• Voto:
"Take one day, plant some trees/
may they shade you from me/
may your children play beneath".
Adesso qualcuno mi ucciderà, ma io lo dico lo stesso. D'accordo, "Mellon Collie..." è l'album che tutti considerano manifesto indiscusso degli Smashing Pumpkins, ma io preferisco di gran lunga questo "Adore", tanto da considerarlo il vero capolavoro del gruppo. Figlio indiscusso della situazione in cui fu composto (l'eroina padrona di Chamberlain, il batterista allontanato proprio per questo motivo, lo stress post-"Mellon Collie", la madre morta da poco), il disco rappresenta la faccia notturna delle Zucche, l'infinita notte gotica venata da struggenti preghiere e imploranti poesie al nulla (o a sé stessi). Qui davvero si respira la maturità di Corgan, che, forse autoritariamente, si rende conto di come tutto stia andando in malora, e decide di prendere il gruppo in mano guidato da una tristezza irrefrenabile, e di sfidare tutti con tastiere anni Ottanta, elettronica e tanta, tanta malinconia (la stessa presente nelle ballate di "Mellon"). E' questa dunque l'altra faccia del successo, il manifesto del cancro (psicologico) che attanaglia il cuore del cantante. Il vero e proprio epitaffio del gruppo dunque.
Si parte con la dolce "To Sheila", affresco ocra di un paesaggio malinconico tardo ottocentesco, una città al tramonto abbandonata alle sue ombre e alla sua solitudine. Un inizio potentissimo, non roboante ma subdolo, che trova diretto la strada del cuore senza passare per le orecchie, e sono subito brividi.
Subentra la ruvida e cupa rabbia di "Ava Adore", un amore lancinante e grezzo gridato con somma amarezza, venata di tanto in tanto da striature agro dolci. Fu questo il singolo che fu scelto come rappresentativo dell'album, e in effetti la scelta si rivela azzeccata, data l'enorme carica di cinismo e melanconia che già trasudano da questa traccia.
Le note si rincorrono, l'aliena "Daphne Descends", effettata e algida, la drammatica "Tear", pezzo che al tempo mi fece impazzire, teatrale, struggente e nichilista ai massimi livelli. Un brano tronfio e elegante, minimale quando serve e esplosivo nel suo gettarti in faccia sofferenza gratuita, anche grazie a un songwriting che è poesia: "I saw you there, you were on your way/you held the rain, and for the first time/heaven seemed insane, cause heaven i sto blame/for taking you away". Il gotico di Corgan, chapeau.
Come se ciò non bastasse, ecco un'altra pugnalata, "Crestfallen", un testo che andrebbe citato per intero, tanta è la sua raffinata e decadente bellezza. Per molti potrà sembrare autocommiserazione, per me è una calda coperta per i momenti in cui mi sento triste e solo, perso tra tanti.
La straziante "For Martha" è il saluto di un figlio alla madre, una promessa di rivedersi un giorno, da qualche parte. Nenia sofferente e sanguigna, la canzone è un altro pezzo da novanta di "Adore", ma è forse con la conclusiva "Blank Page" che si raggiunge l‘apice.
Una pagina bianca, immagine di una rabbia mai espressa, che ha cercato sfogo nel rincorrere un sogno d'amore che è fuggito per sempre. Cosa è rimasto di ciò? Un ricordo amaro, telefonate di amici mai risposte, un assolato mattino in collina con un albero e dei bambini a giocarvi intorno, magari i tuoi figli, che non rivedrai mai più
Lasciatevi andare in questo mare oscuro, affogate pure, piangete e sfogatevi, autocommiseratevi se volete. Dopo però starete meglio, consci di esservi visti allo specchio mentre piangevate, il trucco sfatto, gli occhi arrossati, il volto rigato da caldi rivoli, e il cuore ricolmo di una tristezza che finalmente ha trovato una via di uscita.
Elenco tracce testi e samples
01 To Sheila (04:48)
Twilight fades through blistered avalon
The sky's cruel torch on aching autobahn
Into the uncertain divine
We scream into the last divide
You make me real
You make me real
Strong as I feel
You make me real
Sheila rides on crashing nightingale
Intake eyes leave passing vapor trails
With blushing brilliance alive
Because it's time to arrive
You make me real
You make me real
Strong as I feel
You make me real
Lately I just can't seem to believe
Discard my friends to change the scenery
It meant the world to hold a bruising faith
But now it's just a matter of grace
A summer storm graces all of me
Highway warm silent poetry
I could bring you the light
And take you home into the night
You make me real
Lately I just can't seem to believe
You make me real
Discard my friends to change the scenery
Strong as I feel
It meant the world to hold a bruising faith
You make me real
But now it's just a matter of grace
02 Ava Adore (04:22)
It's you that I adore
You will always be my whore
You'll be a mother to my child
And a child to my heart
We must never be apart
We must never be apart
Lovely girl you're the beauty in my world
Without you there aren't reasons left to find
And I'll pull your crooked teeth
You'll be perfect just like me
You'll be a lover in my bed
And a gun to my head
We must never be apart
We must never be apart
Lovely girl you're the murder in my world
Dressing coffins for the souls I've left to die
Drinking mercury to the mystery
Of all that you should ever leave behind
In time
In you I see dirty
In you I count stars
In you I feel so pretty
In you I taste god
In you I feel so hungry
In you I crash cars
We must never be apart
Drinking mercury to the mystery
Of all that you should ever seek to find
Lovely girl you're the murder in my world
Dressing coffins for the souls I've left behind
In time
We must never be apart
And you'll always be my whore
Cause you're the one that I adore
And I'll pull your crooked teeth
You'll be perfect just like me
In you I feel so dirty in you I crash cars
In you I feel so pretty in you I taste god
We must never be apart
03 Perfect (03:25)
I know we're just like old friends
We just can't pretend
That lovers make amends
We are the reason so unreal
We can't help but feel that something has been lost
But please, you know you're just like me
Next time, I promise we'll be perfect
Perfect
Perfect
Perfect strangers down the line
Lovers out of time
Memories unwind
So far I still know who you are
But now I wonder who I was
Angel, you know it's not the end
We'll always be good friends
The letters have been sent on
So please, you always were so free
You'll see, I promise we'll be perfect
Perfect
Perfect strangers when we meet
Strangers on the street
Lovers while we sleep
Perfect
You know this has to be
We always were so free
We promised that we'd be
Perfect
Perfect
Perfect
04 Daphne Descends (04:41)
With the sugar sickness
You spy the kidnap kid
Who kids you to oblivion
It's the perfect hassle
For the perfumed kiss
He makes you miss him more than home
You love him
You love him more than this
You love him and you cannot, you can't resist
You love him
You love him for yourself
You love him and no one, no one else
Past sidewalk ashes
A last lovers arc
You come apart to intertwine
It was all so simple
As you watched him move
Across the darkness in your room
You love him
You love him for youself
You love him and no one, no one else
And the winding vines
The pretty boys dive
And thru the pinhole stars
Into the shadow mind
You will lose him then
On some gentle dawn
This boy is here and gone
You love him
You love him for yourself
You love him and no one, no one else
You love him
You love him more than this
You love him and you cannot, you can't resist
You love him...
05 Once Upon a Time (04:07)
horses run once in a while for you
the shades will drop once in a while for you
destiny will have a sense of your touch
once in a while
once in a while for you
once in a while for you
once in a while for you
the soldiers will fall once in a while for you
the shades will crawl once in a while for you
you'll take the walls
i will take the pain awayonce in a while
once in a while it's you
once in a while it's you
once in a while
you'll make it on your own
you'll make it so alone
feel so alone
you'll try to care once in a while for me
i will be there once in a while
once in a while for you
once in a while for you
once in a while for you
06 Tear (05:55)
The lights came on fast
Lost in motorcrash
Gone in a flash unreal
But you knew all along
You laugh the light
I sing the songs
To watch you numb
I saw you there
You were on your way
You held the rain
And for the first time, heaven seemed insane
'Cause heaven is to blame
For taking you away
And do you know the way that I can
Do you know the way that I can't lose?
And do you know the things that I can
Do you know the things that I can do?
Where is your heart?
Where is your heart gone to?
Tear me apart
Tear me apart from you
You laugh the light
I cry the wound
In gray afternoons
I saw you there
You were on your way
You held the rain
And for the first time, heaven seemed insane
For taking you away
'Cause heaven is to blame
For taking you away
The lights came to pass
Dead opera motorcrash
Gone in a flash unreal
In nitrous overcast
And do you know the way that I can
Do you know the way that I can't lose?
And do you know the things that I can
Do you know the things that I can't lose?
Tear me apart
Tear me apart from you
Where is your heart?
Where is your heart run to?
07 Crestfallen (04:11)
Who am I to need you when I'm down?
And where are you when I need you around?
Your life is not your own
And all I ask you is for another chance
Another way around you
To live by circumstance
Once again
Who am I to need you now?
To ask you why?
To tell you no?
To deserve your love and sympathy?
You were never meant to belong to me
And you may go but I know that you won't leave
Too many years built into memories
You're life is not your own
Who am I to need you now?
To ask you why?
To tell you no?
To deserve your love and sympathy?
You were never meant to belong to me
Who am I to leave?
Along the way I lost my faith
And as you are you'll be agian
To mold like clay, to break like dirt
To tear me up in your sympathy
You were never meant to belong to me
You were never meant to belong to me
You were never meant to belong to me
Who am I?
Who am I?
Who am I?
Who am I?
Who am I?
Who am I?
08 Appels + Oranjes (03:37)
what if the sun refused to shine?
what if the clouds refused to rain?
what if the wind refused to blow?
what if the seas refused to wave?
what if the world refused to turn?
what if the stars would hesitate?
what if, what is isn't true?
what are you going to do?
what if, what is isn't you?
does that mean you've got to lose?
digging for the feel of something new
what if the silence let you dream?
what if the air could let you breathe?
what if the words would bring you here?
what if this sound could bring you peace?
what if, what is isn't true?
what are you going to do?
digging for the feel of something new
what if, what is isn't you?
does that mean you've got to lose?
it came from your thoughts, your dreams and visions
ripped up from your weeks and indecisions
what if the sun refused to shine?
what if the clouds refused to rain?
what if the wrold refused to turn?
what if the clocks would hesitate?
what if, what is isn't true?
what are you going to do?
what if, what is isn't you?
does that mean you've got to lose?
digging for the feel of something new
does that mean you've got to choose?
the feel of something new
does that mean you've got to lose?
the thoughts you cannot lose
what are you gonna do?
09 Pug (04:49)
Kiss and kill me sweetly
Come and drive me home
Drag the miles in me
I am yours alone
Inside where it's warm
Wrap myself in you
Outside where I'm torn
Fight myself in two
In two
Into you
Desire me so deeply
Drain and kick me hard
Whisper secrets for me
Try to go too far
Inside where it's warm
Wrap myself in you
Outside where I'm torn
Fight myself in two
In two
Into...
Please don't change
Please don't change at all
Bring your rain
Bring your rain to fall
Inside where it's warm
Wrap myself in you
Outside where I'm torn
Fight myself in two
In two
Into you
Come and kiss me sweetly
Ride the telephone
Drag the miles to me
I am yours alone
Yours alone
On the telephone
Yours alone
Looking for a kiss kiss
Yours alone
10 The Tale of Dusty and Pistol Pete (04:37)
Dusty screams, through doors and imaginary floors
"Why can't you miss me?"
Pistol pete removes the final breaths from her unkind and she is shaken
What does this mean in love or in peace?
With you lying next to me
So faithless serene
And she calls to him
Let the waste cross the ancient trails to you
Far out beneath the sorrow clouds
Let them taste the bitter lost mistake of you
Let them cry out through your rusted scars
Alone he roams inside the ordinary catacombs of her waiting
With raven hands she steals and staggers towards her man
Still scorned by his demon
Because he's undone
Become the language of
Disaster and love, vengeance and dust
And she calls to him
Let the waste cross the ancient trails to you
Far out beneath the sorrow clouds
Let them taste the bitter lost mistake of you
Let them cry out through your rusted scars
Dusty screams, through doors and imaginary scenes
Of hurt and teardrop
As he holds her down, in the cold lonely winds
Together again, her inside him
And she calls to him
Let the waste cross the ancient trails to you
Far out beneath the sorrow clouds
Let them taste the bitter lost mistake of you
Let them cry out through your rusted scars
11 Annie-Dog (03:40)
Amphetamine Annie-Dog
Has her leash and a face
Her velvet spleen, her shackle spine
Her diamond curse, it comes with mine
A vessel she, for violent I
Confession arms awake
Mine, mine, you were always mine
Possessed by my taste
And below the angel dog
Combs her hair and sings her psalms
The bombs go off, she doesn't notice
It all goes wrong, she sets things tragic
She is Venus, she is Mars
She's electric, and the struggle of
Upon my face we leave no trace
But in her stomach mercury aged
She holds the blood, she carves the knives
She digs the wives in our babies
Amphetamine Annie-Dog
Pulls her trash and her stories
From place to place, and bed to bed
Gives of herself and the magnet head
Another floor, another ceiling
Counting stairs with double meanings
Is it wrong to swallow whole?
To disappear in her?
To give her the priceless peace
Of giving up control?
We tumble out into the streets
And Annie-Dog, she drags her leash
Pretty face, ugly mouth
Bitter bred and so released
And by the no, and by the yes
Annie goes if you couldn't guess
A simple man, a sycophant
Her elephant with the laughing call
She wants clean sheets, and fresh flowers
And dental shots, and the Hong Kong glue
Amphetamine Annie-Dog
Has her leash and a face
12 Shame (06:42)
You're gonna walk on home
You're gonna walk alone
You're gonna see this through
Don't let 'em get to you
Sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-shame
Sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-shame
Sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-shame
Love is good and love is kind
Love is drunk and love is blind
Love is good and love is mine
Love is drunk all the time
Sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-shame
Sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-shame
Sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-shame
Sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-shame
You're gonna walk on home
You're gonna walk alone
You're gonna walk so far
You're gonna wonder who you are
Sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-shame
Sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-shame
Sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-shame
Sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-shame
Shame
Shame
Love is good and love is kind
Love is good and love is blind
Love is good and love is mine
Love is good all the time
Hello, goodbye, you know you made us cry
Hello, goodbye, you know you made us cry
14 For Martha (08:19)
Whenever I run
Whenever I run to you, lost one
It's never done
Just hanging on
Just past has let me be
Returning as if dream
Shattered as belief
If you have to go, don't say goodbye
If you have to go, don't you cry
If you have to go, I will get by
Someday I'll follow you and see you on the other side
But for the grace of love
I'd will the meaning of
Heaven from above
But for the grace of love
I'd will the meaning of
Heaven from above
Your picture out of time
Left aching in my mind
Shadows kept alive
If you have to go, don't say goodbye
If you have to go, don't you cry
If you have to go, I will get by
Someday I'll follow you and see you on the other side
But for the grace of love
I'd will the meaning of
Heaven from above
But for the grace of love
I'd will the meaning of
Heaven from above
Long horses, we are born
Creatures more than torn
Mourning our way home
15 Blank Page (05:00)
Blank page is all the rage
Never meant to say anything
In bed I was half dead
Tired of dreaming of rest
Got dressed drove the state line
Looking for you at the five and dime
Stop sign told me stay at home
Told me you were not alone
Blank page was all the rage
Never meant to hurt anyone
In bed I was half dead
Tired of dreaming of rest
You haven't changed
You're still the same
May you rise as you fall
You were easy you are forgotten
You are the ways of my mistakes
I catch the rainfall
Through the leaking roof
That you had left behind
You remind me
Of that leak in my soul
The rain falls
My friends call
Leaking rain on the phone
Take a day palnt some trees
May they shade you from me
May your children play beneath
Blank page was all the rage
Never meant to say anything
In bed I was half dead
Tired of dreaming of rest
Got dressed drove the state line
Looking for you at the five and dime
But there I was picking pieces up
You are a ghost
Of my indecision
No more little girl
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Altre recensioni
Di Asjklf
Adore è sicuramente l'album più ermetico, controverso e sottovalutato degli Smashing Pumpkins.
Definire commerciale questo lavoro è quanto di più errato si possa fare.
Di Dune Buggy
“Adore è un non-luogo, un raffinato crepuscolo elettronico profondo quanto un’abissale pozzanghera di addii.”
“Non ho mai voluto far del male a nessuno ma me ne hai fatto di male caro Billy, obliterandomi l’anima con questo disperato abbandono.”
Di van norden
"Adore è un disco sacro, da ascoltare davvero con devozione: isolatevi dal mondo, nel silenzio, mentre piove..."
"Billy ci stende una mano per fargli compagnia nelle tenebre, trasformando il lutto in un’esperienza catartica."
Di kloo
"'Adore' è l'album di un preciso stato o momento della propria vita, quel momento che passi tra paranoie sulla vita, tra turbe mentali sul mondo e sulla conoscenza."
"Il sole lascia intravedere i suoi primi chiarori in questa lunga notte."
