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La parabola creativa degli Afghan Whigs negli anni 90 disegnò alcune delle più fulgide traiettorie musicali di quella decade, oscillando sostanzialmente tra due poli: aggressioni chitarristiche di marca grunge e post-punk (esemplare in tal senso fu "Congregation", ultimo disco per la Sub Pop) e una spiccata sensibilità verso il funky, il blues e il soul. Se il capolavoro "Gentlemen" aveva rappresentato la perfetta e pericolosa osmosi tra questi elementi, i dischi successivi spostarono la bilancia verso l'anima nera della miscela afgana. Dopo il concettoso e tormentato "Black Love", nel 1998 fu la volta di "1965". Presentato con orgoglio da Greg Dulli al momento dell'uscita con pugnaci proclami ("Se quest'anno trovi un disco più rock and roll di questo, ti faccio un pompino in Leicester Square", disse a un tizio del NME), tale opera fu tuttavia inferiore alle attese, e non a caso fece calare il sipario sulle vicende delle parrucche afgane. Più che di rock and roll, si dovrebbe parlare di "soul and roll", visto che il disco venne registrato a New Orleans - culla del blues e del jazz nonché notoriamente luogo ambiguo e promiscuo, ideale ambientazione per le torbide storie hard boiled di Colui che tra questi solchi si definisce "Dolce figlio di puttana". L'amore di Dulli per la musica nera trovò quindi lo sfogo naturale nel disco che in fondo era sempre stato nelle sue corde, ma che portò a compimento una volta finita l'urgenza del grunge. L'apporto della sei corde di Rick McCollum in particolare è spesso fantasmatico, priva di quel lancinante mordente che costituiva uno dei marchi di fabbrica della band.
Il sound di "1965" è teoricamente spettacolare: fiati, pianoforte e violino si susseguono senza soluzione di continuità ad intarsiare le 11 composizioni qui presenti. Il tutto ispirato alla miscela che aveva reso "Family" dei Satchel un classico degli anni '90 ( Shawn Smith del resto era stato ospite su "Black Love"). Teoricamente, appunto: perché all'atto pratico molti episodi si muovono sui cingoli, e faticano a lasciare il segno. La perizia della band nel districarsi tra partiture sofisticate (come nel tour de force funky-gospel di "John the Baptist", o nel canovaccio cajun di "Cite soleil": entrambi ottimi pezzi) è indiscutibile, e Greg canta con passione e piglio deciso. Ma vi è spesso una patina di mainstream che inficia il tutto ( "66" in particolare), e si nota l'assenza della monumentale drammaticità del passato, anche nei testi del non ancora pingue Greg, a volte arroccati in un manierismo maudit ( "I got the devil in me, girl" è sintomatica. . . ). In particolare, ballate come "Crazy" o "The slide song" sfigurano al confronto con una qualsiasi "My curse", mentre le lascive impennate di "Somethin' hot" e "Uptown again" non hanno più la lucidità di un tempo.
Ma la classe non è acqua, e nel finale di "1965" il biscazziere di Cincinnati tirò fuori un paio di assi con cui salvare la partita. "Neglected" per cominciare, viziosa ballata tra Prince e Marvin Gaye con liriche da gentleman come "You can fuck my body, baby/ But please don''t fuck my mind"
Ma è nell'infernale cavalcata rock- free jazz di "Omerta/The Vampire Lanois" che Dulli forgiò l'ultimo gioiello: degna colonna sonora della magica New Orleans del Mardi gras. E poi: quale miglior epitaffio per questo gruppo inimitabile di una frase come "When you're high and lost in the clouds/ Then you know it's time to get down, again" ?
Elenco tracce testi e video
01 Somethin' Hot (02:57)
- Dulli -
I got your phone number, baby
I'll call you sometime
I think I might, be out tonight
Maybe give you a ride
Cocktails for two, down lover's lane
I wantcha so bad, after tonight
I'll never walk the same
And you're to blame
I wanna getcha high
I wanna get next to you
I wanna feel everything aboutcha, girl
I wanna feel good
You make me feel good
Baby, you don't know
Just how I lie awake
And dream awhile, about your smile
And the way you make yo ass shake
If that ain't love
I guess I'll never know
A sweeter lie, you'd be surprised
Just how far I'd go
To make it so
02 Crazy (04:04)
- Dulli -
Whatever did happen to your soul?
I heard you sold it
To some old boy who lived uptown
Who could afford it
So what's gonna happen to you now?
Therapy... The pharmacy
Crazy
That's what you'd like to believe
But it ain't easy
When yer goin' crazy
Over the rainbow
"I think your story's jive," she said
There ain't nuthin' wrong with me
If I use it to get me some sympathy
Some ecstasy
A memory... I wanna remember me
Crazy about ya
Crazy without ya
Crazy
Over you
03 Uptown Again (03:11)
- Dulli -
Uptown again
Nobody home
Feelin' surrounded
Should never left me on my own
Remember nothing, hypnotize
They say the eyes they never lie
Your eyes have failed you dear, deny
Deny, deny I know you'll try
Baby, untie me now
I'm ready to get down
Get down and move around
Baby, you cry too much
I'm tired of the sound
Yer such a baby
Uptown again
Throw me a bone
Feelin' surrounded
I've never done so well alone
05 66 (03:23)
You walked in
Just like smoke
With a little c'mon, c'mon, c'mon
In your walk
Come on
I've been waiting
Are you waiting
For my move?
Well, I'm making it
So tell me baby, can you shake it?
If I can move it with you,
Will you let me take it?
I'll be down on my knees,
Screaming, "Take me, take me
Take me, take me - I'm yours."
I've never felt so out of control
You don't even know
What you're doing to me
C'mon and do it to me
Don't you stop
C'mon, c'mon
C'mon, little rabbit
Show me where you've got it
'Cos I know you've got a habit...
C'mon, c'mon...
Show me.
06 Citi Soleil (05:05)
- Dulli -
Jean Content
He wake up everyday
In a government yard
Deep down inside Citi Soleil
Roll some bones and catch a fire
Evil minds, they will conspire
The moon to lose its light
The stars sink into night
Across the town
A young girl plays guitar
"Do you remember me?" She sings to a lover
She worships from afar
Roll some bones and catch a fire
Evil minds, they will expire
The moon to shine a light
Upon us all tonight
Ooh child, I'll meet you, child
On the sunny side, it's alright, it's alright
No lies, and no cryin'
It's alright
"How you like me now?"
My friend, he say
"How you like the madness of Citi Soleil?"
Roll the bones and catch a fire
Join the triumph of the choir
Citi Soleil, Citi Soleil
I love to say Citi Soleil
07 John the Baptist (05:34)
- Dulli -
Hey... Welcome home
I got a little wine
Some Marvin Gaye
Come on and taste me
Come on and take me, I'm yours
Dance, little sister, dance
This is my girl you're talkin' to
There isn't anything I wouldn't do
So take me... Taste me... Erase me
I'm yours... Let's get it on
Anything for a lover
Anything for a friend
I only wanna see you happy
Baby can we pretend
I'd give anything to see you dance
I'd give anything to see you smile
But baby doesn't want just anything
She wants everything
Hey... Welcome home
I got a little wine
I got a little time
So come on and take me
Come on and taste me
Come on and waste me
Come on erase me
I'm yours... Let's get it on
I got the devil in me, girl
08 The Slide Song (03:54)
- Dulli -
Baby
Don't make me worry aboutcha
You look so sad
What'd ya do, to make ya so blue?
I have to ask ya, where do you go?
You look so faraway sometimes
I don't know, where do you go?
I wanna go
Miles away and miles above
The vampire only wants a little love
You might be right, you might be
Everything that you said that you were
But, so?
Baby
Don't make me worry... Aboutcha
They say that goodbye
Arrives by design
Who do you think about when you're lonely?
I remember when you used to sing
About your one and only
You're such a phony
Now I finally know you really know me
Miles away and miles above
The vampire only wants a little love
A little love, a little more
He's got ya now
You're gone for sure
09 Neglekted (04:01)
- Dulli/McCollum -
I knew a girl, extraordinary
Suggested something, unsanitary
As I asked her for a moment
To consider her kind offer
She blew a kiss and said to me...
I know you know
You want it so
I want it too, so see it through
'Cuz when I do what I'm gonna do to you
Make sure you remember my name
You know it's true
I want it too
I know you know, so make it so
'Cuz when I do what I'm gonna do to you
You'll never ever, ever...
Intoxicated, by your aggression
I offer you my one possession
You can fuck my body, baby
But pleeze, don't fuck my mind
Get you high, girl, come with me
Take a ride in search of ecstasy
I wanna roll with ya, I wanna roll
I feel you now, I never knew
You were so sad, i'll make it up to you
'Cuz I feel you now
I feel you now...
10 Omerta (05:40)
- Dulli/McCollum -
Up all night, again
Az for sleep, no comprende
I don't sleep 'cuz sleep iz the cousin of death
Least that's what Nas say
Sleep iz a state of mind
And to know iz to be on your way
I bought some bad drugs
Off these snotty little rave kids I met
And I shuffled off to Buffalo
If I have love, then I hide it
Then the people that I hide it from
Have helped me to deny
That it's not enough to show you care
You gotta take on every double cross
And every double dare, I swear to you
Unchain your mind, become divine
Surrender, surrender my love
And get on down here and say it with me
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Sick and tired again
Fucked and wired again
It's all so beautiful
Sound like a stone temple sob story to me
If I'm on your mind again
You must be trippin' on some of that
Voodoo I been throwin' down
When you're high and lost in the clouds
Then you know it's time to get down, again
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