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Rating: Ola Salo is the only artist capable of merging music and sacred imagery to the profane, albeit profaning, gay world. Already in previous episodes, The Ark managed to mix reminiscences of Salo's past, being the son of a preacher, with the glam pomp or the spectacularity of musicals. A prime example of this is certainly the famous single "Father Of A Son", based on the issue of adoption by homosexual couples, a typical Broadway-style piece amidst a sea of 'hallelujahs'. It certainly doesn't manage, with just a couple of songs, to reconcile the CEI with Arcigay, but it's amusing and entertaining to see how Salo can stand as a perfect symbiosis between someone parading at Gay Pride and an organizer of Family Day.
In "Prayer For The Weekend", Ola and his companions once again present their skillful and effective mix of repositioned and inflated old glam. The Seventies are not only about Glitter, Bowie, Bolan, and Mercury, but this time also Santana, in the super groovy title track (guitars and percussion from "Black Magic Woman") and in the charming yet insignificant Latin American-Swabian specimen of "Thorazim Corazon". They continue and make progress in their pomp glam, in the style of "Calleth You, Cometh I" to give you an idea, in tracks like "New Pollution" and especially in the excellent "Absolutely No Decorum", where the pomp glam gets into a rhythm and becomes a stadium chant for Malmoe's supporters.
There are, as in their debut album, also standard glam imagery tracks, like the fun yet somewhat unoriginal "The Worrying Kind", between boogie and doo-wop, in Bay City Rollers-style, or the simpler "All I Want Is You", and there are also more experimental pieces, "Little Disfunk You", funky verses and Ark-style choruses, and "I Pathologize", Latin sounds with the usual queer-rock chorus... In the end, all the tracks are valid, and even the heavier, colorful, baroque arrangements, in one word flamboyant, work quite well and don't fatigue. The problem, if there is one, is the usual, and that is the interpretation; the problem is Ola Salo. At least Ola Salo is the problem for a straight listener...
On all the beautiful tracks, and particularly on the last two I mentioned, he performs well, and when he uses a manly voice, he even has a nice timbre, but when the choruses arrive, the vocalist transforms into a flamboyant fury with a screechy timbre. He is dying to sing choruses that he likes, it's evident, and it's clear that he can't wait to queer the whole world with his voice. At that point, the poor reviewer finds himself, against his will, with his back to the wall (and luckily he doesn't face the wall): "The world is flamboyant, I painted it flamboyant, and if you like my songs you're gay; if you're not gay, you can't like them"... It's as if Ola Salo told him so... The reviewer tries to explain to him/her that the tracks are certainly nice, but the interpretation could be different, but unfortunately, Salo interrupts him, asserting authoritatively that the interpretation is the best possible, and there has never been anything better... The poor reviewer tries again naively, asking if it's not possible to propose something fun and glam nowadays without having to "descend" into gay, and the usual Ola this time grabs the critic by the collar and, with a threatening tone, declares: "No gay, no party"... And I wonder where Gary Glitter has gone... Then I think about it, and I'm convinced that a gay person who wants to adopt children is better than one who would like to do something else to the children, even though he really knew how to sing the songs...
And even more horrible, unlistenable, from the first to the last syllable, too proudly gay, the interpretation, the accent, the tone of voice in "Death Of The Martyrs", once again a union of church choirs and rock march with wedges. He is like this, not bad, he's like this. He prays, yes, but for the weekend; his voice is as flamboyant as ever when it comes to martyrs, saints, universal floods, miracles, etc....
A spiritual refrain in toy pop soul sauce in "Gimme Love To Give"; acoustic and piano in the tender "Uriel" (pardon the ignorance, but could that be the name of the offspring?), and the album is finished. His world is all homosex, but it's a well-organized world, where families exist, where you don't have to be ashamed to go out dressed like a madman ("It Takes A Fool To Remain Sane"), where gays have the license to pray to God, and God has obtained from the CEI the license to listen to the prayers of gays. A peaceful world where they party on the weekend, and on all other days. And where they sing nice choruses. A bit too flamboyant, to tell the truth, but never mind.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Prayer for the Weekend (04:23)
Come, baby. It's time to pray
Come it's time to pray for the weekend, babe
Come it's time to jump in at the deep end, babe
It opens up its jaws it's panting like a hound
We'll pick the fleurs du mal and we'll bind it a crown
Come, let's pray for the weekend, babe
nanana nana nana nanana
Come, make your claim for a better day
nanana nana nana nanana
Come, let's pray for the weekend, babe
nanana nana nana nanana
Come, make your claim for the holyday
It hovers like an eagle
It's growling like a beast
Demanding our sacrifice
but offering a feast
It's calling out for blood
we must quench its thirst
The night is calling all its dusky children back to work
But first...
Come, let's pray for the weekend babe
nanana nana nana nanana
Come, make your claim for a better day
nanana nana nana nanana
Come, let's pray for the weekend, babe
nanana nana nana nanana
Come, make your claim for the holyday
Let's pray that the weekend will thrill us, babe
Let's pray that the weekend wont kill us, babe
Hooray!
02 The Worrying Kind (02:55)
Moves, I like to make 'em
Grooves, I like to shake 'em
Shake 'em from my troublesome mind
'Cause sometimes you'll find
That I'm out of my mind
You see baby, I'm the worrying kind
Words, I'd like to break 'em
Words, I like to shake 'em
Shake 'em from my troublesome mind
And you turn up your nose
It's a joke you suppose
But baby, I'm the worrying kind
So if you see me somewhere
With that glassy ol' stare
And the panic and fear in my eyes
Don't call for first aid or the fire brigade
Or the local police 'cause they won't care
I'm just a silly old boy with my head in the can
Just a mortal with potential of a superman
But what sense does it make
When I feel like a fake
When I'm saying to you all be good for goodness sake?
Words, I like to break 'em
Words, I'd like to shake 'em
Shake 'em from my troublesome mind
And why? Heaven knows
It's a joke I suppose
But baby, I'm the worrying kind
So if you see me somewhere
With that glassy ol' stare
And the panic and fear in my eyes
Don't call for first aid or the fire brigade
Or the local police 'cause they won't care
I'm just a silly old boy with my head in the can
Just a mortal with potential of a superman
But what sense does it make
When I feel like a fake
When I'm saying to you all be good for goodness sake?
Oh, words, I like to shake 'em
Words, I'd like to break 'em
Shake 'em from my troublesome mind
And why? Heaven knows
It's a joke I suppose
But baby, I'm the worrying kind
And you turn up your nose
And you say it's a pose
But baby, I'm the worrying kind
Yeah, sometimes I'm blind
I'm just out of my mind
Baby, I'm the worrying kind
03 Absolutely No Decorum (03:46)
Thank God I was born in a time when something new was about to start
Been shut down I've been kicked around now there's an a-bomb in my heart
And i know that the times are rough but I won't play dead while I'm alive
So hang on and we'll turn up the sound of all the anger in our hearts
'Cause right now under this fevering moon
I wanna take you for a ride
To the reasons you need be it hunger or greed
It's ok
Tell me a joke and make me smile
Play me the part be the star for a while
And absolutely no decorum whatsoever, baby
Gimme a wink, Let me know you're alive
Do what you will, we're only here for a while
So absolutely no decorum whatsoever, baby
Absolutely no decorum whatsoever, baby
And I know that the times are rough but I won't play dead while I'm alive
For I long for the shock and the awe
Of speaking plainly from my mind
But I know there's a place downtown where they say there's a bug-free zone
So let's go, let's head out tonight and let the words in our minds spill out
'Cause right now under this fevering moon
I wanna take you for a ride
To the reasons you need be it hunger or greed
It's all and a little bit more as we come alive again
Tell me a joke and make me smile
Play me the part be the star for a while
And absolutely no decorum whatsoever, baby
Gimme a wink, Let me know you're alive
Do what you will, we're only here for a while
Absolutely no decorum whatsoever, baby
Absolutely no decorum whatsoever, baby
It's only ripples in the sand
It's only ripples in the sand
It's only ripples in the sand
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