1994	Sideshow Nothing's Free Lost In America Bad Place Alone You're My Temptation Stolen Prayer Unholy War Lullaby It's Me Cleansed By Fire

RECENSIONE A CURA DI ALDO MOSCATELLI

Il music business ha le sue leggi, si sa, e chi le infrange ne paga le conseguenze.
Il nostro amato Alice Cooper, che in più di un’occasione ha dovuto aggiornare il proprio stile alle tendenze musicali maggiormente in voga, nel 1994 pubblicò il suo album “controcorrente” per eccellenza: “The last temptation”. Un lavoro personalissimo, lontano anni luce dall’allora imperante grunge, qualitativamente eccelso e superiore tanto ai platinati “Hey stoopid” e “Trash”, tanto ai successivi, durissimi (più nella forma che nella sostanza) “Brutal planet” e “Dragontown”. Perché con “The last temptation” Alice ha davvero cantato quel che voleva, infischiandosene del successo altrui e di ciò che passavano in radio.
Eppure. Eppure l’ho già detto: il music business ha le sue leggi, ma non può impedire a un artista di infrangerle. E può capitare anche che un tale di nome Chris Cornell, ex cantante dei Soundgarden (gruppo storico della corrente grunge), decida di regalare un paio di brani a un terribile cinquantenne che potrebbe essere tranquillamente suo padre. E in questo caso non è Alice a piegarsi ai diktat imposti dal mercato discografico, ma Cornell, alfiere del nuovo rock, a tributare il padre dell’heavy metal e del rock iconoclasta in generale.
Detto questo, passiamo al track-by-track di “The last temptation”. Il trittico d’apertura è da infarto: “Sideshow”, con tanto di sezione fiati, ci catapulta direttamente negli anni Settanta, in virtù di un riffing classicissimo e di un ritornello dall’allegria contagiosa, che ti si stampa in mente al primo ascolto. “Nothing’s free” è oscura e pesante, e può contare su un testo meraviglioso e un altro chorus vincente. “Lost in America” è decisamente più adrenalinica, nonché ironica, con un’accelerazione vorticosa (e un accenno di The Star- Spangled Banner, inno degli USA) nel finale. Con le seguenti “Bad place alone” e “You’re my temptation” i ritmi rallentano, assumendo connotati quasi doom nella seconda canzone; la qualità c’è tutta, e anche un paio di bei ritornelli, ma siamo comunque un gradino sotto rispetto ai brani iniziali. A riportare l’album sui consueti livelli d’eccellenza ci pensa però “Stolen prayer”, una delle ballate più belle mai cantate (e non composte: questo merito va al già citato Chris Cornell) dal grande Alice. Il brano ha un crescendo emotivo incredibile, e culmina nel duetto (da pelle d’oca) tra Coop e il singer di Seattle; interessante il contrasto tra la voce di Alice – raramente così profonda – e le tonalità alte e rabbiose raggiunte da Cornell. Anche il brano successivo è un regalo dell’ex Soundgarden, ma “Unholy war” si attesta sui livelli (più che buoni, per carità) delle precedenti “Bad place alone” e “You’re my temptation”. La seguente “Lullaby” è un’altra canzone di caratura superiore, che parte come una ballata e s’indurisce vistosamente all’altezza del refrain, con un riffone di scuola Black Sabbath. Piacevole la seconda ballata dell’album, “It’s me”, che però soffre il confronto con la stratosferica “Stolen prayer”. La chiusura è affidata a “Cleansed by fire”, pezzo da novanta che musicalmente (ma anche concettualmente) si pone sulla scia della superba “Nothing’s free”; splendidi i controcanti, eterei ed inquietanti al punto giusto, e grande prestazione vocale di Alice.
Per concludere: “The last temptation” è un piccolo capolavoro all’interno della discografia cooperiana, nonché uno dei migliori album “alternativi” nella desolante scena musicale degli anni Novanta. È cantato e suonato divinamente (alle tastiere c’è Derek Sherinian, poi confluito nei prog-metallers Dream Theater, e alla chitarra l’ottimo Stef Burns, che – per dirla con le parole di Alice – “poi finirà a suonare canzonette in Italia col gruppo di Vasco Rossi”). Attraverso le liriche si dipana un concept meraviglioso, del quale non svelo nulla per non rovinare la sorpresa a chi non ha ancora avuto modo di ascoltare l’album. Infine, il booklet interno è stato disegnato dal grande Neil Gaiman, ben più di un semplice “fumettaro”, ma artista geniale e perfettamente in linea con la poetica del macabro perseguita da Alice Cooper.
Da avere assolutamente.

Sideshow

I ain't got no fun today
It's just like yesterday, oh yeah
Only different shades of grey
I'm bored right out of my skull
I'd have to get high just to be dull
I'm institutional
My TV screen spins around and around
And around and around

I need a sideshow
Some kinda creepshow
They ran the circus out of town
But the ring master said "Boy, you can
stick around"

I pay to see all the freaks
Some finger lickin' chicken-eating geek
Hey, that sounds cool to me
I just want to step inside
I want a scary ride, oh yeah
See Jeckyll turn to Hyde
I fell my head spinnin' round and around
And around and around

I need a sideshow, oh yeah
Some kinda creepshow, oh yeah
I just want someplace to go, oh yeah
I tried to be the circus clown
But even my monkey wouldn't hang around

And the hunchback midget and his
twisted friends
Offer me a world of thrills that never end

I need a sideshow
Some kind of freaky show, oh yeah
Down where the neon glows
Just like a psychedelic video
Or a 24 hour party, go go go
Not a gozio, no
I need a sideshow
My private sideshow

Nothing's Free

You, me
Understand
Shake my hand
Last chance, little man
Ain't it grand
It's a bargain, it's a steal
30 pieces of silver
And a deal's a deal

Sign upon the dotted line
I'll be yours and you'll be mine
Nothing's free
Eventually
Nothing's free

From the rules and laws of morality
Free to take your fill
Free from your own free will
Nothing's free

My boy, it's getting late
I'll raise the stakes
So close
Control your fate, why hesitate
Seal the deal, close the sale
Take my hammer, drive the nail

Sign upon the bloody line
A drop of yours, a drop of mine
Nothing's free
Eternally
Nothing's free

From your conscience or
Free from the consequence
Free to sin and death
Free till your final breath
Nothing's free
Free from the claws and flaws of your family
Free from obedient life
You're cut like a double-edged knife
Nothing's free, nothing's free
Oh, you pay me

Free to ignore the bore of authority
Free to spit in the face
Be the winningest rat in the race till

Judgement Day
Then nothing's free
Bow to me if you wanna be free
Free from life, come die with me

And when we're dead it's for eternity
Come on little one and dance in the fire
The heat's getting close and the flame's
getting higher
When the music's over there's a hush
in the choir
Nothing's free
When the trumpets sound and his light
is all around
And the saints all raise from the graves
in the ground
We'll be going way downtown
Way downtown

Lost In America

I can't get a girl
cuz I ain't got a car
I can't get a car
cuz I ain't got a job
I can't get a job
cuz I ain't got a car
So I'm looking for a girl with a job and a car
Don't you know where you are

Lost in America

I got a mom but I ain't got a dad
My dad's got a wife but she ain't my mom
Mom's looking for a man to be my dad
But I want my mom and to be my real
mom and dad
Is that so bad
Oh, I think I've been had

Lost in America

Well, I live at the 7-11
Well, I'm tryin' to play this guitar
Well, I'm learning "Stairway to Heaven"
Cuz Heaven's where you are

I can't go to school
cuz I ain't got a gun
I ain't got a gun
cuz I ain't got a job
I ain't got a job
cuz I can't go to school
So I'm looking for a girl with a gun and a job
Don't you know where you are

Lost in America

Bad Place Alone

I'm a creature of the street
And I rip off all the money
I was kicked in the teeth
Shoved face first through a window
I got a gangland name
And a teardrop tattooed eye
They call me Little Caesar in the brotherhood
of crime
I know about the pain
Dyin' in an alley with an
air-conditioned brain
I know, it's for real
Flatlined in an ambulance
Without a pulse to feel

[CHORUS]
Hey blood brother, you're one of our own
You're as sharp as a razor
And as hard as a stone
Hey blood brother, you're bad to the bone
You're a natural killer
In a bad place alone

They call me Smoky Joe
And I'm as thin as a coroner's needle
I got a pocket full of rocks
Man, I shake like a cold chihuahua
I got a runny nose
And a road map on my arm
I blew my gig pokin' 'round the gallery
With someone else's rig
I know, I understand
I watch my body hauled off
By the local garbage man

[CHORUS]

We're cool, we're cold
We're stiff, we're tagged
We're slabbed, we're croaked
We're whacked, we're cracked
We're smoked and cured and
slammed and slurred and
sliced and diced and put on ice
Cooked and stewed and badly brewed
And splattered once or twice

You're My Temptation

Don't touch your lips
Don't wear your hair like that
I feel your presence all around me
Don't get too close
Don't move your eyes like that
Because they're deep enough to drown me
It don't get how like this in Heaven
You fool me with your angel face
Your master knows where I'm my weakest

Mercy please, I'm on my knees
You're my temptation
Measure my faith, the devil's awake
He knows you're my temptation

Don't call my name
Don't brush my cheek like that
I curse the day that I found you
Don't touch my skin
Don't dance around like that
I feel damnation all around you
And so I raise my voice to Heaven
Please hide me in some holy place
Protect my soul, I'm only human

Mercy please, I'm on my knees
You're my temptation
Look down and see
Deliver me from my dark sensation
Give me faith, don't let me waste
You're my temptation

Come to me
You're such a liar
Won't you come to me
Move closer to the fire
Just come to me
No, no, no
Won't you come to me I will set you free
No, no, no

Mercy please, I'm on my knees
You're my temptation
Measure my faith, the devil's awake
He knows you're my temptation
Mercy please, I'm on my knees
You're my temptation
Go away in Heaven's name
You're my temptation
Go away, just go away
My dark sensation

Stolen Prayer

I walk the streets alone
On feeble bones I ride
My sins are etched in stone
I got no place to hide
Well, I was unshakable
In what I did believe
I feel so breakable
But have I been deceived

You showed me your paradise
And your carnival of souls
But my heart keeps telling me
That ain't the place to go
Well, I'm not invincible
So I want you to leave
Well, I'm so convincible
But have I been deceived

[CHORUS]
I take your words and try them on
Yeah, it's a perfect fit, boy
You tell me one size fits us all
Yeah, like an old straightjacket
Well, tell me why I'm so afraid
All my words are spoken
All my words are spoken
All my words are spoken
In a stolen prayer

I remember yesterday
When things were black and white
Never thought I'd get confused
On what was wrong and right
Well, I'm not unbreakable
With armour on my skin
Well, it's not unthinkable
I could be fooled again

[CHORUS]

You steal another minute from my life
You cut a little deeper with your knife
You steal a little breath from my air
And you don't care
And even thought I'm chokin'
All my words are spoken

I take your words and try them on
Yeah, it's a perfect fit, boy
You tell me one size fits us all
Yeah, like an old straightjacket
Take this world and try it on
Man, you're lookin' good boy
Stick your neck out on the block
So you won't miss nothing
Stretch your finger, grab your hair
Don't you feel like screaming
Feel the blood rush from your veins
Now you're a perfect zombie
Now I'm on my knees

All my words are spoken
All my words are spoken
All my words are spoken
All my words are spoken
All my words are spoken
In a stolen prayer

Unholy War

From the start of life
To my dying day
In the dark of night
And the burning light of day
It's a bloody fight
But I can't walk away
I'm prime for the front line

[CHORUS]
Unholy war, unholy war
I'll try, I'll fight until I die
Unholy war, unholy war
I see, I know, you'll always be
Unholy

You see my burning fuse
From a mile away
I took your cruel abuse
Lord took away my shame
I learned to bite the hand
That used to pull my chain
We'll fight, cause we ain't on the same side

We're in an unholy war, unholy war
I'll try, yeah I'll fight until I die
Unholy

When I'm all alone - Unholy
With your thoughts of pain - Unholy
I can break on through - Unholy
With just an ounce of faith - Unholy

You're shaking in your boots
Because it's Judgement Day
I'll get my just rewards
And you'll have your hell to pay
There's no time to throw out the lifeline

[CHORUS]

Lullaby

I was the boy who said all of my prayers
Laid my clean face on the pillow
Tucked in real tight, so safe and secure
Through the night
I heard a noise, it was probably nothing
It pulled me right out of a dream
If I knew it was you
I'd have jumped out of bed with a scream

I am the one who growls in your closet
I am the one who lives under your bed

[CHORUS]
Get down - back where you started
Get down - back into hell
Your black soul, you know you're
black hearted
I smell your sulfurous smell

All of my things that I play with in daylight
You turn into monsters at night
My toys were my friends
Until you taught them all how to bite

You showed me things little boys
shouldn't see
You scared me with visions of fire
You danced on my bed
With the flames on your head dancing higher

I am the one who growls in your closet
I am the one who lives under your bed

[CHORUS]

I tell ya right now
I don't want your reptile embrace
I don't want to follow you down
to your place
I don't want to be a child of disgrace
You can take your whiskey soaked, foaming
at the mouth, toilet talking, pea soup
spewing, sweating blood demon breath out
of my face

[CHORUS]

I was the boy who said all of my prayers
Laid my clean face on the pillow
Tucked in real tight, so safe and secure
Through the night

It's Me

You took a first-class trip to Paris
You danced in the streets of Spain
You followed the sun to Rio de Janeiro
Cuz you got so sick and tired of the
London rain
But honey, late at night
When you close your tires eyes
You'll be there
And I'll be here
And one of us will cry

It's me, it's me
When you need something more
Something you're dying for
It's me, it's me
When you can't see too clear
Baby, I'm always near
It's me

You played your cards, you felt the sorrow
Cuz all that dealer dealt was pain
But baby, where you gonna play tomorrow
The stakes were too damn high
And now, you're broke again
You can trip around till all your
money's blown
But who's the man that'll take you in
When all your luck is gone

It's me, it's me
What are you searching for
I know you can find my door
It's me, it's me
I know you've sinned every sin
But I'll still take you in
It's me

And me, I'm sitting here
Nothing much has changed
You broke my heart to pieces, babe
But that's nothing strange
Well, I ain't angry
That's all come and gone
My arms are still open wide girl
To catch you when you fall

And if someday you realize
Just where you belong
I'm the man that'll take you in
When all your luck's gone
It's me, it's me

When you need something more
Something you're dying for
It's me, it's me
When you can't see too clear
Baby, I'm always near

It's me, it's me
What are you searching for
I know you can find my door
It's me, it's me
I know you've sinned every sin
But I'll still take you in
It's me
Yeah, baby, it's me

Cleansed By Fire

I don't know but I've been told
The streets of hell are paved with gold
Crazy, crazy
You told me that nothing's free
Except my own insanity
Crazy, maybe
Wake me, shake me
Wake me, shake me

You offer me the world and all its wealth
All for myself
You promised me a life eternally
And drink to my health
I may seem only half-glued
But I can see right through you

[CHORUS]
Burn it up, burn it down
Burn this sucker to the ground
Oh yeah, oh yeah
Going, going, going, gone
There's a party going on

Do you think I don't know who you are
A fallen star
When I feel my soul scream out at night
I know you're not far
You need a better disguise
This one won't win any prize

[CHORUS]

Cleansed by fire, cleansed by fire
I may seem only half-glued
But I can see right through you

What about dark
What about light
What about wrong
What about right
What about death
What about sin
What about the web you're trying to spin

What about truth
What about life
What about glory
What about Christ
What about peace
What about love
What about faith in God above
What about war
What about hell
What if I stumble
What if I fell
What about blood
What about greed
And all of these things you're offering me

Yeah, what about me, little me
You lose and I win
You couldn't suck me in
It's over, you have no power
You're lost
And I'm found
And I'm Heaven bound
Go back to where you belong
To where you fell
Go to hell