"Pablo Honey" è l'album di esordio dei Radiohead, una delle band più influenti e innovatrici degli ultimi anni.

L'anno è il 1993 e Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, Ed O'Brien, Colin Greenwood e Phil Selway, fino ad allora conosciuti con il nome di On A Friday, diventano i Radiohead (dal titolo di una canzone dei Talking Heads") ed entrano in studio per pubblicare il loro primo disco. Il risultato è un lavoro un po' acerbo che lascia però intravedere chiaramente il talento indiscusso dei cinque ragazzi di Oxford, che emergerà in tutto il suo splendore con i successivi "The Bends" e "Ok Computer", autentiche perle degli anni '90.

Grezza, giovanile ed emotiva: così può essere descritta a grandi linee questa opera prima trainata dallo straordinario successo della hit "Creep", brano che divenne una sorta di "manifesto" per molti giovani che si riconoscevano nelle amare parole di Thom Yorke ("I'm a creep, I'm a weirdo, What the hell am I doing here? I don't belong here.."), prima appena sussurrate e poi urlate, a rimarcare un disagio interiore qui messo in evidenza da un amore non ricambiato. Sulla stessa linea anche l'acustica "Thinking About You", brano estremamente malinconico e struggente e "Vegetable", con un violento ritornello che rompe la quiete ed esprime al meglio la frustrazione della protagonista, vittima di violenze domestiche.

A completare l'elenco dei brani più interessanti l'esperimento punk di "How Do You?", l'appassionato ed energico tributo alla chitarra "Anyone Can Play Guitar" e "Stop Whispering". Ad ascoltare oggi "Pablo Honey", si faticherebbe non poco ad associare i suoi creatori a quelli di "Hail To The Thief": un percorso, quello dei Radiohead, che li ha visti in continua evoluzione, mai fossilizzati su di uno stile che avrebbe garantito loro il successo, ma sempre alla ricerca di nuove sperimentazioni.

Un percorso che comunque, senza passare per il pop-rock tutt'altro che banale di questo loro esordio, molto probabilmente non sarebbe stato lo stesso.

Elenco tracce testi e video

02   Creep (03:55)

When you were here before
Couldn't look you in the eye
You're just like an angel
Your skin makes me cry

You float like a feather
In a beautiful world
I wish I was special
You're so fuckin' special

But I'm a creep
I'm a weirdo
What the hell am I doin' here?
I don't belong here

I don't care if it hurts
I wanna have control
I want a perfect body
I want a perfect soul

I want you to notice
When I'm not around
You're so fuckin' special
I wish I was special

But I'm a creep
I'm a weirdo
What the hell am I doin' here?
I don't belong here, ohhhh, ohhhh

She's running out the door
She's running out
She runs, runs, runs, runs
Runs

Whatever makes you happy
Whatever you want
You're so fuckin' special
I wish I was special

But I'm a creep
I'm a weirdo
What the hell am I doin' here?
I don't belong here

I don't belong here

03   How Do You? (02:12)

04   Stop Whispering (05:25)

And the wise man say I don't want to hear your voice
And the thin man say I don't want to hear your voice
And they're cursing me, and they won't let me be
And there's nothing to say, and there's nothing to do

Stop whispering, start shouting
Stop whispering, start shouting

And the mother say we spit on your son some more
And the buildings say we spit on your face some more
And the feeling is that there's something wrong
Because I can't find the words and I can't find the songs

Stop whispering, start shouting
Stop whispering, start shouting

Dear Sir, I have a complaint
Can't remember what it is
It doesn't matter anyway
It doesn't matter anyway

05   Thinking About You (02:41)

Been thinking about you, your records are here
Your eyes are on my wall, your teeth are over there
But I'm still no-one, and you're now a star
What do you care?

Been thinking about you, and there's no rest
Shit I still love you, still see you in bed
But I'm playing with myself, and what do you care
When the other men are far, far better

All the things you've got
All the things you need
Who bought you cigarettes
Who bribed the company to come and see you honey?

I've been thinking about you, so how can you sleep?
These people aren't your friends, they're paid to kiss your feet
They don't know what I know and why should you care
When I'm not there

Been thinking about you, and there's no rest
Should I still love you, still see you in bed
But I'm playing with myself, what do you care
When I'm not there

All the things you've got
She'll never need
All the things you've got
I've bled and I bleed to please you

Been thinking about you

06   Anyone Can Play Guitar (03:37)

Destiny, destiny protect me from the world.
Destiny, hold my hand, protect me from the world.
Here we are with our running and confusion,
And I don't see no confusion anywhere.

And if the world does turn and if London burns,
I'll be standing on the beach with my guitar.
I want to be in a band when I get to heaven,
Anyone can play guitar and they won't be a nothing any more.

Grow my hair, grow my hair, I am Jim Morrison,
Grow my hair, I wanna be, wanna be, wanna be Jim Morrison.
Here we are with our running and confusion,
And I don't see no confusion anywhere.

And if the world does turn and if London burns,
I'll be standing on the beach with my guitar.
I want to be in a band when I get to heaven,
Anyone can play guitar and they won't be a nothing any more.

07   Ripcord (03:09)

Soul destroyed with clever toys for little boys
It's inevitable, inevitable, it's a soul destroyed
You're free until you drop
You're free until you've had enough
And you don't understand
No ripcord, no ripcord
No ripcord, no ripcord

Aeroplane do I mean what I mean?
Oh it's inevitable, inevitable, oh aeroplane
A thousand miles an hour
On politics and power
That she don't understand
No ripcord, no ripcord
No ripcord, no ripcord

The answer to your prayers
We'll drop you anywhere

No ripcord, no ripcord
No ripcord, no no no no ripcord
Oh yeah

08   Vegetable (03:12)

I never wanted anything but this
I worked hard, tried hard
I ran around in domestic bliss
I fought hard, died hard

Every time you're running out of here
Every time you're running I get the fear

I never wanted any broken bones
Scarred face, no home
Your words surround me and I asphyxiate
And I burn all hate

Every time you're running out on me
Every time you're running I can see

I'm not a veg'table
I will not control myself
I spit on the hand that feeds me
I will not control myself

The waters break, the waters run all over me
The waters break, the waters run
And this time you're gonna pay

I'm not a veg'table
I will not control myself
I spit on the hand that feeds me
I will not control myself

09   Prove Yourself (02:25)

I can't afford to breathe in this town
Nowhere to sit without a gun in my hand
Hooked back up to the cathode ray
I'm better off dead
I'm better off dead
I'm better off

Prove yourself
Prove yourself
Prove yourself

I want to breathe, I want to grow
I'd say I want it but I don't know how
I work, I bleed, I beg, I pray
But I'm better off dead
I'm better off dead
I'm better off

Prove yourself
Prove yourself
Prove yourself

I'm better off dead
I'm better off dead
I'm better off

Prove yourself
Prove yourself
Prove yourself
Prove yourself

Woah

10   I Can't (04:13)

11   Lurgee (03:07)

I feel better, I feel better now you've gone
I got better, I got better, I got strong

I feel better, I feel better now there's nothing wrong
I got better, I got better, I got strong

Tell me something, tell me something I don't know
Tell me one thing, tell me one thing, and let it go

I got something, I got something, heaven knows
I got something, I got something, I don't know

12   Blow Out (04:40)

In my mind and nailed into my heels
All the time killing what I feel

And everything I touch
[All wrapped up in cotton wool]
[All wrapped up and sugar coated]
Turns to stone

And everything I touch
[All wrapped up in cotton wool]
[All wrapped up and sugar coated]
Turns stone

I am fused just in case I blow out
I am glued just because I crack out

Everything I touch turns to stone
Everything I touch
[All wrapped up in cotton wool]
[All wrapped up and sugar coated]

Carico i commenti...  con calma

Altre recensioni

Di  Sallu

 Creep rappresenta, in questo caso, soltanto la punta di un iceberg.

 Un cd da molto più di 3 stelle, ma sicuramente non un capolavoro da 5: per chi vuole sognare senza pensare.


Di  JohnWinston

 È come se i Radiohead cercassero la loro anima senza però trovarla.

 Creep è, probabilmente, la canzone più famosa dell’intero catalogo dei Radiohead, nonché uno dei pochi picchi dell’album.


Di  Superbia

 «Pablo Honey non è affatto un brutto album.»

 «Il pezzo 'Creep' non è brutto, anzi è ottimo, ma il suo valore diventa un peso per la band.»