Che tipo strano e unico Pete Townshend: unanimemente considerato tra i grandi chitarristi caposcuola inglesi... lo è senz'altro, ma con incredibili limiti in fase solistica, a riguardo proprio di tocco e destrezza, nei quali è praticamente al livello di un ragazzotto quasi alle prime armi. Per uno che ha passato sessant'anni con lo strumento addosso, registrando decine di dischi e suonando migliaia di concerti, ciò è sorprendente: una vera idiosincrasia! E' un fatto che Townshend abbia bisogno di suonare le corde almeno tre alla volta (ossia suonare una ritmica) per essere un grande.
Altra caratteristica estrema del nasuto Pete è il contrasto fra la sua popolare immagine fisica ed epidermica di musicista rumoroso e spettacolare, prototipo ed esempio per tutti i rocker, schizofrenicamente parallela al complesso e soffertissimo suo travaglio mentale, per certo derivato da grandi traumi giovanili e mai risolto negli anni, malgrado il successo artistico, l'agiatezza economica, il conforto religioso delle dottrine orientali (accostate e fatte proprie sin dai giovanili anni sessanta e mai più lasciate), le tante canzoni ed opere rock prodotte, nelle cui liriche sono magistralmente veicolati i malesseri, le irrisolutezze, le paure, le delusioni, le depressioni del nostro.
Townshend eponimo dell'artista tormentato e paranoico allora, ben lungi dalla classica rockstar tutta ego e testosterone, indaffarata a gozzovigliare, scopare, spendere e spandere, insomma godersi egocentricamente e senza remore i privilegi del ruolo; un autentico cantautore, macerato e fardelloso come neanche i più tetri colleghi italici anni settanta, colla differenza che lui ci aggiungeva poderose schitarrate in stile windmill (spettacolare mulinamento del braccio a trecentosessanta gradi, a colpire le corde con inusitata violenza e compattezza), incredibili salti sul palco, ma soprattutto progressioni armoniche e melodiche da manuale, energia ritmica a livelli atomici, lucida abilità di arrangiamento, esemplificata ad esempio da un accostamento al mondo dei sintetizzatori personalissimo e brillante.
L'intricata personalità artistica di Pete richiede uno sforzo notevole per essere penetrata ed effettivamente accettata. Nei suoi album da solista non c'è la voce di Roger Daltrey ad appagare la passione per il rock ben cantato, da ormai tanti anni a questa parte manca pure il genio melodico/ritmico del basso di John Entwistle a dare incredibile valore aggiunto ai due solisti, per non parlare dell'irruente ed unico tambureggiamento di Keith Moon, passato ad altri mondi ben trentacinque anni fa. Townshend qui è l'unico protagonista e allora tocca beccarsi le sue depressioni, il suo dispiacere rivolto alla moglie da cui si è appena separato ("I'm Afraid", bellissima), l'eterna lotta contro la bottiglia di cognac, il patema di non essere stato un buon padre per i propri figli e tante altre eterne insicurezze.
Quest'opera è l'esempio più lampante dell'artista che lavora per sé stesso, per raccontarsi senza filtri, solo in un secondo momento sperando che ciò possa essere effettivamente rappresentato in teatri e stazioni radio, insomma avere successo: costituisce in effetti un musical, pensato per la radio ed il teatro, registrato e pubblicato su disco con tutta la farcitura di dialoghi e personaggi protagonisti della storia, sovrapposti alla musica che così perde i suoi connotati di raccolta di canzoni e passa al ruolo subalterno, se non di colonna sonora, quantomeno di racconto musicato.
Tale racconto riguarda una rockstar invecchiata (e chi mai sarà?), che decide di isolarsi dal mondo rimanendo in contatto solo col suo manager, con una giornalista cinica e opportunista e infine con una fan devota e ingenua. Sono questi i personaggi principali della vicenda, mentre l'alter ego di Pete è descritto a rimuginare, dolersi, arrabbiarsi, rivendicare la sua unicità ("English Boy").
"Psycoderelict" fece un notevole buco nell'acqua, inevitabile data la confezione altamente non commerciale specie per i non anglofoni. Per questa ragione fu in seguito pubblicata anche una più accessibile versione "Music Only", con diversa copertina, che consiglio sicuramente... si perde lo spirito dell'opera voluta da Townshend, ma emerge con forza il valore assoluto di alcuni brani...dopotutto è in azione uno dei più grandi compositori di musica popolare contemporanea.
L'insuccesso del disco spinse l'autore a soprassedere per sempre con le opere a suo nome, dedicandosi da quel momento in poi solo alle rentrée con gli Who, in sostanza alla celebrazione del lato più popolare e accettato della sua carriera, con l'eccezione di "Endless Wire", l'album accreditato al gruppo del 2006 ma costituito per buona parte da un ulteriore sviluppo della storia di "Psycoderelict", beninteso con Pete e non il riottoso Daltrey alla voce solista. Il buon Roger, personaggio virile e pragmatico, decisamente più stabile e risolto, ha sempre dovuto impegnarsi a fondo nell'"entrare" nei personaggi e nelle liriche spesso pessimistiche e depresse create dal suo geniale, ma non poco introiato partner.
La versione originale dell'opera è per chi ama e rispetta fino in fondo le espressioni artistiche, quella "music only" per chi vuole ascoltare del rock e delle canzoni, senza badare troppo al loro messaggio.Elenco tracce testi e video
02 Meher Baba M3 (03:39)
'''CROWD:'''
''We demand a universal Grid! We demand a universal Grid!
We demand a universal Grid! We demand a universal Grid!''
'''RAY:'''
''ID - Ray High, Gridlife Chronicles. November the tenth, 1992. I'm working on my own in here, going over some old music I did in 1970. It's got something, something special. I could really dream then. It ain't such a bad dream either.''
'''RAY:'''
''I've been completely degraded by chasing publicity. Degraded! Yeah, I'll never go back. I know too much, I know how it's done. I can't discover it all over again, make it seem new.''
'''RASTUS:'''
''You're great, Ray. You know that, man. Here, hold up. This is the place.''
'''RAY:'''
''What? Can't go in here. That bloody cow Ruth Streeting uses this club. She hates my guts.''
'''RASTUS:'''
''It's her job to hate your guts; she's a journalist. It's nothing personal. Oh sod it, I forgot, of course she won't be here. She's in the States. Oh c'mon, well let's go in anyway. We've got to get back in the mainstream sometime. Come on, you own shares in the place.''
'''RAY:'''
''That cow wrote that I'm ugly.''
'''RASTUS:'''
''Well, you are ugly.''
'''RAY:'''
''I'm not.''
'''RASTUS:'''
''Yes, you are.''
'''RAY:'''
''No, I'm not!''
'''RASTUS:'''
''Well, you are, actually.''
'''RAY:'''
''Oh bollocks. Oh, let's go in.''
05 Early Morning Dreams (03:06)
You are safe from harm on the grid
You are safe from harm
This is the dream that I wake up dreaming
Lovin' my lover under dawn-pink skies
A perfect design that I wake up scheming
What I recall when I first open my eyes
This is the tune that you're always hearing
What you'll remember when you've broken the ties
We're dancing together as the sun is appearing
Again and again you awake in surprise
Early morning dreams
You feel so tender-you feel so wet
You feel so secure so deep in love and yet the feeling is fleeting
You're a fugitive, safe at last
Your heart is beating
Will you relive the recent past?
Early morning dreams come true
I've proved it now that I'm here with you
You are here by my side
I'm siding with you
Early morning dreams come true
06 I Want That Thing (04:03)
Ruth's radio show
RUTH: Well, would you believe that after my mention of Ray High last week he's been seen out and about in the big city. Until now Ray's been locked away struggling with a follow-up to his last mega-excess. But rumor was he couldn't even open a bottle without a drink inside him. There was talk of a nervous breakdown. He's even got up the nose of his sexy manager. Poor old Rastus Knight now has a challenged coke habit. I've always had a soft spot for Rastus, and I've often seen him looking at it. While I was away in 'Frisco, I hear Ray went into my club and sat at my table. Why thanks Ray, that put an end to happy hour. Why my place anyway, Ray? Nobody there who's anybody cares two filo faxes about peace and love. I heard about you Mr. Stinking - rich, has - been , rodent ,drinking vintage Krug as though it was two bob a bottle. I'll be watching out for you.
Free ride to the house of life
Free ride to the house of life
Free ride to the house of life
Free ride to the house of life
Free ride to the house of life
Free ride
I work hard at my job
I save and I save
I know what I deserve
After all that I gave
You know I want that thing
You know I want that thing
Put aside a little money
Almost every day
When I think that I'm close
It just gets further away
You know I want that thing
I want that thing
Free ride to the house of life
I want that thing
Free ride to the house of life
I want that thing
Free ride to the house of life
I want that thing
Don't know if it's truth
Don't know if it's lies
I just can't be aloof
To what you advertise
You know I want that thing
I want that thing
I can't wait
Any longer to choose
If I can't get my own
Gonna have to take yours from youze
I want that thing
I want it, I want it, I really want that thing
Free ride to the house of life-I want that thing
Free ride to the house of life-I want that thing
Free ride to the house of life-I want that thing
Free ride to the house of life-I want that thing
Free ride I wanna free ride
SPINNER: I've planned an alternative. I will secretly commandeer one of the Gridlife studios and stage a live rock concert for every single person wearing Grid suits. That's fifty percent of the world's population. The result will be amazing. Everyone who experiences the concert will slip out of their suit and come to the show. They will be drawn to it. This will produce the biggest live concert audience in history.
_____________________
07 Outlive the Dinosaur (04:23)
I breathe
My throat clenches
Clutching to exclude
A dozen different stenches
In Falmouth Bay
A blue whale rolls
Gonna drown in the swill
From city sewer holes
Summers longer
Deltas gashed
Ancient trees
Uprooted, smashed
Time is generous-more, take more
Time is generous-more, take more
Time is generous-more, take more
I must outrun the dinosaur
RAY: As to your question about how this will affect your career, the great artist is just like a child, and intuitively understands the need to submit to the audience. Do you begin to see the secret?
A silent temple
Marble-hard
Decays and softens
Battle-scarred
A relic deaf
To bits and streams
And polo-necks
And perfect jeans
Obsessed with silence
Spiked by noise
I hold my son
I plan his toys
Time expansive-more, take more
Time expansive-more, take more
Time expansive-more, take more
I must outlive the dinosaur
RAY: Lastly, you must be prepared to test yourself. Why not try the song I have enclosed? It's an outtake from a secret project I'm working on called "Gridlife". The tape you sent shows you can sing, so ... sing.
Rising rivers
Drown new shoots
Words and breath
In death cahoots
The strong survive
To wean more brutes
Who grow and seed
Extend their roots
Cowards, bombs
And scab recruits
Like monkeys trapped
In monkey suits
Time is plentiful-more, take more
Time is plentiful-more, take more
Time is plentiful-more, take more
I must outfight the dinosaur
Time is plentiful-more, take more (Take some more)
Time is plentiful-more, take more (There's plenty more)
Time is plentiful-more, take more (Just take some more)
Time is plentiful-more, take more
Time is plentiful-more, take more (Ah.....take)
Time is plentiful-more, take more ( Take some more)
Time is plentiful-more, take more,
more take more, more take more
Take more
Take more
09 I Am Afraid (04:22)
Um, I'll see you tomorrow. I might be a bit late, but I will be there this time. Uh, so, call me back tonight. Anyway ... OK?
I stand beside you
I face the future
I'll admit to you
I am afraid
I am afraid
As I stand beside you
I have denied you
I am afraid
I am not drunk now
I am not pilled down
My windows wound down
I am not brainwashed
I am not running
I am not hiding
My bet's still riding
I am afraid
I swing you high-o
I swing you low-a
I see your eye-o
I see you grow-a
I hear you crying
Your brother's dying
Be no more lying
I am afraid
Ruth's radio show
RUTH: Well, who'd have thought it? Thanks to my expose, all hell broke loose for Ray High as the "Porno Pen Pal" story burst upon us this week. It started harmlessly enough when pretty American fifteen-year-old Rosalind Nathan wrote to her pop hero, Ray High.
I am afraid
As I stand beside you
I have denied you
I am afraid
I stand beside you
I face the future
I'll admit to you
I am afraid
By my religion
I stand here naked
I cannot fake it
With God as witness
My little children
Who wait for feeding
I watch you bleeding
I am afraid
I am afraid
As I stand beside you
I have denied you
I am afraid
I stand beside you
I face the future
I'll admit to you
I am afraid
RUTH: High, one-time psychedelic flower child, now turned alcoholic vegetable, frantically encouraged a sordid series of what can only be described as letters. This steamy correspondence climaxed in this wide-eyed, innocent fourteen year-old's now infamous photo, with its suggestion of nakedness, underage necrophilia, and incest. High issued a series of what can only be described as "instructions" by return-of-post allegedly inducting this vulnerable little waif into his so-called secrets of stardom. She opened her heart to him. She loved to sing. But he seized upon her gullibility to test out his weird theories. Why did he encourage her? What was he after? Was she pushed? I think we should be told. Now there's been a dramatic new development. Although Ray High's albums have been re-released this week, decent normal people will be more interested in young Rosalind. She's a brilliant songwriter, a brilliant singer, and with my help, has just released a brilliant new record. I predict a smash hit for this talented, sexy, nubile young singer so rudely abused by that slimeball, Ray High.
Ray arrives at Rastus' place
RAY: What the fuck are you doing here, Ruth? You've come to gloat, have you?
RUTH: I'm with Rastus.
RAY: Rastus? ... You? ... Rastus?
RUTH: Yeah. I'm staying here as his guest. He's worried about the scandal. Thinks it could be the end of you.
RAY: Ruth, what do you really want? What are you doing here?
10 Don't Try to Make Me Real (03:00)
Make me of clay, make me of steel
But whatever you do don't try and make me real
Make me your dream, a secretive deal
But don't ever scheme to try and make me real
Stop trying to make me real
I haven't got the kind of heart a lover can steal
Stop crying, I just can't feel
Any sympathy for someone trying to make me real
Make me of shit in a two-teenier deal
Make me of pornography in a pedophile wheel
Whatever I do, whatever I feel
By your double standard I will never be real
Stop trying to make me real
I haven't got the kind of heart a lover can steal
Stop crying, I just can't feel
Any sympathy for someone trying to make me
Why can't you settle for a fantasy?
You're so convinced that I'm the man to see
I can't live up to
What you give up to
I fail to see, the perfect man in me
Make me from your magazine a listed ideal
Dress me in the doll's house your knickers conceal
Make me your brother-lover beau-ideal
But you will soon discover lover can't be real
Stop trying to make me real
I haven't got the kind of heart a lover can steal
Stop crying, I just can't feel
Any sympathy for someone trying to make me real
Stop trying to make me real
I haven't got the kind of heart a lover can steal
Stop crying, I just can't feel
Any sympathy for someone trying to make me real
Don't try to make me real, Oh no
I've got no sympathy
Sympathy for someone trying to make me real
Stop trying to make me real
I haven't got the kind of heart a lover can steal
Stop crying, I just can't feel
Any sympathy for someone trying to make me real
11 Predictable (03:11)
Your love is so predictable
I can rely on you to blow my brain
You always know which trick to pull
I can predict you'll drive me wild-insane
Your love is so predictable (Oh, yes it is)
Your love is so predictable (Oh, yes it is)
Your love is so predictable (Hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo)
Your love is so predictable (Yeah)
Your body's so delectable
I know for sure I'm gonna be amazed
You get me so erectable
I can predict you're gonna leave me raised
Your love is so predictable (Oh, yes it is)
Your love is so predictable (Ah, yes it is)
Your love is so predictable (You can guarantee)
Your love is so predictable (Pre-dict-able)
Your love is always so theatrical
My performance gonna make you rave
Or I will have to hear the cat-you-call
I know how bad you can misbehave, baby, now listen to this
(Your love is so predictable) Most lovers' lovin' is heart-a-beatin' it
(Your love is so predictable) Depends on a tension to keep intact
(Your love is so predictable) This lover's lovin' is hard to beat it
(Your love is so predictable) Will-a lend pretentious to the matter of fact
Your love is so predictable
You take this Taurus boy by the horn
But you know just how to trick the bull
I can predict you're gonna leave me torn
Your love is always so theatrical
My performance better make you rave
Or I will have to hear the cat-you-call
I know how bad you misbehave
Your love is so
12 Flame (04:16)
'''ANNOUNCER ON RADIO:'''
''Number one this week, Roz Nathan with "Flame".''
'''RUTH:'''
''There you go, Rastus. It's Rosalind on the radio. I can't wait to see Ray's face.''
'''RASTUS:'''
''Yeah, well I can't wait to see Rosalind's fuckin' face. Of course, I won't, will I? Because it's you, isn't it, eh? You! You were Rosalind, that picture was of you! You dirty cow! Well, you couldn't have been older than, what, fourteen? No wonder Ray started writing to you.''
'''RUTH:'''
''How did you find out? Oh, of course, the witch's teats. Me and a couple of girls at school took it, we were about twelve. Ray believes Rosalind's uncle Charlie took it... by force.''
'''RASTUS:'''
''I knew you were smart Ruth, but not that smart.''
'''RUTH:'''
''It worked anyway, his old records are selling like mad.''
'''RASTUS:'''
''So, uh, he wrote your song, then?''
'''RUTH:'''
''That would be telling.''
You shone a light to follow
Knowing I would
You graced me with a precious gift
That no one else could
Touched by your presence, I surrender
You gave me a lead and I was a follower
A quest to succeed, I am a discoverer
Oh, flame, you set me on fire
Nothing can take me any higher
I'm fueled on emotion and full of desire
Flame, show me the way
You gave me a lead and I was a follower
A quest to succeed, I am a discoverer
Oh, hold on the flame and feel the power
Oh, flame, you set me on fire
Nothing can take me any higher
I'm fueled on emotion and full of desire
Flame
'''RUTH:'''
''I'm not gonna turn my back on Rosalind now. You manipulated her! Careful what you say, I'll print it.''
'''RAY:'''
''I don't give a smorgasbord about that load of old bollocks you churn out.''
'''RASTUS:'''
''Now, now, Ray. Don't get introspective. We've got the headlines, we're back in calculator country!''
'''RAY:'''
''I helped her deal with her problems!''
'''RUTH:'''
''She doesn't have a problem. Do you?''
'''RAY:'''
''She knows I do. If she were here now, we could ask her, couldn't we, Rastus?''
'''RASTUS:'''
''Well, we could, yeah, if she was here.''
'''RAY:'''
''Are you saying nothing I wrote helped her?''
'''RUTH:'''
''No. You just helped her become a fucking star.''
14 Fake It (03:37)
'''RAY:'''
''Ruth, you don't get it, do you? I knew all the time.''
You can fake it
Hold my hand
If you fake it
I will understand
I don't care if you fake it
I don't give a damn
I don't care if you fake it
Don't you understand?
You might laugh at me later
But why not smile at me now?
Don't ever feel like a traitor
You're not letting me down
Fake it, fake it
I can take it
Love's just an end, it's the means we feel
Fake it, fake it
I can make it
Why not pretend that your love is real?
Why not fake it?
I'm gonna ask you to act it
Don't let me see if you're bored
If you use the right tactic
You will hear me applaud
I don't mind what you're thinking
I'll just guess what you feel
Don't regret you've been drinking
To make your pleasure look real
Fake it, fake it
I can take it
I don't believe in eternity
Fake it, fake it
Help me make it
I've taken leave of all dignity
Why not fake it?
I am prepared to put up with this because I love you so much
And I know that you probably don't love me in the same way
But if you care for me at all, then take me in your arms
Fabricate the way you feel
I'll just pretend that it's all for real
Fake it anyway
Fake it, fake it
I can take it
I don't believe in eternity
Fake it, fake it
Help me make it
I've taken leave of all dignity
Fake it, fake it
I can take it
Love's just an end, it's the means we feel
Fake it, fake it
I can make it
Why not pretend that your love is real
Why not fake it?
Yeah
Why not pretend that your love is real
You can fake it
Hold my hand
If you fake it
I will understand
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