L'album d'esordio dei Suede, quattro eleganti ragazzi londinesi tra cui spiccano Brett Anderson, un po' Dorian Gray un po' James Dean, vera e propria icona pop degli anni Novanta e Bernard Butler, chitarrista di indiscutibile talento, anticipa i fasti del Britpop: uscito nel 1993, precede di un anno Parklife dei Blur e Definitely Maybe degli Oasis. E se questi ultimi due gruppi daranno vita a un dualismo che garantirà loro copertine e pubblicità, i Suede, dopo essere stati per un attimo The Next Big Thing, proseguiranno il loro personalissimo percorso, immuni alle mode musicali del momento, tra alti e bassi e cambiamenti di line-up (il colpo più duro sarà la dipartita di Butler, nel 1994) fino al recente scioglimento.
Ma torniamo all'album, che colpisce già a partire dalla copertina: due donne o forse due uomini o forse più banalmente un uomo e una donna, si baciano con trasporto, svelando quelle che saranno le muse ispiratrici non solo del disco, ma dell'intera vita artistica della band: passione e ambiguità. Suede si apre con un uno-due da togliere il fiato: "So Young", la cui presenza giustifica in parte le quattro stelle assegnate al disco, mi stupisce ad ogni ascolto per la sua struggente bellezza; la voce di Brett Anderson evoca libertà e, chissà perché, mi fa pensare a certi poeti romantici inglesi... Poi irrompe il glam di "Animal Nitrate" e sembra quasi di sentire Ziggy Sturdust e i Ragni da Marte, forse l'unica influenza rintracciabile in un lavoro che brilla di luce propria. Il resto dell'album è comunque all'altezza e oscilla tra la psichedelica dolcezza di "She's Not Dead" e "Sleeping Pills" e l'ambigua (leggere i testi per credere) spensieratezza di "The Drowners" e "Metal Mickey". Non mancano alcuni mezzi passi falsi: in particolare, "Moving" e "Animal Lover" non convincono del tutto. Suede si chiude con "The Next Life": un pianoforte e la voce di Anderson che racconta, in un crescendo melodrammatico, di come sarebbe bello fuggire via lontano, magari a Worthing, magari a vendere gelati...
Elenco tracce testi e video
01 So Young (03:38)
She can start to walk out if she wants
Because we're young
Because we're gone
We'll take the tide's electric mind
Oh yeah
Oh yeah
We're so young and so gone
Let's chase the dragon, oh
Because we're young
Because we're gone
We'll scare the skies with tigers eyes
Oh yeah
Oh yeah
We're so young and so gone
Let's chase the dragon, oh
Let's chase the dragon from our home
High in the city, where the skyline stained the snow, I fell for a servant who kept me on the boil
We're so young and so gone
Let's chase the dragon from our home
02 Animal Nitrate (03:27)
Like his dad you know that he's had
animal nitrate in mind
Oh in your council home he jumped on your bones
now you're taking it time after time
Oh it turns you on, on, now he has gone
Oh what turns you on, on, now your animal's gone?
Well he said he'd show you his bed
and the delights of the chemical smile
So in your broken home he broke all your bones
and now you're taking it time after time
Oh it turns you on, on, now he has gone
Oh what turns you on, on, now your animal's gone?
What does it take to turn you on, on
now he has gone?
now you're over 21?
now your animal's gone?
...Animal, he was animal, an animal...
04 Moving (02:50)
shame on me well I had the beast you see
and if he can take it I can take him home with me
shame on her she's a lovely little number
and when we go lassoing you get lassoed, all of you
If you can take it, I can take it
And we're moving, so moving, so we are a boy, we are a girl
so moving, so moving...
shame on the girl, she's got a big black dog in her
and while tough kids sing about tough kids she just skins the world
we'll never never play the harp, and we'll stick like sick on the stars
and if you can take it I can take these stones from my heart
if you can take it, I can take it
and we're moving, so moving, so we are a boy we are a girl
so moving, so moving....
If you can take it, I can take it, all of me
If you can take it, I can take it all
If you can take it, I can take it, all of me
If you can take it, I can take it all!
05 Pantomime Horse (05:49)
I was born as a pantomine horse
ugly as the sun when he falls to the floor
I was cut from the wreckage one day
this is what I get for being that way
Well did you ever, did you ever go round with them?
Well did you ever, did you ever go round the bend?
I was conned by a circus hand
Tragic as the son of a superman
"I would die for the stars" she said
This is what I get for my beautiful head
Well did you ever, did you ever go round with them?
well did you ever, did you ever go round the bend?
...ever tired it that way, have you ever tried it that way?
06 The Drowners (04:10)
Wont someone give me a gun?
Oh, well it's for my brother
Well he writes the line
Wrote right down my spine
It says 'Oh, do you believe in love there?'
So, slow down
Slow down
You're taking me over
And so, we drown
Sir, we drown
Stop taking me over
Wont someone give me some fun?
As the skin flies all around us
We kiss in his room to a popular tune
Oh, real drowners
So, slow down
Slow down
You're taking me over
And so, we drown
Sir, we drown
Stop taking me over
07 Sleeping Pills (03:50)
Angel, don't take those sleeping pills, you don't need them
Though it's just time they kill
Angel, give me your sleeping pills, you don't need them
Give me the time they kill
You're a water sign, I'm an air sign
Gone gone to Valium, can you get me some?
You're a water sign, and I'm an air sign
Too Siamese to catch the leaves from those trees
Angel, don't take those sleeping pills, you don't need them
though it's just time they kill
you're a water sign, I"m an air sign
Pumped up with Valium, could you get me some?
You're a water sign, I'm an air sign
With sweet F.A. to do today, with sweet F.A. to do today...
...Angel, don't take those sleeping pills
09 Metal Mickey (03:27)
Well she's show showing it off then
the glitter in her lovely eyes
show show showing it off then
and all the people shake their money in time
She sells heart, she sells meat
oh dad, she's driving me mad, come see
We shake shake shake to the trumpet
and through the slippery city we ride
skyline swine on the circuit
where all the people shake their money in time
She sells heart, she sells meat
oh dad, she's driving me mad, come see...
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