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Rating: In the history of pop music, thankfully, good lessons, wherever they come from (groups, authors, famous or less famous musicians, whether of great value or not), are not always forgotten.
And there is always someone who, rummaging through grandma's old trunk, among the records of the old aunt, revives old ideas and sounds, to give them another chance in this inflated world, or "aisle of abundance" if you will, of internet-tv music.
It already happened recently with Richard Hawley (versus Scott Walker), not to mention years ago with Tom Waits (versus Captain Beefheart), Belle & Sebastian (versus Nick Drake and others).... and Gigi D'Alessio (versus Claudio Baglioni, but in the latter case maybe Claudio should have locked his "ideas" in a safe before renting out his country house to the great neo-melodic artist....).
A legend, truly for a few insiders, says that when the Family (not to be confused with Charles "Satan" Manson's "group"), around the mid-seventies, finished their mission on earth, the God of Ballads retired to the Arcadian mountains swearing that never, ever, would he again make himself heard by human ears until the end of time.
The Family were a "simply" progressive group.
Roger Chapman's voice was both a strangled and moving goat-like voice that, beyond just suggestive and albeit imaginative, but never pointless, progressive suites, knew how to settle on delicate folk ballads with a bucolic flavor ("Procession" from Entertainment, "My Friend The Sun" from Fearless).
Their choruses, in the more lively ballads, held the harmonious sound of a single refreshing wind among the leaves of a tree beaten by the sun in the summer heat ("Coronation" and "Glove" from Bandstand).
OK, you might say, but what do the Family have to do with Cherry Ghost?
Here's the point.
If somewhere you read, as I did, of the (or rather of) Cherry Ghost as the new Coldplay, and for this reason you feel the instinct to run away horrified (but clearly it depends on personal taste), don't believe it, listen to me.
Cherry Ghost indeed composes mainly ballads.
But the ballads of Cherry Ghost are "old" ballads like those of the Family, hanging onto youthful dreams, full of spontaneous energy and true emotion for those who listen to them.
Sung by an energetic, expressive voice (in certain parts of "Mountain Bird" it truly seems indistinguishable from that of Roger Chapman) and delicate at the same time.
There are "four winds in the throat" style choruses in Family style in "People Help the People" (which is currently enjoying some airtime on the radio).
There's a waltz like Sparklehorse in the hyper-melancholic "Mary on The Mend", there's Tom Waits in "Dead Man Suite" (yes, him indeed, and it really seems like his own wandering line "All the street lamps are drunk on the block").
There's Vic Chestnutt, already a tutelary deity for Mark Linkous, in "Roses".
There's even an Elton John-like divertissement in "Alfred the Great" (truly, I'm not joking)
And there are also the later Family of "It's Only a Movie", appreciated by few, in "Here Come The Romance".
And there is also something negligible.
Unfortunately for the fans, or fortunately for the detractors, there are no Coldplay.
In this case, Chris Martin has kept the trunk with "his sources" tightly shut...
Happy listening to the willing and the curious.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 4am (03:39)
It'll get you on the last bus home,
Get you at the discount bin,
It'll get you on the old dancefloor,
Get you when the party ends,
Oh 4am, is the time when you were mine,
Frozen in deepest sleep, for only I to keep,
Now there ain't a hiding place on earth,
Where loneliness ain't been first,
It'll get you hanging out your clothes,
Get you when you wash your hair,
It'll get you as you're making plans,
Catch you trying to climb the stairs,
Oh 4am, is the time when you were mine,
Frozen in deepest sleep, watching the morning creep,
Now there ain't a hiding place on earth,
Where loneliness ain't been first,
Hard times, hole in my heart,
You stole the sun and left me alone again,
Give me a guiding light,
Stretch your sky and the hand on my shoulder, singing,
Hard times, hole in my heart,
You stole the sun and left me alone again,
Give me a guiding light,
Stretch your sky and the hand on my shoulder,
Oh 4am is the time when you were mine,
Frozen in deepest sleep, for only I to keep,
Now there ain't a hiding place on earth,
Where loneliness ain't been first,
Oh, no
There ain't a hiding place on earth,
Where loneliness ain't been first,
Been first,
Been first
04 People Help the People (03:59)
God knows what is hiding in that weak and drunken heart
I guess you kissed the girls and made them cry
Those hardfaced Queens of misadventure
God knows what is hiding in those weak and sunken eyes
A fiery throng of muted angels
Giving love and getting nothing back
People help the people
And if you're homesick, give me your hand and I’ll hold it
People help the people
And nothing will drag you down
Oh and if I had a brain, Oh and if I had a brain
I’d be cold as a stone and rich as the fool
That turned, all those good hearts away
God knows what is hiding, in that world of little consequence
Behind the tears, inside the lies
A thousand slowly dying sunsets
God knows what is hiding in those weak and drunken hearts
I guess the loneliness came knocking
No one needs to be alone, oh save me
People help the people
And if you're homesick, give me your hand and I’ll hold it
People help the people
Nothing will drag you down
Oh and if I had a brain, Oh and if I had a brain
I’d be cold as a stone and rich as the fool
That turned, all those good hearts away
People help the people
And if you're homesick, give me your hand and I’ll hold it
People help the people
Nothing will drag you down
Oh and if I had a brain, Oh and if I had a brain
I’d be cold as a stone and rich as the fool
That turned, all those good hearts away
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