Con i suoi dolcissimi confetti psych-pop affogati nel neo-romanticismo wave di classe sopraffina, Kilimanjaro (1980) è un album che rapisce al primo ascolto, che coinvolge la sfera emotivà e la incanta a tal punto che ogni tentativo di disintossicazione sonora diventa vano.

Una sorpresa che rinnova la mia consumata passione per quella singolare figura di santone mistico/ecologico conosciuto con il nome di Julian Cope, un musicista che ha assorbito e capito l’essenza di tutto il rock sotterraneo (forse troppo, visto lo smodato uso di droghe), ma anche esperto di cultura druidica e storico/scrittore di argomenti diversi come il cosmic rock tedesco (raccontato e analizzato nel suo libro Krautrocksampler) e i luoghi mitologici del regno unito (il libro e il sito The Modern Antiquarian). Un’eccentrico giullare perso nel sogno di una realtà lontana, impegnato a reinterpretare con nuova enfasi romantico/decadente le filastrocche visionarie di Syd Barrett e Jim Morrison e ad esprimere il suo pessimismo per i mali che affliggono il mondo.

La sua storia ha inizio con i Teardrop Explodes, un gruppo di Liverpool illuminato dalle seminali intuizioni di maestri come Television e Brian Eno e orientato verso l’ala neo-psichedelica della new wave britannica, quella popolata da gruppi come Soft Boys, Xtc, Echo And The Bunnymen. Canzoni come Treason, Went Crazy, Reward, Sleeping Gas, Bouncing Babies per citarne alcune, sono esempi di melodia malinconica e stralunata, accompagnata da imprevedibili sciabolate di chitarre garage, ritmiche punk, fiati funky, tastiere che ricordano molto i Doors e le band farfisa degli anni sessanta. In certi momenti ci si trova davanti a pezzi che sembrano usciti direttamente dalla penna di Robert Smith, ma con dei Cure indirizzati verso percorsi lisergici d’antica memoria. L’instabilità e le divergenze di opinione sono gli elementi che porteranno la band a sciogliersi, lasciando l’anno successivo la testimonianza di un secondo episodio Wilder e un terzo album incompiuto Everybody Wants To Shag. Cope da quel momento avrà modo di iniziare una strabiliante carriera solista, sfornando negli anni 80 delle pietre miliari del rock inglese come World Shut Your Mouth e Fried.

Nei '90 il coraggio di rimettersi in gioco, conoscendo una seconda giovinezza artistica con uscite discografiche sempre più eccentriche e bizzarre (Peggy Suicide, Jehovahkill, Autogeddon, 20mothers), caratterizzate da evidenti contaminazioni con il folk barrettiano, l’hard rock, il krautrock, l’elettronica (Queen Elizabeth) , la sperimentazione strumentale (Rite, Odin) e  la recente rivisitazione del suono stooges con il progetto Brain Donor.
Un capolavoro misconosciuto stràconsigliato a tutti gli amanti della buona vecchia wave. Tiè:)

Elenco tracce testi samples e video

01   Ha, Ha, I'm Drowning (02:53)

02   Sleeping Gas (03:45)

Sometimes I wonder if your really living
Oh what is this feeling you think that you’re giving
Well you can sit down, wrecked and dismayed
Wondering why are all the plans that you laid
You can watch rafferty turn into a serial
You can watch rafferty turn into a serial
You can watch rafferty turn into a serial
Just like a cartoon by AAP
Oh it’s just like a cartoon by AAP, oh yeah

Oh whether to phone you
Or whether to see you
I never do anything
You never do things for me
I wander around
I just wander around
I just wander around
I just wander around

You can watch rafferty turn into a serial
So here comes my head
And my hand just behind oh yeah yeah yeah

I stand in the street
I look for someone to meet
But you don’t call me or phone
Oh you're never alone

I wander around
I just wander around
I just wander around
I just wander around

You can watch rafferty turn into a serial
You can watch rafferty turn into a serial
You can watch rafferty turn into a serial
Just like a cartoon by AAP

You can watch rafferty turn into a serial
You can watch rafferty turn into a serial
You can watch rafferty turn into a serial
It’s just like sleeping gas
It’s so ethereal

I wander around
I just wander around

03   Treason (03:05)

I've been living through changes
And I could swing for you
I can see the veins in my hands
Are showing through

But if you disguise
What these things are doing to me
If you criticize them
I'll know that you can see

Until you realise
It's just a story

Consequently my reaction
Was getting rather strange
I can see your course of action
Leading to a change

You've got to get ready for me
Is it real
Or is it treason
Is it treason

I've been living through changes
It's not the same thing every day
I hope it's not my age
But I wouldn't like to say

Mirror hopping days of coarse reaction
Oh it's very hard to fight
I tried to find a plan of action
But I couldn't get it right

Until you realise
Tt's just a story...

04   Second Head (03:10)

Look, look into my eyes
Outside a sudden footsteps
Take control, control of movement
Wait, I’m still hoping, hoping
I’m still hoping
Like a second head
Is it the first one you started out with

Seen, seen from the stars
I know the banisters leaking
That I can breath freely, that I can breath freely
I wait, oh I wait for a sign, hoping and praying
Hoping it’s mine

Like a second head
Is it the first one you started out with

Oh you can see much more, but can you learn
Don’t throw anything
I’m scratching my back while you’re scratching the surface
Beware, beware of false promises
You must be wary of people, the knives in their backs

Like a second head
Is it the first one you started out with

Waiters and callers
Trapped by the door, looking for something
That I didn’t come for
Decisions, decisions, it’s only a sign
But what and who is this, well next time

Like a second head
Is it the first one you started out with

05   Poppies in the Field (05:03)

06   Went Crazy (02:38)

I’m in my room I’m looking sideways
I look up and I look down
They told my friends it was a secret
But it’s rumored that some of us went crazy
So I packed all my clothes and I went on back home
I was standing on the tarmac ready to go
Then I looked al around and I looked all around
And I looked all around and I went crazy

But I sincerely sad and resigned
I look up and I rest sometime
Then I think for a while and I sit for a while
And I sing for a while and I go hazy

Oh I go

If you have a daughter bounce her on your knee
If you have a son send the blighter off to sea
If you have a daughter bounce her on your knee
If you have a son send the blighter off to sea

If you have a daughter bounce her on your knee
If you have a son send the blighter off to sea
If you have a daughter bounce her on your knee
If you have a son send the blighter off to sea

Oh yeah

Well fun and games and laughter for the chosen few
Here comes your nose and here comes you
Je suis suicide, je suis pain
J'avais indecision here we go again, I’m going

Oh we’re in love with beauty
We’re in love with health
We’re in love with mental health
I’m going crazy

07   Brave Boys Keep Their Promises (02:30)

Brave Boys Keep Their Promises
They fight fight fight they're way up to the top
Holding back the images
They gave them all they're early start but they move on though
Lets get off at the next step

Braving all the elements
All the things that nature throws at you
Fighting for the first time
It's hard for you and it's hard for me but we keep on now
We're always moving

Move move

Brave Boys Keep Their Promises
You've got to do do do do the things they say
Fighting with your relatives
You've got your mother and your father and your brothers to Your aunts and your uncles are all against you

08   Bouncing Babies (02:28)

I was a bouncing baby
I fell down
I looked around
I didn’t stay too long

And it’s true
It’s true
It’s true
All the things that they tell you

Oh it’s all there
For you to see
And so why is it
All so easy for me

Cos it’s true
It’s true
Oh it’s true
They create things
When they’ve got nothing they can believe in
Believe in

I was a poison child
I was fighting for my life
Clinging to something
Fighting for anything

It’s true
All the things that they tell you
Oh it’s true
All the things that they said that they said
That they tell you
All the things that they tell you

I was a bouncing baby
Now I’m a bouncing bomb
So won’t you come and diffuse me
Before I kill someone

09   Books (02:37)

You said you couldn’t find anyone to love you
I said there’s more to life than a broken heart dear console you
I’ve seen it in your eyes
And I’ve read it in books
Who wants love
Without the looks

Well you said I tend to spend my life chasing rainbows
And I said that’s a clichéd phrase and anyway I like it when the rain goes

I’ve seen it in your eyes
And I’ve read it in books
Who wants love
Without the looks
Books without looks
Who wants love
Without the looks

And I came a long way before I came across the sea
Oh I did love for you and what did you do for me

Oh but I’m gonna be strong
And it’s getting much stronger
it may take a week
But it won’t take longer

No no no no etc.

10   Thief of Baghdad (03:09)

11   When I Dream (05:10)

I’ve been thinking about you
I hope that you’ve been thinking about me
I’ve been talking about you
I’ve been talking about you in my sleep
And when I dream I dream about you
And when I scream I scream about you
I go ba ba ba ba oh oh
Oh I go

I’ve been sad and ever sadder
I’ve been living, living far away
Now it’s you I think it’s true
And I’m running, running, running back to stay

And now I’m counting I’m counting for two
And when I shout I shout about you
I go ba ba ba ba oh oh
Oh I go

Here you come again
Playing with my feelings

There you go again
Playing with my heart

And when I dream I dream about you
And when I scream I scream about you
I go ba ba ba ba oh oh

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