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Pubblicata nel 1990 "Shaking The Tree" è il primo greatest hits di Gabriel. La compilation non poteva non iniziare con "Solbury Hill" il brano del comeback dopo il silenzio successivo alla dipartita dai Genesis in cui Gabriel, fatta tabula rasa dei barocchismi genesiani, esponeva, a suo modo, i motivi dell'abbandono ("Per mantenere il silenzio diedi le dimissioni. I miei amici avrebbero pensato che fossi pazzo. Trasformando l'acqua in vino, le porte presto aperte si sarebbero chiuse. Così sono andato avanti di giorno in giorno, anche se la mia vita scorreva in una rotaia. Finchè pensai a cosa dire, e a quale relazione troncare. Mi sentivo parte della scena, perciò uscì dal sistema").
Dal primo lp (1977) è tratta anche l'apocalittica "Here comes the flood", in una versione al pianoforte analoga a quella presentata da Peter nei concerti dell'epoca. Trascurato completamente il secondo lp, il cui sound garage-hardcore rappresenta un binario morto nell'evoluzione del nostro (ma un ripescaggio di "On The Air", magari in una versione editata, l'avrei visto bene, almeno per amor di completezza), si arriva alla svolta del terzo lp (1980). Da qui in avanti, infatti, Gabriel pone il pattern ritmico come spina dorsale della sua musica. Come esempio si sarebbe potuto inserire "Intruder" tutta costruita sul "gated reverb" martellante della batteria dell'amico Phil, ma, essendo questo un greatest hits, troviamo invece "Games Without Frontier" (dove Gabriel iconizza anche i compianti "Giochi senza frontiere"), "I Don't Remember" (una delle ultime apparizioni della maniacale chitarra di Fripp) e l'inno anti-apartheid "Biko" (con tanto di sampling di canti africani). Abbastanza a sorpresa c'è anche "Family Snapshot", capolavoro musical-letterario ispirato dalle memorie di Arthur Bremner, l'uomo che aveva progettato di uccidere Nixon (interpretato da Sean Penn in un recente film), spinto dalle frustazioni di una vita infelice. Il quarto lp (1982), in cui culmina la ricerca musicale degli album precedenti, è rappresentato da tre brani: i due hit dance "Shock the Monkey" e "I Have the Touch" (ancora due paranoie: la gelosia accecante e la "compulsione al contatto") e "San Jacinto" ispirata dall'incontro con una tribù di pellirossa a Palm Springs (anche quì devo però criticare l'esclusione della splendida "The Rhythm of the Heat", brano-chiave della discografia gabrielliana). La parte da leone la fa, infine, il bestseller "So" (1986) con ben 5 brani: "Red Rain" è il ricordo di un incubo: la pioggia rossa ambiguamente portatrice di un doloroso sollievo ("lascia che la pioggia rossa ti spruzzi, lasciala cadere sulla tua pelle"); la fumosa "mercy street" che, sebbene ispirata ad una raccolta della poetessa Anne Sexton, è una delle canzoni più personali del cantante; "Sledgehammer" e "Big Time" sono due rutilanti omaggi al soul della Motown. Chiudono lo strumentale "Zaar" tratto dal fondamentale "Passion" (1989) e l'immancabile (quasi)inedito "Shaking The Tree" cantato insieme a Yossou n'dour.
Elenco tracce testi e video
01 Solsbury Hill (04:22)
Climbing up on Solsbury Hill
I could see the city light
Wind was blowing, time stood still
Eagle flew out of the night
He was something to observe
Came in close, I heard a voice
Standing stretching every nerve
Had to listen, had no choice
I did not believe the information
I just had to trust imagination
My heart going boom boom boom
"Son," he said "Grab your things,
I've come to take you home."
To keep in silence I resigned
My friends would think I was a nut
Turning water into wine
Open doors would soon be shut
So I went from day to day
Though my life was in a rut
'Till I thought of what I'd say
Which connection I should cut
I was feeling part of the scenery
I walked right out of the machinery
My heart going boom boom boom
"Hey," he said "Grab your things
I've come to take you home."
Yeah back home
When illusion spin her net
I'm never where I want to be
And liberty she pirouette
When I think that I am free
Watched by empty silhouettes
Who close their eyes but still can see
No one taught them etiquette
I will show another me
Today I don't need a replacement
I'll tell them what the smile on my face meant
My heart going boom boom boom
"Hey," I said "You can keep my things,
They've come to take me home."
02 I Don't Remember (03:48)
I got no means to show identification
I got no papers show you what I am
You'll have to take me just the way that you find me
What's gone is gone and I do not give a damn
Empty stomach, empty head
I got empty heart and empty bed
I don't remember
I don't remember
I don't remember, I don't recall
I got no memory of anything at all
I don't remember, I don't recall
I got no memory of anything
-anything at all
Strange is your language and I have no decoder
Why don't you make your intentions clear
With eyes to the sun and your mouth to the soda
Saying, "Tell me the truth, you got nothing to fear"
Stop staring at me like a bird of prey
I'm all mixed up, I got nothing to say
I don't remember
I don't remember
I don't remember, I don't recall
I got no memory of anything at all
I don't remember, I don't recall
I got no memory of anything
Anything at all
I don't remember, I don't recall
I got no memory of anything at all
I don't remember, I don't recall
I got no memory of anything
absolutely anything at all
I don't remember
03 Sledgehammer (04:55)
You could have a steam train
If you'd just lay down your tracks
You could have an aeroplane flying
If you bring your blue sky back
All you do is call me
I'll be anything you need
You could have a big dipper
Going up and down, all around the bends
You could have a bumper car, bumping
This amusement never ends
I want to be your sledgehammer
Why don't you call my name
Oh, let me be your sledgehammer
This will be my testimony
Show me 'round your fruitcage
'Cause I will be your honey bee
Open up your fruitcage
Where the fruit is as sweet as can be
I want to be your sledgehammer
Why don't you call my name
You'd better call the sledgehammer
Put your mind at rest
I'm going to be the sledgehammer
This can be my testimony
I'm your sledgehammer
Let there be no doubt about it
Sledge, sledge, sledgehammer
I've kicked the habit
Shed my skin
This is the new stuff
I go dancing in
We go dancing in
Oh, won't you show for me
I will show for you
Show for me
I will show for you
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
I do mean you
Only you
You've been coming through
Going to build that power
Build, build up that power
I've been feeding the rhythm
I've been feeding the rhythm
Going to feel that power build in you
Come on, come on, help me do
Come on, come on, help me do
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you
I've been feeding the rhythm
I've been feeding the rhythm
It's what we're doing, doing
All day and night
04 Family Snapshot (04:26)
The streets are lined with camera crews
Everywhere he goes is news
Today is different
Today is not the same
Today I make the action
Take snapshot into the light, snapshot into the light
I'm shooting into the light
Four miles down the cavalcade moves on
Driving into the sun
If I worked it out right
They won't see me or the gun
Two miles to go, they're clearing the road
The cheering has really begun
I've got my radio
I can hear what's going on
I've been waiting for this
I have been waiting for this
All you people in TV land
I will wake up your empty shells
Peak-time viewing blown in a flash
As I burn into your memory cells
'Cos I'm alive
They're coming 'round the corner with the bikers at the front
I'm wiping the sweat from my eyes
-It's a matter of time
-It's a matter of will
And the governor's car is not far behind
He's not the one I've got in mind
'Cos there he is-the man of the hour, standing in the limousine
"I don't really hate you
-I don't care what you do
We were made for each other
-Me and you
I want to be somebody
-You were like that too
If you don't get given you learn to take
And I will take you."
Holding my breath
Release the catch
And I let the bullet fly
All turned quiet-I have been here before
Lonely boy hiding behind the front door
Friends have all gone home
There's my toy gun on the floor
Come back Mum and Dad
You're growing apart
You know that I'm growing up sad
I need some attention
I shoot into the light
05 Mercy Street (04:43)
looking down on empty streets, all she can see
are the dreams all made solid
are the dreams all made real
all of the buildings, all of those cars
were once just a dream
in somebody's head
she pictures the broken glass, she pictures the steam
she pictures a soul
with no leak at the seam
let's take the boat out
wait until darkness
let's take the boat out
wait until darkness comes
nowhere in the corridors of pale green and grey
nowhere in the suburbs
in the cold light of day
there in the midst of it so alive and alone
words support like bone
dreaming of mercy street
wear your inside out
dreaming of mercy
in your daddy's arms again
dreaming of mercy street
swear they moved that sign
dreaming of mercy
in your daddy's arms
pulling out the papers from the drawers that slide smooth
tugging at the darkness, word upon word
confessing all the secret things in the warm velvet box
to the priest-he's the doctor
he can handle the shocks
dreaming of the tenderness-the tremble in the hips
of kissing Mary's lips
dreaming of mercy street
wear your insides out
dreaming of mercy
in your daddy's arms again
dreaming of mercy street
swear they moved that sign
looking for mercy
in your daddy's arms
mercy, mercy, looking for mercy
mercy, mercy, looking for mercy
Anne, with her father is out in the boat
riding the water
riding the waves on the sea
08 San Jacinto (06:40)
Thick cloud - steam rising - hissing stone on sweat lodge fire
Around me - buffalo robe - sage in bundle - run on skin
Outside - cold air - stand, wait for rising sun
Red paint - eagle feathers - coyote calling - it has begun
Something moving in - I taste it in my mouth and in my heart
It feels like dying - slow - letting go of life
Medicine man lead me up though town - Indian ground -
so far down
Cut up land - each house - a pool - kids wearing water
wings - drink in cool
Follow dry river bed - watch Scout and Guides make
pow-wow signs
Past Geronimo's disco - Sit 'n' Bull steakhouse - white
men dream
A rattle in the old man's sack - look at mountain top -
keep climbing up
Way above us the desert snow - white wind blow
I hold the line - the line of strength that pulls me through
the fear
San Jacinto - I hold the line
San Jacinto - the poison bite and darkness take my sight -
I hold the line
And the tears roll down my swollen cheek - think I'm losing
it - getting weaker
I hold the line - I hold the line
San Jacinto - yellow eagle flies down from the sun -
from the sun
We will walk - on the land
We will breathe - of the air
We will drink - from the stream
We will live - hold the line
09 Here Comes the Flood (04:31)
When the night shows
The signals grow on radios
All the strange things
They come and go, as early warnings
Stranded starfish have no place to hide
Still waiting for the swollen Eastern tide
There's no point in direction we cannot
Even choose a side.
I took the old track
The hollow shoulder, across the waters
On the tall cliffs
They were getting older, sons and daughters
The jaded underworld was riding high
Waves of steel hurled metal at the sky
And as the nail sunk in the cloud, the rain
Was warm and soaked the crowd.
Lord, here comes the flood
Here we'll say goodbye to flesh and blood
If again the seas are silent
In any still alive
It'll be those who gave their island to survive
Drink up, dreamers, you're running dry.
When the flood calls
You have no home, you have no walls
In the thunder crash
You're a thousand minds, within a flash
Don't be afraid to cry at what you see
The actors gone, there's only you and me
If we break before the dawn
They'll use up what we used to be.
Lord, here comes the flood
We'll say goodbye to flesh and blood
If again the seas are silent
In any still alive
It'll be those who gave their island to survive
Drink up, dreamers, you're running dry.
10 Red Rain (05:35)
Red rain is coming down
Red rain
Red rain is pouring down
Pouring down all over me
I am standing up at the water's edge in my dream
I cannot make a single sound as you scream
It can't be that cold, the ground is still warm to touch
Hey - we touch
This place is so quiet, sensing that storm
Red rain is coming down
Red rain
Red rain is pouring down
Pouring down all over me
Well I've seen them, buried in a sheltered place in this town
They tell you that this rain can sting and look down
There is no blood around see no sign of pain
Hey - no pain
Seeing no red at all, see no rain
Red rain is coming down
Red rain
Red rain is pouring down
Pouring down all over me
Red rain
Putting the pressure on much harder now
To return again and again (red rain)
Just let the red rain splash you
Let the rain fall on your skin (red rain)
I come to you defences down (oh)
With the trust of a child
Red rain coming down
Red rain
Red rain is pouring down
Pouring down all over me
And I can't watch anymore
No more denial
It's so hard to lay down in all of this
Red rain coming down
Red rain is pouring down
Red rain is coming down all over me
I see it
Red rain coming down
Red rain is pouring down
Red rain is coming down all over me
I'm bathing in
Red rain coming down
Red rain is coming down
Red rain is coming down all over me
I'm begging you
Red rain coming down
Red rain coming down
Red rain coming down
Red rain coming down
Over me in the red red sea
Over me
Over me
Red rain
12 Shock the Monkey (03:57)
Cover me when I run
Cover me through the fire
Something knocked me out' the trees
Now I'm on my knees
Cover me, darling please
Monkey, monkey, monkey
Don't you know when you're going to shock the monkey
Fox the fox
Rat on the rat
You can ape the ape
I know about that
There is one thing you must be sure of
I can't take any more
Darling, don't you monkey with the monkey
Monkey, monkey, monkey
Don't you know you're going to shock the monkey
Wheels keep turning
Something's burning
Don't like it but I guess I'm learning
Shock! - watch the monkey get hurt, monkey
Cover me, when I sleep
Cover me, when I breathe
You throw your pearls before the swine
Make the monkey blind
Cover me, darling please
Monkey, monkey, monkey
Don't you know you're going to shock the monkey
Too much at stake
Ground beneath me shake
And the news is breaking
Shock! - watch the monkey get hurt, monkey
Shock the monkey
Shock the monkey
Shock the monkey to life
13 I Have the Touch (03:44)
The time I like is the rush hour, cos I like the rush
The pushing of the people - I like it all so much
Such a mass of motion - do not know where it goes
I move with the movement and ... I have the touch
I'm waiting for ignition, I'm looking for a spark
Any chance collision and I light up in the dark
There you stand before me, all that fur and all that hair
Oh, do I dare ... I have the touch
Wanting contact
I'm wanting contact
I'm wanting contact with you
Shake those hands, shake those hands
Give me the thing I understand
Shake those hands, shake those hands
Shake those hands, shake those hands
Any social occasion, it's hello, how do you do
All those introductions, I never miss my cue
So before a question, so before a doubt
My hand moves out and ... I have the touch
Wanting contact
I'm wanting contact
I'm wanting contact with you
Shake those hands, shake those hands
Give me the thing I understand
Shake those hands, shake those hands
Pull my chin, stroke my hair, scratch my nose, hug my knees
Try drink, food, cigarette, tension will not ease
I tap my fingers, fold my arms, breathe in deep, cross my legs
Shrug my shoulders, stretch my back - but nothing seems
to please
I need contact
I need contact
Nothing seems to please
I need contact
14 Big Time (04:25)
I'm on my way, I'm making it
I've got to make it show, yeah
So much larger than life
I'm going to watch it growing
The place where I come from is a small town
They think so small
They use small words
-But not me
I'm smarter than that
I worked it out
I've been stretching my mouth
To let those big words come right out
I've had enough, I'm getting out
To the city, the big big city
I'll be a big noise with all the big boys
There's so much stuff I will own
And I will pray to a big god
As I kneel in the big church
Big time
I'm on my way-i'm making it
Big time big time
I've got to make it show yeah
Big time big time
So much larger than life
Big time
I'm going to watch it growing
Big time
My parties all have big names
And I greet them with the widest smile
Tell them how my life is one big adventure
And always they're amazed
When I show them 'round my house, to my bed
I had it made like a mountain range
With a snow-white pillow for my big fat head
And my heaven will be a big heaven
And I will walk through the front door
Big time
I'm on my way-i'm making it
Big time big time
I've got to make it show-yeah
Big time big time
So much larger than life
I'm going to watch it growing
Big time big time
My car is getting bigger
Big time
My house is getting bigger
Big time
My eyes are getting bigger
Big time
And my mouth
Big time
My belly is getting bigger
Big time
And my bank account
Big time
Look at my circumstance
Big time
And the bulge in my big big big big big big big
16 Biko (07:00)
September '77
Port Elizabeth weather fine
It was business as usual
In police room 619
Oh Biko, Biko, because Biko
Oh Biko, Biko, because Biko
Yihla Moja, Yihla Moja
- The man is dead
When I try to sleep at night
I can only dream in red
The outside world is black and white
With only one colour dead
Oh Biko, Biko, because Biko
Oh Biko, Biko, because Biko
Yihla Moja, Yihla Moja
- The man is dead
You can blow out a candle
But you can't blow out a fire
Once the flames begin to catch
The wind will blow it higher
Oh Biko, Biko, because Biko
Yihla Moja, Yihla Moja
- The man is dead
And the eyes of the world are
Watching now
Watching now
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