Successo, croce e delizia di un artista. In particolar modo se arriva per una sola, misera canzonetta appioppata ad un mero spot pubblicitario.
Chiariamo subito: "Bohemian Like You" non rappresenta affatto né i Dandys, né l'album da cui fu tratta (a parte "Get Off", di canzonette pop poco e nulla). In questo "Odditorium… ", il lato sperimentale della band di Portland, capitanata dal carismatico (nonché tossico dichiarato) Courtney Taylor-Taylor, si accentua esponenzialmente rispetto ai lavori precedenti, per rimarcare che la commercialata precedente (il goffo tentativo di riesumazione degli anni '80 "Welcome To The Monkey House") è stato solo un caso, o al limite una brutta idea.
Una lunga introduzione parlata ("Colder Than The Coldest Winter Was Cold") apre le danze, seguita a ruota da "Love Is The New Feel Awful", introdotta da una batteria ovattata e una chitarra ridondante ma al contempo soffocata, mentre Taylor si sovrappone con un discreto falsetto. Ma, ohibò, il pezzo, dopo qualche minuto, si trasforma in un lunghissimo strumentale in cui i Dandy si lasciano andare all'inventiva con una jam dai vaghi sapori Jazz. La successiva "Easy" strizza l'occhio ad un Prince d'annata, mentre "All The Money Or The Simple Life Honey" è un bel singolo, con una buona melodia in crescendo corredata di un arrangiamento sobrio e molto pop (pop nel senso più nobile del termine). "The New Country" ci porta in territori (ma và?) country occhieggianti a certe cose del penultimo Ryan Adams, e ci introduce a "Holding Me Up", unico pezzo del disco che riprende le sonorità del fortunato "Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia": fra i migliori dell'intero lavoro.
La parte che fa schizzare il livello qualitativo del disco verso l'alto, però, arriva adesso. Dopo un inutile intermezzo ("Did You Make A Song With Otis"), arriva "Everyone Is Totally Insane", esempio lampante di come scrivere un buon pezzo pop: melodia ruffiana il giusto, durata media, cantato ottimo anche nelle parti più basse, venature di chitarra non eccessivamente invadenti. Da manuale. "Smoke It" è il primo singolo, ma non dice nulla di nuovo, con la sua melodia catchy che fa il verso ai Rolling Stones (immaginate Mick Jagger che canta in un megafono); ha il solo merito di condurci a "Down Like Disco", forse una spanna sotto a "Everyone… ", ma capace anch'essa di proporre una melodia ed un arrangiamento azzeccatissimi. E, proprio quando ti "rassegni" ad un finale in salsa poppeggiante, arrivano le sberle: "There Is Only This Time" manderebbe in brodo di giuggiole qualsiasi fan di Brian Eno, è un pezzo elettronico dalle atmosfere infette; anzi, visto che si parla dei Warhols, direi piuttosto "drogate". "A Loan Tonight" spinge ancora di più sull'acceleratore: una decina di minuti di suoni dall'atmosfera eterea e sospesa accozzati l'uno con l'altro, con Courtney che canta in maniera irriconoscibile, quasi aliena.
C'è chi ha definito questo disco il ritratto di una band stanca; non lo è affatto, è invece la dimostrazione che i Dandy Warhols sono un gruppo che ha voglia di suonare, sperimentare e, soprattutto, fare ciò che preferisce. Con o senza approvazione del pubblico.
Elenco tracce testi samples e video
01 Colder Than the Coldest Winter Was Cold (01:03)
By the end of the great war,
the dandy warhols had progressed
far beyond the traditional jug band sound.
Zia had all but hung up the washtub bass,
in favor of her new invention, which she called the synthesizer.
The banjo was still there but now it was electrified,
to a flat microphone which pete had wound tightly with copper wire and
called his pick-up and in turn made it louder by what fat-head jokingly
called, Pete's Amp.
Well, the name stuck and by the time such luminaries as Gene Vincent, Elvis
Presley and B.B. King had heard this new Warhols Sound, they were calling it
Rock and Roll.
Dandy frontman Courtney Taylor-Taylor would be quoted as saying, I know it's
only rock and roll, but i think i like it
I'm Bill Curtis and you're listening to a piece of history
04 All the Money or the Simple Life Honey (04:29)
(All The Money Or The Simple Life Honey)
All right, here it comes
Well I can tell you for the money
The simple life honey is good
Well if you ask me how you made it
Secure life, baby, you should
Oh, yes you should
Cause if you're doing all the best that you can
But you're still runnin' just as fast as the man says
Well I can tell you for the money
The simple life honey is good, now
Yes it's good
Now when you're movin' to the city
You worry on your mental health
Yes you do, now
Oh, you gentlemen and ladies
You've got to be good to yourself
So get yourself into a ranch-style home
When the neighbor's never more than a stone's throw
Well I can tell you for the money
The simple life honey is good
Yes it is
Yes it's good
That's right
Yeah
But oh, no
All the money
Still you just can't please everybody
How bad do
Do you want it?
Cause the money
It looks so good, good, good
Ohh
Yeah
So now you're chasin' the American dream
Just like the dollar's gonna make everybody scream
But I can tell you for the money
The simple life sure looks good
That's right, now
Yes it's good
Oh yeah
Oh, no
All the money
Looks so good, good, good
To everybody
How bad do
Do you want it?
Cause the money
It looks so good, good, good
Now there's a whole lot of faking
And takin'
And shakin' my hand
And when they tell you they love ya
They love ya like a one night stand
So if you're playin' in a rock and roll band
But still you're doing whatever the man says
Well I can tell you for the money
The simple life honey is good
That's right
Yes it's good
Take care
09 Smoke It (04:06)
Hey I've been thinkin'
I've been thinkin' about nothin' yeah
Now I've been thinkin' about nothin' to do and nothin' but thinkin'
and oh yeah I know what it is to be there
now people there ain't nothin' here but people
Dig it yeah
Now if people got problems and they got problems with people oh yeah
I know what it is to be there
you gotta smoke it (smoke it)
just as long as you can smoke it (smoke it) yeah (yeah)
if people got problems and people got problems with people oh yeah
i know what it is to be there
uninsured car payment amortization
local collection at its latest litigation
i should of stayed in college for about another 100 years(LEAVE ME ALONE!) but I never wanted it to be there
alimony PALIMONY don't get too drunk in vegas
AT LEAST NOT with the waitress from any those places
people got more baggage than JFK, Yeah
And i'm talkin about the airport man
you gotta smoke it (smoke it)
just as long as you can smoke it (smoke it) yeah (yeah)
we got child-proof containers we got use only as directed
Inspected by (Number 9) it seems like he checked it
alright, here we go, everybody together (here we go), everybody together now
so let's get a big round of applause, big round of applause
to brothers and sisters, brother's mothers, sister's other mothers
other brother's sister's mothers anyone, anyone who's here yeah
lets have a big round of applause anyone who can do it
yeah yeah
smoke it (smoke it)
just as long as you can smoke it (smoke it) yeah (yeah)
if people got problems people got problems with people oh yeah
i know what it is to be there
FILED FOR AN EXTENSION ON MY TAX MOTION
paid off our house and then fell into the ocean
i'm growing up quicker and handlin' my liquor and yeah
you know what it is to be there yeah
i registered to vote so i could abstain my exemption
ah man i thought LAUNDRY was the fifth dimension
see thats why i never voted in the presidential election
cause women are clearly more qualified to select him
smoke it (smoke it)
just as long as you can smoke it (smoke it) yeah (yeah)
so if your gonna be a dog then at least be a good dog
come on now and sit, beg, stay
smoke it (smoke it)
just as long as you can smoke it (smoke it) yeah (yeah)
so now these people got problems and they got problems with people oh yeah
i know wHAT it is to be there
SMOKE IT!
10 Down Like Disco (04:54)
I want you, I think so
I wanna get round like Tokyo
I won't tell, will freak you
I wanna go down like this girl (wisk go)
I want you, California
I don't want to get shown like I'm on ya
I won't tell, won't miss though
I wanna get down like disco
I'm, coming on all of the time
I'll whip one, out of this joint
See a red neck burn like I must go
Temperamental, never miss though
I wanna go down like disco
I wanna get in, I wanna get out
I wanna go up and then I wanna come down
I wanna get in, I wanna get out
I wanna go out and then I wanna high
Coming on, all of the time
I want you, I don't think so
I don't wanna come down like disco
I wanna get in, I wanna get out
I wanna get up and then I wanna come down
I wanna get in, I wanna get out
I wanna get out and then I wanna get high
Coming on, all of the time
I'm coming on, all of the time
Coming off, all of the time
11 There Is Only This Time (04:41)
Only this time
What a time it is
Only this time
What a time it is
What a time it is
What a time it is
Only you and Me
What a you it is
Only you and Me
What a you it is
What a you it is
What a you it is
Only you and me
What a me it is
Only you and me
What a me it is
What a me it is
Whar a me it is
Only this time
What a time it is
Only this time
What a time it is
What a time it is
What a time it is
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Altre recensioni
Di Adil
Quando ben 4 brani su 12 superano i sette minuti di durata si può affermare che la band non è smaniosa di ottenere passaggi radiofonici.
La parola che più ricorre nella mia mente, ascoltando questo sconclusionato album, è sempre la stessa: rinunciatario.
