octopus92
“L’album le plus bancal de Steve !
Enregistré en 1984 avec des musiciens brésiliens (mais contrairement à ce qui est dit dans les notes de pochettes, d’autres musiciens européens ont enregistré avant lui dans ce pays…), il souffre d’un défaut terrible : un chant éxécrable assuré par Steve (évident sur l’insupportable “Myopia”)
Eclectique à l’extrême, on trouvera des ambiances rythmées (“What’s my name” ou bien “The Rio connection” avec ses deux batteries), le premier morceau de blues écrit par Steve (“Let me count the ways”), d’autres plus feutrées (“Taking the easy way out”) et même un clin d’oeil aux dessins animés de Disney !
Pas inoubliable donc mais méritant le détour pour son approche originale.
La ré-édition remastérisée de Camino Records avec deux morceaux bonus enregistrés en 1986 sera à privilégier pour un éventuel achat.”
WhiteWinter
“Un album en demi-teinte… Ou pour être gentil, disons aux trois quarts.
La raison principale, c’est non pas encore l’absence de basse (sauf sur “The rio connection” et un ou deux autres titres), mais le chant de Steve. Plus criard que jamais, ce qui rend l’écoute de morceaux comme “What’s my name”, “Let me count the ways” et “Myopia” plutôt difficile… Du reste, cet album marque le retour à une certaine ouverture, notamment grâce au funk (“The rio connection”), aux percussions brésiliennes (“Mathilda Smith-Williams home for the aged”, “What’s my name”), voire même à un style plus électronique (sur “Duel”, avec Steve qui fait mumuse avec un E-bow). Les idées sont là, l’originalité aussi, mais il manque un tout petit quelque chose… La bonne humeur quant à elle ne manque pas, et l’histoire veut qu’il en était de même pendant l’enregistrement, les musiciens brésiliens n’ayant même pas voulu être payés !). Restent des petites, voire une ou deux grandes réussites, notamment “Taking the easy way out”, moment de douceur éthérée de l’album.
Comme l’a dit octopus92, la réédition chez Camino est à préférer pour ses deux excellents morceaux bonus, “Stadiums of the damned” et le très surprenant “The gulf”, morceau le plus “progressif” de cette période.
Reste une seule chose, c’est que je n’aime pas le “nouvel” ordre des chansons…”
Tracklist
Stone mirror mountain rises from a low stream
The scent of flowers like an ocean of weeds
I take a boat formed like a long handled sword
The Heavens are vast and the sea is broad
What’s my name…
We find the great cave of burning clouds
The water horses come flickering down
A gap in consciousness, a picture takes shape
I hear a thundering
A tidal wave breaks
What’s my name…
Maltilda Smith-Williams Home For The Aged
Bingo and Buggy rides
Wheelchairs and early night
Maltilda Smith-Williams Home For The Aged
And if you smuggle in
Another drop of gin
We’ll take your hearing aid
They never hear what you say
Maltilda Smith-Williams Home For The Aged
A second childhood
But only if you’re good
I hear Maltilda passed away
Her spirit’s still with us today
She watches over us
And those who make a fuss
You’ve never had it so good
They’d run away if they could
Let me count the ways I love you babe
You don’t know what you do
I’m a mess without your love baby blue
You were the only one I ever loved
You know I owe you every time
You were the first one to believe in me
And that’s before I had a dime
I’m a mess without your love baby blue
As I walk by along the waterfront
With all my clothes soaked wet through
Let me count the ways I love you babe
You don’t know what you do
I’m a mess without your love baby blue
An honourable man picks a slender orchid
And crushed it between his hands
The sacred knife of a Samurai
Serves up Sushi in a sandwich bar
A doll that’s made in Japan
Is made for every man
A doll that’s made in Japan
Is made for every man
Tigerlily with eyes of jade
Takes you to a carnival of toy balloons
See a kite floating by with the face of a Chinese mandarin
It’s such a different world it’s hard to remember
Which land you’re in
I seem to recall a milk white hand
Painted with blood red fingernails
A doll that’s made in Japan
Is made for every man
A doll that’s made in Japan
Is made for every man
A tiny girl with empty hands
Walks the streets of Tokyo
A doll that’s made in Japan
Is made for every man
A doll that’s made in Japan
Is made for every man
As you fly through a city of empty souls
You feel that the wind is whispering
There’s a ten ton truck
Coming down the road
No matter how fast I drive
No matter where I go
Don’t turn back
It keeps coming near
Don’t turn back
Don’t let it come near
Just when you think you’re safe
And you’re in control
You see an open road
Not another soul
Don’t turn back
It keeps coming near
Don’t turn back
It keeps coming near
Can’t stop shaking and your blood runs cold
Fuel injection that runs way too slow
Will this killer win and run you off the road
Don’t turn back
It keeps coming near
Don’t turn back
It keeps coming near
I can’t see, I can’t sleep
I can’t swim, I can’t talk
Can’t write, I can’t count
I can’t fly, can’t play today
Take your things and run away
Grab yourself a holiday
Fix your nose and change your name
Thyroid eyes they diagnose
Myopia…
A red light, stomach ache
Relax but don’t be late
It’s too loud I’ve disappeared
I can’t drink, I can’t tell the time
Epic hero Gilgamesh
Battling with a lioness
One man war against the odds
Spectacles that break because
Myopia…
I don’t think I can afford ya
You make me ugly anyhow
I think I see a car before me
Or maybe I’ve just hit a cow
I don’t think I can afford ya
You make me ugly anyhow
I think I see a car before me
Or maybe I’ve just hit a cow
Myopia…
Another night I’ve drunk my fill
Perhaps it’s time to dim the light
And while the hours the sandman comes
Stumbling round like a bowery bum
Maybe I’ll dream an Egyptian scene
Taking the easy way out
Taking the easy way out again
Maybe we’ll meet in paradise
Where far beyond the shores of trust
A boat on sea can travel the land
We set sail for a castle of sand
The desert wind
Can darken your skin
Taking the easy way out
Taking the easy way out again
Taking the easy way out
I’m taking the easy way out again
Oh it’s so hard
To be up before dawn
You know it’s so hard
To be up before dawn
A few seconds’ breath
A last cigarette
Execution fever
In a war torn land
Maybe it’s the will of the Lord
Or the mind of a man
There’s been heavy fighting
In the Gulf of Iran
Pour away your whiskey
Or meet the kiss of the lash
Cover up your women
Like it says in the Koran
Well maybe it’s the will of the Lord
Or the mind of a man
Maybe it’s the will of the Lord
Or the mind of a man
Maybe it’s the will of the Lord
Or the mind of a man
Football Saturday
And our team has won
Looking for a fight
Now the game has just begun
All around our favoured nation
Some beat to a different drum
Carry kives and carry grudges
Drawing blood just for fun
If you stare at me
You will pay the price
Like the master race
We believe that might is right
It’s war from the way I see it
Starting with the place you’re born
Somewhere there’s a light in the distance
Run for cover and keep me warm
Someday soon I’ll taste sweet freedom
With a woman like you
I know that I can change
With a woman like you
I know that I can change
Kick to the left
And you kick to the right
Run round the bend
Till you’re clean out of sight
From gaol it’s hard a climb upwards
There were others worse than me
I dreamt that an angel told me
Only love can set you free
Someday soon I’ll taste sweet freedom
With a woman like you
I know that I can change
With a woman like you
I know that I can change
With a woman like you
I know that I can change
With a woman like you
I know that I can change
(instrumental)
Infos générales
Sorti en 1984
Steve Hackett : chant, guitares, koto, marimba, percussions, harmonica
Nick Magnus : claviers
Kim Poor : choeurs (5)
Ian Mosley : batterie
Rui Motta : batterie
Serginho (Roupa) Nova : batterie
Waldemar Falcao : percussions, flûte
Clive Stevens : synthétiseur à vent
Ronaldo Diamante : basse
Fernando Moura : Rhodes
Les percussionistes brésiliens (Sidinho Moreira, Jaburu, Junior, Peninha, Aiainho, Baca)
Produit par Steve Hackett