Un urlo straziante, profondo, disperato si leva dagli androni funesti del music-biz: Whitney Houston, neanche alle soglie dei 49 anni, scompare in una stanza d'albergo di Beverly Hills. Sola, disperata, intossicata da troppe sostanze "materiali" e da un altrettanto greve macigno morale che da più di un decennio tormentava una delle più sopraffine voci del pop. Lasciando a social networks e media audiovisivi generali i soliti pedanti rituali che normalmente vengono proposti alla massa commossa e in lacrime, un mix di loto, oppio mediatico ipocrita e fasullo sciorinato con programmazioni tv dedicate al neo-defunto/a (perdonatemi l'espressione) ed altre tecniche di sciacallaggio speculatorio post-mortem, intendo dedicare ad una altra stella che se ne va una semplice recensione, non proprio un epitaffio letterario, lungo,pedante e didascalico.
Con la morte della Houston viene ulteriormente ridotto il relitto, seppur ancora rifulgente, dei mitici eighties: odiati al fulmicotone o amati alla follia, terribilmente contrastanti o maledettamente anonimi, ricchi di idee oppure poveri di inventiva, il decennio degli Ottanta ha pur sempre rappresentato (e continua a rappresentare) un notevole bagaglio di suoni, colori e umori. All'interno di un contesto mainstream ancora acerbo, se paragonato al carrozzone di marketing odierno, fra i passi di Moonwalk di Michael Jackson e gli scandaletti ancora "innocenti" di Madonna, si affermava repentinamente Whitney e la sua piacevole dialettica musicale fra romantiche ballad strappalacrime e canzoncine funky-danzerecce, tutto ascritto in un background perfettamente 80s. E il secondo lavoro in studio, battezzato semplicemente Whitney, elevava all'unisono questa ubriacatura "ottantesca" di cuori infranti e scarpette da pista da ballo.
Lontana dall'irreversibile crisi di fine millennio, poco più che giovincella appena uscita dal tipico concerto gospel natalizio, la Houston andava a smorzare gli antipodi dei suoi colleghi più affermati, proponendo un'immagine eterea e verginea, moderata e rilassata (forse un po' troppo, a dire la verità), concretizzata audiovisivamente nello spirito pop più genuino, scevro di eccessi, esagerazioni, stravaganze simil-MTV. Ed ecco, dunque, il simpaticissimo teatrino funky-dance della celeberrima I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me), la nostalgica spensieratezza quasi adolescenziale di Love Will Save The Day, il ballabile connubio pop-rock di So Emotional, l'atmosfera doo-wop da cabaret in Love Is A Contact Sport. Ma anche l'ascendente pathos da colonna sonora di Didin't We Almost Have It All, la soffice leggerezza di Where You Are, l'innocenza (smarrita) in Where Do Broken Hearts Go, il soul lento e denso di Just The Lonely Talking Again. Brani squisitamente pop, confezionati per essere assorbiti da un potenziale gruppone di fans sfegatati, senza troppe pretese di profondità musicale e/o letteraria, tuttavia semplici, puri, genuini, "fatti bene", ottimi nel loro (spesso inflazionato) genere.
Cosa resterà di questi anni '80, cantava un noto personaggino nostrano, probabilmente intristito per la fine del suo decennio preferito. A venti/trent'anni di distanza da quegli anni, rimane troppo e troppo poco. Permane (anzi, risorge) lo spirito frivolo e disincantato delle charts dell'epoca, di lustrini e colori sgargianti, la disco revival, gli artisti odierni che si cibano (e fanno indigestione) del mood 80s, spesso stravolgendolo e ibridandolo con le aberrazioni dei Duemila e post-Duemila. Ma se ne vanno i veri protagonisti, improvvisamente maestri di stile e musica, inadatti a superare il gap fra ieri e oggi, sperduti in un remoto di fasti che si pensa inutilmente di poter recuperare, far rinascere a mo' di Araba Fenice, impacchettare in una flebo di idee utili ad un contesto mainstream autoreferenziale, arido e vuoto.
Requiem.
Whitney Houston, Whitney
I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me) - Just The Lonely Talking Again - Love Will Save The Day - Didn't We Almost Have It All - So Emotional - Where You Are - Love Is A Contact Sport - You're Still My Man - For The Love Of You - Where Do Broken Hearts Go - I Know Him So Well
Elenco tracce testi e video
02 Just the Lonely Talking Again (05:34)
It's the second time around
For you and I, boy
And believe me it's confusing me...
I'm afraid to say let's make up; and all's forgiven
But somethin' tells me I'm headed for heartbreak....
So darlin', please, I'm prayin' that
This time it will be different
That you and I can share this dream that I visualize...
(Chorus)
Tell me are you really ready for love, boy
Or is it just the lonely talking again
Are you really ready for love, boy
Or is it the lonely talking again.....
Now, the time before
When we got together
You promised you'd be forever true to me
But all I got from you
Was lots and lots of talking.....
Lonely nights filled with misery
So baby, please, please tell me now
That when I fulfill your needs
You won't up and leave me,
Even though you know I'll let you come back....
Tell me
chorus
04 Didn't We Almost Have It All (05:07)
Remember when we held on in the rain
The nights we almost lost it once again
We can take the night into tomorrow
Living on feelings
Touching you I feel it all again
Didn't we almost have it all
When love was all we had worth giving
The ride with you was worth the fall my friend
Loving you makes life worth living
Didn't we almost have it all
The nights we held on till the morning
You know you'll never love that way again
Didn't we almost have it all
The way you used to touch me felt so fine
We kept our hearts together down the line
A moment in the soul can last forever
Comfort and keep us
Help me bring the feeling back again
Didn't we almost have it all
When love was all we had worth giving
The ride with you was worth the fall my friend
Loving you makes life worth living
Didn't we almost have it all
The nights we held on till the morning
You know you'll never love that way again
Didn't we almost have it all
Didn't we have the best of times
When love was young and new
Couldn't we reach inside and find
The world of me and you
We'll never lose it again
Cause once you know what love is
You'll never let it end
Didn't we almost have it all
When love was all we had worth giving
The ride with you was worth the fall my friend
Loving you makes life worth living
Didn't we almost have it all
The nights we held on till the morning
You know you'll never love that way again
Didn't we almost have it all
Didn't we almost have it all
05 So Emotional (04:37)
I don't know why I like it
I just do
I've been hearing your heartbeat inside of me
I keep your photograph beside my bed
Livin' in a world of fantasies
I can't get you out of my head uh
I've been waiting for the phone to ring all night
Why you wanna make me feel so good
I got a love of my own babe
I shouldn't get so hung up on you
I remember the way that we touch
I wish I didn't like it so much uh
Chorus:
I get so emotional baby
Everytime I think of you
I get so emotional baby
Ain't it shocking what love can do
Ain't it shocking what love can do
Ain't it shocking what love can do
I gotta watch you walk in the room baby
I gotta watch you walk out
I like the animal way you move
And when you talk I just watch your mouth
I remember the way that we touch
I wish I didn't like it so much no
Chorus:
I get so emotional baby
Everytime I think of you
I get so emotional baby
Ain't it shocking what love can do
I get so emotional baby
Everytime I think of you
I get so emotional baby
Ain't it shocking what love can do
Ain't it shocking what love can do
Ain't it shocking what love can do
See I remember the way that we touch
I wish I didn't like it so much no no no
Chorus:
I get so emotional baby
Everytime I think of you
I get so emotional baby
Ain't it shocking what love can do
I get so emotional baby
Everytime I think of you
I get so emotional baby
Ain't it shocking what love can do
I get so emotional oh baby
Shocking what love can do
Hey yeah baby baby baby
Baby baby
Oh Ain't it shocking what love can do
Yeah baby
Shocking what
10 Where Do Broken Hearts Go (04:38)
ooooh........
I know it's been sometime
I've had something on my mind
You see i haven't been the same
Since that cold November day
We said we needed space
But all we found was an empty place
And the only things i've learned
Is that i need you desperately
So here i am, and can you please tell me....ohh
Chorus:
Where do broken hearts go
Can they find their way home
Back to the open arms of a love that's waiting there
And if somebody loves you
Won't they always love you
I look in your eyes
And i know that you still care for me
oooooooooooh.......
I've been around enough to know
That dreams don't turn to gold
And that there is no easy way
No you just can't run away
And what we had was so much more
Than we ever had before
And no matter how i try
You're always on my mind
So here i am, and can you please tell me ohh
Chorus:
Where do broken hearts go
Can they find their way home
Back to the open arms
Of a love that's waiting there for me
Now that i am here with you
I'll never let you go
I look into your eyes
And now i know, now i know ohh
Chorus:
Where do broken hearts go
Can they find their way home
Back to the open arms of a love that's waiting there
And if somebody loves you
Won't they always love you
I look in your eyes
And i know that you still care
Where do broken hearts go
Can they find their way home
Back to the open arms of a love that's waiting there
And if somebody loves you
Won't they always love you
I look in your eyes
And i know that you still care for me
For me..........
You still care..........for me
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