Bene, recensisco con coraggio forse il punto più debole della produzione Police. Forse. Perché in questo disco si possono trovare spunti molto interessanti, e perle notevoli.
Dopo il grande, mondiale successo di Reggatta, i Police si trovano a suonare per un tour mondiale di dimensioni notevoli (Police Around The World, se qualcuno mi aiuta a trovare questo raro video, lo ringrazio...). Successo, copertine, luci: il gruppo forse comincia a "sbarellare", Sting si trova catapultato nello star system, e la vena compositiva ne risente. Eppure... eppure nell'annacquamento inevitabile che si ode nelle tracce di questo disco, vale la pena di segnalare veri e propri "classici", dalle qualità indiscusse.
"Driven To Tears" è un piccolo gioiello in dub, con un testo amaro e un solo di Summers che rende testimonianza alle recenti ri-frequentazioni col suo amico Fripp. Copeland è sempre una garanzia, un vero "signore" dei piatti. "When The World..." segue a ruota: un funky spiazzante, un incedere ritmico incalzante, e la chitarra... siamo sempre lì, Summers riesce con tre accordi tre, super armonizzati, a creare una base armonica favolosa. "Voices..." pare essere una copia sbiadita di "Reggatta De Blanc", un anthem che però, ascoltato bene, rivela un incidere tribale niente male.
Due episodi reggae-ska, carini ma abbastanza scialbetti ("Canary In A Coalmine" e "Man In A Suitcase"), la tristemente famosa "De du du du...", rappresentano sicuramente il punto più debole del disco: motivetti pop buttati un po' lì, senza ricerca e senza arrangiamenti degni di nota.
Il disco si risolleva assai con "Shadows In The Rain": fantastico brano dub, con un suono riverberato che avvolge tutto, e rende un po' di giustizia alle capacità inventive del terzetto. Si ode attirittura un colpo di bacchette di Copeland, forse un errore (volutamente lasciato?).
Tutto sommato, un disco che se fosse stato ideato e prodotto con più calma, o forse senza meno pressioni della casa discografica, avrebbe potuto dare frutti migliori. Diciamo un opera incompiuta...
Elenco tracce testi e video
01 Don't Stand So Close to Me (04:02)
Young teacher the subject
Of schoolgirl fantasy
She wants him so badly
Knows what she wants to be
Inside her there's longing
This girl's an open page
Book marking - she's so close now
This girl is half his age
Don't stand, don't stand so
Don't stand so close to me
Don't stand, don't stand so
Don't stand so close to me
Her friends are so jealous
You know how bad girls get
Sometimes it's not so easy
To be the teacher's pet
Temptation, frustration
So bad it makes him cry
Wet bus stop, she's waiting
His car is warm and dry
Don't stand, don't stand so
Don't stand so close to me
Don't stand, don't stand so
Don't stand so close to me
Loose talk in the classroom
To hurt they try and try
Strong words in the staff room
The accusations fly
It's no use, he sees her
He starts to shake and cough
Just like the old man in
That book by Nabokov
Don't stand, don't stand so
Don't stand so close to me
Don't stand, don't stand so
Don't stand so close to me
Don't stand, don't stand so
Don't stand so close to me
02 Driven to Tears (03:22)
How can you say that you're not responsible?
What does it have to do with me?
What is my reaction, what should it be?
Confronted by this latest atrocity
Driven to tears
Driven to tears
Driven to tears
Hide my face in my hands, shame wells in my throat
My comfortable existence is reduced to a shallow meaningless party
Seems that when some innocent die
All we can offer them is a page in a some magazine
Too many cameras and not enough food
'Cause this is what we've seen
Driven to tears
Driven to tears
Driven to tears
Protest is futile, nothing seems to get through
What's to become of our world, who knows what to do
Driven to tears
Driven to tears
Driven to tears
Driven to tears
Driven to tears
Driven to tears
04 Canary in a Coalmine (02:27)
First to fall over when the atmosphere is less than perfect
Your sensibilities are shaken by the slightest defect
You live you life like a canary in a coalmine
You get so dizzy even walking in a straight line
You say you want to spend the winter in Firenza
You're so afraid to catch a dose of influenza
You live your life like a canary in a coalmine
You get so dizzy even walking in a straight line
Canary in a coalmine
Now if I tell you that you suffer from delusions
You pay your analyst to reach the same conclusions
You live your life like a canary in a coalmine
You get so dizzy even walking in a straight line
Canary in a coalmine
First to fall over when the atmosphere is less than perfect
Your sensibilities are shaken by the slightest defect
You live your life like a canary in a coalmine
You get so dizzy even walking in a straight line
Canary in a coalmine
05 Voices Inside My Head (03:53)
Voices inside my head
Echoes of things that you said
[Repeat ad nauseum]
06 Bombs Away (03:06)
The general scratches his belly and thinks
His pay is good but his officers stink
Guerilla girl, hard and sweet
A military man would love to meet
The President looks in the mirror and speaks
His shirts are clean but his country reeks
Unpaid bills
In Afghanistan hills
Bombs away
But we're O.K.
Bombs away
In old Bombay
The general only wants to teach France to dance
His army life doesn't give him any romance
Guerilla girl, hard and sweet
A military man would love to meet
The general scratches his belly and thinks
His pay is good but his company stinks
Guerilla girl, hard and sweet
A military man would love to meet
Bombs away
But we're O.K.
Bombs away
In old Bombay
07 De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da (04:10)
Don't think me unkind
Words are hard to find
They're only check's I've left unsigned
From the banks of chaos in my mind
And when their eloquence escapes me
Their logic ties me up and rapes me
De do do do de da da da
Is all I want to say to you
De do do do de da da da
Their innocence will pull me through
De do do do de da da da
Is all I want to say to you
De do do do de da da da
They're meaningless and all that's true
Poets, priests and politicians
Have words to thank for their positions
Words that scream for your submission
And no-one's jamming their transmission
'Cos when their eloquence escapes you
Their logic ties you up and rapes you
De do do do de da da da
Is all I want to say to you
De do do do de da da da
Their innocence will pull me through
De do do do de da da da
Is all I want to say to you
De do do do de da da da
They're meaningless and all that's true
10 Shadows in the Rain (05:03)
(Sting)
Woke up in my clothes again this morning
Don't know exactly where I am
And I should heed my doctor's warning
He does the best with me he can
He claims I suffer from delusions
Yet I'm so confident I'm sane
It can't be no optical illusion
So how can you explain
Shadows in the rain
And if you see us on the corner
And we're dancing in the rain
I join my friends there when I see them
Outside my window pane
Shadows in the rain
Shadows in the rain
Shadows in the rain
Shadows in the rain
Woke up in my clothes again this morning
Don't know exactly where I am
I should heed my doctor's warning
He does the best with me he can
Shadows in the rain
Shadows in the rain
Shadows in the rain
Shadows in the rain
Carico i commenti... con calma
Altre recensioni
Di claudio carpentieri
Provate ad ascoltare a tutto volume quelle otto battute di rullante iniziali di "Driven To Tears" e capirete perché quando ancora oggi si parla del suono dei The Police lo si fa apprezzando quel magico gusto di novità.
"Zenyatta Mondatta" è un solare documento sonoro che rappresenta a dovere il trapasso dagli anni '70 agli '80 di uno dei più straordinari ensemble della musica rock.
Di wardrobeOFdeath
La loro musica è incredibilmente rilassante.
Bisogna farsi sommergere dal loro suono come acqua tiepida.
