Dopo aver sciolto acrimoniosamente i Jane's Addiction nel 1991, Perry Farrell si sentiva un po' Dio sceso in terra.
Era la rockstar simbolo del rinascimento rock, col Lollapalooza aveva spianato la strada all'era dei Nirvana, facendo entrare la cultura post-punk nel salotto buono del music biz, in grado ormai di generare introiti milionari.
La sicurezza nei suoi mezzi però gli aveva creato un brutto scherzo nel debutto della sua nuova band, i Porno for Pyros. Il segreto dei Jane's Addiction era stato il peculiare contributo di 2 ottimi musicisti e di due geni nel creare una miscela sofisticata e inimitabile. I Porno for Pyros dell'omonimo debutto del 1993 erano invece una one man band che realizzò un lavoro sostanzialmente scialbo - con buona pace dell'hype generato. Un' opera intenta a monetizzare la leggenda di Jane: nei momenti più rozzi, una banalizzazione delle sciabolate di Dave Navarro e in quelli più intimisti, una soporifera musica da villaggio Alpitour.
Farrell ebbe però l'umiltà di frenare i suoi ego-trip, di reinventare il proprio stile col successivo "Good God's Urge", uscito nel 1996. Le coordinate sonore delle 10 tracce che lo compongono sono stuzzicanti: un viaggio allucinato in cui vertiginose suggestioni esotiche vengono appena vivacizzate da reminiscenze hard del passato, sulla scia della quintessenziale seconda facciata di "Ritual de lo habitual".
L'ispirazione tra questi solchi è decisamente alta, anche grazie al contributo degli altri membri della band, oltre a svariati cameo di musicisti mito, come Matt Hyde e Flea. Il chitarrista Peter Di Stefano stavolta saggiamente evita di scimmiottare Navarro, e si concentra su delicate ed evocative partiture che enfatizzano lo stridulo cantato di Perry mentre al basso, vista la dipartita a lavori in corso di Martyn LeNoble, è sovente ospite il grande Mike Watt, il quale fornisce una spinta funky perfetta nei momenti più vivaci, ad esempio la cadenzata title-track, o la spiritata "Dogs rule the night".
L'opener "Porpoise head" sintetizza al meglio il nuovo corso dei PFP: un psychedelic rock asciutto e al crocevia di sonorità orientali, che sfocia in un finale nervoso e strascicato. "100 ways" regala invece la prima bizzarra fuga sonora, con sontuose percussioni polinesiane, assoli di tromba quasi jazz e un violino ad intarsiare divinamente il canovaccio folk farrelliano. "Tahitian moon" è l'unica concessione al mainstream, con una perfetta fusione tra urgenza rock (la slide guitar di Matt Hyde è eccellente) e stralunate tessiture indonesiane, mentre con ballate oniriche come "Kimberly Austin" (una "Jane says" più solare, con splendido assolo di armonica) e "Wishing well" Perry ricorda di essere un performer fenomenale: in quest' ultima sfoggia vocalizzi da applausi su raffinati e visionari arabeschi: quasi dei Cure hawaiani.
Nonostante la spada di Damocle di un passato glorioso e ingombrante (non a caso in "Freeway" rispunta fuori la magica sei corde di Navarro a forgiare un'introduzione lisergica da brividi...), "Good God's urge" rimane opera gradevole e felice, un esempio di psichedelia applicata al pop mistica e ben assortita, certamente non revivalista perché in grado di confrontarsi con le nuove sonorità del tempo (ad esempio nella claustrofobica "Thick of it all", filtrata da campionamenti azzeccati) e di sfoggiare una vena poetica notevole: un capolavoro minore degli anni 90 senza dubbio.
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01 Porpoise Head (04:14)
Here I lay waiting
For the bubbles to settle
I'm going down low
Where your sleep meets your mental
Two tries at killing me
They couldn't do it
I ran down the road
With no shoes and no jacket
Here I go dive away
Watch me dive away
Hey porpoise head
Oh porpoise head
I know young boys
They all want to be bad
Don't think it's madder
To be a genius
Give me a lover
That won't give me troubles
Some sexy dreams
To chew on these bubbles
Here I go dive away
Watch me dive away
Hey porpoise head
Oh porpoise head
I set sail with a tickle in my tail
I smell the bleach on the thin white sheets...
Here I lay waiting
For the bubbles to settle
I'm going down low where
Your sleep meets your mental
Two bags in Lilly's hands
Kust for the morning
Into the bathroom
With cottons for swabbing
Here I go dive away
Watch me dive away
Hey porpoise head
Oh porpoise head
Hey porpoise head
Oh porpoise head
Oh porpoise head
(la deda, la dedee) Oh porpoise head
(la deda, la dedee) (la deda, la dedee) (la deda, la dedee) (la deda, la dedee) (la deda, la dedee) (la deda, la dedee)
02 100 Ways (03:42)
You didn't have to give your necklace, to me before I left
Now I lay awake and think, how very smart you were
I thought about you every day
I hear the rain comin' in from miles away
The air is as clean as your skin next to my face
Thought about you every day
100 ways
I thought about you and me a hundred ways
100 ways
And now I lay awake and dream you're right above my face
Look into my eyes the way you do, don't look away
Thought about you every day
Birds build their homes here right above my head
They make the same kind of sounds you do
When we're laying in my bed
100 ways
I thought about you and me a hundred ways
100 ways
And if I had my way, when I woke up, in the morning
I would read and write, before I ever drew the shades
I would kiss you, before you opened up your eyes
Birds build their homes right above my head
They make the same kind of sounds you do
When we're laying in my bed
100 ways
I thought about you and me a hundred ways
100 ways
03 Tahitian Moon (03:47)
My boat's capsized it's gonna sink to the bottom
I can see the lights on the shore getting farther away
I dont know if I'll make home tonight
But I know I can swim under the Tahitian moon
I came out here tonight to look for my friend
I dont know if I'll ever get to see him again
I dont know if I'll make home tonight
But I know I can swim under the Tahitian moon
One last time under the Tahitian moon
The sea is a very easy place to disappear
To drift away, to fall asleep, or make your peace (make your peace)
I came out here tonight to look for my friend
I dont know if I'll ever get to see him again
I dont know if I'll make home tonight
But I know I can swim under the Tahitian moon
I can swim under the Tahitian moon
I can swim under the Tahitian moon
I can swim under the Tahitian moon
I can swim...
04 Kimberly Austin (03:12)
I like to watch her sway
She's luck before I'm going away
I wonder what she thinks about herself
She is mine and no one else's
Kim
Kim
Kimberly Austin
She turns the knife around (she turns the knife around)
I watch her run it down her side (I watch her run it down her side)
Kisses my fingers when I go by (Kisses my fingers when I go by)
(See my mother in her eyes) See my mother in her eyes
Kim
Kim
Kimberly Austin
Kim
Kimberly Austin
Oh, Kim
(Kimberly Austin)
I like to watch her sway (I like to watch her sway)
She's luck before I'm going away (She's luck before I'm going away)
I like what she sees in herself
Gives me all of her confidence
Kim
Kim
Kimberly Austin
Kim
Kimberly Austin
(Kimberly Austin)
05 Thick of It All (04:43)
How you figure in the scheme of things to be?
You thought you were Jesus
But you find out you're the anti-Christ
You were born so you get another chance
A chance to die and to get off this planet
You're in the thick of it all
You're in the thick of it all
You struggle?
Hope you laugh!
You thought you'd never know
You feel?
And that's the only thing you can depend on
I'll try praying if it'll move my friends
The dead are living in your blood, with a little poison
You're in the thick of it all
You're in the thick of it all
You're in the thick of it all
You're in the thick of it all
I fell again, still I'm so excited
Anyway don't you love surprises!
You get to keep your heart and that I know
I give mine time and it comes back to me
We're in the thick of it all (thick of it all)
We're in the thick of it all (thick of it all)
Oh, we're in the thick of it all (thick of it all)
We're in the thick of it all (thick of it all)
We're in the thick of it all (thick of it all)
We're in the thick of it all (thick of it all)
We're in the thick of it all (thick of it all)
We're in the thick of it all (thick of it all)
We're in the thick of it all (thick of it all)
We're in the thick of it all (thick of it all)
We're in the thick of it all (thick of it all)
We're in the thick of it all (thick of it all)
We're in the thick of it all (thick of it all)
We're in the thick of it all (thick of it all)
We're in the thick of it all (thick of it all)
We're in the thick of it all (thick of it all)
We're in the thick of it all (thick of it all)
We're in the thick of it all (thick of it all)
We're in the thick of it all (thick of it all)
We're in the thick of it all (thick of it all)
We're in the thick of it all (thick of it all)
07 Wishing Well (03:39)
I can tell when I'm dead inside
I stop thinking of God
I'm living in hell
I stop wishing
Wishing
I stop wishing
Wishing you well
I had a friend
I knew him well
His voice was so blue
His eyes were so calm
He stopped wishing
Wishing
Now I'm wishing
He stopped wishing
I'm wishing him well
I'm wishing you well!
I'm wishing you well!
I'm wishing you well!
I'm wishing you well!
I'm wishing you well!
I'm wishing you well!
I'm wishing you well!
I'm wishing you well!
I had a dream last night
I can't heal people
I heal myself
Just by wishing
Wishing
Just by wishing
I'm wishing you well!
I'm wishing you well!
I'm wishing you well!
I'm wishing you well!
It take sirens sometimes
To make me glad
Hear sirens sometimes
I'm just glad
I'm not inside
09 Freeway (04:22)
Ain't been twelve a couple of hours
I'm on the freeway
Rain's so hard the sky's one color
The wettest coldest grey
Then she takes a look at me
I tell her it's O.K.
Driving around with her
She's taking trips on me
I'm taking trips on her
Left the sunset back in Venice
I was on the freeway
Say you love me or I'll kill us!
But you won't say it
Reach across the seat
And push the bucket back all the way
Driving around with her
She's taking trips on me
I'm taking trips on her
I fell in love with her
I just don't mention it
To fall in love this much
It's very dangerous
She makes me so jealous
I want to kill us both...
Left the sunset back in Venice
I was on the freeway
Say you love me or i'll kill us!
But you won't say it
Reach across the seat? Push the bucket back all the way
Driving around with her
She's taking trips on me
I'm taking trips on her
I fell in love with her
I just don't mention it
To fall in love this much
It's very dangerous
I want to kill us both...
She makes me so jealous!
She makes me so jealous!
It's very dangerous
It's very dangerous
It's very dangerous
It's very dangerous
It's very dangerous!
10 Bali Eyes (03:26)
Ate a mushroom turned into Bali
Didn't look it just jumped down my throat
I was starting to die until I
Took a trip to Bali
Their eyes are God
In a glass full of jelly
It's Bali in my eyes
My skin turned the color of the earth
I felt like a tree
People asked my name the next day
They remembered who I was
I took off my shoes
And my feet they took root
I've got Bali in my eyes
Their eyes are God
In a glass full of jelly
It's Bali in my eyes
When I opened up my eyes first thing
Early light in Bali
What a day it's gonna be I think
It looks good already
So hold me close before
All the doors start knocking!
Is Bali in my eyes
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