Se dovessimo, con i tempi che corrono, inquisire la maggior parte delle uscite discografiche, ben pochi artisti si sottrarrebbero all'accusa di sacrificare la qualità delle proprie composizioni nel nome di facile denaro e di una longeva sopravvivenza nello star-sytem musicale.
Con questi presupposti Ryan Adams subirebbe, come minimo, un regolare processo. La fama di arrogante rock-star che sta lentamente sovrastando quella di talentuoso cantautore, e la sua vivace produzione artistica (5 album in poco meno di 3 anni: autore contro il sistema o furbo arraffa-denari alla Prince?) sono elementi che non depongono a suo favore.
Così mentre "Rock 'N' Roll" ha tanto l'impressione di essere stato realizzato con la pistola della casa discografica puntata alle tempia, l'ultimo "Love Is Hell" (due EP pubblicati in rapida sequenza) è stato accolto come tentativo di accontentare i fans di vecchia data, evidentemente indignati dal rock fortemente radiofonico del precedente lavoro.
"Love Is Hell, Pt. 1" è in realtà un ottimo album, realizzato da un Ryan Adams mai così ispirato, un disco malinconico, emozionante, che apprezzi dimenticandoti ben presto dei motivi che ne avrebbero condizionato la realizzazione.
"Political Scientist" è uno splendido omaggio a Jeff Buckley, e "Afraid Not Scared" fin dai primi accordi potrebbe essere saltata fuori dal cassetto dove i Radiohead tengono nascosti i brani esclusi da "The Bends".
Reminiscenze di "Gold" e di "Rock 'N' Roll" si affacciano prepotenti in "This House Is Not For Sale" e "Love Is Hell", dando l'impressione che le riflessive atmosfere costruite in apertura abbiano lasciato definitivamente il passo ad un andatura più rock.
A "Wonderwall"quindi il compito di aprire una sequenza di canzoni dall'infinita bellezza. La sognante cover degli Oasis, di grande impatto nonostante la semplicità di esecuzione, le intense "The Shadowlands" e "Avalanche", composte in piena influenza british (Coldplay e Starsailor su tutti) e la cupa Caterwaul (una delle 2 bonus track incluse nella versione europea del disco) risultano i momenti più coinvolgenti di un album che conquisterà anche coloro i quali avevano da tempo etichettato Ryan Adams come l'ennesima star montata accuratamente da evitare.
Elenco tracce e testi
01 Political Scientist (04:33)
He is drinking water from the faucet from the river
From the tributary it comes through rusted pipes
Outside his window he sees the water that's supposed to be clean
By the chemicals polluted by the candy factory lines
Someplace on the edge of town
Someplace on the edge of town
Is where they live --
Political scientists
So now she is crawling on her hands and her knees
She is dirtying her jeans choking on her own perfume
With a pen she writes below the sink in someone's restaurant
This place is inconvenient for my name
She forgets to write it anyway
She forgets to write it anyway
The government supplies the cocaine
Political scientists
There's no guarantees
There's no guarantees
There's no guarantees
Banging hard upon a crooked drum
She feels them tearing down Salvation Army houses back in Michigan
Her husband's divorced but he treats her that way of course
Because he needs her just like he needs medicine
She forgets to write him anyway
She forgets to write him anyway
What's red and white and nearly over
Political scientist
Political scientist
Political scientist
There's no guarantees
There's no guarantees
There's no guarantees
05 Wonderwall (04:09)
Today is gonna be the day,
that they're gonna give it back to you.
By now you should've somehow,
realized what you gotta do.
I don't believe that anybody,
feels the way I do about you now.
Backbeat the word was on the street,
that the fire in your heart is out.
And I'm sure you've heard it all before,
but you never really had a doubt.
I don't believe that anybody,
feels the way I do about you now.
And all the roads we have to walk are winding.
And all the lights that lead the way are blinding.
There are many things that I would like to say to you,
but I don't know how...
I said maybe...
You're gonna be the one that saves me...
And after all...
You're my wonderwall...
Today was gonna be the day,
but they'll never bring it back to you.
By now you should've somehow,
realized what you gotta do.
I don't believe that anybody feels
the way I do about you now.
And all the roads we have to walk are winding.
And all the lights that lead the way are blinding.
There are many things that I would like to say to you,
but I don't know how...
I said maybe...
You're gonna be the one that saves me...
You're gonna be the one that saves me...
And after all...
You're my wonderwall...
You're my wonderwall...
You're my wonderwall...
You're my wonderwall...
06 The Shadowlands (05:18)
God, please bring the rain
Yeah, and bring it soon
Let it flood right through the houses
Into Judy's room
With a father on amphetamines
Her mother hides the pearls
Reach out into the darkness
And find my little girl
'Cause she's angry like a salesman
Who just couldn't make a sale
Threw the weddings ring in the sewer
And damned them all to hell
Please lead her to the mountain
That you fashioned out of sand
While the roaches climb the walls
From the hotel where he calls
Most people never find a love
Most people never find a love
Sometimes you just can be a man
Sometimes you just can be a man
When your living in the darkness
Of the shadowlands
The shadowlands
The shadowlands
07 World War 24 (04:17)
Porcelain doll
Your mother runs an antique shop
She takes some stuff, I take a lot
We sleep all day
Slow response
I'm feelin' like an afterthought
I guess I'm kinda lost in space
And London's okay
She don't even ask what time it is anymore
Dressed up like its World War 24
Sugar sweet
She loves it when it hits her teeth
The river hides the carousel
In London, oh well
Coma comes
Like bullets from a candy gun
Delivers us into the sun
Of London, my love
She don't even ask what time it is anymore
Dressed up like its World War 24
And if we get too high
We'll burn this town
We'll burn this town
We'll burn this town
Oh, baby, bring me down
Oh, baby, bring me down
Oh, baby, bring me down
Oh, baby, bring me down
I'm all yours
I'm all yours
I'm all yours
08 Avalanche (05:08)
I found your photograph in a cardboard box in a magazine
I can't remember you, remember us or anything
I taught you how to feel, but you just feel numb
They taught you how to feel, but you just feel numb
She comes apart in the avalanche
Fades out like a dance
Crawls back into bed
When it's over
When it's over
When it's over
And it's over
I watch the window and listen for the sound of cars
I can't remember the last time that it was yours
I taught you how to feel, why do you feel numb
They taught us how to feel, but we just feel numb
She falls apart in the avalanche
Fades out like a dance
Crawls back into bed
When it's over
When it's over
When it's over
When it's over
She falls apart in the avalanche
Fades out like a dance
Crawls back into bed
When it's over
And it's over
When it's over
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