Succede spesso che dietro a dei grandi artisti si nascondano delle grandi band. Solo restando in America non si può non citare The Band di Bob Dylan, i Crazy Horse di Neil Young o la E-Street Band di Springsteen. Band che spesso avrebbero meritato due parole in più, scindendo il loro valore a quello dei singoli artisti a cui fanno da accompagnamento, anche se a volte è difficile pensare l'uno senza l'altro. Forse proprio alla E-Street Band si può paragonare il cammino degli Heartbreakers di Tom Petty e proprio al live 1975-1985 di Springsteen si può associare questo The live Anthology di Tom Petty, soprattutto nella forma in cui è stato pensato e creato.
In sede live esce allo scoperto il valore di questa band, sicuramente una delle migliori macchine da rock'n'roll che gli States abbiano mai proposto. Tom Petty, stavolta fa le cose in grande, a distanza di 24 anni dall'ultimo live degno di nota della sua carriera, "Pack up the plantation-Live!"(1985) fa uscire un box di 4 cd contenente 48 canzoni, tra cui alcune interessanti cover mai uscite prima.
Il metodo di raccolta e di assemblaggio del lavoro, non ricalca nessun particolare ordine cronologico temporale di tour, ma mischia sapientemente le canzoni, vecchie, nuove e covers. Canzoni scelte direttamente da Petty e dal fido amico e chitarrista Mike Campbell e confezionate all'interno di un box cartonato dalla grafica vintage affascinante creato da Shepard Fairey. Scorrendo il libretto incluso, non faraonico ma essenziale (qualche foto in più l'avrei messa) si può notare anche quanto gli Heartbreakers abbiano apportato pochissimi cambiamenti nella line up dal 1980, anno da cui vengono prese le canzoni più vecchie, al 2007. Le uniche degne di nota, il cambiamento del batterista storico Stan Lynch sostituito da Steve Ferrone e il cambiamento del bassista avvenuto nel 1982, quando Howie Epstein sostituì Ron Blair. Ma si sa, il sodalizio di Petty con alcuni di questi musicisti va ricercato addirittura nella storica formazione dei Mudcrutch, che solamente due anni fa fece uscire l'album che sarebbe dovuto uscire nei lontani primi anni settanta.
Accanto ai più grandi successi di Petty, "Refugee", "American Girl", "Even the losers", "Learning to fly", "Mary Jane's last dance", tanto per citare qualche titolo, compaiono delle chicche che faranno dei vostri soldi, un buon investimento in buona musica, sottolineando anche il buon prezzo del tutto (io l'ho trovato a 25 euro) .Capita così di trovarsi di fronte ad una "Friend of the devil" dei Grateful Dead, registrata al Fillmore di San Francisco nel 1997 o ad una recente riproposizione di "Mystic Eyes" di Van Morrison del 2006, alla sempre divertente "Green onions" di Booker T, o ad una "Good good lovin'" di James Browne, ad "Oh Well" dei Fleetwood Mac targati Peter Green e altre ancora che con sorpresa usciranno fuori dalle vostre casse.
Un lavoro esauriente che certamente rende giustizia ad un autore ed ad una band che in sede live hanno costruito la loro storia. Come dimenticare quando il signor Dylan li scelse per accompagnarlo in alcuni tour di metà anni ottanta. Come scrive Petty nell'introduzione all'opera, questo vuole anche essere un lavoro di memoria, per ricordare i bei tempi, i luoghi e le persone incontrate nei diversi tour.
Per noi ascoltatori rimangono una cinquantina di canzoni da ascoltare ricordando un rocker che da anni lavora per entrare nella ristretta cerchia dei migliori autori americani degli ultimi 30 anni. Sicuramente un'operazione del genere sarà preludio, lo spero, per una nuova rinascita artistica di Petty e forse per portare live in tutto il mondo il suo repertorio, sperando tocchi finalmente anche l'Italia. Ultima annotazione per chi ha più soldi da spendere, a breve usciranno altre versione di questo box con cd, dvd e gadgets aggiuntivi ma credo proprio che il prezzo non sarà più tanto popolare... da avere assolutamente!!
Elenco tracce testi samples e video
03 Even The Losers (03:40)
Well, it was nearly summer we sat on your roof
Yeah, we smoked cigarettes and we stared at the moon
And I showed you stars you never could see
Babe, it couldn't have been that easy to forget about me
Baby, time meant nothing anything seemed real
Yeah, you could kiss like fire and you made me feel
Like every word you said was meant to be
It couldn't have been that easy to forget about me
Chorus:
Baby, even the losers
Get lucky sometimes
Even the losers
Keep a little bit of pride
They get lucky sometimes
Two cars parked on the overpass
Rocks hit the water like broken glass
I should 'a known right then it was too good to last
God, it's such a drag when you live in the past
Chorus
05 A Thing About You (05:05)
I'm not much on mystery
Yeah, you gotta be careful
What you dream
I thought this might pass with time
Yeah, I thought I was satisfied
{Chorus}:
But oh baby let me tell you
I got a thing about you
Baby let me tell you
I got a thing about you
It don't matter what you say
It don't matter what you do
I, I, I got a thing about you
Somewhere deep in the
Middle of the night
Lovers hold each other tight
Whisper in their anxious ears
Words of love that disappear
{Chorus}
Baby, you own
Some strange control over me
Yeah, it's so wild
It hypnotizes me
Raise both hands
{Chorus}
09 Breakdown (07:55)
It's alright if you love me,
It's alright if you don't
I'm not afraid of you runnin' away honey,
I get the feeling you won't
Say there ain't no sense in pretending,
Your eyes give you away
Something inside you is feeling like I do,
We said all there is to say
Baby..
Chorus
Breakdown, go ahead and give it to me
Breakdown, take me through the night
Breakdown, I'm standin here can't you see,
Breakdown, it's alright,
It's alright, it's alright
Chorus
10 Something In The Air (03:50)
Call out the instigator
Because there's something in the air
We've got to get together sooner or later
Because the revolution's here
And you know it's right
And you know that it's right
We have got to get it together
We have got to get it together now
Run through the fields and houses
'Cause there's something in the air
We've got to get together sooner or later
Because the revolution's here
And you know it's right
And you know that it's right
We have got to get it together
We have got to get it together now
Call out the instigator
Because there's something in the air
We've got to get together sooner or later
Because the revolution's here
And you know it's right
And you know that it's right
We have got to get it together
We have got to get it together now
14 Refugee (06:05)
We got somethin' we both know it
We don't talk too much about it
Yeah it ain't no real big secret all the same
Somehow we get around it
Listen it don't really matter to me baby
You believe what you want to believe
You see you don't have to live like a refugee
(Don't have to live like a refugee)
Somewhere, somehow somebody
Must have kicked you around some
Tell me why you wanna lay there
And revel in your abandon
Honey it don't make no difference to me baby
Everybody's had to fight to be free
You see you don't have to live like a refugee
(Don't have to live like a refugee)
Now baby you don't have to live like a refugee
(Don't have to live like a refugee)
Baby we ain't the first
I'm sure a lot of other lover's been burned
Right now this seems real to you
But it's one of those things
You gotta feel to be true
Somewhere, somehow somebody
Must have kicked you around some
Who knows, maybe you were kidnapped
Tied up, taken away and held for ransom
Honey, it don't really matter to me
Everybody's had to fight to be free
You see you don't have to live like a refugee
(Don't have to live like a refugee)
Now baby you don't have to live like a refugee
(Don't have to live like a refugee)
Baby you don't have to live like a refugee
(Don't have to live like a refugee)
22 Learning To Fly (04:44)
Well I started out down a dirty road
Started out all alone
And the sun went down as I crossed the hill
And the town lit up, the world got still
I'm learning to fly, but I ain't got wings
Coming down is the hardest thing
Well the good ol' days may not return
And the rocks might melt and the sea may burn
I'm learning to fly, but I ain't got wings
Coming down is the hardest thing
Well some say life will beat you down
Break your heart, steal your crown
So I've started out, for God knows where
I guess I'll know when I get there
I'm learning to fly, around the clouds,
But what goes up must come down
I'm learning to fly, but I ain't got wings
Coming down is the hardest thing
23 Mary Jane's Last Dance (05:54)
She grew up in an Indiana town,
Had a good-lookin' mama who never was around.
But she grew up tall and she grew up right
With them Indiana boys on them Indiana nights.
Well, she moved down here at the age of eighteen.
She blew the boys away, was more than they'd seen.
I was introduced and we both started groovin'.
I said, "I dig you baby, but I got to keep movin' on.
Keep movin' on."
Last dance with Mary Jane, one more time to kill the pain.
I feel summer creepin' in and I'm tired of this town again.
Well, I don't know, but I've been told,
You never slow down, you never grow old.
I'm tired of screwin' up, tired of going down,
Tired of myself, tired of this town.
Oh, my, my. Oh, hell, yes.
Honey, put on that party dress.
Buy me a drink, sing me a song.
Take me as I come 'cause I can't stay long.
Last dance with Mary Jane, one more time to kill the pain.
I feel summer creepin' in and I'm tired of this town again.
There's pigeons down on Market Square.
She's standin' in her underwear,
Lookin' down from a hotel room.
Nightfall will be comin' soon.
Oh, my, my. Oh, hell, yes.
You got to put on that party dress.
It was too cold to cry when I woke up alone.
I hit my last number and walked to the road.
Last dance with Mary Jane, one more time to kill the pain.
I feel summer creepin' in and I'm tired of this town again.
25 Jammin' Me (04:32)
You got me in a corner
You got me against the wall
I got nowhere to go
I got nowhere to fall
Take back your insurance
Baby nothin's guaranteed
Take back your acid rain
Let your T.V. bleed
(Chorus)
You're jammin' me, you're jammin' me,
Quit jammin' me
Baby you can keep me painted in a corner
You can walk away, but it's not over
Take back your angry slander
Take back your pension plan
Take bakc your ups and downs of your life
In raisin-land
Take back Vanessa Redgrave
Take back Joe Piscopo
Take back Eddie Murphy
Give 'em all some place to go
(Chorus)
Take back your iranian torture
And the apple in young Steve's eye
Yeah take back your losing streak
Check your front wheel drive
Take back Pasadena
Take back El Salvador
Take back that country club
They're tryin' to build outside my door
31 Surrender (03:11)
Don't go crazy now
Take it easy
I just can't hold out forever
Don't you lie to me?
You said me you love
Don't say you dont remember
Cause you told me
Yeah you did
And I'm not gonna let you forget
Well I'm down on my knees
And I'm begging again
You tell me why you have to pretend
I know you want me, why don't you give in?
Surrender
Don't let me down
I just can't hang around
Feeling this way forever
On your balcony
You said you love me
Don't say you don't remember
Cause you told me
Yeah you did
And I'm not gonna let you forget
Well I'm down on my knees
And I'm begging again
You tell me why you have to pretend
I don't like it when you looking at him
Surrender
Surrender to me
Baby surrender, surrender
Surrender
Surrender to me
Baby surrender, surrender
32 Dreamville (03:54)
"Goin' down to Lillian's Music Store
To buy a black diamond string
Gonna wind it up on my guitar
Gonna make that silver sing
Like it was Dreamville
A long time ago
A million miles away
All the trees were green
In Dreamville
I keep wakin' up all by myself
With a Blue Jay in my brain
Flappin' his wings
Making me sing
It was just about to rain
Like it was Dreamville
Where I was born
Light-years from here
And the air smelled good
In Dreamville
Like it was Dreamville
A long time ago
Light-years from here
And the trees were green
In Dreamville
Ridin' with my momma
To Glen Springs Pool
Water was cold
My lips were blue
There was rock and roll
Across the dial
When I think of her
It makes me smile
Like it was Dreamville
A long time ago
A million miles away
All the trees were green
In Dreamville
In Dreamville
It was in Dreamville
A long time ago
Light-years from here
And the air smelled good
In Dreamville
In Dreamville"
33 Spike (07:40)
Look, we got another one
Just like the other ones
Another bad-ass
Another trouble-maker
I'm scared, ain't you boys scared
Oh, wonder if he's
Gonna show us what bad is
Boys, we got a man
With a dog collar on
You think we oughtta
Throw ol' Spike a bone
(Make me say...)
Aw, here's another misfit
Another Jimmy Dean
Bet he's got a motorbike
What do y'all think
Bet if we be good, we get a ride on it
If he ain't too mad about the future
Maybe we oughtta help him see
The future ain't what it used to be
Listen, hey Spike, what do you like
Hey Spike, what do you like
(Oh, I say...)
(Oh, I said...)
Aw hey Spike, what do you like
Hey Spike, you're scarin' my wife
Hey Spike, tell us 'bout life
Could you tell me 'bout life
I got me a dog collar too boy
Might make me safe
I say aw
I might say...
Might say...
35 American Girl (05:19)
Well, she was an American girl,
Raised on promises
She couldn't help thinking that
there was a little more to life
Somewhere else
After all it was a great big world
With lots of places to run to
And if she had to die
Tryin', she
Had one little promise she was gonna keep
Chorus:
Oh yeah, alright,
Take it easy, baby
Make it last all night
She was an American girl.
Well, it was kind of cold that night,
She stood alone on the balcony
Yeah, she could hear the cars roll by,
Out on four forty one like
Waves crashing on the beach,
And for one desperate moment there
He crept back in her memory
God, it's so painful when something that's so close
Is still so far out of reach
Chorus
38 Southern Accents (05:00)
There's a southern accent. where I
come from
The young'uns call it country
The yankees call it dumb
I got my own way of talkin'
But everything is done. with a
southern accent
Where I come from-
Now that drunk tank in Atlanta's
Just a motel room to me
Think I might go work Orlando
If them orange groves don't freeze
I got my own way of workin'
But everything is run. with a
southern accent
Where I come from-
For just a minute there I was
dreaming
For just a minute it were all so real
For just a minute she was standing
there. with me
There's a dream I keep having
Where my mama comes to me
And she kneels down over by the window
And says a prayer for me
I got my own way of prayin'
But everyone's begun
With a southern accent
Where I come from-
I got my own way of livin'
But everything gets done
With southern accent
Where I come from
45 The Waiting (04:14)
Oh baby don't it feel like heaven right now
Don't it feel like something from a dream
Yeah I've never known nothing quite like this
Don't it feel like tonight might never be again
Baby we know better than to try and pretend
No one coulda ever told me 'bout this
I said yeah yeah
Chorus
The waiting is the hardest part
Every day you see one more card
You take it on faith, you take it to the heart
The waiting is the hardest part
Well yeah I might have chased a couple women around
All it ever got me was down
Then there were those that made me feel good
But never as good as I'm feeling right now
Baby you're the only one that's ever known how
To make me wanna laugh like I wanna laugh now
I said yeah yeah
Chorus
The waiting is the hardest part
Every day you get one more yard
You take it on faith, you take it to the heart
The waiting is the hardest part
Oh don't let it kill you baby, don't let it get to you
Don't let it kill you baby, don't let it get to you
I'll be your bleedin' heart, I'll be your cryin' fool
Don't let this go too far
Don't let it get to you
yeah yeah
Chorus
The waiting is the hardest part
Every day you get one more yard
You take it on faith, you take it to the heart
The waiting is the hardest part
Yeah the waiting is the hardest part
Whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
It's the hardest part
oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
It's the hardest part
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