• Voto:
C'è stata un'epoca, neppure troppo lontana, in cui i dischi si vendevano ancora e ogni cosa appariva possibile, l'ottimismo imperava ed ognuno sembrava potesse avere i suoi 15 minuti di celebrità. Era la metà degli anni '90 nell'Inghilterra del New Labour e della Cool Britannia, degli Oasis e dei Blur. Il britpop era implacabile ed onnipresente e la classica scrittura pop inglese tornò ad avere lustro e gloria. Può un'epoca del genere, in cui tutto è avvenuto alla luce del sole, avere una gemma perduta?
Sì, può averla e questa gemma è "Expecting To Fly", l'opera prima di una meteora, nel senso più nobile del termine, che risponde al nome di Bluetones, quartetto guitar-pop di Hounslow, un sobborgo di Londra: Mark Morriss (voce), Adam Devlin (chitarra), Scott Morriss (basso) e Eds Chesters (batteria).
All'epoca della sua pubblicazione, nel febbraio 1996, quest'album (prodotto da Hugh Jones) riuscì a raggiungere la prima posizione della UK Albums Chart detronizzando dopo innumerevoli settimane niente meno che Sua Maestà del britpop "(What's The Story) Morning Glory?" degli Oasis grazie alla sua miscela di romanticismo e riferimenti alla scena C86, di chitarre jangle e testi intelligenti, e a due singoli bomba come "Bluetonic" e "Slight Return", uno dei capolavori del britpop tutto.
Appena una settimana dopo, però, gli Oasis si ripresero il primo posto in classifica e anche la fama del gruppo presto svanì. Seguirono due altri album in Top 10 e poi l'oblìo.
Ora, a vent'anni di distanza è il tempo di riscoprire quest'album, maturato meravigliosamente, in una immancabile ristampa espansa con matariale aggiuntivo, b-sides e brani live. Buon ascolto!
Elenco tracce testi e samples
02 Bluetonic (04:08)
when i am sad and weary
when all my hope is gone
and i can't put my finger on the time things first went wrong
i have a little secret i like to tell myself
and until now i haven't told anybody else
you may not see things my way
like my method or my reasons
but you can't tell me that i'm wrong
there's no heart you can't melt
with a certain little smile
and no challenge should be faced
without a little charm and a lot of style
so don't put your faith in time - she heals but doesn't change
and only a fool won't take the chance to stay the same
when i am sad and weary
when all my hope is gone
i walk around my house and think of you with nothing on
i have a list of things i go over in my mind
when i can just sit right back and watch the world unwind
you may not see things my way
i don't care 'cause i'm not asking
but you can't tell me that i'm wrong
there's no heart you can't melt
with a certain little smile
and no challenge should be faced
without a little charm and a lot of style
so don't put your faith in time - she heals but doesn't change
and only a fool won't take the chance to stay the same
yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah!
03 Cut Some Rug (04:32)
Seems like you’re always a million miles away
As far as I’m concerned that’s where you can stay
But all the time I’m reminded
Used to be a time we had a lot in common
But now as far as I can see, you’ve got something coming
And all the time you’re behind me
And all the time you remind me
Of blitzkrieg and the doodlebug
Salt upon a bubbling slug
You say I can talk to you anytime
But I just wanna cut some rug
Turn yourself away and shrug and say that I can talk anytime
It’s easy living in a bubble
No complication or trouble
But it’s hard to have responsibility
And judging by you a personality
And all the time you remind me
Of blitzkrieg and the doodlebug
Salt upon a bubbling slug
You say I can talk to you anytime
But I just wanna cut some rug
Turn yourself away and shrug and say that I can talk anytime (x3)
07 Slight Return (03:21)
Where did you go
when things went wrong for you,
when the knives came out for you?
Where did you go?
All you needed was a friend.
You just have to ask and then-
You don't have to have the solution,
you've got to understand the problem,
and don't go hoping for a miracle.
All this will fade away
so i'm coming home.....i'm coming home
What did you learn,
locked away all on your own,
chance and your head all blown
What did you learn,
It was unfortunate,
you missed you chance to find out that
You don't have to have the solution,
you've got to understand the problem,
and don't go hoping for a miracle.
All this will fade away
so i'm coming home.....i'm coming home
[Instrumental]
You don't have to have the solution,
you've got to understand the problem,
and don't go hoping for a miracle.
All this will fade away
so i'm coming home.....i'm coming home......i'm coming home
But just for a short while
09 Vampire (04:31)
You left me unguided
You left me divided with room to complain
So I’ll say in this song, the wait is too long
I thought I had seen it, I thought I had learned
There’s something around each corner I turn
Can’t stay still forever, got to get it together
If you’d seen with these eyes and lived with these lies
I thought about father and I thought about here
And I knew that this wasn’t for me
Now the beast can subside, a boy needn’t hide
Oh, if you’d seen with these eyes
Never dares to sow, on and on she goes
Knowing what she knows – nothing
Major’s whipping boy, facing one old toy
Distance through the void – nothing
11 Time & Again (05:09)
Nothing I can do could ever bring those feelings back
I've taken everything - my body is a bloated sack
The days behind me start rolling into months
Is time running out?
My head feels too heavy
My legs feel too weak
All I can do now is sleep
Everything is empty now, the things I knew are gone
Darkness lays dormant now - a colour once shone
Hope reminds my conscience just to get me through the day
Is this my reward?
And I'm going on journeys
I'm exhausting my muse
I'm taking from everything
To see what I can use
If I found a brand new colour
Something no-one had ever seen
I dug it up right there in my garden
That would be the greatest thing
Nothing I can do could ever bring those feelings back
I've taken everything - my body is a bloated sack
The days behind me start rolling into months
Is time running out?
And faced with having to
Have and then lose
I'd choose never to have had, yeah
If I found a brand new colour
Something no-one had ever seen
I dug it up right there in my garden
That would be the greatest thing
I only want to speak to you
I only want to let you know
That time and again my feelings
Never seem to show
If I found a brand new colour
Something no-one had ever seen
I dug it up right there in my garden
That would be the greatest thing
Time and again (repeated)
Carico i commenti... con calma
