Senza cercare impietosi paralleli con le precedenti produzioni dei "nostri", "Libertad", recente fatica dei Velvet Revolver, si rivela un disco ineguale, asimmetrico, con alcuni spunti interessanti, dove la band suona sicura e compatta, e frangenti in cui si rifugia nel citazionismo più arido.
"Libertad" mette in luce alcuni pregi esecutivi ed altrettanti limiti compositivi, nobilitati da una produzione che ben valorizza l'impasto sonoro, seppur smussando gli spigoli rock del precedente "Contraband". La quasi totalità dei brani è imperniata sulla successione riff/strofa/ritornello, che a lungo andare ne atrofizza lo sviluppo; in questo contesto il buon Stradlin' era una mano santa: le sue composizioni, avevano come asso l'architettura della canzone: basti pensare all'intreccio dinamico dei riff in "Rocket queen" o "Nightrain" per comprendere la povertà strutturale di alcuni episodi dei Velvet revolver. Le influenze frammentarie di "Contraband", che suonavano come una rilettura dei Guns in chiave "Seattle", in "Libertad" si coagulano formando un humus sonoro fatto di suggestioni beatlesiane, intrecci esotici ed echi hard rock.
L'apertura del disco, affidata alla rovente "Let it roll", è Slash al 100%: una provocazione smaccata, il brano più Guns dell'intero lotto, che riesce ad accattivarsi l'ascoltatore prima di propinargli episodi di registro meno consueto: la cantilenante "She mine" è un suggestivo innesto di musica orientale dal sapore un po' Aerosmith ("Jaded" è dietro l'angolo...) su un canovaccio grunge, mentre"Get out the door", è la summa sonora delle inclinazioni dei singoli Velvet e degli elementi che conglobano: blues rovente, linee vocali accattivanti e produzione modernista, ma è un episodio a sé: lo sfortunato singolo "She builds quick machines", come la seguente "Just 16", vive di puro esercizio, con un'intelaiatura compositiva prevedibile. Con la seconda metà del disco ci si addentra nel cuore indigesto dell'album: "American man", punk pop del peggior tipo, che ammicca agli Offspring, "Spay", becero riciclaggio dei primi Snakepit, e "Mary mary", sanno di già sentito fin da prima di aprire la confezione. Notevole invece la reinterpretazione di "Can't get it out of my head" degli ELO, peccato serva una cover per elevare il livello dell'album. "Grave Dancers", che nell'incipit richiama "Fall to pieces", stupisce per l'andamento soffice: il ponte chitarristico, lontano da inefficaci bulimie tecniche, lascia che il brano si schiuda nella sua lirica bellezza... questi sono, per chi scrive, i Velvet Revolver, dei rocker dal cuore tenero, che si esprimono al meglio su registri delicati. Da ricordare "Don't drop that dime", gradevole divertissement che chiude l'album, nella quale Scott Weiland offre prova di duttilità vocale, giocando ad imitare Bob Dylan.
Nonostante alcune cadute di stile, "Libertad" è un lavoro caratterizzato da tante inclinazioni: tra le sorprese viene intessuto un contesto musicale accomodante per le facoltà vocali di Scott, che può così giocare con registri differenti; in questa prospettiva il finale di "Get out the door" e la vocalità cooneristica di "Last Fight" sono calzanti... Slash... Slash risulta fuori luogo, con suoni meno "pomp" ed iperprocessati che in "Contraband", ma a disagio in una cornice musicale che punta alla classifica piuttosto che alla genuinità sonora ... e qui si possono aprire mille spiragli sulle le "differenze di vedute musicali": alla vigilia dello split dei GNR, si parlava delle velleità moderniste di Axl, di brani influenzati da Pearl Jam, NIN e Queen, mentre Slash non gradiva tali virate sonore. Tre lustri più tardi ritroviamo Axl con 4/5 brani (che fatica, eh?) che si riaccostano alle sonorità di "Illusion", e Slash affiancato da un'icona del grunge, alle prese con sonorità alternative, cover degli Electric Light Orchestra e brani da tre minuti e mezzo... per questi motivi Slash pare inserito a forza: i soli non mancano, ma non sono quelli lirici e melodici cui ci aveva abituati. Credo che la remuneratività del progetto sia una buona risposta alla sua presenza nel gruppo.
In generale "Libertad" si rivela una spanna sopra "Contraband" in termini di eclettismo, ma diversi gradini sotto di esso quanto a ispirazione: eccezion fatta per "Last Fight", elegantemente manierista, manca un brano trainante, come lo era "Slither" nel predecessore. ...io di libertà creativa in "Libertad" ne trovo poca...
Elenco tracce testi e video
03 Get Out the Door (03:17)
Come on closer, won't you tell me what you got
Wait a minute girl, you're something that you're not
Big cities screaming, driving feathers to and fro
Brass in pocket, thought you hit it when you walked up to my door
I've been down this road so long
Seen miles and miles of freaks before
Get out the door
Get out the door!
Gonna kick you when I saw what you were packing
Gonna kick it out the door
Like Transformers girl, there's more than meets the eye
Another beer and then I might end up buyin'
The city screams, it's full of Angelos and Toms
Never underestimate the danger of Sunset Boulevard
I've been down this road so long
Seen miles and miles of freaks before
Get out the door
Get out the door!
Gonna kick you when I saw what you were packing
Gonna kick it out the door
Get out the door
Gonna kick you when I saw what you were packing
Gonna kick it out the door
I've been down this road so long,
Seen miles and miles of freaks before
Think I stop and think I strong
But never could I be so wrong
So wrong
05 The Last Fight (04:05)
Time feels like I’ve been back in jail
Like when I was doin' time or even killed
Spend all night on a bended knee
Just to beg for something to believe
Left home with a pack of clothes
Without a family tree
This fight could be the last fight
No giving, no winning
One time could be the all the time
Should we decide to end the misery
Time heals all of the burned out bridges
Filled with nothing more than misery
I wear the mask of the embattled son
Trying to beg for something to believe
I left home with a pack of clothes
Without a family tree
This fight could be the last fight
No giving, no winning
One time could be the all the time
Should we decide to end the misery
Break the chains of featherweights and giants
With disdain for everlasting liars
They'll refrain when we spit out the fire
And start living, living, living my friend
(Who will answer my prayers?)
This fight could be the last fight
No giving, no winning
One time could be the all the time
Should we decide to end the misery
This fight could be the last fight
No giving, no winning
One time could be the all the time
Should we decide to end the misery
06 Pills, Demons & Etc. (02:56)
You, you got skills you got the pills
You're getting older
You got the weight of all that's left you on your shoulder
But the world still waits for you
Though you stare right through me
You got your demons and your ways of life
You could pull the trigger and
You'd end the strike
I got the news you had the blues you bought a ticket
To the one place that I won't be going to visit
What the f**k were you thinking of
Now I stare right through you
You got your demons and your ways of life
You could pull the trigger and
You'd end the strike you got your demons and you got your fancy wine
It would go down easy if you'd
Spend the night
You got your demons and your ways of life
You could pull the trigger and
You'd end the strike
You got your demons and you got your fancy wine
It would go down easy if you'd
Spend the night
08 Mary Mary (04:36)
Got a feelin' feelin' in your eyes
Got a fever, fever, fever in your thighs
In your thighs
Mary, Mary, Mary by my side
Got time and love the kind you cannot buy
Cannot buy
Black boots strong legs got style
My baby knows the walk you see her come for miles
Come for Miles
Want to find out what you're saying
Want to play the games you're playing
Mary, Mary, on my mind (Get back sugar baby)
Mary, Mary, on my mind (Get back sugar baby)
Mary, Mary, on my mind
Modern lover, modern kind
When we close the door we're never out of time
Out of time
Black hair, red lips, brown eyes
Can't tell you how it feels that you're mine, o mine
Mine o' mine
Want to find out what you're saying
Want to play the games you're playing
Mary, Mary, on my mind (Get back sugar baby)
Mary, Mary, on my mind (Get back sugar baby)
Mary, Mary, on my mind
Baby, baby, baby's on my mind
When we close the door we're never out of time
Out of time
Want to play the games you're playing
Mary, Mary, on my mind (Get back sugar baby)
Mary, Mary, on my mind (Get back sugar baby)
Mary, Mary, on my mind
Come on out
Get on out
09 Just Sixteen (04:01)
At school the teacher saw
The talent in your eye
So pleased to meet you
So young, so pretty, so unsatisfied
Underneath the bleachers sat
The kid and Mrs. Jones
He's her favorite secret
Duly disconcerted lovers 101
We ain't go nothin' to hide, hide
We ain't go nothin' to hide, hide, hide
We ain't go nothin' to hide, hide
We ain't go nothin', nothin', nothin' to hide
Oh you say it's wrong, you say what you do, you do, you do
Oh you say we're wrong, you say what we do, we do, we do
Oh you say it's wrong, you say what you do, you do, you do
Oh you say we're wrong, you say what we do, we do, we do wrong
We do wrong, you do wrong
Rolling in the street lights,
In his old man's ride
Head in his lap going, up and down
Up and down, oh no, cop lights
Standing in the courthouse
In front of God and every child
She said "Your Honor I plead to,
The crime of being satisfied."
We ain't go nothin' to hide, hide
We ain't go nothin' to hide, hide, hide
We ain't go nothin' to hide, hide
We ain't go nothin', nothin', nothin' to hide.
Oh you say it's wrong, you say what you do, you do, you do
Oh you say we're wrong, you say what we do, we do, we do
Oh you say it's wrong, you say what you do, you do, you do
Oh you say we're wrong you say what we do, we do, we do wrong
I'm kinda feeling in love
I'm kinda feeling in love
I'm kinda feeling in love
I'm kinda feeling in love
I'm kinda feeling in love
I'm kinda feeling in love
I'm kinda feeling in love
I'm kinda feeling in love
Oh you say it's wrong, you say what you do, you do, you do
Oh you say we're wrong, you say what we do, we do, we do
Oh you say it's wrong, you say what you do, you do, you do
Oh you say we're wrong, you say what we do, we do, we do wrong
We do wrong
We do wrong
We do wrong
We do wrong
We do wrong
We do wrong
We do wrong
We do wrong
11 For a Brother (03:29)
Can't rise from the bottom
Time flies when ya got it
Your time has receded
Wasted
Could and should have been
And didn't
I've given up my hand for a brother
Given up a hand for free
I've risen and forgiven and I've pardoned
But you set yourself free
Nose Dive
Crash to the bottom
Angel
Your wing was always broken
Fought for
Rights of the prophets
Not for
The spirit of your daughters
Didn't
I've given up my hand for a brother
Given up a hand for free
I've risen and forgiven and I've pardoned
But you set yourself free
Walk slowly
Seems like time stopped
Seems like I'm slow dancing
But I'm flying
Where do I go
The home I know is closed
I'm free
Free, yeah
I'm free
Free, yeah
Free, free, yeah
I've bitten off my hand for a brother
Given up a hand for a brother
I've risen and forgiven and I've pardoned
But you set yourself free
Bitten off my hand for the stuff, and
Livin' off the shit you steal
You perished for religious and forgotten
Daughters that you couldn't see
Given up my hand
(You set yourself free)
Given up my hand for free
Given up my hand
(You set yourself free)
But you set yourself free
12 Spay (03:09)
Wasted all a disgrace
Rearranged the pretty messes
Pray on your abandoned knee to fucked up pleasures
To the kids with king of rights
Underneath the night tonight
You would rather spite your face than change your life
Spay
Why won't you
Why won't you
Why won't you spay yourself
Blitzkrieg the bitches bald
May the trophy sell the gold
Pay the toll of sell your soul come on come all
When the bill is on collections
Peppers holes and ugly messes
The singer sings of diamond things and all excesses
Spay
Why won't you
Why won't you
Why won't you spay yourself
Spay
Why won't you
Why won't you
Why won't you spay yourself
There is a love that doesn't lease, through the night
Heed all your baggage, and consume all your life
Spay
Why won't you
Why won't you
Why won't you spay yourself
14 Gravedancer (04:02)
She’s all that I see
And all that I breathe
Take a breath and hold her in
As the shadows whispering
And I can hear the laughter
Knowing what they’re after
Watch the flies beside me
A man with broken wings
Take, take a look around
She’s a pretty good dancer
She dances on my grave
Everytime it goes down
Everytime she comes down
Everytime we fall down
She dances all over me
She has the world in my feet
The sun that gives see
Take a rest and hold her near
Or she’ll float away from here
Cause I’m knowing what you fearin’
an unsentimental jury
and for miles I guide you
I watch over everything
Take, take a look around
She’s a pretty good dancer
She dances on my grave
Everytime it goes down
Everytime she comes down
Everytime we fall down
She dances all over me
And everytime that we feel is
just another long wasted night
And the beds that we tear is
just another way for you to roll over me
And the bed that we’re sharing
is the hole that I wanna bring you
Want to feel you ooh
I don’t want to hear you
Take, take a look around
She’s a pretty good dancer
She dances on my grave
Everytime it goes down
Everytime she comes down
Everytime we fall down
She dances all over me
She dances all over me
She dances all over me
She’s a pretty good dancer
Take, take, take a look around
She’s a pretty good dancer
Everytime she comes down
------------------------------
"Don't Drop That Dime" (hidden track)
As soon as I walk in the front door you're drunk on the wine
Youi're the craziest bitch I'll ever find
Like I said I'll walk in the front door
Sometimes she chased me out through the other door
Don't start that shit tonight
The police and that kind
And when I lay there and I dream
It's all their faces that I see
Don't drop that dime
Don't drop that dime
Sweet Caroline oh mine don't drop that dime on me tonight
It all begin with that old sinking feeling
Then we start drinking rye
I could smell the crazy coming out in that hard rain tonight
Like I said I'll walk through the front door
Another woman she was parked at the back door
I'll get busted, yeah I'll probably get busted once or twice before yeah
And when I lay there and I dream
It's all there faces that I see
Don't drop that dime
Don't drop that dime
Sweet Caroline oh mine don't drop that dime on me tonight
Oh the pain so sweet
Oh the game so mean
I caught your lie
I drove all night
You cherish whispers while I sleep
Don't drop that dime
Don't drop that dime
Sweet girl oh mine don't draw that gun on me tonight
Don't drop that dime
Don't drop that dime
Don't shoot that gun oh mine don't shoot that gun at me tonight
Don't drop that dime
Don't drop that dime
Don't shoot that gun oh mine don't shoot that gun at me tonight
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Altre recensioni
Di tedsilver
La voce di Scott sembra essere migliorata in modo notevole, la chitarra solista del MITICO SLASH ci regala le emozioni di sempre.
"The Last Fight" è una semiballad con uno Scott dalla voce sensualissima e dolcissima.
