Gli Style Council si sono sempre comportati con un certo stile negli anni '80 e di sicuro questo album è il lavoro più riuscito dell'accoppiata Talbot-Weller. Se da un lato i Nostri avevano deluso le aspettative di coloro che erano legati alle sguaiate evoluzioni punk-wildly beat dei Jam, dall'altro faranno proseliti tra coloro che godevano del mood jazz-swing nella musica rock inglese di quel periodo. E che periodo! Tra Everything But the Girl e Working Week era un bel sentire: chitarrine impomatate unite a ritmi doo-woop-dance e coretti whoop whoop, che se la giocavano con i merletti wave di Duran Duran e Spandau Ballet. Ma allora perchè "Our favourite shop" e non "Eden" o "Cafè Bleu" degli stessi Style, si merita il podio? Forse perchè questo sembra un'album più coeso negli intenti stilistici e con delle liriche"pesanti" che mi fanno pensare a questo lavoro come al Sandinista! degli Style Council.
E si parte con "Homebreakers", nel vero senso della parola perchè ce lo dice la vocina nella hall di un aeroporto: pezzo da muovere le spalle e petto in fuori come un vero mod - bellissimo! - con trombe in bella evidenza e cori black che accompagnano Paul nel soliloquio. Parte l'aereo e arriva il calypso tropicale di "All gone away" con i fiati che se la giocano con le marimbas ed i triangoli
Come take a walk upon these hills,
And see how this monetarism kills...
E andiamo a Milton Keynes con "Come to Milton Keynes" ritmo saltellante e tastiere che si sciolgono sul tema della sanità mentale in Inghilterra, dolcemente prosodiate da Mr.Weller. Pezzo da Novanta è "Internationalist" (attenti se andate in macchina!) ritmi beat con grinta da vendere e rabbia urlata nelle trombe, qui abbiamo inventato il garage-swing o qualcosa del genere - siori e siore, BE - LLI -SSI - MO ! Gli archi incorniciano la predica campestre contro le torture e la volazione dei diritti civili di padre Paul in "A Stones Throw Away", ballata lieve e dolente che stride accanto al fervore black di "The Stand Up Comic's Instructions" intessuto di nervosismi funk e un pò sottotono rispetto alla media dell'album.
"Boy Who Cried Wolf" è una pop song umbratile con una melodia di sapore Spandau Ballet che ben accompagna la cena nei rigori degli inverni quando riflettiamo sulla caducità dei sentimenti tra gli esseri umani. Ma non indugiamo troppo perchè le campane introducono "A Man of great promise", gli Style frizzanti che si sposano con gli Swing Out Sister nella chiesa sconsacrata di "Down in the Seine" dove una bella tastiera a fisarmonica segue la cerimonia. Si aprono le danze e le stanze della locanda di "The Lodgers" il più bel pop di sempre- e bravo Talbot ! - con tutti i coretti che funzionano a dovere. "Luck" non sfigura anche se mostra un pò la corda ma non importa perchè gli Style ci servono sul piatto altre buone pietanze come il soul a ritmo di rumba di "With Everything to lose" dal sapore troppo esotico per le fredde lande inglesi ma buono al chiuso di un ristorante argentino. Giusto il tempo per il rosolio dello strumentale "Our Favorite Shop"- farfisa annacquato in poliritmi spagnoli in bella evidenza - che siamo di nuovo dalle parti di "Internationalist" con il rullo soul-beat di "Walls Come Tumbling Down" - Capolavoro del Dopolavoro per le masse operaie - che farebbe sgambettare anche Fassino. Ancora spalle a ritmo e petto in fuori perchè con "Shout At The Top" si balla con uno stile che è Style Council al massimo.
Album politico, decisamente corretto. Ancora oggi Our Favourite Album degli Style Council.
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!
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Altre recensioni
Di Socrates
"Some of the best politically engaged pop music of the '80s, combining catchy melodies with sharp social critique."
"Our Favourite Shop è quello che forse rappresenta meglio tale temperie cultural-musicale."
