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Correva l' anno 1982 e Barry Andrews alle tastiere( ex XTC ), Dave Allen ( mitico bassista dei primi due album dei Gang Of Four ) e Carl Marsh al canto formarono gli Shriekback. "Oil And Gold" è il loro terzo LP, ed è ormai diventato un classico. Dieci brani di hard-funky mescolati ad altri rallentati ed atmosferici. Il tutto condito da tastiere decadenti e stranianti, talvolta di gusto orientale. Da questo punto di vista, gli Shriekback potrebbero essere accomunati ai Japan. Il loro sound era più ballabile del gruppo di Sylvian, ma soprattutto si tingeva di tanto in tanto di soul per la presenza di morbidi cori femminili, ma l' interpretazione estetizzante del rock mostra diversi punti di contatto. Soprattutto l' uso dell'elettronica, risulta nei brani rallentati molto simile alle visioni notturne di Richard Barbieri.
L' iniziale "Malaria", nota nei club più alla moda in quel periodo, è una valanga entusiasmante, un trascinante funky ultra-ballabile per il canto di Marsh, che duetta con un coro gospel femminile. L'elettronica è sempre molto presente e si amalgama splendidamente con le distorsioni chitarristiche. Senza dubbio un gran pezzo.
La seguente "Everything That Rises Must Converge" non lascia certo il tempo di rifiatare, insinstendo su figure di basso metalliche e spigolose. Inutile dire che l'asse portante di questi art-funk è la sezione ritmica, poderosa come poche, presente e incisiva.
Ma come già anticipato sopra, il disco vive anche di momenti atmosferici, l'esempio migliore dei quali è la lunga ballata di "This Big Hush", 6 minuti di splendido onirismo. La voce di Marsh si fa calda e sensuale, e recita il suo salmo accompagnata da una languida voce femminile. Sullo sfondo un tappeto elettronico nebbioso si stende seducente, accompagnato da rintocchi lenti di drum machine. Uno dei brani più suggestivi del suo decennio.
La danza araba di "Hammerheads", segnata da ronzii di zanzare elettroniche e da percussioni caraibiche rappresenta l'ibrido tra i loro " lenti " e le loro sfrenate pulsioni funk, che completa un disco importante, ben suonato, coinvolgente e alcune volte surreale. Un linguaggio che ha portato il ballabile su alte vette e rimarrà uno splendido esempio di art-funk. Consigliato.
Elenco tracce testi e video
03 Fish Below the Ice (04:24)
Well the mouth is open
And the noise comes out
Ain't no reason for it
Just a need to shout
It's malnutrition
We could fall apart
It's never delicate
Just something from the iron age
We shake it up
And we break it down
The sound of a satellite
Saying get me down
Yeah we shake it up
And we break it down
Hear the voice of America
In your home town
Well the film is forming
'Til the film runs out
There's no point of focus
It zooms in and out
It's information
And it leaves no mark
It's just as permanent
As painting in the iron age
I'm plugged in and loaded
Don't forget to phone in
The self destruct is holding
I'm counting, I'm counting, but only to three
We get it right sometimes
We shine a light sometimes
We see the fish below the ice sometimes
Stand up and fight sometimes
We get the fright sometimes
How will we ever pay the price this time
We shake it up
And we break it down
The sound of a satellite
Saying get me down
Yeah we shake it up
And we break it down
It's east European, west European
It's moving so fast
It goes all the way round
We shake it up
And we break it down
Yeah we shake it up
And we break it down
Yeah we shake it up / Yeah he's on a mission from god
And we break it down / But he don't know whose and he don't know why
Yeah we shake it up
And we break it down
Yeah we shake it up / Says I'm not a light in the darkness
And we break it down / More like a shadow on the lungs
Yeah we shake it up
And we break it down
Yeah we shake it up / I'm balanced here on the edge of anger
And we break it down / I'm standing here on an empty page
Yeah we shake it up / Sooner or later I'll start receiving
And we break it down / I've been standing here for days
Yeah we shake it up
And we break it down
Hear the voice of America
In your home town
Yeah we shake it up
And we break it down
It's east European, west European
It's moving so fast
It goes all the way round
We get it right sometimes
We shine a light sometimes
We see the fish below the ice sometimes
Stand up and fight sometimes
We get the fright sometimes
How will we ever pay the price this time
We shake it up
And we break it down
The sound of a satellite
Saying get me down
Yeah we shake it up
And we break it down
It's east European, west European
It's moving so fast
It goes all the way round
We get it right sometimes
We shine a light sometimes
We see the fish below the ice sometimes
Stand up and fight sometimes
We get the fright sometimes
How will we ever pay the price this time
We get it right sometimes
We shine a light sometimes
We see the fish below the ice sometimes
Stand up and fight sometimes
We get the fright sometimes
How will we ever pay the price this time
We get it right sometimes
We shine a light sometimes
We see the fish below the ice sometimes
Stand up and fight sometimes
We get the fright sometimes
How will we ever pay the price this time
We get it right sometimes
We shine a light sometimes...
06 Nemesis (03:45)
In a jungle of the senses
Tinkerbell and Jack the ripper
Love has no meaning, not where they come from
But we know pleasure is not that simple
Very little fruit is forbidden
Sometimes we wobble, sometimes we're strong
But you know evil is an exact science
Being carefully correctly wrong
Chorus
Priests and cannibals, prehistoric animals
Everybody happy as the dead come home
Big Black Nemesis, parthenogenesis
No one move a muscle as the dead come home
We feel like Greeks, we feel like Romans
Centaurs and monkeys just cluster round us
We drink elixirs that we refine
from the juices of the dying
We are no monsters, we're moral people
and yet we have the strength to do this
This is the splendour of our achievement
Call in the airstrike with a poison kiss
Chorus
Priests and cannibals, prehistoric animals
Everybody happy as the dead come home
Big black nemesis, parthenogenesis
No-one move a muscle as the dead come home
How bad it gets, you can't imagine
the burning wax, the breath of reptiles
god is not mocked, he knows our business
Karma could take us at any moment
Cover him up.....I think we're finished
You know it's never been so exotic
but I don't know, my dreams are visions
We could still end up with the great big fishes
Chorus
Priests and cannibals, prehistoric animals
Everybody happy as the dead come home
Big black nemesis, parthenogenesis
No-one move a muscle as the dead come home
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