• Voto:
Forse che la parola "pop", a torto e tristemente inflazionata dal music business, reclami giustizia e una degna collocazione nel magmatico universo della canzone contemporanea? Di sicuro essa, nata con un duplice handicap - la sua forte connotazione sociologica e un pericoloso profumo di leggerezza - andrebbe un po' disambiguata, riposizionata, incoraggiata. E non a mortificazione e condanna di un concetto, quello appunto di "leggero", che è lungi dall'essere nemico del popolo o vergogna per l'artista; niente come le "canzonette", alla fin fine, ci comunica meglio certe verità.
L'orecchio poco distratto noterà come a questo compito sia già stato assolto non molti anni fa, quando a un tratto, nel suo cammino verso la liberazione, il pop riuscì a spingersi oltre i confini che lo avevano frustrato sin dalla nascita, a oltrepassare il limite entro il quale il suo messaggio non avrebbe potuto farsi davvero universale.
Personaggio ben strano, il deus ex-machina di questa silenziosa rivoluzione copernicana: da un lato, un passato da benzinaio e una mai troppo sviscerata vocazione a diventare prete, uno dei tanti volti pallidi specchiati nella pioggia perenne delle terre del Nord; dall'altro, l'amore incondizionato per il musical americano, protagonista di infiniti sogni che presto sarebbero "implosi in uno solo". Fin dagli esordi, e senza tentennamenti almeno fino al '90, Paddy McAloon ha posto il suo sogno alle dipendenze di un progetto tanto concreto quanto singolarmente metafisico: regalare al pop una dignità "altra", cospargendo un intero decennio di semi prefabbricati che avrebbero visto frutti acerbi (ma quanto intensi...) nel difficile, inarrivato "free pop" di "Swoon" (1983), piante già mature con l'elegiaco e sottilmente irrequieto "Steve McQueen" (1985) o l'acuto e bonariamente ironico "From Langley Park To Memphis" (1988).
Il terreno era fertile, ricco di doni il piatto: chi si sarebbe più dimenticato la delicata poesia e i suoni eterei, al limite dell'impalpabilità, di una "Elegance", la rabbia e l'impotenza sussurrate in quei capolavori d'equilibrio che erano e rimangono "Bonny" o "Goodbye Lucille N°1", Bacharach che passeggia per i campi di Newcastle ("Moving The River", "Cruel", "Horsin' Around"), magari a braccetto con Proust ("I Remember That")? E abbozzare un ringraziamento per "When Love Breaks Down" è operazione quasi banale.
Ma ad apertura della nuova decade, "Jordan: The Comeback" oltrepassa il segno: sintesi perfetta e irraggiungibile di un percorso che per qualcuno non ha pari nell'era post-Beatles. Un progetto dalla portata musicale vastissima, un calderone dove le definizioni si perdono e perdono qualsiasi senso: è il pop al suo massimo livello di trascendenza, il punto di non ritorno dove "easy listening" e musica "colta" si fondono e confondono, ponendosi al servizio di una narrazione dal sapore biblico.
Nessun intento predicatorio, però, bagna la penna di McAloon: laddove il riferimento al sacro fa capolino (l'ultima sezione del disco, oltre alla title-track), esso è piegato alle esigenze di un discorso dai connotati fortemente umanistici: "Michael", "Mercy", la splendida "One Of The Broken" altro non sono se non un'icastica fenomenologia dell'errore e della debolezza umana. E tutto terreno è il sogno di un infinito medley dove sofisticato pop d'avanguardia e reminiscenze di Broadway non hanno più confini: nascono gemme come "Paris Smith", "The Ice Maiden", "The Wedding March", l'ispirata promessa di "All The World Loves Lovers". Se l'incedere di "Wild Horses" ha un che di spiritualmente sensuale, "We Let The Stars Go" è la quintessenza della nostalgia in musica, mentre superbo è in "Moondog" (dove tra l'altro ritorna, ora più sottile, la tematica elvisiana di "The King Of Rock'n'Roll") l'alternarsi di melodia spaziale e perfezione ritmica.
E così via, in un vortice di infinite citazioni che non ha senso più di tanto scandagliare: ci troviamo di fronte a una settantina di minuti di musica pura, non una virgola fuori posto, nessuna concessione al benché minimo intento di "mainstream", un distillato letale di pop perfetto ad uso e consumo di tutte le generazioni, un caposaldo poco frequentato della musica moderna che attende tuttora il dovuto riconoscimento.
Elenco tracce testi samples e video
01 Looking for Atlantis (04:03)
If you're looking for Atlantis
You should cast your eye on me
Put your two and two together
Don't you know who built Atlantis
Then returned to the sea
Don't you know who owns the weather ?
Rain or shine
Sure is good to seek a challenge
Sure is fine to set your sights
Sure is foolish to be blinded
There are legions out there churching
Searching for the holy grail
Isn't one of them can find it
All this time
You should be loving someone
And you know who it must be
Cause you'll never find Atlantis
Til you make that someone me
You should be loving someone
And you know who it must be
Cause you'll never find Atlantis
Til you make that someone me
Say you do find your volcano and the darn thing is still hot
Lesson one : Child don't waste it
Lesson two : The world's your cherry
But tomorrow ? Maybe not
Lesson three : Come on and taste it
All this time
You should be loving someone
And you know who it must be
Cause you'll never find Atlantis
Til you make that someone me
You should be loving someone
And you know who it must be
Cause you'll never find Atlantis
Til you make that someone me
02 Wild Horses (03:44)
Through the rails I spied
Your ponytail. I tried
With sugar cubes - And they're O.K.
But I don't think
I'll catch you that way
I hate myself 'cause you're so cool
With your mocking eyes
"Won't you look at the old fool"
Wild horses - I want to have
Wild horses - I want to have
Wild horses - I want to have
Wild horses - I want to
Look at you - Unflawed.
Now look at me - Plain overawed
Grace and looks take no credit for
Girl you're young
And they're part of the score
Like the chemicals at war in me
'Til I'm a wolf with an eye for the ponies
Wild horses - I want to have
Wild horses - I want to have
Wild horses - I want to have
Wild horses - I want to
I want extra time to play,
Afternoons in the hay
It's a sorry way for a man to feel
But sentimental is part of the deal
I hate myself because it shows how
I'm a fool for your rodeo
Wild horses - I want to have
Wild horses - I want to have
Wild horses - I want to have
Wild horses
Wild horses - I want to have
Wild horses - I want to have
Wild horses - I want to have you
04 We Let the Stars Go (03:39)
There was that girl I used to know
She'd tease me about my name
Fan the embers long enough
I sometimes catch her flame
The soothing voice of distance tells me
"That was just a fling"
Other music fills my ears
But I still hear her sing :
She sings :
Paddy Joe, say Paddy Joe
Don't you remember me ?
How long ago one gorgeous night
We let the stars go
Paddy Joe, say Paddy Joe
Don't you remember me ?
How long ago one gorgeous night
We let the stars go free
There was a boy I used to be
I guess that he was cold
If she came to buy him now
How cheaply he'd be sold
But the light is gone and it is dark
What used to be the sky
Is suddenly embarrassing
To the naked eye
You see :
Paddy Joe, see Paddy Joe
Can't face this memory
How long ago one gorgeous night
We let the stars go
Paddy Joe, see Paddy Joe
Can't face this memory
How long ago one gorgeous night
We let the stars go
Long ago one gorgeous night
We let the stars go
Long ago one stupid night
We let the stars go free
We let the stars go free
We let the stars go free
We let the stars go free
We let the stars go free
05 Carnival 2000 (03:23)
Tonight let's raise a glass my friend
To those who couldn't make it
A century has shut its eyes
And who are we to wake it ?
Cool music we play, dance and say
Carnival 2000 :
Lives come and go but life no denial
Is always in style. Welcome to :
Carnival 2000 :
Loves come and go but love above all
Is belle of the ball
We ask for any wrong we've done
The years ahead forgive us
We ask for any good we've done
That all of it outlive us
Cool music we play, dance and say
Carnival 2000 :
Lives come and go but life no denial
Is always in style. Welcome to :
Carnival 2000 :
Loves come and go but love above all
Is belle of the ball
Welcome to :
Carnival 2000 :
Lives come and go but life no denial
Is always in style. Welcome to :
Carnival 2000 :
Loves come and go but love above all
Is belle of the ball
06 Jordan: The Comeback (04:13)
They say the spirit moves in mysterious ways
Sometimes the way it moves looks plain berserk
But two things you should be slow to criticize
A mans choice of woman and his choice of work
Some work'll earn you top dollar
In this here tinsel town
That's where I started thinkin' of something else
Cos they couldn't film the spirit
From the waist on down
Sometimes I don't sleep too well,
But one day I know :
End of the road I'm travelling,
I will see Jordan beckoning
End of the road I'm travelling,
I will see Jordan beckoning
And all those books about me
Well there wasn't much love in 'em boys
I'm tellin' you if I'd taken all that medication
Man, I'da rattled like... one o' my lil girls toys
Now they call me a recluse
Been in the desert so long
Layin' on my back bidin' my time
I'm just waitin' for the right song
Then I'm comin' back
Sometimes I don't sleep too well,
But one day I know :
End of the road I'm travelling,
I will see Jordan beckoning
End of the road I'm travelling,
I will see Jordan beckoning
Jordan sweet Jordan
Hand me any cup you find that's lyin' spare
Lord I've long time been a thirstin' for a share
Jordan waiting for me there
End of the road I'm travelling,
I will see Jordan beckoning
End of the road I'm travelling,
I will see Jordan beckoning
End of the road I'm travelling,
I will see Jordan beckoning
End of the road I'm travelling,
I will see Jordan beckoning
Jordan sweet Jordan
Hand me any cup you find that's lyin' spare
End of the road I'm travelling,
I will see Jordan beckoning
End of the road I'm travelling,
I will see Jordan beckoning
Jordan sweet Jordan
Hand me any cup you find that's lyin' spare
End of the road I'm travelling,
I will see Jordan beckoning
End of the road I'm travelling,
I will see Jordan beckoning
Jordan sweet Jordan
Hand me any cup you find that's lyin' spare
13 Paris Smith (02:55)
Little Paris Smith
Lovely name for a girl is Paris Smith
Baby Paris Smith
Don't repeat my mistakes Paris Smith
Paris : Any music worth its salt is good for dancing
Paris : But I tried to be the Fred Astaire of words
Paris you heard
Little Paris Smith one day you'll have a job
Yes Paris Smith
Baby Paris Smith don't you grow up a snob
No Paris Smith
Paris : There are benefits to syncopated motion
Paris : Which no high falutin' double talk can show - Paris
Paris : Any music worth its salt is good for dancing
Paris : But I tried to be the Fred Astaire of words
Paris you heard
16 Michael (03:02)
All the jobs I've ever held, positions I have known
The one I was a fool to leave was
Right hand to the throne
Ambition took me speed of light
To God's exclusion zone
Michael if you're listening,
Michael who stayed true
One of us got out of line when Paradise was new
One of us was exiled and the one who wasn't's you
Michael - help me write a letter to you know who
I will sign it "Lucifer regrets..."
Can't forget his final words were
"Ain't no comeback gonna come your way"
What if I pray ?
Michael the archangel listen.
Michael don't you see ?
We've come to stand for principles that
Prove free will is free
If you are on the side of good
Now where does that leave me ?
Michael - help me write a letter to you know who
I will sign it "Lucifer regrets..."
Can't forget his final words were
"Ain't no comeback gonna come your way"
He never could resist a sinner
Or ignore a distress call - but such a fall
19 Doo Wop in Harlem (03:43)
There is a door we all walk through
And on the other side I'll meet you
Reunion in the air - A cappella meets pure prayer
Somewhere : I can't wait to meet you there
Somewhere : I can't wait to meet you there
If there ain't a heaven that holds you tonight
They never sang doo-wop in Harlem
If there ain't a heaven that holds you tonight
They never sang doo-wop in Harlem
There is a door it may seem locked
But in a little while - Don't be shocked
Above the noise, behind the glare
I know you're listening out there - Somewhere
Somewhere : I can't wait to meet you there
Somewhere : I can't wait to meet you there
If there ain't a heaven that holds you tonight
They never sang doo-wop in Harlem
If there ain't a heaven that holds you tonight
They never sang doo-wop in Harlem
If there ain't a heaven that holds you tonight
They never sang doo-wop in Harlem
If there ain't a heaven that holds you tonight
They never sang doo-wop in Harlem
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Altre recensioni
Di Abraham
Ti giuro che io ci ho provato: oltre ad acquistare ogni tuo prodotto, ho diffuso il verbo, elogiato le tue doti di compositore a mezza via tra Lennon e McCartney.
Jordan è un concept album atipico, suonato con una gentilezza fuori dal comune.
