Più di vent'anni fa c'era un gruppo in America che proponeva un'interessantissima versione di country elettronico dai toni malati e talvolta ballabili tipici della new-wave. Il cantante era tale Stan Ridgway, che lasciò dopo l'ottimo "Call Of The West".
Passarono quattro anni prima che potesse avvenire il suo esordio da solista, ma ne valse la pena, perché l'album in questione è uno dei grandi classici degli anni '80.
Cantautore raffinato ed originale, Ridgway affidava la sua musica ad arrangiamenti elettronici talvolta simili al techno-pop inglese, con la differenza però di uno spessore decisamente superiore. Le sue melodie, che ereditavano la tradizione della colonne sonore dei film western e noir, la sua voce inconfondibilmente nasale, la sua pronuncia marcatamente "americana", ma soprattutto le sue storie di falliti e vagabondi, di emarginati e drogati, creavano un'atmosfera notturna, da paesaggio metropolitano deserto. Le sue visioni erano passeggiate per i vicoli malfamati e abbandonati dalla "civiltà", e la copertina del disco ne è una evidente conferma.
L' incedere incalzante della title-track rende un paesaggio quasi spettrale, con un'armonica che echeggia lontana e minacciosa, il tutto si scioglie in un ritornello persino da classifica, da perfetto synth-pop d'autore.
L' incedere sincopato di "Can't Stop The Show" alterna schizzi di basso funky ad elettronica cupa, per poi sciogliersi in una delicata invocazione. Gli arrangiamenti sono sempre curati nel dettaglio, complessi, gradevoli e mai pesanti. L'allegra "Pile Driver" stempera un po' la tensione, che cala nuovamante nell'onirico swing-pop di "Walking Home Alone", un' elegante ballata impreziosita dai tenui vagiti di una tromba jazz.
Il pezzo forte del disco deve ancora venire. E' la splendida "Camouflage", un'epica cavalcata a ritmo western, trascinante come poche, con un ritornello che pare un inno alla libertà, agli sconfinati spazi di un deserto, all'avventura di una vita. La voce di Ridgway si fa profetica, ed intona le sue sentenze di condanna, portata in trionfo dagli intrecci di tastiere, chitarre e banjo. Senza dubbio uno dei brani più belli degli anni '80, che consacra questo disco tra la pietre miliari del cantautorato d'autore.
Se non lo avete fatto, dategli la possibilità di un ascolto, può anche non piacere, ma è un lavoro di grande originalità, oltre che di eccellente fattura.
Elenco tracce testi e video
01 The Big Heat (04:33)
The room was dark, it looked like someone had to get out fast
A window open by the fire escape
How long have you been following this guy, the bellboy asked
Not long enough, 'cause we got here too late
And everybody wants another piece of the pie today, he said
You gotta watch the ones who always keep their hands clean
Chorus:
It's the big heat, there's someone followin' you
It's the big heat, step aside, we're comin' through
Well, we followed him from Tuscon, ended up in Baton Rouge
We trailed him with information by
A woman he knew in Barstow that would like to see him dead
That was four weeks ago––well, maybe five
And everybody wants another piece of the pie today," she said
You gotta watch the ones who always keep their hands clean.
Chorus repeat x2
A block away he wondered if he'd left behind a clue
The front page of the paper dated 19921
He remembered when he used to be the chairman of the board
But that was when the world was young and long before the war
And everybody wants another piece of the pie today, he said
You gotta watch the ones who keep their hands clean
Chorus repeat x2
03 Can't Stop the Show (03:43)
There's a man in a booth with a quarter in there And a girl out on the runway with peroxide in her hair Move 'em in quick, they pay out And then they just sit there and stare Now drink that drink and smoke that smoke Old Mister Johnson turns blue and starts to choke Somebody slap him on the back Now the curtains go up And both lights go on And Betsy's out there in her birthday suit Spinnin' her baton Chorus: And they don't know what we know Nobody knows what we know (And) No matter what they try to do They can't stop the show Now, girls, I'm proud of every one of you Cass, spit out your gum, it don't look good when you chew And I've told you time and time before You're a showgirl, not a whore Jack, pick up the phone, is it those jerks again? You'd think they'd know by now that these girls just dance and grin Just good clean entertainment We don't handle no tricky-business in here The curtains go up And both lights go on And Betsy's in her birthday suit Spinnin' her baton But I think she did it better last year Before her boyfriend broke her arm Chorus: And they don't know what we know Nobody knows what we know And No matter what they try to do They can't stop the show repeat four more times
05 Walkin' Home Alone (04:52)
Now there's last sunday's paper
Crumpled up and rollin' down the street
Away
And there's a piece of gum
Just waitin' for a ride on someone's feet
Today
Chorus:
And tonight I'll be walkin' home alone
Now, there's a million things I said
And twice as many that I didn't say
Yay-ay
And I remember an afternoon
A broken coffee cup, and some Broadway tune
And I shook her hand
And I said okay
And now as I stroll by some skinny dog
Left outside without a bone
Tonight, I'll be walkin' home alone
Chorus repeat
And ain't it funny how one afternoon
Can make two people stop and say
That all the time they spent together
Didn't really mean that much anyway... no, not much.
Just a sinkful of dirty dishes
And a picture in a drawer
And a hairbrush on the table
And a hole punched in a door
And if she were here right now
I'd tell her things I never told her before
So now I hear a clock and I get up fast
Draw the curtain on a brand new day
I can't wait to get this cast off
The telephone's dead––I guess they turned it off today
Turn the key on the mailbox slot
Lookin' for a letter, but bills is all I've got
And even the cat she left me with
Is goin' out with someone else
So put another quarter in the jukebox, Pete
But don't play that one with the sad trombone
'Cause tonight, I'll be walkin' home alone
And tonight, I'll be walkin' home alone
All alone
Walkin' home
All alone.
07 Salesman (05:28)
Now, I've been travelin' long and hard
And all over this big land
And I've got somethin' here in my bag
For every woman and man
And nowhere is too far
'Cause I cover a pretty wide base
From way down south to way up north
I'll shake hands with any friendly face
Chorus:
Salesman, salesman
Why don't you sell me somethin'
Salesman, salesman
Why don't you sell me somethin'
Now I've got a box in my hand
And I'm gonna travel that land
I'm a salesman for hire
And I never get tired
So just plug it in and it'll work
Don't worry about it breakin'
It's factory made and guaranteed
And we're not fakin'
Chorus repeat
Now, I keep bangin' on my case
And smilin' broad and make the deal
But sometimes my feet begin to shake
Like I'm slippin' on a banana peel
Stan slips about
And I've been everywhere around this world
I fly on the edge of the ball
I keep the numbers all up here
I just read the map and steer, that's all
Chorus repeat
Now I'll never give up this way of life
This life has called me to
I've gotta get to New Orleans by noon
If I can only find my shoe
'Cause I'm a salesman! Pleased to meetcha!
And I've seen the dirt and dust
Of a hundred towns like this
I just work my way on through
Sometimes it's just hit and miss
And I got a little something here in my bag
To help me burn the leaves
But I gotta watch it close this time
I know, because nothin' comes for free
No, nothin' comes for free
I know a little girl in Idaho
I guess I'll look her up now in a week or so
She was always good for a drink and a laugh
And what the traffic would allow
Chorus repeat
Everybody wants a real deal, everybody wants a real deal
Everybody wants a real deal, everybody wants a real deal
09 Camouflage (07:16)
I was a PFC on a searchpatrol, hunting Charlie down.
It was in the jungle wars of '65.
My weapon jammed and I got stuck way out and all alone
and I could hear the enemy moving in close outside.
Just then I heard a twig snap, and I grabbed my empty gun
and I dug in scared while I counted down my fate.
And then a big marine, a giant with a pair of friendly eyes
appeared there at my shoulder and said: "Wait"
When he came in close beside me, he said: "Don't worry son, I'm here..
if Charlie wants to tangle, now he'll have two to dodge.
I said: "Well, thanks a lot". I told him my name and asked him his.
And he said "The boys just call me Camouflage"
Woohoohoohoo Camouflage,
things are never quite the way they seem.
Woohoohoohoo Camouflage,
I was awfully glad to see this big marine.
Well I was gonna ask him where he came from,
when we heard the bullets fly,
coming through the brush and all around our ears.
It was then I saw this big marine, a lotta fire in his eyes.
And it was strange, but suddenly I forgot my fears.
Well we fought all night, side by side, we took our battlestands.
And I wondered how the bullets missed this man.
Cus they seemed to go right through him, just as if he wasn't there
and the morning we both took a chance and ran.
And it was near the riverbank when the ambush came on top of us
and I thought it was the end, we were had.
Then a bullet with my name on it came buzzing through a bush
and that big marine, he just swat it, with his hand.
Just like it was a fly.
Woohoohoohoo Camouflage,
things are never quite the way they seem.
Woohoohoohoo Camouflage,
This was an awfully strange marine.
And I knew there was something weird about him,
cus when I turned around he was pulling a big palmtree
right up out of the ground and swatting those Charlie's with it,
from here to Kingdom come.
When he led me out the danger, I saw my camp and waved goodbye,
he just winked at me from the jungle and then was gone.
And when I got back to my H.Q. I told them about my night,
and the battle I'd spent with a big marine named Camouflage.
When I said his name, a soldier gulped, and a medic took my arm
and led me to a green tent on the right.
He said: "You may be telling true boy, but this here is Camouflage.
And he's been right here since he passed away last night.
In fact he's been here all week long.
But before he went he said: "Semper Fi", and said his only wish,
was to save a young marine caught in a mirage.
So here, take his dogtag, son. I know he'd want you to have it now"
And we both said a prayer for a big marine named Camouflage.
Woohoohoohoo Camouflage,
things are never quite the way they seem.
Woohoohoohoo Camouflage,
This was an awfully big marine.
So next time you're in a junglefight, and you feel a presence near
or hear a voice that in your mind will lie,
just be thankful that you're not alone and you've got some company,
from a big marine, the boys called Camouflage
Woohoohoohoo Camouflage,
things are never quite the way they seem.
Woohoohoohoo Camouflage,
This was an awfully big marine.
(X2)
whoho Camouflage
whohoo Camouflage
(repeat/fade)
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