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Rating: "Fake Can Be Just As Good" is an excellent album, a summary of early Blonde Redhead and their noise-rock, before the gradual shift, in their last three works, and especially in the recent "Misery Is A Butterfly", to more melodic and accessible sounds.
Released in 1997 by the Touch And Go label, the album unfolds in 8 thrilling tracks, in which the Italian-Japanese group seems to perfectly imprint the anger and guitar-driven neurosis that characterize their early musical production. It transitions from the dissonances of the opening "Kazualty" and "Oh James" to the syncopated rhythm of "Bipolar", not forgetting "Pier Paolo", a heartfelt tribute to the immortal myth of Pasolini, a figure that echoes considerably in the discography of the band (so much that the previous album was even titled "Una Vita Violenta"), leading to the wonderful and super-fast instrumental conclusion of "Futurism Vs. Passèism," which truly recalls the best Sonic Youth of "Cross The Breeze".
With "Fake Can Be Just As Good", in short, Blonde Redhead delivers a remarkable work, well-coordinated and structured, which will not disappoint all fans of indie and alternative sounds. It's a shame about the singer-songwriter and pop drift of "Misery Is A Butterfly", as the old fans of the group would have truly paid gold for another album like this, simpler and more direct, certainly no less rich in emotions and nuances and undoubtedly worth listening to.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Kazuality (04:25)
I want you too shy
one time one two slow
kid and kiss one line
get ahead get inside
i was wrong yes or no
king of skills rubber man
kazuality
i want you to shout
one shout one down slow
dance to the host with ambition
learn to learn open wide
when we meet when we please
get attacked get inside
kazuality
one down one crown
no shame like a fire
timeless fire
that burns
me to you, you to me
old love new idea
02 Symphony of Treble (04:10)
close your spine till you're a ball
tihs is a good way to break off from the party
pretend you're lost pretend you're dog
i know you can chew a shoe like a piece of steak
now you can hide
now you can seek
like a pleasure treasure hunter killers
...why go home?
stretch your face until it makes sense
wrap your heart with all the nerves and veins
...am I not my body?
I seem to remember numbers figures details of this life
now you can count
now you can act
like an enemy sister social worker
...are we damned?
05 Bipolar (05:02)
Say wrong
I won't say anything...anyway
Fake can... fake can be just as good
Place you've never been
Patience on the way
Place you've never been
No way...anyway
Why then
You renew in so many ways
How far
Fake can be no flaw on the way
I know
I'm just a flaw...anyway
so I
**** some space...and come back
I know good walk away
I need to shut away
What I throw away
I want your way
I know I get away anyway
I know it's hard to get ahead, boy
Say wrong
I won't say anything...anyway
Fake can... fake can be just as good
Place you've never been
Patience on the way
Place you've never been
No way...anyway
I know a man is somewhere..,where?
Here I am, just shot it again
I know you'd walk away
I need to shout away
What I throw away
I want your way
06 Pier Paolo (05:38)
I turn to you
young man poet insane
for you I find myself alone too soon
today you are in my way
18 a promising age
the sweetest act of life repeated till I bled
CHORUS:
a place in the world
an expression
no salt no fear
caoutiously with you
on detention
i submit and you smile
unknown and uninvited
as for me my life today
young man insane you are i pray
i pray to you..i pray
i am here alone with you
and one plus one the sun
CHORUS
07 Oh James (03:32)
K: "What? Do you want me?
What are you waiting?
Love was ill and
no...no...no!!"
"Say...what your name is and
say...what's the magic?
Kill your sad expressions
Nobody should touch
what's in your heart!!"
A: "What I'm trying to sell
isn't all the same.
And what is every side? Sensual?
and would be in distance
It's just a genuine need
for an average man
you and I nothing more
than love what I love"
There's someone watching you
K: "Love all your sad expenses
just a little more
will you ever live it?
will you ever know?"
What? Do you want me?
What are you waiting?
Love was ill and
no...no...no!!"
A: "What I'm trying to sell
isn't all the same.
And what is every side? Sensual?
and would be in distance
It's just a genuine need
for an average man
you and I nothing more
than love what I love"
There's someone watching you
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Other reviews
By hypnosphere boy
"Blonde Redhead are like Sonic Youth, but perhaps a bit better, with something more that is not easily defined."
"Mastery on the guitars and rhythmic and hypnotic bass lines... characterize what is certainly a confirmation of the real and tangible talent of its Authors."
