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Attivi dal 2005, i Maccabees hanno pubblicato nel maggio 2007 l'album d'esordio "Colour It In". Il nome del disco corrisponde al titolo di una loro b-side, inclusa nel singolo "First Love".
Provenienti da Brighton, ma originari del sud di Londra, i Maccabees sono composti da cinque elementi: Orlando Weeks (cantante/frontman), Hugo White, Felix White, Rupert Jarvis e Robert Dylan Thomas. Il nome della band è stato scelto aprendo a caso la Bibbia; i cinque si sono comunque affrettati a precisare che nessuno di loro è religioso.
Attualmente accasati alla Fiction Records (prima storica etichetta dei Cure, attualmente ha con sé in scuderia tra gli altri Ian Brown, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Kate Nash ed Elbow) vantano, nonostante la ancor breve carriera, un tour americano in supporto ai più quotati Bloc Party ed un sold-out alla Roundhouse di Londra. In patria sono apprezzati per la particolarità dei loro testi, scritti interamente da tutti membri della band e definiti dalla critica d'oltremanica "molto poetici e metaforici".
Per quanto riguarda l'aspetto prettamente musicale, invece, i Maccabees suonano un indie rock che affonda le sue radici in un sound nervoso e frenetico (modello primi Maxïmo Park), impreziosito da evidenti influenze new wave. La band suona bene e mostra una precisa identità stilistica e sonora, che gli permette di distaccarsi (non ancora del tutto, però) dal gran calderone di bands simili generatosi in Gran Bretagna.
A livello meramente tecnico, sorprende (rispetto ad altri gruppi di simil estrazione) l'incisività della sessione ritmica (in particolar modo del basso) nel patchwork sonoro proposto dal gruppo; l'acceleratissima ed arzigogolata "All In Your Rows" ne è un ottimo esempio. I pezzi non sfondano mai i tre minuti e mezzo, rendendo l'ascolto dell'opera piacevole e scorrevole.
I ragazzi, comunque, sorprendono soprattutto quando mescolano un po' le carte e variano il menù, vedi l'ottima opener "Good Old Bill", o la languida chiusura folk-oriented della stellare "Toothpaste Kisses" (utilizzata come colonna sonora per lo spot di una nota marca di cellulari). Sporadicamente, purtroppo, peccano in personalità: a volte sembra di sentire i primi/penultimi Kings Of Leon ("About Your Dress", "Happy Faces"), altre volte gli stessi Maxïmo Park sono molto più di un'ombra incombente su Weeks e soci ("X-Ray").
"Colour It In" è un buon esordio, forse vagamente grezzo e poco definito, ma sicuramente genuino e valido.
Si aspettano, quindi, conferme o smentite anche dal versante Maccabees, visto che il nuovo album è già in lavorazione. Da segnalare che Felix White (il chitarrista) ha messo su assieme al cantautore britannico Jack Peñate (buon successo oltremanica per lui col valido esordio "Matinée") un'altra band, i Jack's Basement.
Tracce chiave: Old Good Bill, First Love, Toothpaste Kisses
Elenco tracce testi e video
01 Good Old Bill (02:11)
Spearmint Rhino was taking our money when Gran was robbed of her own life honey.
The driver-less hornet last post on the trumpet.
His blind, crippled crumpet don't like it but lump it.
The engine won't start without him.
The engine won't start without.
So I went down to Sherry's mod suits and Paul Weller.
All pork pies and drainpipes to wear in all weather.
All of us shed a tear thinking of yesteryear.
Raise whiskey, raise beer, the old boy is not here.
The engine won't start without him.
The engine won't start without.
So he's left us done to the nines with satin for lining
And a coating of pine and the engine is broke I can't fix and I've lost all the coals and we're running quite low
And the engine is broke I can't fix and I've lost all the coals and we're running quite low.
02 X-Ray (03:15)
She's the flutter in my heart
The spring is in my step
My empty head
Sees the lump form in my throat
The view in my minds eye
My empty heart, heart, heart, heart, heart
My heart, heart, heart, heart
She's got her suspicions
(X-ray x-ray x-ray x-ray)
She's got x-ray vision
(X-ray x-ray x-ray x-ray)
She sees through me with her
X-ray, x-ray, x-ray, x-ray vision
X-ray, x-ray, x-ray, x-ray vision
See me shifting in my seat
Picks that in a heart beat
My empty head
Sees the tongue get to my cheek
My conscience bleak
My empty heart, heart, heart, heart, heart
My heart, heart, heart, heart
She's got her suspicions
(X-ray x-ray x-ray x-ray)
She's got x-ray vision
(X-ray x-ray x-ray x-ray)
She sees through me with her
X-ray, x-ray, x-ray, x-ray vision
X-ray, x-ray, x-ray, x-ray vision
And with this power
She can see
Through solid objects
Like you and me
03 All in Your Rows (02:35)
So it's stars and crosses
Reasoning for losses
You learn right from wrong
And then you write the book yourself
Right the wrongs you know,
But then you're all in your rows
All in your rows
All in your row-oh-ohs
All in your rows
All in your row-oh-ohs
Domination fading with war-torn tradition
Picking holes in holy
And in blinkered vision
You left us standing with no understanding
There's no give
There's no give
And then you're all in your rows
All in your rows
All in your row-oh-ohs
All in your rows
All in your row-oh-ohs
So cityscape and countryside
You've got local boys, they're going nationwide
So here's your church and here's your steeple
And you're locking your doors to keep in all the people
Let them go
04 Latchmere (03:01)
Swim, swim, swim, swim, swimming
Stay in your lanes
Swim, swim, swim, swim, swimming
Just stay in your lanes
No bombing and no heavy petting
So just stay in your lanes
Verruca socks and not forgetting to
Just stay in your lanes
Madames and monsieurs please return to your cubicles x 8
Latchmere’s got a wave machine
Oo oo oo oo oo oo
Oo oo oo oo oo x 4
Came out of the changing rooms
Absolutely nothing had changed
So I stayed in your lanes
Came out of the changing room
And absolutely sod all had changed
So I’ll stay in your lanes
Speedo, speed wise
Speedo, speed wise
Speedo, speed wise
So I stayed in your lanes
Bebop?
Stay in your…
Madames and monsieurs please return to your cubicles x 8
Latchmere’s got a wave machine
Oo oo oo oo oo oo
Oo oo oo oo oo x 2
Stay in your lanes
Stay
Just stay in your lanes
Stay
Just stay in your
La-ah-ah-ohh-ohh
Latchmere’s got a wave machine
05 About Your Dress (02:14)
It's just what all young lovers do
It's just what all young lovers do
I noticed you
You stood out like a sore thumb
The most beautiful sore thumb I'd ever seen
I took you out
And I showed you a good time
Danced all night, and I waited 'til the time was right
You say
Never wrong, never right. Never wrong, never right
Echo, echo, my mind
I say
It's just what all young lovers do
Do you recall
The night that we first met?
And how I burnt your dress with my cigarette
I don't know why
But I'm playing this game, for you
I'm guessing it's just what all young lovers do
You say
Never wrong, never right. Never wrong, never right
Echo, echo, my mind
I say
It's just what all young lovers do
Yes they do
(Never wrong never right never wrong never right)
Yes they do
Echo her
Echo her
Echo her
Echo
It's just what all young lovers do (x4)
06 Precious Time (04:17)
Pound for pound and cheek to cheek
Cheek paler than a lamp light
Take me down to light the box
And play super Scalextric
And turn this
Darkness
Into light
And I'll turn too bright
Forget all the hype
I'll need heart and I'll need courage
We all need...
Toe to toe, there's nowhere to go
So I'm tiptoeing around it
I held you down and I held my own
And now I feel like I'm floating
So turn to this
Head on
And keep on
Keeping on
I'll need heart and you'll need courage
We all need time
So let's make time work for us
Let's make time work for us
Let's make time work for us
Let's make time work for us
Let's take our precious time about it
Let's take our precious time about it
Let's take our precious time about it
Let's take our precious time about it
Don't you know, nobody knows
If there's somebody waiting
So you'll hold yourself up and you'll hold yourself in
And then pray that you are growing
And turn to this
Darkness
You turn it into light, and you'll turn too bright
Forget all the hype
You'll need heart and I'll need courage
We all need time
So let's make time work for us
Let's make time work for us
Let's make time work for us
Let's make time work for us
Let's take our precious time about it
Let's take our precious time about it
Let's take our precious time about it
Let's take our precious time about it
Let's take our precious time about it
Let's take our precious time about it
Let's take our precious time about
'cause we'll need heart and we'll need courage
In these times
We'll need heart and we'll need courage
In these times
Because time can mean so much
Are you still mine?
08 Tissue Shoulders (02:29)
Never cry on your own, never cry
But when you cry
Just try and find some perfect stranger with the tissue shoulders on
'Cos I know the score and it's hard when it's her your crying for
Never go on your own, never go
But when you go
Just try to find someone or other with the GPS turned on
'Cos I've been here before and it's hard when it's her your crying for
So take her and lay her in the ground
I'll be here waiting so patiently not making a song
Don't want to lie alone
I'll find another with a shoestring loveheart thong
10 First Love (03:04)
First love, last love
Only love, it's only love
First love, last love
Only love, it's only love
Do you miss home?
Do you miss home?
And are you cool?
Symmetrical?
Oh Oh Oh
Let's get married
And tick the boxes
Oh lets get married
And tick the boxes
Do you wanna be alone?
Do you wanna be alone?
And are you cool?
Symmetrical,
Analytical
Hypocritical
So critical
Nothing's perfect,
I'm hoping I'll do
Oh nothing's perfect,
I'm hoping I'll do
My mistake
And no mistake
And I would take it back if I could
So stay with me tonight
I'll make my bed, I'll lie in it
Enticing with its leopard print
I'll make my bed, I'll lie in it
Enticing with its leopard print
And matching velvet duvet
First love, last love
Only love, it's only love
First love, last love
Only love, it's only love
It's only love
First love, last love
Only love, it's only love
It's only love
First love, last love
Only love, it's only love
It's only love
11 Mary (03:30)
I was in the other room
when hansome was getting leather and laces
couldnt save a family
cause heroes wear masks
and lycra
mary get out
cause your freezing
brother get in
get your head kicked in
down down down down
hold yourself down
and you scraped your knee
up up up up
pick yourself up
you get a plaster on your cut
cause its sewn up
sewn up
so youve got yourself in a hole
and you cant get out
i wont be there
i cant be around
to hold you down
and let you know
that the places we cant go
i wont let you fall, i wont hold you back
cause im falling away
im paying the maximum im willing to pay
im willing to pay the price that you pay
and the reason i cant stay
is cause you live so far away
oh mary get out
cause your freezing
and in the end
brother get in
brother get in
brother get in
brother get in
12 Lego (03:11)
Mum said no to Disneyland
And Dad loves the church
Halluhjah, Oh, Oh
And the boys chew lego
So now we cant build castles or robots
Cause the pieces don't fit together
So look left and look right, cross the road but hold my hand
Look left and look right, cross the road just hold my hand
And we'll hold on, and we'll hold on
Only one, where once stood four
And closest to the kitchen floor
Family favourite
Today we learn't
That screaming are we there yet
Doesn't get you there any faster
So look left and look right, cross the road but hold my hand
Look left and look right, cross the road just hold my hand
And we'll hold on, and we'll hold on
Cross the roads and say goodbye
Cross the roads there wasn't a dry eye
You cross the road and say goodbye
There wasnt a dry eye, cross the road wasn't
A dry eye, there wasn't a dry eye!
13 Toothpaste Kisses (02:39)
Cradle me
I'll cradle you
I'll win your heart
with a woop-a-woo
pulling shapes just for your eyes
so with toothpaste kisses and lines
I'll be yours and you'll be
Lay with me, I'll lay with you
we'll do the things that lovers do
put the stars in our eyes
and with heart shaped bruises
and late night kisses
devine
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