Confesso di aver provato una certa emozione quando ho visto sugli scaffali la nuova edizione deluxe, doppio con versioni rimixate e qualche inedito, di "Our Favourite Shop" dei The Style Council.
In quell'anno cruciale, era il 1985, avevo poco più di vent'anni e quello fu (ma in un certo qual modo lo è ancora) anche uno dei miei negozi preferiti. Alcune delle ragioni di ciò possono essere intuite dando un attento sguardo alla copertina, magari dell'LP per chi ha problemi di vista, dove appaiono il dandy Paul Weller e il suo più composto sodale, Mick Talbot, ritratti in una sorta di piccolo bazar situato con ogni probabilità a Carnaby Street. Nell'emporio ci sono le scarpe di vernice molto Old England, le camicie button-down insieme alle cravatte improbabili, che servivano a dare quel tocco eccentrico, i completi scuri con pantaloni a sigaretta e paltò di sobria eleganza; tutti elementi che ricordano i Jam, primo gruppo di gran successo del giovane Weller all'epoca ormai sciolti, veri portabandiera della cultura mod-revival di fine '70, sintetizzabile nel motto "vivere puliti in circostanze difficili". Ma nel negozio, oltre a questi aspetti esteriori di continuità certamente significativi, ci sono altre immagini ed oggetti che attirano l'attenzione: una marsina colorata, riconoscibile cimelio dei passeggeri del sottomarino giallo, le foto di Frank Sinatra, Alain Delon, Al Green e il poster di "Another Country", un film ambientato negli anni '30, con la promessa non mantenuta Rupert Everett, che divenne un manifesto contro il perbenismo dell'età Thatcher, contro una Gran Bretagna sempre più sclerotizzata e matrigna, soprattutto per le giovani generazioni della working-class.
Erano già apparsi prima dell'anno in cui quest'album vide la luce, non solo il suo illustre predecessore "Café Bleu", ma anche "Eden" degli Everything But The Girl, "Diamond Life" di Sade; e sempre nell'ottantacinque uscirà anche l'atteso "Working Nights" dei Working Week. Indubbiamente tutti questi lavori avevano molti punti in comune: il riferimento alla migliore black-music e al cool jazz in particolare, il ritorno agli strumenti tradizionali dopo la sbornia dei sintetizzatori ed anche, per la maggior parte di loro, un esplicito impegno politico e un'aperta avversione contro l'allora governo dei Tories. Qualcuno parlò, forse impropriamente, di un movimento; ma senza dubbio c'era un comune sentire, degli ideali condivisi estetici e sociali: "Our Favourite Shop" è quello che forse rappresenta meglio tale temperie cultural-musicale.
Esso riesce a tenere insieme qualcosa che può sfuggire a chi non conosce l'inglese o non ha sottomano le lyrics: delle melodie orecchiabili, mai scontate, sofisticate in taluni casi, che hanno però fatto i conti con la tabula rasa del punk, e dei testi impegnati, espliciti, fortemente politici, nel senso migliore del termine. Esemplari in tal senso sono brani come "Homebreakers", elegante R&B e realistico spaccato delle catastrofiche conseguenze provocate dalla politica di ristrutturazioni del governo Thatcher nelle aree industriali del Paese; oppure "Internationalist", nervosa song, quasi funky, con i fiati e l'acido Hammond di Mick in primo piano, che incita ad una solidarietà di classe che superi i confini e alla ferma rivendicazione dei propri diritti. La descrizione di un deprimente quadro storico-sociale che i più giovani hanno potuto conoscere grazie a film come "Full Monty".
Tra i quindici brani, che in questa ricca doppia versione diventano molti di più, con l'aggiunta di qualche perla mai uscita su cd essendo b-side di singoli in vinile, ne ricordo solo una per tutte, l'intensa e commovente "Ghosts Of Dachau", vi sono anche alcuni dei migliori singoli dell'epoca come "Boy Who Cried Wolf", "The Lodgers", "Shout To The Top" e il proto-acid jazz della ritmata "With Everything To Lose". Non solo: non mancano neanche riferimenti alla chanson francese, la disperazione che sfuma in lieve malinconia, di "Down In The Sein", alla bossa nova di "All Gone Way", altro cortocircuito tra musiche solari e testi problematici. In più va riconosciuto ad ulteriore merito del gruppo di Weller: quello di essere stato preveggente, intuendo in tempi non sospetti l'epilogo dell'esperienza della Lady di Ferro in "Walls Come Tumbling Down". Non so, però, se Blair ha risposto alle grandi aspettative che Paul aveva a quei tempi; credo proprio di no.
Comunque,"Our Favourite Shop", oltre ad essere ormai divenuto un classico, e la presente deluxe edition sancisce ciò in modo definitivo, è un altro indispensabile tassello per conoscere e comprendere la ricchezza e la qualità della musica pop degli '80, un'epoca nella quale, con buona pace dei detrattori, canzoni di così forte impegno politico e sociale riuscivano anche a scalare le classifiche: dalle "top" si riusciva ancora a mandare uno "shout".
Elenco tracce testi e video
01 Homebreakers (05:06)
Good morning day, how do you do
I wonder - what will you do for me?
I should be on my way, I should be earning pay,
I should be all the things that I'm not -
And I've tried on my own, now there's nothing to keep me at home,
Like my Brother has too - gotta leave to get out of this view,
You see they, tell you to move around -
If you can't find work in your own town.
As I rise from my bed I can hear the old man
Blaming Heaven and Mother for this
30 Years with one firm, 13 months redundant,
Yes I'd say that's unlucky for some -
Now our tears fall like rain, as my Mother walks me to my train,
With a kiss and a wave - "Come home weekends" - that's if I can save.
I swear I'll take it out on the man -
Who ever devised this economy plan.
All the love in the world - can't put -
Dinner on the table -
All the hate that I feel no love could put right
Good morning day, how do you do
I wonder - what will you do for me?
I should be on my way, I should be earning pay,
I should be all the things that I'm not -
And I've tried on my own, now there's nothing to keep me at home,
All the love and the strength has been taken by this Government,
You see they, tell you to move around -
If you can't find work in your own town.
Father's in the kitchen, counting out coins,
Mother's in the bedroom, looking through pictures of her boys,
One is in London, looking for a job,
The other's in Whitehall - Looking for those responsible!
03 Come to Milton Keynes (03:03)
May I walk you home tonight
On this fine and lovely night tonight -
We'll walk past the luscious houses,
Through rolling lawns and lovely flowers -
Our nice new town where the curtains are drawn
Where hope is started and dreams can be borne.
Let us share our insanity
Go mad together in Community
Boys on the corner looking for their supper
Boys round the green looking for some slaughter -
We used to chase dreams now we chase the dragon
Mine is the semi with the Union Jack on.
In our paradise lost we'll be finding our sanity
In this paradise found we'll be losing our way -
For a brave new day.
May I slash my wrists tonight,
On this fine Conservative night tonight -
I was looking for a job so I came to town
I easily adopt when the chips are down -
I read the ad about the private schemes
I liked the idea but now I'm not so Keyne.
04 Internationalists (03:12)
If you believe you have an equal share
In the whole wide world and all it bears
An' that your share is no less or more than
Your fellow sisters and brother man
Then take this knowledge and with it insist
Declare yourself - an internationalist!
If you lay no blame at the feet of next door
An' realise this struggle is also yours
An' that without the strength of us altogether
The world as it stands will remain forever
Then take this challenge and make it exist!
Rise up as - an internationalist!
If your eyes see deeper than the colour of skin
Then you must also see we are the same within
An' the rights you expect are the rights of all
Now it's up to you to lead the call
That liberty must come at the top of the list
Stand proud as - an internationalist!
If you see the mistake in having bosses at all
You will also see how they all must fall
For under this system there is no such thing
As the Democracy our leaders would have us sing
No time for lies now as only truth must persist
Rise up now and declare yourself - an internationalist!
06 The Stand Up Comic's Instructions (01:31)
Get 'em laughing - keep 'em there,
You hold your own and they'll hold their's,
Hold their glasses - can't hold their beer
Tell 'em the one about the fucking queer.
Do the one that always works,
'Bout the lazy blacks that don't like work,
And once you got 'em, keep 'em there
Raise their spirits! Raise their cheer!
Do that one that never fails,
'Bout the gang of white thugs and the Asian male,
And once you got 'em, they'll be with you!
See this lot's loyal, through and through.
Tell Irish jokes and you can't miss,
Do the building site one and how they're all thick.
Keep 'em laughing - you'll have it made,
We're a friendly lot and you'll be well paid.
But keep 'em laughing don't let it stop
Or the truth might catch up and spoil the plot.
07 Boy Who Cried Wolf (05:15)
As the rain comes down, upon this sad sweet earth
I lie awake at nights and - think about me
All those usual things like what a fool I've been
I curse the awful way - that I let you slip away
For what was forged in love, is now cooling down
With only myself to blame for playing that stupid game
I thought I need only call and you would run
But that day you never showed honey - well I sure learnt -
That it seems I need you more each day
Heaven knows why that it goes that way -
Now it's far too late - an' I've lost this time -
Like the Boy who cried Wolf
An' yes - I know it's far too late
To ever win you back -
No tale of nightmare's at my gate -
Could make you turn -
My lost concern
And now the night falls down, upon my selfish soul
I sit alone and wonder - where did I go wrong?
It always worked before you kept the wolf from my door
But one day you never showed and honey - Now I'm not so sure -
That is seems I need you more each day
Heaven knows why that it goes that way -
Now it's far too late - an' I've lost this time -
Like the Boy who cried Wolf
10 The Lodgers (03:57)
No peace for the wicked - only war on the poor
They're batting on pickets - trying to even the score
It's all inclusive - the dirt comes free
And you can be all that you want to be
Oh an equal chance and an equal say
But equally there's no equal pay
There's room on top - if you tow the line
And if you believe all this you must be out of your mind
There's only room for those the same
Those who play the leeches game
Don't get settled in this place
The lodger's terms are in disgrace
Getcha brains blown out - in a captain's mess
Stand for the queen if you can stand the test
It's all thrown in and the lies come free
And you can be all that they want you to be
Oh if you work hard you can be the boss
But if you don't work at all then that's nobody's loss
There's room on top - if you dig in low
And the idea is what they reap you sow
With an old school tie and a reference
You can cover up crimes in their defence
It's all thrown in and the lies come free
And you can be all that they want you to be
11 Luck (02:36)
Luck fell in the right place for me
The day you happend to come by -
You caught me feeling all was useless
And left me feeling ten feet high
Now nothing again will be quite the same
You gathered my fears and threw them away
Luck dropped in just at the right time
The time when I felt most alone -
All my dreams had seemed to vanish
Now my nightmares have upped and gone
I'm not scared of farewells, nothing's the same twice
I stride through the day and I float through the night
How much choice do we have in this?
Like some almighty hand smashing your life into pieces
One day you're washed and drowned -
And the next minute you're put back on land
Now nothing again can be quite the same
I gather my fears and I throw them away
Luck - when you hold me closely
Ooh - feels like summertime
Luck - when you hold my hand
I - want it all the time
Luck - in your country kisses
Ooh - I love your outlook
Luck - in your hills and valleys
Go on talking my babbling brook!
12 With Everything to Lose (03:54)
From the playground to the wasteground
Hope ends at 17 -
Sweeping floors and filling shelves
Forced into government schemes -
11 years spent to dig out ditches,
Forget your schoolday dreams -
Guarantees and lie-filled speeches,
But nothings what it seems -
Qualified and patronised and with everything to lose.
No choice or chance for the future
The rich enjoy less tax -
Dress the girls in pretty pink
The shit goes to the blacks
A generation's heart torn out
And covered up the facts
The only thing they'll understand
Is a wall against their backs
The only hope now left for those - with everything to lose.
In desperation empty eyes,
Signed up and thrown away -
There's drugs replacing dignity,
The short sharp shock repaid -
There'll be no money if you dare to question
Working the Tory way -
The truth is up there carved in stone,
Where 21 dead now lay -
A family's loss for a few pounds saved -
With everything to lose.
14 Walls Come Tumbling Down (03:23)
You don't have to take this crap
You don't have to sit back and relax
You can actually try changing it
I know we've always been taught to rely
Upon those in authority -
But you never know until you try
How things just might be -
If we came together so strongly
Are you gonna try to make this work
Or spend your days down in the dirt
You see things can change -
YES an' walls can come tumbling down!
Governments crack and systems fall
'cause Unity is powerful -
Lights go out - walls come tumbling down!
The competition is a colour TV
We're on still pause with the video machine
That keep you slave to the H.P.
Until the Unity is threatend by
Those who have and who have not -
Those who are with and those who are without
And dangle jobs like a donkey's carrot -
Until you don't know where you are
Are you gonna realize
The class war's real and not mythologized
And like Jericho - You see walls can come tumbling down!
Are you gonna be threatend by
The public enemies No. 10 -
Those who play the power game
They take the profits - you take the blame -
When they tell you there's no rise in pay
Are you gonna try an' make this work
Or spend your days down in the dirt -
You see things CAN change -
YES an' walls can come tumbling down!
15 Shout to the Top (04:21)
I was half in mind - I was half in need,
And as the rain came down - I dropped to my knees and prayed
I said "oh Heavenly thing - please cleanse my soul,
I've seen all on offer and I'm not impressed at all".
I was halfway home - I was half insane,
And every shop window I looked in just looked the same
I said send me a sign to save my life
'Cause at this moment in time there is nothing certain in
these day's of mine
Y'see it's a frightening thing when it dawns upon you
That I know as much as the day I was born
And though I wasn't asked (I might as well stay)
And promise myself each and every day - that -
When you're knocked on your back - an' your life's a flop
and when you're down on the bottom there's nothing else
but to shout to the top - shout!
Carico i commenti... con calma
Altre recensioni
Di lovetojour
"Questo è l'album più coeso negli intenti stilistici degli Style Council."
"'Walls Come Tumbling Down' è un capolavoro del dopolavoro per le masse operaie."
