"A friend in need's a friend indeed / A friend with weed is better / A friend with breast and all the rest / A friend who's dressed in leather"

Si apre cosí questo lavoro della band dell'ambiguo Brian Molko, chitarrista e vocalist del gruppo molto eccentrico che nell'aspetto e nel look richiama un po' lo stile glam del primo David Bowie o il dark di Robert Smith (The Cure).
Sono le parole di "Pure Morning", 4 minuti di rock tranquillo e pacato prima dell'esplosione punk di "Brick Shithouse", classico brano tirato "alla Placebo", cosi come "You Don't Care About Us", che mi fa venire in mente qualcosa della piú recente "This Picture" con un basso che la fa da padrone.
Presenza di brit-rock in "Without You I'm Nothing", titletrack, che recita così: "I'm unclean a libertine / And every time you vent your spleen / I seem to lose the power of speech / You're slipping slowly from my reach / You grow me like an evergreen / You've never seen the lonely me at all"
"The Crawl" suona molto Interpol intimisti, stile "The New" per intenderci, con la voce di Brian e il basso che dominano.
"Every You Every Me", conosciutissima per essere stata presente nella colonna sonora di "Cruel Intentions", è un brano particolarmente veloce con leggerissime venature rock 'n' roll.
Lentissimi i quasi 6 minuti di "My Sweet Prince", pop estremamente soft con una parte vocale particolarmente delicata.
"Burger Queen", che chiude l'album, sa particolarmente di JJ72 (anche se dovrebbe essere il contrario visto che questa canzone è stata scritta prima dell'uscita dei JJ72, va bè...) e dura ben 23 minuti dal momento che dopo i 6 minuti di canzone ce ne sono circa 10 di buco prima di una hidden-track che contiene delle minacce di morte ricevute telefonicamente da Brian mixate in una base rock abbastanza accelerata. Idea abbastanza originale...

Uno dei migliori lavori della band, registrato nel 1998. Forse gli è superiore solo l'ultimo "Sleeping With Ghosts", che ha un sound piú secco, deciso e maturo.
Nonostante sia solo il secondo disco, dimostra già tutta la padronanza e la sicurezza di se stessi di una band che avrà il coraggio di spaccare la chitarra e mostrare il dito medio ad una platea come quella del Festival di Sanremo... e per fare una cosa del genere o sei sicurissimo di te o ti sei fatto qualcosa di pesante (nel caso dei Placebo mi sa tanto che valgono entrambe le ipotesi...)

Elenco tracce testi e samples

01   Pure Morning (04:14)

A friend in need's a friend indeed
A friend with weed is better
A friend with breasts and all the rest
A friend who's dressed in leather

A friend in need's a friend indeed
A friend who'll tease is better
Our thoughts compressed
Which makes us blessed
And makes for stormy weather

A friend in need's a friend indeed
My Japanese is better
And when she's pressed she will undress
And then she's boxing clever

A friend in need's a friend indeed
A friend who bleeds is better
My friend confessed she passed the test
And we will never sever

Day's dawning, skin's crawling {x4}
Pure morning {x4}

A friend in need's a friend indeed
A friend who'll tease is better
Our thoughts compressed
Which makes us blessed
And makes for stormy weather

A friend in need's a friend indeed
A friend who'll bleed is better
My friend confessed she passed the test
And we will never sever

Day's dawning, skin's crawling {x4}
Pure morning {x8}

A friend in need's a friend indeed
My Japanese is better
And when she's pressed she will undress
And then she's boxing clever

A friend in need's a friend indeed
A friend with weed is better
A friend with breasts and all the rest
A friend who's dressed in leather.

02   Brick Shithouse (03:18)

Meet The Brick Shithouse
Kiss the Brick Shithouse X6
Meet The Brick Shithouse
Don't you wish you'd never met her ?
Don't you wish you'd never met her ?
Don't you wish you'd never met her ?

Lay him down, lie on
Lay him down
Now your lover went and put me in the ground,
I'll be watching, when he's around.
Now your lover went and put me in the ground,
I'll be watching

Meet the Brick Shithouse,
Kiss the Brick Shithouse,
Meet the Brick Shithouse,
Kiss.

Lay him down, lie on
Lay him down
Now your lover went and put me in the ground,
I'll be watching, when he's around.
Now your lover went and put me in the ground,
I'll be watching when he's around
When you cum you never make a single sound,
I'll be watching, when he's around,
When he's around, when he's around,
He's around.

Don't you wish you'd never met her ?
Don't you wish you'd never met her ?
Don't you wish you'd never met her ?

Lay him down, lie on
Lay him down
Now your lover went and put me in the ground,
I'll be watching, when he's around.
Now your lover went and put me in the ground,
I'll be watching when he's around
When you cum you never make a single sound,
I'll be watching, when he's around,
When he's around, when he's around,
He's around.

Don't you wish you'd never met her ?
Don't you wish you'd never met her ?
Don't you wish you'd never met her ?

03   You Don't Care About Us (03:58)

If it's a bad day, you try to suffocate.
Another memory is scarred
If it's a bad case, then you accelerate,
you're in the getaway... car.

You don't care about us... oh oh.
You don't care about us... oh oh.
You don't care about us... oh oh
You don't care about us.

If it's a bad case, you're on the rampage.
Another memory... scarred.
You're at the wrong place, you're on the back page,
you're in the getaway... car.

You don't care about us... oh oh.
You don't care about us... oh oh.
You don't care about us... oh oh
You don't care about us.

It's your age, It's my rage.
It's your age, It's my rage.

You're too complicated, we should separate it.
You're just confiscating, you're exasperating.
This degeneration, mental masturbation.
Think I'll leave it all behind, save this bleeding heart of mine.

It's a matter of trust.
It's a matter of trust.
It's a matter of trust.
It's a matter of trust.
Because..
You don't care about us...
You don't care about us...
You don't care about us...
You don't care about us.

It's your age, It's my rage.
It's your age, It's my rage.

04   Ask for Answers (05:19)

Time to pass you to the test
Hanging on my lover's breath
Always coming second best
Pictures of my lover's chest
Get through this night
There are no second chances
This time I might
To ask the sea for answers

Always falling to the floor
Softer than it was before
Dog boy - media whore
It's who the hell you take me for

This time I might
To ask the sea for answers
These bonds are shackle free
Wrapped in lust and lunacy
Tiny touch of jealousy
These bonds are shackle free

Give up this fight, there are no second chances

Get through this night
There are no second chances
This time I might
To ask the sea for answers
These bonds are shackle free
These bonds are shackle free
These bonds are shackle free
These bonds are shackle free

Get through this, there are no second chances
This time, To ask the sea for answers

05   Without You I'm Nothing (04:08)

Strange infatuation seems to grace the evening tide
I'll take it by your side
Such imagination seems to help the feeling slide
I'll take it by your side
Instant correlation sucks and breeds a pack of lies
I'll take it by your side
Oversaturation curls the skin and tans the hide
I'll take it by your side

Tick tock
Tick tock
Tick tick
Tick
Tick
Tick tock

I'm unclean, a libertine
And every time you vent your spleen
I seem to lose the power of speech
You're slipping slowly from my reach
You grow me like an evergreen
You've never seen the lonely me at all

I
Take the plan, spin it sideways
I
Fall
Without you I'm nothing
Without you I'm nothing
Without you I'm nothing
Take the plan, spin it sideways
Without you I'm nothing at all

06   Allergic (to Thoughts of Mother Earth) (03:49)

Any means in your horizon
Heaven in a tourniquet
The after life to keep your eyes on
Bitter pill you take you take today
With expert levitation forward
Polished to the nth degree
It takes it's smile from every children
You take the beating

Any means in your horizon
Everything walks two by two
We gamble to be born again
You know I never wanted to
With expert levitation forward
Polished to the nth degree
It takes it's smile from every children
You take the beating

The light divining
The light defining
The light divining
The light divining

Don't let me down
Let me-he
Let me down
Let me-he
Don't let me down
Let me-he
Let me down
Let me. x2

The light defining
The light divining
The light divining

07   The Crawl (02:59)

It takes the pain away
But could not make you stay
It's way too broke to fix
No glue, no bag of tricks
Lay me down
The lie will unfurl
Lay me down to crawl

Your smile would make me sneeze
When we were siamese
Amazing grace in here
I'd pay to have you near
Lay me down
The lie will unfurl
Lay me down to crawl

Don't go and lose your face
At some stranger's
...place
And don't forget to breathe
And pay before you leave
Lay me down
The lie will unfurl
Lay me down to crawl

Lay me down
The lie will unfurl
Lay me down to crawl

08   Every You Every Me (03:33)

Sucker love is heaven sent
You pucker up, our passion's spent
My hearts a tart your body's rent
My body's broken yours is bent

Carve your name into my arm
Instead of stressed I lie here charmed
'Cause there's nothing else to do
Every me and every you

Sucker love a box I choose
No other box I choose to use
Another love I would abuse
No circumstances could excuse

In the shape of things to come
Too much poison come undone
'Cause there's nothing else to do
Every me and every you
Every me and every you
Every me

Sucker love is known to swing
Prone to cling and waste these things
Pucker up for heaven sake
There's never been so much at stake

I serve my head up on a plate
It's only comfort calling late
Cause there's nothing else to do
Every me and every you
Every me and every you
Every me
Every me and every you
Every me

Like the naked leads the blind
I know I'm selfish I'm unkind
Sucker love I always find
Someone to bruise and leave behind

All alone in space and time
There's nothing here but what here's mine
Something borrowed, something blue
Every me and every you
Every me and every you
Every me
Every me and every you
Every me

Every me and every you
Every me
Every me and every you
Every me
Every me and every you
Every me
Every me and every you
Every me

09   My Sweet Prince (05:45)

Never thought you'd make me perspire
Never thought I'd do you the same
Never thought I'd fill with desire
Never thought I'd feel so ashamed

Me and the Dragon
Can chase all the pain away
So before I end my day
Remember

My sweet prince
You are the one
My sweet prince
You are the one

Never thought I'd have to retire
Never thought I have to abstain
Never thought all this could backfire
Close up the hole in my vein

Me and my valuable friend
Can fix all the pain away
So before I end my day
Remember

My sweet prince
You are the one
My sweet prince
You are the one
You are the one x4

Never thought I'd get any higher
Never thought you'd fuck with my brain
Never thought all this could expire
Never thought you'd go break the chain

Me and you baby
Used to flush all the pain away
So before I end my day
Remember

My sweet prince
You are the one
My sweet prince
You are the one
You are the one x8

My sweet prince

My sweet prince

10   Summer's Gone (03:05)

11   Scared of Girls (03:01)

An introverted kind of soul
The earth did open
Swallow whole
Careening X4
Her next of kin who lived in sin
Was asking God to let her in
Careening X4
I'm a man, a liar
Get into your bed
I gotta place it on the rack
Got a place inside it X3
An extroverted kinda girl
Did tour the world with MC5
Careening X4
Her younger sister, had a blister
Where I kissed her on her thigh
Careening X4
I'm a man a liar
Guaranteed in your bed
I gotta place it on the rack
Got a place inside it
I'm a man a liar
Guaranteed in your bed
I gotta place it on the rack
Got a place inside it X3
I'm a man a liar
Guaranteed in your bed
I gotta place it on the rack
Got a place inside it
I'm a man a liar
Guaranteed in your bed
I gotta place it on the rack
I got a place inside it
I'm a man a liar
Guaranteed in your bed
I gotta place it on the rack
Got a place inside it X3

12   Burger Queen / Evil Dildo (22:39)

Slightly bemused by his lack of direction
Hey You, Hey You
Came to this world by caesarean section
Hey You, Hey You
Chooses his clothes to match his pallid complexion
Hey You, Hey You
Now it takes him all day just to get an erection

Hey You,
Things aren't what they seem.
Makes no sense at all
Things aren't what they seem.
Makes no sense at all

Goes out to cruise and to meet his connection
Hey You, Hey You
He never scores he just gets an infection
Hey You, Hey You
Dreams of a place with a better selection
Hey You, Hey You
Still it takes him all day just to get an erection
Hey You,

Things aren't what they seem
Makes no sense at all,
Things aren't what they seem
Makes no sense at all,
Things aren't what they seem
Makes no sense at all,
Things aren't what they seem
Makes no sense at all,
Luxemburger Queen,
He's a Burger Queen.

Slightly bemused by the total rejection,
Hey You, Hey You,
Came to this world by caesarean section,
Hey You, Hey You,
Dreams of a place with a better selection,
Hey You, Hey You,
Dreams of a face that is pure as perfection,
Hey you,

Things aren't what they seem,
Luxemburger Queen,
Luxemburger Queen,
Luxemburger Queen,
He's a Burger Queen

Carico i commenti...  con calma

Altre recensioni

Di  zoppi

 "No violence at Placebo show!!" – Brian Molko invita il pubblico a calmarsi durante il concerto.

 "Fantastica la voce di Brian: calda, intensa, dolce. Piacevole la sorpresa Steve Forrest, carismatico e potente."


Di  Napolinelcuore

 La voce di Molko va a definire il vero punto di forza del gruppo, caratterizzandosi per una marcata poliedricità.

 Without You I'm Nothing è oggettivamente un bel disco della scena british rock anni 90 che pur non emergendo per innovatività o particolari spunti tecnici ha la capacità di colpire l’ascoltatore a livello emotivo.