• Voto:
Nel 1991 Jay Farrar e Jeff Tweedy non avevano ancora imparato a vestirsi alla moda, o a posare come si deve nelle foto promozionali, insomma a stare al mondo seguendo il vento che tirava invece forte in altre direzioni. C'erano in giro torme di ragazzi-quasi-adulti che avevano abbracciato in pieno la loro sadness mentre qualcun altro aveva provveduto a trasfigurarla in coolness, ma questa storia l'abbiamo raccontata tante volte, e non mi sembra il caso di ripeterla qui. Quello che conta sono le facce sfatte, quegli sguardi spaesati e quei vestiti lisi (non per moda, ma per necessità) che non puoi fare a meno di notare quando ti capita una loro foto d'epoca sotto gli occhi. Erano fuori dal tempo, sbucati da chissà dove. Ma le loro espressioni sbagliate nel momento sbagliato non denotavano poca consapevolezza di dove fossero o di quello che stavano facendo, tutt'altro, c'era nei loro occhi una totale devozione verso la vita che avevano scelto e la musica che inevitabile ne sarebbe seguita. D'altronde, quando ti scegli dei santini tanto precisi quanto assolutamente inutili in quell'America, sai già da che parte della strada proseguirai il tuo cammino.
Naturale quindi che anche il loro secondo disco fosse un peregrinare solitario incurante di quanto succedeva intorno. Gli Uncle Tupelo avevano sviluppato uno stile peculiare fin dall'esordio: c'è chi ne ha scritto come "Gram Parsons-meets-Minutemen", e se siete quei tipi che hanno bisogno di pochi punti di riferimento per inquadrare un gruppo, beh eccovi serviti. Qualche dubbio ancora? La sferzante, incazzata D.Boon, personale dichiarazione d'amore tutta stop and go e chitarre acide, presente su questo disco, dovrebbe convincere anche i più scettici. E poi, chi altro avrebbe intitolato una canzone a un chitarrista sconosciuto morto sette anni prima in un furgone scassato nel deserto dell'Arizona?
Ma si sa, Jay e Jeff erano dei tipi onesti, e soprattutto erano grandi amici, praticamente fratelli. Cresciuti insieme nella Belleville degli anni 70, con il solo desiderio di fuggire via. Possiamo sentirli qui, come mai prima e già per l'ultima volta, incrociare vite, chitarre e voci dentro canzoni che sono momenti di confessione spirituale per lavare l'anima, con la voce che viene su graffiando e sembra non bastare mai per dire quello che si ha da dire. Nei loro momenti migliori, quando la catarsi tra studio e palcoscenico raggiungeva l'apice, questi tre ragazzi (c'era anche Mike Heidorn) riuscivano a sublimare quella sorta di esercizio country, ciò che poteva sembrare a prima vista la loro musica - per quanto intarsiata dall'inquieta elettricità che animava le loro vite - attraverso l'immersione totale nei sentimenti più puri che solo un ragazzo di 20, 25 anni può conoscere, oggi come allora. True to life, davvero: a posteriori è facile capire perché quella magnifica avventura non sarebbe potuta continuare a lungo.
Eppure, in questo album il senso delle dinamiche, quell'alternarsi di piano e forte così difficile da padroneggiare, frutto di ore in sala prove e ancora di più a trangugiare birre da due soldi su palchi malfamati, beh questa compattezza (se parlassimo di un combo jazz la definiremmo interplay) è presente più che mai. Ne è manifesto l'attacco fulminante di Gun, ma anche un pezzo come Fall Down Easy, vertice emozionale del disco, ballata elettrica prima, dolci mandolini e banjo poi, catastrofe tonante nel finale - la batteria di Mike Heidorn mai così potente, mai così disperata, quasi presagisse la fine che stava per arrivare. La dicotomia è comunque già ben evidente, Jay veste i panni del leader e riesce a dare un volto a quel malessere generazionale che stava soffocando la X Generation appena nata eppure già vecchia, e lo fa però illuminandone il suo lato meno eroico: storie di solitudine e fuga, o magari di compagnie che sono le solite, alcol e cocaina, raccontate con protagonisti che spesso giovani non sono e non lo sono mai stati. Solo lui avrebbe potuto cantare "che cosa ha fatto per te in cinquant'anni questa vita in questa città", con quella voce che più che a un 26enne diresti appartenere a un vecchio folksinger di almeno 30 anni di vita in più. Jeff invece canta di dolori e inquietudini personali che a volte sfiorano il solipsistico ("questa non è scritta per nessuno in particolare, riguarda me", ringhia in D.Boon), ma quando riesce ad elevarli a riflessione universale, come in If That's Alright - che fa il paio con l'ugualmente dolcissima Still Be Around del fratellone - ecco che abbiamo gli Uncle Tupelo attraversati da quel fluido mistico che univa le esistenze di Gene Clark, Gram Parsons e Johnny Cash. Certo l'obliquo equilibrismo di Tweedy alla lunga sfigura con la presenza schiacciante di Farrar, anche se qui l'opener dell'album è sua, ma nel complesso erano in pochi quelli che all'epoca sarebbero riusciti a prevedere l'oblio in cui è caduto oggi Jay e il successo - commerciale, di critiche - che negli anni giustamente ha raggiunto Jeff. Per dire, nella pagina Wiki di Belleville, al primo posto tra le "notable people" trovate Jeff Tweedy, non certo Jay Farrar. Ovvio.
A metà disco, altre due chicche: Punch Drunk, un trio assatanato che assorbe completamente la lezione dei Minutemen e anticipa di qualche anno il mathrock suonando sopra nella polvere di un vagone ferroviario in mezzo al deserto dell'Arizona, e l'impetuosa Postcard, riscrittura di Graveyard Shift che si snoda tra hard rock d'assalto, chitarre rubate a una session di "Zuma" e celestiali armonie à-la Flying Burrito Brothers.
Al disco partecipa anche Gary Louris dei Jayhawks in un paio di brani, altro vecchio amico della band. E nelle bonus dell'edizione 2003 spunta, un po' a sorpresa, la cover di I Wanna Destroy You dei Soft Boys: l'unicità degli Uncle Tupelo non risiedeva evidentemente solo in quella originalissima miscela di country modificato, ma in fin dei conti tutto torna.
Non l'album migliore, per quello rivolgetevi al minimalismo acustico di "March 16-20,1992" o all'epicità rurale di "Anodyne"; sicuramente il più importante per questo misconosciuto quanto leggendario trio.
«And the bar clock says three a.m
Fallout shelter sign above the door
In other words, don't come here anymore»
Elenco tracce e testi
01 Gun (03:40)
falling out the window
tripping on a wrinkle in the rugfalling out of love, dear
it hurt much worse when you gave up
just don't tell me which way I oughta run
or what good I could do anyone
'cause my heart it was a gun
but it's unloaded now
so don't bother
climbing up the ladder
breaking my shin on the very first rung
waking up the neighbors
it's all right,they understand they're just as dumb
and they don't tell me which way I oughta run
or what good I could do anyone
'cause my heart it was a gun
but it's unloaded now
so don't bother me now
don't bother
crawling back to you now
I sold my guitar to the girl next door
she asked me if I knew how
I told her I don't think so anymore
don't tell me which way I oughta run
what good could I do anyone
'cause my heart it was a gun
but it's unloaded now
so don't bother
02 Looking for a Way Out (03:40)
when you find you can't somehow
make it like all the rest
you won't need to scrounge aroundfor someone else
torn between the unknown
and the place that you call home
and the life you want but have never known
there was a time
you could put it out of your mind
leave it all behind
there was a time
that time is gone
what has a life of fifty years
in this town done for you
except to earn your nameand place on a barstool
you spent your whole life in this county
you've never been out of state
you say you're gonna make it outbefore it's too late
there was a time
you could put it out of your mind
leave it all behind
there was a time
that time is gone
there was a time when nothing seemedto make much sensethat's turned more intense
and all the crutches you've kept around
now are nowhere to be found
remember when you didn't have
to look ahead or behind you
there was always something right there to do
but now it's life in some kind of traplooking for a way out
well, you keep moving onthat's what it's all about
there was a time
you could put it out of your mind
leave it all behind
there was a time
that time is gone
04 Nothing (02:16)
been traveling around some
crossing people's paths
some they stand right in your way
others like to watch you pass
been trying to memorize
all the different lies
that people must tell themselves each nightto justify their lives
don't call it nothing
this might be all we'll ever have
held myself for ransom
wandered so blind
I found the roads less traveled
to take you off my mind
and I told myself I know
everything I do
I'm just looking for something
to lead me away from you
don't call it nothing
this might be all you'll ever have
I know it's not enough
to make it sound like more
so I swear if there's a God
to make him sleep on the floor
been traveling around some
crossing people's paths
some they stand right in your way
others like to watch you pass
don't call it nothing
this might be all we'll ever have
I'll ever haveever have
05 Still Be Around (02:44)
I don't see you through the windshield
I don't see you in faces looking back at mealcohol doesn't have much that matters to saycan't imagine where you and time to kill will stay
when the bible is a bottle
and the hardwood floor is home
when morning comes twice a day or not at allif I break in two will you put me back together
when this puzzle's figured out will you still be around
to say you've just been there
walking the line upside down
walked and breathed many a cancerous mile
where the bat of an eye is too slow to beat the coffin
they won't tell it on the TV
they can't say it on the radio
they pay to move it off the shelf and into our mindsuntil you can't tell the truth
when it's right in front of your eyes
when the bible is a bottle
and the hardwood floor is home
when morning comes twice a day or not at all
if I break in two will you put me back together
when this puzzle's figured out will you still be around
to say you've just been there
walking the line upside down
06 Watch Me Fall (02:12)
some folks find that their role in lifeis to fail at everything they trywhile other folks see but not like me
there's one thing that they're damn good at
gather around you all
come around and see
those who stand tall
why don't you please watch me fall
the hole it is wide and it's there to divideit's no one's fault,
it's put there by designand there's a bridge yet to build as many men have willedthat can stand the weight of all those who wish to pass
gather around you all
come around and see
those who stand tall
why don't you please watch me fall
08 Postcard (03:38)
lost sight of ground
never been so down
nothing here to stand on
it's a war-weary road
another faceless tombstone
nothing here to stand on
I turn to face the wind
may never get out
forever caught in a spin
no better place to begin
can't find the phone, can't hear to listencan't take along what we're missing
just as well to write this postcard from helland the bar clock says three a.m.
fallout shelter sign above the door
in other words, don't come here anymore
too many miles between
I heard a dead man scream
nothing here to stand on
each and every step
reeling out more or less
nothing here to stand on
I turn to face the wind
may never get out
forever caught in a spin
no better place to begin
I turn to face the wind
may never get out
forever caught in a spin
no better place to begin
tried to stay, tried to run
there's never been enough reason
to believe in anyone
this trickle-down theoryhas left all these pockets emptyand the bar clock says three a.m.
fallout shelter sign above the door
in other words, don't come here anymore
09 D. Boon (02:32)
do you remember, remember D. Boon
part of what he was is a part of me nowand if you think back, where would he be
where would I be if time had allowed
this isn't written for any one manit's about me
this isn't written for anyone alivejust the songs that he sang
I've been toldthat it's a waste of time
well, so what
will it be worth mine
and if Managua's bullets don't flyyoung men still would die for glory
or for their countries
it's just me and Jay
playing our guitars along with it all
this isn't written for any one manit's about me
this isn't written for anyone alivejust the songs that he sang
and I'm not old
so I've got nothing but time to wastewill it be worth mine
10 True to Life (02:22)
I can only sing it loud
always try to sing it clear
what the hell are we all doing here
making too much of nothing
or creating one unholy mess
an unfair study in survival, I guess
but it always comes down to
what to do when it's all around you
and this tightwire act
leaving us here for dead to news of the world
and liquor piles up ahead
dodging those with words of power
forever on their breath
when the quality of life gets tripped upstrangled like death
it seems it's getting harder out thereespecially without time enough to see
true to life is another hangover
true to life is more and more politics
true to life is always having to look over your shouldertrue to life is assembly-line sickness
but it always comes down to
what to do when it's all around you
and this tightwire actleaving us here for dead to news of the world
and liquor piles up ahead
dodging those with words of power
forever on their breath
when the quality of life gets tripped upand strangled like death
it seems it's getting harder out thereespecially without time enough to see
11 Cold Shoulder (03:15)
doesn't matter what you've said
or what you've done
when you've lost your head
you're looking for a new one
your heaven looks just like my hellbeautiful as far as I can tell
your heaven looks just like my hell
just as I drown
then you say it's real
so I hold myself down
'cause I like the way it feels
your heaven looks just like my hellbeautiful as far as I can tell
your heaven looks just like my hell
how could I have ever needed
such a cold heart to count on
and how could I have ever wanted
such a cold shoulder to cry on
12 Discarded (02:42)
these lines don't work on me
they won't on you
didn't knew the cards were on the table
just can't stand to see things turn out wrongno way to make things right
never promise anything anymore
so god damn hard to make it work
no easy way out of this one
always someone or something
to get lost in the shuffle
at least this road leads straight out of here
adversity is stable
and life in front of you
discarded, recycled and new
just can't stand to see things turn out wrongno way to make things right
never promise anything anymore
so god damn hard to make it work
no easy way out of this one
always someone or something
to get lost in the shuffle
at least this road leads straight out of here
just can't stand to see things turn out wrongno way to make things right
never promise anything anymore
someone or something to get lost in the shuffleat least this road leads straight out of here
too late to go back
sorry needs to be said
but there's really nothing now to do
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