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Once upon a time there was a lanky guy, with a nice haircut, a cheeky face, and a great passion: making excellent music with his band (if some substances came into play, he certainly didn't mind).
This cool guy (also elected in 2000 "the most poetic songwriter of his generation") one day faced a choice: keep dealing with a pain-in-the-neck guitar genius and continue to make a generation dream through great rock-psychedelic "anthems," or throw everything away, grab an acoustic guitar, and start all over, alone.
The choice made was the latter, but while everyone expected songs with a strong anger-love-rock-psychedelia charge and, why not, a bit of pop, our guy began to churn out only pop songs, catchy, but that's all.
After the first solo album, everyone said, "well, a half misstep happens to everyone, and after all, 'A Song For The Lovers' isn't bad"...
And here we are in 2002 waiting for the shaman Richard capable of transforming sleepless nights with a great discomfort in circulation into anthology-worthy songs: none of that.
Human Conditions can be described in three lines: songs strummed with an acoustic guitar, soaked with strings to the point of nausea, to lull insomniacs to sleep.
An album that perhaps finds its nicest song in "Check The Meaning" (which says it all), the last single from the album - "Buy In Bottles" - no one mentions, in fact, maybe no one even knows that Buy In Bottles is the last single from the album.
I'm very sorry that a talent like Ashcroft is sinking into such banality: here, it's only about how beautiful married life is, the true law is that of nature, etc. etc. Much better the old dear bittersweet symphony of an album from 1997, which still seems magical.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Check the Meaning (08:06)
(Check the meaning)
When I'm low, and I'm weak, and I'm lost
I don't know who I can trust
Paranoia, the destroyer, comes knocking on my door
You know the pain drifts to days, turns to nights
But it slowly will subside
And when it does, I take a step, I take a breath
And wonder what I'll find
Can you hear what I'm saying?
Got my mind meditating on love, love
Feel what I'm saying
Got my mind meditating on love, love
(The human condition, the human condition)
Too much blood, too much hate, turn off the set
There's got to be something more
When Mohammed, Allah, Buddah, Jesus Christ
Are knocking down my door
I'm agnostic getting God, but man
She takes a female form
There's no time, no space, no law
We're out here on our own
Can you hear what I'm saying?
Got my mind meditating on love, love
Feel what I'm saying
Got my mind meditating on love, love
Check the meaning
(The human condition)
Check the feeling
(The human condition)
Guess it's life, doing it's thing
Making you cry, making you think
Yeah life, dealing it's hand
Making you cry and you don't understand
Life, doing it's thing
Making you cry now, making you think of
Pain, doing it's thing
Making you cry yeah, making you sing
Don't say it, don't say it's too late
Don't, don't say it's too late (It's never too late, it's never too late)
Don't, don't say it's too late (It's never too late)
Don't, don't say it's too late
The human condition, the big decisions
The human condition, the big decisions
I'm like a fish with legs, I fell from the tree
I made a rocket (check the meaning), I made a wheel
I made a rocket (check the feeling), I swam the ocean (check the meaning)
I saw the moon (say a prayer), I seen the universe (and beyond)
I see you (check the feeling), I see me (check the meaning)
That's my reality
And while the city sleeps we go walking
It's a beautiful world
And when the city sleeps we go walking
We find a hole in the sky and then we start talking
And then we say "Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ
Buy us some time, buy us some time"
Hear what I'm saying
Can you hear what I'm saying?
Can you hear what I'm saying?
Can you hear what I'm saying?
It's gonna be alright
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By Rivo
"there’s a killer in me and a killer in you"
"We are alone, and weak, and lost, I don’t know who I can trust"
