•
Versione 2
Rating:
Ideal for listening to and especially reviewing an album like "The Friends of Mr. Cairo" would be to follow the advice of Paul Cezanne, which is to approach a work of art as if it were the first time we're doing it. This is the answer the great painter from Aix en Provence gave to those who asked him the reason and meaning of many paintings of the same subject (the mountain of Sainte Victoire). We are indeed faced with two "dinosaurs" of the late '70s music scene, Jon Anderson & Vangelis, both at the peak, now declining, of their respective careers, who in the attempt to find new stimuli and relaunch into the musical empyrean combine their extraordinary talents: vocal for the first and compositional for the second. It would therefore be spontaneous to link to their previous wide acclaim rather than pretending not to notice, to appreciate their work.
Well, after the promising debut with "Short Stories," in 1981 comes the album that affirms their collaboration, their masterpiece that crowns the new union with success. I would like to clarify the reasoning that allows me to attribute this attribute to the album, very often overused or used improperly. Masterpiece literally represents the ultimate work, the best work of an artist or a music group as in this case, it doesn't necessarily have to be the most liked work, something that often misleads the reviewer, but the effort to push forward the artistic horizon, sometimes with choices not entirely commercial. In "The Friends of Mr. Cairo" I sense this effort, which in my opinion succeeds in at least a couple of moments.
The album was released in 1981, naturally only in vinyl form, and contained 6 tracks, obtaining great success in North America, but not in Europe, which is why the following year a second edition was released with a varied track order and enriched at the beginning with the track "I'll Find My Way Home" which is not coincidentally the most "catchy" and was probably an outtake by choice of the authors who considered it "weak" compared to the other tracks. The moral of the story is that the addition did well for "The Friends of Mr. Cairo," allowing it to achieve deserved success even in the Old Continent. However, the classiest track remains the title track, where I most recognize what is above, a mixture of everyday sounds and a subsequent melody that struggles to restore harmony to what chaotic and noisy the beginning provokes. Equally stirring is "Back to the School Boogie," a centerpiece that highlights the extraordinary technical qualities of this Polydor recording. The A-side closes with the saccharine "Outside and Inside," certainly wanted by Anderson to highlight, if there was any need, his vocal qualities which, in my opinion, stand out much more on the B-side, starting from the most successful track "State of Independence," a driving march borrowed the following year by Donna Summer for a disco version that decidedly diminishes its musical value, slightly raised by the other 1994 version by the Moodswings duo. The duo of our protagonists expresses themselves instead at a whole other level in "Beside" with Jon's rather intimate lyrics and in the final and very sweet "The Mayflower," describing the epic of the famous ship that in 1620 brought the Puritan Pilgrim Fathers from Plymouth (England) to Cap Cod in the New World, starting the Anglo-Saxon colonization.
I conclude with the score, only apparently inconsistent with the above, because defining an album as a Masterpiece for these artists does not necessarily mean it is at the absolute level, to get there "The Friends of Mr. Cairo" lacks continuity, some pieces are decidedly too "traditional," and the graphics are decidedly modest. Very modest, and the updates made with the second edition were of no use. Of course, it's an album worth having, perhaps only to showcase the technical qualities of your system......
Oh, finally a suggestion: Vangelis, Angelo in our language, is pronounced without the "n," just to avoid cacophony.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Back to School (05:10)
Made my escape just a few days ago
I don't wanna tell you how low you can go
Movin' on up get a job quickly
Somthin hit me I don't know wot it was
I wanna go back this (week)
I wanna go back this (week)
I wanna go back this (minute)
They said I was unruly
Better get a job
I really didn't understand the meaning of the word
I tried to get an understanding with the foreman boss
He simply put me down and said I wasn't
(To be trusted)
So I wanna go back
I wanna go back
I wanna go back
I wanna go back to school
I wanna go back to school
You might think I'm a crazy fool
I wanna go back to school
Man its safer in there
The world outside is so uncool
I need the money right now, I need the right job
The guys at work just needle me, they just can't
get enough
I telephoned my friend, he said "same with me"
So wot are we going to do in this unearthly factory
I don't understand, how I was pushed to the brink
I wanna go back
I wanna go back
I wanna go back
I wanna go back to school
I wanna go back to school
I wanna go back to school
Man it's crazy out here in the 'outer' world
I wanna go back to school
So I'm sitting in the dark
In my bed the other night
Thinking about my teacher
Now wasn't she right
They said youd get a shock
Just like coming out of the womb
The world outside's enormous
There's only so much room
People kick and tear your brain
Life outside's insane
I wanna go back "HERE ME NOW"
I really tried to work so hard
They told me scrub the floor
They kicked me like a toy
Nailed me to the door
I wanna go back to school
I wanna hear it, hear it
Hear the golden rule
I wanna go back to school
02 Outside of This (Inside of That) (05:03)
Outside of this inside of that
The memory lingers so right
Completely as that
We've loved a long time, be my friend, I need you
Inside of this and outside of that
There's so much more to finding out
How we forever simply feel the way the wayward-winds that hide the storms at night
Like the winter came, it changed our lives
We were very merry to be there
Our love, get used to being this way
Our love, once again a story really true creates a sound so good-That it's true
So Outside of this
Inside of that
There are words that come with time
Like love songs they seem self written
So true, they seem so true
I work a moments time
And feel this is one of lifes mysteries
Bringing a smile
'Cos I know wot it does to you
So I'm trying to pass it thru
Trying for you
Countless variations of the memory the state
The mere emotion of getting round
Crazy understandings of the way we tilt the light
But it shines when we make the sound
Don't live by mistakes
We can dance to your tune
But in reaching out touching your love
Feel those countless understandings
On the countless many reasons
There are to offer you my love
Countless understandings of a ghetto starving nation
Needing love I tell no lie
Countless staring messages as mortal life reflection
Spell is it out once or twice
But there's this whole understanding
And it's coming I guess-I know-
I hope that you can get into this
To this
I was there and then and then
You were there and then and then
We were there the beginning of time
I was there and then and then
You were there and then and then
We are together in time
I was there and then and then
You were there and then and then
We were there the beginning of time
04 Beside (04:11)
I have seen the compass turning
Round & round my heart The senses are yearning
For a possible change of heart
That is coming to you
Coming to you.
You stand upright, you are different
Why the spinal shock the fusion the evil
Spill it out on the floor of belief
Come and mend this design
Come and mend this design
With every right we do.
I have seen the sun, this sounds crazy
The story about a boy in the rain
He was standing waiting for for the light
As though he did have a reason to know
Did he really know?
His eyes were open they expected someone
In his heart he felt the compass was turned on
I will echo, ho for reasons that change me
Every thought, though it takes so long,
Is master with every plan
It would seem there is no end
To the bad or goodness in man
So my friend it seems the weariest night
Just leads to a heavenly dawn
Should we see so much
In every time we sigh.
Even this we could call music
As that would match my body connection
Let me take your hand, I will be beside you beside
He took so much a lot of my mind
I can't help believe all though is sublime
It this fate
I see it again & again
Yes, I am taugh to love above every reason
Every one every season
The compass will turn
And turn again
urn again
And turn again
06 State of Independence (07:56)
State of life-may I live-may I love
Coming out the sky, I name me a name
Coming out-silver word-what it is
It is the very nature of the sound the game
Siamese, Indionese. To Tibet treat the life
As a game, if you please
Coming up-Carabi-this sense of freedom
Derives from a medative State
Movin' on, 'believe' that's it, call it magic
Third world, it is, I only guessed it
Shablam idi Shablam ida
Shablam idi Shablam ida
Shablam idi Shablam ida
Shot to the soul-the flame of Oroladin
The essence of the word
The 'State Of Independance'
Sounds like a signal from you
Bring me to meet your sound
And I will bring to you my heart
Love like a signal you call
Touching my body my soul
Bring to me, you to meet me here
Home be the temple of your heart
Home be the body of your love
Just like Holy water to my lips
Yes I do know how I survive
(Yes I do know) know why I'm alive
To love and be with you
Day by day by day by day
Say-Aye yaya oh
'Be the sound of higher love' today
Time, time again, it is said
We will hear, we will see
See it all-in his wisdom-hear
His truth will abound the land
This truth will abound the land
This State of independance shall be
This State of independance shall be
Loading comments slowly
