• Voto:
Quella voce impastata di polvere e lirica rabbia, pathos e orgoglio a reagire alle trappole di una vita ai margini; quella voce che sussurra e scandisce come di un angelo tra fuochi infernali e che pare, invece, uno scherzo 'celeste'-persa com'è nel poetico declamare morrisoniano, in ricordi roots fine '60 di John Fogerty e nel baritono alcolico del signor Waits....
Trovare tutte queste sensazioni in una sola voce sembra assurdo, appunto uno scherzo, ma tant'è che fu grande la mia emozione quando ascoltai la prima volta Mark Lanegan. E si che era stato uno dei suoi celebrati album solisti (Scraps at midnight-'98) a farmi trascinare fra le pieghe di un'anima non piu' lacerata come in passato, non del tutto placata e ancora immersa nel buio. Cosi', io che della stagione inizio '90 di Seattle ero stato assorbito per lo piu' da Nirvana, Pearl Jam e Soundgarden (per inciso i miei prediletti), arrivai a scoprire i cosiddetti 'alberi urlanti', che di quella scena erano tra gli esponenti di piu' lungo corso. Infatti un lustro separa l'esordio 'Clairvoyance' su ep del 1986 da questo ‘Sweet Oblivion', uscito sull'onda di una discreta notorieta' ottenuta grazie a ‘Nearly lost you' presente sulla colonna sonora del film ‘Singles' di Cameron Crowe.
La figura carismatica e il talento di songwriter di Lanegan emersero subito all'interno del gruppo di Ellensburg (Washington), composto dai fratelli Van e Gary Lee Conner rispettivamente basso e chitarre e da, in quest'album, Barrett Martin alla batteria. Il ritorno a un classicismo rock quasi privo delle asprezze sonore passate è subito dichiarato dall'incipit iniziale di ‘Shadow of the season', che anticipa la melodia garage-sixties della gia' citata ‘Nearly lost you'; per poi arrivare, quindi, ad una delle piu' belle composizioni degli Screaming tutti: 'Dollar bill', grintosa ballata rock sostenuta dal canto virile del leader (come dei Creedence moderni attraversati dalle scariche elettriche di quei anni). Altri pezzi notevoli sono il blues impetuoso di ‘More or less', la frenesia rock'n'roll di ‘Butterfly', le dolenti melodie di ‘For celebrations past' e 'Winter song' e l'epica e amara 'No one knows', in cui la chitarra di Gary Lee Conner contribuisce a disegnare il tono insieme malinconico e duro, ma mai rassegnato dei testi.
La cavalcata rock di ‘Julie paradise' sancisce il finale di questo ‘dolce oblio', in definitiva un lavoro meno aggressivo e psichedelico dei precedenti ‘Buzz factory' e 'Uncle anesthesia' che contribui', pero', a farli conoscere dal grande pubblico in virtu' di un approccio piu' comunicativo e melodico; forse meno urgente e spontaneo ma, a distanza di anni, capace di ribadire il ruolo certo non di contorno dei Screaming Trees nel panorama musicale di allora.
Poi, con quella voce, Mark Lanegan se ne ando' per altri sentieri, recuperando tradizione cantautoriale e filtrandola con la sua sensibilita'.... ma questa è un'altra storia.
Elenco tracce testi e samples
02 Nearly Lost You (04:07)
Did you hear the distant cry
Calling me back to my sin
Like the one you knew before
Calling me back once again
I nearly, I nearly lost you there
And it's taken us somewhere
I nearly lost you there
Let's try to sleep now
Drag me far enough to know
I'm blind every mile that you burn
There's a rider that's fallen and
It's clear there's no time to return
I nearly, I nearly lost you there
And it's taken us somewhere
I nearly lost you there
Well let's try to sleep now
Did you hear the distant lie
Calling me back to my sin
Like the one you knew before
Calling me back once again
I nearly, I nearly lost you there
And it's taken us somewhere
I nearly lost you there
Well let's try to sleep now
I nearly lost you there
I nearly lost you
I nearly lost you there
I nearly lost you there
I nearly lost you there
Oh yeah, nearly lost you there
03 Dollar Bill (04:35)
Torn like an old dollar bill
Girl let them say what they will
That no one should hurt you
And that's all I seem to do
That no one should desert you
And that's all I seem to do
I got to tell you, goodbye mama
We've taken this too far
Been trying to tell you what's going on
Trying to make it easy on you
Trying to make it better
Make it easier on you
It's all I came to do
It's all I came to do
Now I'm down in the light
And I must be dreaming it
Cause I see clearly, I see angels here
Bringing something to me, Mother Mercy
I told a lie, I didn't mean it
Goodbye mama, I've taken this too far
Been gone a while
Been gone a long way, oh yeah
I don't want to hurt you
It's all I seem to do
Don't want to desert you
It's all I seem to do
I got to tell you, goodbye mama
I've taken this too far
Been down a while
Been down a long way
Trying to make it easy on you
Trying to make it better
Make it easier on you
It's all I came to do
It's all I came to do
It's all I came to do
That's all... been down a long
Been down a long, long way
Torn like an old dollar bill
05 Butterfly (03:22)
Changing memories they fade away
The hours and the days
While in the sunshine, the sunshine bright
I kept you on my mind
Cry, cry butterfly
Heard it on the wings that you're going to die
Cry, cry butterfly
Well I'm sick and I want to go home
Up to an empty room
Four walls around, nothing to be found
Of empty promises in a lonesome town
Let me lay you down
Cry, cry butterfly
Heard it on the wings that you're going to die
Cry, cry butterfly
Well I'm sick and I want to go home
The changing memories they fade away
In the hours in the day
While in the sunshine, the sunshine bright
I kept you on my mind
Cry, cry butterfly
Heard it on the wings that you're going to die
Cry, cry butterfly
And I'm sick and I want to go home
Cry, cry butterfly
Heard it on the wings that you're going to die
Cry, cry butterfly
And I'm sick and I want to go home
Well I'm sick and I want to go home
That I'm sick and I want to go home
06 For Celebrations Past (04:09)
This is for footsteps approaching the night
They keep themselves moving and do what is right
Now watch what you gather and hold in your hand
Numbers are many who misunderstand
Drink your wine away instead
I won't remember all that's said
Say farewell and close the door
You'll find me never more
That I believe in
That I believe in
That I believe in you
Must be a crying shame
Tell you a story of that which comes last
All of the sorrow that lives in the past
Now if you're tired of all that's been told
Don't be surprised that I've grown so old
Drink your wine away instead
I won't remember all that's said
Say farewell and close the door
You'll find me never more
And I believe in
That I believe in
That I believe in you
Must be a crying shame
Breathing in shadows or dead on the vine
I'm there in the morning to take you sometimes
To watch what you gather and hold in your hand
The numbers are many who misunderstand
Drink your wine away instead
I won't remember all that's said
Say farewell and close the door
You'll find me never more
And I believe in
That I believe in
That I believe in
That I believe in
That I believe in you
Must be a crying shame
07 The Secret Kind (03:08)
Lying in the quiet darkness
Getting high alone
Pictures shifting out of focus
Not as far to go
Eyes to the sun
One more blind
Secret kind
Yesterday is twice removed
Tomorrow's close behind
Alone and unreliable
Windows out of time
Eyes to the sun
One more blind
Secret kind
Lying in the quiet darkness
Getting high alone
Pictures shifting out of focus
Not as far to go
Eyes to the sun
One more blind
Secret kind
Eyes to the sun
One more blind
Secret kind
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