)
My baby says We can live in the empty spaces of this life My baby says Far away the stars are coming all undone My baby says My baby says, But that's far away and we're young My baby says And if the devil comes we'll shoot him with a gun My baby says We can live in the empty spaces of this life My baby says In the desert sands our hearts are brighter than the sun My baby says When the devil comes we'll shoot him with a gun My baby says My baby says, And if he shows his face we'll laugh
04 Street Waves (03:06)
I ride a street wave right by her side
and I can hear the city city comin round
The things I say hit the air and seem to fall apart
and I can see the faces faces fallin down
And then I'm
gone
gone
gone by her heart
I get a picture of what it'll be like
I turn the channel round to Channel 43
I see electricity jump and spark
I see electricity uh real and stark
And then I'm
gone
gone
gone by her heart
I ride a street wave right by her side
and I can hear the city city comin round
The things I say hit the air and seem to fall apart
and I can see the faces faces fallin down
And then I'm
gone
gone
gone by her heart
And then I'm
gone
gone
gone by her heart
05 Chinese Radiation (03:29)
He'll be the red guard
She'll be the new world
He'll wear his grey cap
and she'll wave her red book
He'll tell her
One way?
I want you all ways
One way
And then they'll sing
I was lost at sea
She was lost with me
Then across the broad horizon
out on the Big Waves
I saw it coming
I saw the red guard
I saw the new world
I saw the Big Wall
out on the Big Waves
Hooray!
(That's what I had to say)
Hooray!
We will purify
We must purify
For the sake of that security we all want
We will purify
He'll be the red guard
She'll be the new world
He'll wear his grey cap
She'll wave her red book
06 Life Stinks (01:53)
Life stinks
I'm seeing pink
I can't wink
I can't blink
I like the Kinks
I need a drink
I can't think
I like the Kinks
Life stinks
07 Real World (04:01)
Out in the Real World
(in Real Time)
City streets shine so brightly
Out in the Real World
(in Real Time)
Cindy makes a bad joke
Out in the Real World
(in Real Time)
Girlie Go Goodbye
Out in the Real World
(in Real Time)
Techniramic Heartache[TM]
Out in the Real World
(in Real Time)
What's that talk?
Girl talk!
Out in the Real World
(in Real Time)
I wander round
Okay!
Out in the Real World
(in Real Time)
Birdie Go Fly Fly
Bye Bye!
Out in the Real World
(in Real Time)
08 Over My Head (03:49)
It's pretty cute the way she tucks me in at dawn
And how I pray that I never should sin again
Uh oh
Here it comes
It's goin over my head
It's over my head
In the gas her eyes are imagined
And what she sees cannot be detected
It's over my head
That, she said, and that went by
This, she says, and this may too
Oh no
There it goes
It's over my head
09 Sentimental Journey (06:07)
Window
my size
Outside
monoxide
Inside
paradise
Curtain
no breeze
Motion
attraction
Here she comes
girl
She says
Why don't you just go home?
I don't know
I guess I'll go home
Motion
retraction
Down the hall
to the stairs
Down the stairs
to the street.
Down the street
to the corner
Round the corner
nowhere
Nowhere to go
I don't know
I guess I'll just go home
Motion
attraction
Table
chairs
tv
books
other stuff
Home
It's home
Window
my size
10 Humor Me (02:44)
Oh
It was the first thing that I saw
You never see that kind of Classical Girl
Understand
It was the first thing that I saw
That was fate
It was the ballistics!
No
that was fate
It was a world
What a world!
What a world?
What a big world
But a world to be drowned in
It's just a joke man!
Another day?
Well
SUFFER
for that's the way of the west
SUFFER
Oh
Oh it's a joke!
It's a joke
Oh
It's a JOKE
That's a joke?
Hunh-unh
Well
humor me
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Altre recensioni
Di kozelek
"The modern dance è la rappresentazione musicale dell'alienazione industriale."
"La title-track si sviluppa tra i clamori delle persone ed i rumori industriali delle macchine."
