Che gran gruppo, questi Uccelli di Cortile (?), a volte trovati come Backyardbirds in qualche ristampina italiana, spulciata dagli scaffali del mercatino dell'usato. Potrei iniziare questa recensione con un bel "loro sono stati il campo d'addestramento di chitarristi quali Clapton, Beck, Page", il problema è che questa tutt'altro che trascurabile caratteristica ormai è più che risaputa (almeno lo spero...).
Nostalgicamente interessante è la brevissima carrellata di fotografia on-stage e dietro le quinte presentata nell'esiguo libretto, con gli ex idoli minori del beat ormai, ovviamente, diventati vecchietti in pre-pensionamento. Giusto uno dei chitarristi è una new entry, probabilmente sarà il figlio di uno di loro, o al massimo il nipote del cameriere che portava loro il caffè dal bar di sotto degli studi mentre registravano "For Your Love", quarant'anni prima.
Registrato nel 2006 nel B.B. King Blues Club nel cuore di New York City, questo elettrizzante live è un buon esempio di come si possa suonare un bel blues rock senza apparire eccessivamente retrogradi o nostalgici. Uscito in sordina, probabilmente senza ambizioni particolari, questo LP presenta anche una veste grafica modesta ed essenziale: in copertina il logo storico con alle spalle una foto in movimento della New York notturna che incornicia questa esibizione.
La band parte con la celebre "Train Kept A Rollin'", e subito si nota una produzione pulita ed una voce solista che, senza essere mai stata un top del genere, non risente degli anni trascorsi, apparendo calda e presente. La scaletta, senza grandi sorprese, presenta ottimi pezzi come "Heart Full Of Soul", piccolo capolavoro dei tempi che furono, "Shapes Of Things", la mini-hit "For Your Love, una Pageiana "Dazed And Confused" fino alla conclusione di "Happening Ten Years Time Ago", e tanti saluti.
Siamo d'accordo, i pochi che avranno avuto la possibilità di ascoltare questo live potranno convenire che non stiamo parlando di "Irish Tour" o "Wheels Of Fire", quello appena trascorso è un onesto LP commemorativo, senza guizzi particolari ma senza tonfi di noia evidenti. E il gruppo? Buoni strumentisti, forse un pò fiacca la sezione ritmica, con una batteria abbastanza ordinaria ed un basso diligente senza virtuosismi.
Sicuramente l'opera serve a ricordare un gruppo, ormai andato, particolarmente "full of soul", storicamente importante ma riscoperto solo dagli appassionati (feticisti?) del genere.
Elenco tracce testi e video
01 Train Kept a Rollin' (03:39)
Aboard a train
I met a dame
She was a hipster
Man a real gone dame
She wasn't pretty
For New York City
As we strut down on that ol' fairlane
With a heave and a ho
I just couldn't let her go
Get along
Sweet little woman get along
On your way
Get along
Sweet little woman get along
On your way
With a heave and a ho
I just couldn't let her go
The train kept a rollin' all night long
The train kept a rollin' all night long
The train kept a rollin' all night long
The train kept a rollin' all night long
With a heave and a ho
I just couldn't let her go
I made a stop round Albuquerque
She must'a thought I was real gone jerk
Got off the train at El Paso
A' looking so good I couldn't let her go
With a heave and a ho
I just couldn't let her go
The train kept a rollin' all night long
The train kept a rollin' all night long
The train kept a rollin' all night long
The train kept a rollin' all night long
With a heave and a ho
I just couldn't let her go
03 Drinking Muddy Water (03:54)
(Chris Dreja / Keith Relf / Jim McCarty / Jimmy Page)
Ah, ah, ah, ah...
Well I've been running and a-hiding,
Trying to lose my mind.
Well I've been running and a-hiding,
Trying to lose my mind.
Ever since you told me,
That you weren't my kind.
Ah, ah, ah...
Drinking muddy water,
I don't know how long for.
I been drinking muddy water,
I don't know how long for.
Since I been running, babe,
I been treating you like a dog.
05 Heart Full of Soul (02:39)
(Graham Gouldman)
Sick at heart and lonely,
deep in dark despair.
Thinking one thought only
where is she tell me where.
And if she says to you
she don't love me
just give her my message
tell her of my plea
And I know if she had me back again
well I would never make her sad.
I've gotta heart full of soul.
She's been gone such a long time
longer than I can bear
but if she says she wants me
tell her that I'll be there
And if she says to you
she don't love me
just give her my message
tell her of my plea.
10 Shapes of Things (02:42)
Shapes of things before my eyes,
Just teach me to despise.
Will time make men more wise?
Here within my lonely frame,
My eyes just hurt my brain.
But will it seem the same?
Come tomorrow, will I be older?
Come tomorrow, may be a soldier.
Come tomorrow, may I be bolder than today?
Now the trees are almost green.
But will they still be seen?
When time and tide have been.
Fall into your passing hands.
Please don't destroy these lands.
Don't make them desert sands.
Chorus, Lead.
Soon I hope that I will find,
Thoughts deep within my mind.
That won't disgrace my kind.
12 Rack My Mind (05:51)
(Chris Dreja / Jim McCarty / Jeff Beck / Keith Relf / Paul Samwell-Smith)
Baby I got a problem,
Don't know what to do.
Baby I got a problem,
I don't know what to do.
Can't find the words to describe you, woman,
None I got will do.
I gonna search a dictionary,
I find new words to use.
Gonna search a dictionary,
Find new words to use.
Woman you defy me,
Ain't no words to choose.
Baby I'm rackin' my mind,
Baby I'm rackin' my mind,
Now I can't [ ?].
Baby rackin' my mind,
I can't find,
Any words.
Tell me woman,
Got a hold on my mind.
My, my, my, my, my, mind,
You sure are the strangest kind.
Got no words for you baby,
Ain't no words I can find.
Now I know what to call you,
Know what to call you, baby.
I know what to call you,
Know what to call you,
You're the world's worst woman,
The devil ever made.
Now I know you baby,
Now I know you girl,
Now I know you baby,
[You find some other guy ?]
I know baby,
I sure raise my eye.
13 Over Under Sideways Down (03:08)
(Chris Dreja / Jim McCarty / Jeff Beck / Keith Relf / Paul Samwell-Smith)
Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!
Cars and girls are easy come by in this day and age,
Laughing, joking, drinking, smoking,
Till I've spent my wage.
When I was young people spoke of immorality,
All the things they said were wrong,
Are what I want to be.
(Hey)
Over under sideways down,
(Hey)
Backwards forwards square and round.
(Hey)
Over under sideways down,
(Hey)
Backwards forwards square and round.
When will it end, when will it end,
When will it end, when will it end.
Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!
I find comment 'bout my looks irrelativity,
Think I'll go and have some fun,
'Cos it's all for free.
I'm not searching for a reason to enjoy myself,
Seems it's better done,
Than argued with somebody else.
(Hey)
Over under sideways down,
(Hey)
Backwards forwards square and round.
(Hey)
Over under sideways down,
(Hey)
Backwards forwards square and round.
When will it end, when will it end,
When will it end, when will it end.
Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!
Over under sideways down...
15 For Your Love (03:26)
For your love.
For your love.
For your love.
I'd give you everything and more, and that's for sure.
For your love.
I'd bring you diamond rings and things right to your door.
For your love.
To thrill you with delight,
I'll give you diamonds bright.
There'll be things that will excite,
To make you dream of me at night.
For your love.
For your love.
For your love.
For your love, for your love,
I would give the stars above.
For your love, for your love,
I would give you all I could.
For your love.
For your love.
For your love.
I'd give the moon if it were mine to give.
For your love.
I'd give the stars and the sun 'fore I live.
For your love.
To thrill you with delight,
I'll give you diamonds bright.
There'll be things that will excite,
To make you dream of me at night.
For your love.
For your love.
For your love.
For your love.
16 Still I'm Sad (01:43)
(Paul Samwell-Smith / Jim McCarty)
See the stars come joining down from the sky,
Gently passing, they kiss your tears when you cry.
See the wind of summer blow your hair upon your head,
See the rain, the falling rain, it's rain.
Still I'm sad.
Oh my flowers, my tears just falling two days,
we are driving the night to find they are lost.
Flower, flower the wind is blowing,
time into my heart.
When the wind blows hard, we are apart.
Still I'm sad,
Still I'm sad.
Still I'm sad.
18 I'm a Man (05:10)
(Ellas McDaniel (better known as Bo Diddley) (1955))
Note: Many different recordings of the song exist, each with differing lyrics. I have tried to collate the important lyrics here - inevitably some lines will be missed out, and the order of verses changed. The studio version consists solely of the middle three verses. Other recordings, in particular the 'Five Live Yardbirds' and the BBC sessions versions, start with the first verse and also include the last verse (both in '{ }' braces).
{
Now when I was a little boy,
At the age of five,
I had somethin' in my pocket,
Kept a lot of folks alive.
Now I'm a man,
I spell M-A-N...man.
}
All you pretty women,
Stand in line,
I can make love to you baby,
In an hour's time.
Now i'm a man
I spell M-A-N...man.
The line I shoot,
Will never miss,
Make love to you baby,
You can't resist.
Now I'm a man,
I spell M-A-N...man.
Goin back down,
To Kansas to,
Bring back a little girl,
Just like you.
Now I'm a man,
I spell M-A-N...man.
{
Now I'm a man,
Made twenty-one,
You know baby,
We can have a lot of fun.
I'm a man,
I spell M-A-N...man.
}
© Arc Music Corp. (BMI)
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