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Spettacolare! Monumentale! "Street Fighting Years" è un capolavoro!
Siamo nell'anno di grazia 1989 e quando esce l'ep "Ballad Of The Street" si capisce che quello che seguirà sarà un disco impegnato e suonato da Dio.
A questo disco partecipano oltre a John Giblin al basso, che in tour lascia il posto a Malcolm Foster, Lou Reed, Steve Copeland, Lisa Germano al violino e Manu Katche alle percussioni.
L'album si apre con la title track con i primi 25 secondi di basso acustico introduttivo per un pezzo fortemente introspettivo e travolgente, che fa va venire la pelle d'oca. Altre canzoni di alto spessore sono "This Is Your Land", con il cameo di Lou Reed; la straordinaria ballata "Let It All Come Down", composta da Giblin e "Kick It In".
Prima della chiusura con la strumentale "When Spirits Rise", l'album offre il trittico "Mandela Day", scritta in onore del leader sudafricano Nelson Mandela, "Belfast Child", che parla della difficile situazione irlandese e "Biko", cover di Peter Gabriel, dedicata a Steven Biko, altro personaggio di spicco della lotta per l'emancipazione dei neri in sudafrica.
"Mandela Day" è un capolavoro di semplicità: ritmica calda e tenue basata su basso e percussioni, mentre Gaynor accompagna con le spazzole e chitarra e testiara che si intrecciano a completarsi.
"Belfast Child" affonda le sue radici nella tradizionale canzone celtica "She Moved Through The Fair" ma diventa un capolavoro di suoni orchestrali e di tastiera, di chitarra e voce sofferenti e di ritmica secca e incisiva.
Percorrendo questo disco vanno sottolineati l'impeccabile arrangiamento dei pezzi, spesso abbelliti con suoni orchestrali (per l'appunto); le ritmiche con "sfumature d'Africa"; la sofferente chitarra di Burchill e l'epicità della tastiera di McNeil, al suo ultimo album con i Simple Minds.
L'atmosfera che fa inalare questo disco è raffinata, forbita, inebriante tutto contornato dalla voce di Kerr che è fantastica.
Elenco tracce testi e video
05 Take a Step Back (04:23)
Go tell it on the mountain
Like it burst forth like a fountain
Try to shake the deep foundations of this land
High up on lover's land
They got hotel rooms so grand
And no one here knows what goes behind closed doors
Take a step back to the middle of the track
Don't you know it's rumoured all around
Says you know it's come to town
Come on and take a step back to the middle of the track
'Cos the rumours are around said you're coming back to town
And with every little lie
You come and never blink an eye
You know you've got yourself all tied up
When you're around
I've got the modern world behind me
Like a needle in a haystack find me
They build you up and then they're going to burn you down
So take a step back to the middle of the track
The rumours all around
Said you're coming back to me
Come on and take a step back to the middle of the track
Says you know it's going upside, you know what's going down
I'm haunted by the wanderer deep inside
Wanted by
Haunted by
I'm haunted by the wanderer that's deep in my soul
Gonna look back to the middle of the track
And you know it's going upside
Le, le, da, le
Telling me
Ah ha, uh hu
Ooh look back to the middle of the track
And you know it's going upside
Telling me...
Don't tell me it's a bad dream
Don't tell me it's not what it seems
Don't tell me pretty soon you know
Gotta stop the roller coaster
Gotta make the most of it
Gonna pull you down
Gotta make the most of it
Better cool it down
Words And Music : Simple Minds Reproduced without permission
08 Mandela Day (05:45)
It was 25 years they take that man away
Now the freedom moves in closer every day
Wipe the tears down from your saddened eyes
They say Mandela's free so step outside
Oh oh oh oh Mandela day
Oh oh oh oh Mandela's free
It was 25 years ago this very day
Held behind four walls all through night and day
Still the children know the story of that man
And I know what's going on right through your land
25 years ago
Na na na na Mandela day
Oh oh oh Mandela's free
If the tears are flowing wipe them from your face
I can feel his heartbeat moving deep inside
It was 25 years they took that man away
And now the world come down say Nelson Mandela's free
Oh oh oh oh Mandela's free
The rising suns sets Mandela on his way
Its been 25 years around this very day
From the one outside to the ones inside we say
Oh oh oh oh Mandela's free
Oh oh oh set Mandela free
Na na na na Mandela day
Na na na na Mandela's free
25 years ago
What's going on
And we know what's going on
Cos we know what's going on
09 Belfast Child (06:41)
When my love said to me,
Meet me down by the gallow tree.
For it's sad news I bring,
About this old town and all that it's offering.
Some say troubles abound,
Some day soon they're gonna pull the old town down.
One day we'll return here,
When the Belfast Child sings again.
Brothers, sisters, where are you now?
As I look for you right through the crowd.
All my life here I've spent,
With my faith in God the Church and the Government.
But there's sadness abound,
Some day soon they're gonna pull the old town down.
One day we'll return here,
When the Belfast Child sings again,
When the Belfast Child sings again.
So come back Billy, won't you come on home?
Come back Mary, you've been away so long.
The streets are empty, and your mother's gone.
The girls are crying, it's been oh so long.
And your father's calling, come on home.
Won't you come on home, won't you come on home?
Come back people, you've been gone a while,
And the war is raging, through the Emerald Isle.
That's flesh and blood man, that's flesh and blood,
All the girls are crying but all's not lost.
The streets are empty, the streets are cold.
Won't you come on home, won't you come on home?
The streets are empty,
Life goes on.
One day we'll return here,
When the Belfast Child sings again,
When the Belfast Child sings again.
10 Biko (07:34)
September '77
Port Elizabeth weather fine
It was business as usual
In police room 619
Oh Biko, Biko, because Biko
Oh Biko, Biko, because Biko
Hiromija, Hiromija
The man is dead, the man is dead
When I try to sleep at night
I can only dream in red
The outside world is black and white
With only one colour dead
Oh Biko, Biko, because Biko
Oh Biko, Biko, because Biko
Hiromija, Hiromija
The man is dead, the man is dead
You can blow out a candle
But you can never blow out a fire
Once the flames begin to catch
The wind will blow it higher
Oh Biko, Biko, because Biko
Oh Biko, Biko, because Biko
Hiromija, Hiromija
The man is dead, the man is dead
And the eyes of the world are watching you now
They're watching you now, watching you now
Watching you now, watching you now
They're watching you now
You gotta waken up, you gotta face up
I think you gotta open up
The eyes of the world are watching you now
You gotta waken up, you gotta face up
You know you can never turn away
Never turn away
Words And Music : Peter Gabriel Reproduced Without Permission
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Altre recensioni
Di senior86
È incredibile come i Simple Minds siano riusciti in questo disco a discostarsi ancor di più dal sound che aveva caratterizzato i loro lavori precedenti.
Mandela Day sembra un inno alla redenzione non di un uomo, ma di un intero popolo.
Di claudio carpentieri
Il suono riesce ad essere sempre viscerale ed a non tradire mai confluendo nella prevedibilità, generando nel contempo sentimenti di protesta e di condivisione.
La rabbia eloquente che esce dalla title-track è il perfetto equilibrio all'eleganza di This Is Your Land.
