• Voto:
Ogni volta che osservo la copertina e la retrocopertina di questo disco vengo colto da una leggera tristezza, infatti, mentre l'immagine principale raffigura una statua (presumibilmente in gesso) di R Thompson con la chitarra circondato da specchi, il retro invece, presenta la stessa statua rotta in più punti (testa, torace, gambe e la parte finale della chitarra) vicino a una targhetta (posta sotto la scultura di una testa) con scritto: Elvis 1935-1977. Personalmente ho inteso il significato di queste immagini come un riferimento profondo alla musica. Sotto un certo punto di vista (soprattutto di ascolto) la musica rimane per così dire "perfetta" nel tempo in tutte le sue sfaccettature (specchi), ma nel contempo è carica di ferite interiori mai completamente guarite, come la morte prematura di Elvis...
Thompson (n. 1949 GB) è il fondatore dei Fairport Convention ed è sicuramente un chitarrista abile e scrupoloso con un timbro vocale originale e dotato di notevoli capacità compositive. Rimarrà insieme ai FC fino al 1971, poi deciderà di proseguire la sua carriera a fianco di Linda Peters (sua moglie), producendo una serie di album impostati su un certo tipo di Folk-Rock-Country elettrico. Negli anni '80 la coppia si separerà sia artisticamente che affettivamente e mentre Thompson proseguirà a pubblicare dischi, nonostante il periodo critico per il Folk inglese, Linda sparirà rapidamente dalle scene. Innumerevoli le collaborazioni di Richard con artisti impegnati nei più svariati generi musicali.
Il CD è composto da tredici canzoni per un totale di circa cinquantacinque minuti. Forse, il solo difetto di questo lavoro è la sonorità a tratti leggermente "appesantita" ma che comunque dopo una buona serie di ascolti diventa un aspetto trascurabile. Si possono trovare sia brani rilassanti come "The Way That It Shows", "King Of Bohemia" e "Beeswing" che brani quasi enigmatici come "Mingus Eyes", "Taking My Business Elsewhere" (un piccolo e commovente capolavoro) e "Easy There, Steady Now", ma anche canzoni più propriamente Rock come "Shane And Dixie", "Mascara Tears" e "Ride in Your Slipstream". Lungo tutto il disco si avverte una certa tensione interiore e una particolare sonorità quasi "metallica", forse dovuta alla produzione di M Froom, che comunque personalmente gradisco.
Da segnalare l'ottimo lavoro svolto alla chitarra da parte di Thompson, non per l'aspetto tecnico, ma per l'originalità e l'impegno quasi "certosino" dei passaggi strumentali, con sonorità ricercate e mai banali, Il disco però richiede qualche ascolto per poter essere apprezzato pienamente. Ottimo anche il booklet che contiene (una volta tanto) anche i testi delle canzoni e una serie di simpatiche fotografie dove la statua (piccola) di Thompson è posizionata nei luoghi più impensabili come: un giardinetto vicino ad animali finti, in uno scatolone, davanti ad uno specchio rotondo, sopra un tappeto insieme ad altre "cianfrusaglie" presumibilmente in vendita. Voto disco 4,3 su 5 (statuine).
Elenco tracce testi e video
03 MGB-GT (03:37)
I've got a little car and she might go far
She's the mistress of my heart now
She's a '65 with an overdrive
I fixed her in every part now
2 in the front and 2 in the back
110 on the old Hog's Back
She's my MGB-GT she's a runner now
I welded the sills and the old floor pan
Cut the rust with the torch and the hacksaw
Took the Rostyles off, put the spoke wheels on
Got a brand new Salisbury axle
WHen I drive through town the girls all smile
They say, there's a man with retro-style
MGB-GT she's a runner now
Lockheed discs and twin SUs
Original chrome on the grill now
Looks llike a dream in racing green
Competition's standing still now
I sprayed her body, I strengthened her frame
I stripped her right down and built her up again
MGB-GT
An Alpine's fine if you've got the time
And a Healey'll set you back some
TR4 cost a little bit more
But it don't have the same attraction
Hard top handy case of the weather
I don't care if it rains forever
MGB-GT
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
08 Mingus Eyes (04:47)
What a fool I was
What a thin disguise
Brando mumble
Mingus eyes
Was a time she fell
But then she got wise
Brando mumble
Mingus eyes
Never had the squint of James Dean
or the Stanislavsky tears
Or the rebel hunch that kills
Or the smile that slowly disappears
What a fool I was
What a thin disguise
Brando mumble
Mingus eyes
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
10 Beeswing (05:33)
*
*
I was nineteen when I came to town
They called it the Summer of Love
They were burning babies, burning flags
The hawks against the doves
I took a job in the steamie
Down on Cauldrum Street
And I fell in love with a laundry girl
Who was working next to me
{Refrain}
Oh she was a rare thing, fine as a bee's wing
So fine a breath of wind might blow her away
She was a lost child, oh she was running wild
She said "As long as there's no price on love, I'll stay
And you wouldn't want me any other way"
Brown hair zig-zag around her face
And a look of half-surprise
Like a fox caught in the headlights
There was animal in her eyes
She said "Young man, oh can't you see
I'm not the factory kind
If you don't take me out of here
I'll surely lose my mind"
{Refrain}
...So fine that I might crush her where she lay...
We busked around the market towns
And picked fruit down in Kent
And we could tinker lamps and pots and knives
Wherever we went
And I said that we might settle down
Get a few acres dug
Fire burning in the hearth
And babies on the rug
She said "Oh man, you foolish man
It surely sounds like hell.
You might be lord of half the world
You'll not own me as well"
{Refrain}
...So fine a breath of wind might blow her away...
We was camping down the Gower one time
The work was pretty good
She thought we shouldn't wait for the frost
And I thought maybe we should
We was drinking more in those days
And tempers reached a pitch
And like a fool I let her run
With the rambling itch
Oh the last I heard she's sleeping rough
Back on the Derby beat
White Horse in her hip pocket
And a wolfhound at her feet
And they say she even married once
A man named Romany Brown
But even a gypsy caravan
Was too much settling down
And they say her flower is faded now
Hard weather and hard booze
But maybe that's just the price you pay
For the chains you refuse
{As Refrain}
Oh she was a rare thing, fine as a bee's wing
And I miss her more than ever words could say
If I could just taste all of her wildness now
If I could hold her in my arms today
Well I wouldn't want her any other way
*
*
*
13 Taking My Business Elsewhere (04:26)
If she's not here by now, then I guess she's not coming
If she's not here by now, then I guess she don't care
Oh waiter, I won't waste your time anymore
You've already started to sweep down the floor
And I guess she's not coming, so I'll head for the door
I'll be taking my business elsewhere
It wasn't for me, that spark in her eyes
It wasn't for me, that halo in her hair
When she touched me a lump rose up into my throat
But she must act that way with any old soak
And waiter you don't seem to share in the joke
So I'll be taking my business elsewhere
She called me her fantasy and boldly she kissed me
I'll never get over the sheer surprise
Of her acting that way and I'm healing OK
But for the eyes of her
Oh it's cold in the rain and it's dark and it's sad
And I'll miss her tonight on my lonely back stair
I'm sorry for taking so much of your space
I'll move down the street to some friendlier place
'Cause I guess she's not coming, and you're sick of my face
I'll be taking my business elsewhere
I'll be taking my business elsewhere
Carico i commenti... con calma
