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Rating: Among the very few luxury survivors of the britpop era, a prominent place has certainly been earned by The Charlatans.
Unlike much more "renowned" and perhaps more successful peers, Tim Burgess and company have sought to add new and always novel contaminations to their music with each album released, always maintaining flattering quality standards.
Boasting great success at home (excluding the recent "Up At The Lake," which stopped at a nonetheless respectable thirteenth position, all of the group's albums from 1994 to today have hit the top ten at home), The Charlatans return in 2006 with this curiously titled album: "Simpatico."
"It's a Spanish word, I discover now that it has a meaning in Italian too. In Mexico City, I heard a band called Los Simapticos, and I liked it. Additionally, I read the word sympathetic in Keith Richards' biography, when he was talking about his relationships with someone in the '60s, he said it was 'simpatico' in the sense that there was an understanding with that person. I looked up the meaning in the dictionary, I liked it, and proposed it for the album title," Burgess officially explains.
As for the album's content, the new "infatuation" is, this time, for unusual influences (for the group in question) such as reggae, dub, and funky, while still maintaining the band's typical trademark.
The two singles released to introduce the album also serve the purpose of opening it: "Blackened Blue Eyes" enchants with its piano riff and the guitars peeking in here and there, "N.Y.C. (There's No Need To Stop)" sounds like the Red Hot Chili Peppers were born in Birmingham instead of California.
The discussion becomes much more interesting with "For Your Entertainment," a practical application of the aforementioned contaminations, the same can be said of episodes like "City Of The Dead" and "Road To Paradise." Nevertheless, the typical britrock of "Dead Mans Eye" is not lacking, and the piano embedded in the reggae-friendly melody of "The Architect" is striking. The dirge of "Glory Glory" is perhaps the weak link of the work, so attention shifts to the closing instrumental "Sunset And Vine," between electronics and dub.
Decisive the production by the talented Jim Lowe, someone who already has a clear idea of the direction to take when he enters the studio; the album truly "comes out" wonderfully, it must be said, as a sound output, it is among the best released in 2006.
A work, ultimately, surprising, for a band no longer in its prime, especially considering the fact that recent albums hadn’t exactly been miraculous.
Good comeback, no doubt about it.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Blackened Blue Eyes (04:19)
A Charlatan I
Noble and wild
Hustlin' for tricks to help you feel loved
And we all need a shoulder to cry on.... once in a while
And there won't be a dry eye
In the house tonight
Blackened blue eyes
I don't care too much for your
Circumstances or you
Situation wise
A Charlatan I
Will blossom and die
One day you'll find a real need for love
Or you live with the fear for
The rest of your life
And there won't be a dry eye
In the house tonight
Blackened blue eyes
I don't care too much for your
Circumstances or you
Situation wise
The one thing I hate
The numb and the fake
The gutless who rape
The jaws of a snake
We all need a best friend
We can trust with our lives till the end
And there won't be a dry eye
In the house tonight
Blackened blue eyes
I don't care too much much final chances
Ride out into a world of random
Prostitutes
I'll show you some fantastic scenes
And it will be alright
Blackened blue eyes
Blackened blue eyes
Blackened blue eyes
03 For Your Entertainment (03:58)
Try not to die
Try not to die
Hold me tight
I know there's something going wrong inside
Tonight tonight
The stars are bright
Watch me close
Because I'm looking for the last laugh
For your entertainment
I know you lie
I know you lie
Looking for the boys
With the needles in their eyes
Hold me close
For the first kiss
I guess I'm looking
For something that just don't exist
For your entertainment
05 Muddy Ground (04:00)
I sit on the muddy ground, the muddy ground
Waiting for you
I sit on the muddy ground, the muddy ground
Waiting for you
I sit on the muddy ground, the muddy ground
Waiting for you
You say look what you found on the muddy ground
Was waiting for you
I'm still waiting for you, still waiting for
I'm still waiting for you, still waiting for
I watch the money burn, and in return
I'm left here with you
You say look what I found on the money ground
Was left here by you
I sit on the muddy ground, the muddy ground
You sit on the money ground, the money ground
I'm still waiting for you, still waiting for
I'm still waiting for you, still waiting for
All the luckless fellas, who deserve a medal
Look into life through the bottom of a glass
I'm still waiting for you, still waiting for
I'm still waiting for you, still waiting for
I'm still waiting for you, still waiting for
I'm still waiting for you.
07 Road to Paradise (04:32)
Is this the road to Paradise?
Always to feel it's all over
There must be something going on inside
Security walls, they better be tight
There will be no free kind of advice
Lost in career, lost in the night
I don't want to blame this on each other
But everywhere I go, I watch the river flow
No matter where I go
There will be no tears on my pillow
For everywhere I go, I watch the river flow
No matter where I go, I watch the river flow
This is the road to Paradise
Always to feel it's all over
Born on the 4th of July
Born under strange, strange skies
There will be no free kind of advice
Security walls, you better be tight
I don't want to blame this on each other
But everywhere I go, I watch the river flow
No matter where I go
There will be no tears on my pillow
For everywhere I go, I watch the river flow
No matter where I go, I watch the river flow
This is the road to Paradise
This is the road to Paradise
I don't want to blame this on each other
But everywhere I go, I watch the river flow
No matter where I go
I don't want to blame this on each other
But everywhere I go, I watch the river flow
No matter where I go
09 The Architect (04:10)
Rockers all over the world, re-unite
In love with the feeling that comes with the night
As we talk
Lay off the pills that are left on the shelf
We'll be warped when we stop
I never said I want to be the one who said
I told you so
But you're all a lowly bunch of parasites
And I told my girl that it would be alright
Let me go
On a hilltop in the bustley nights
With a legendary lord I used to like
And there will be tears in our eyes
Make love in our own little van
I am giving you all that I can and I am
Buckle my belt and I roll up the sleeves of my shirt
And I flirt
I never said I want to be the one who said
I told you so
But you're all a lowly bunch of parasites
And I told my girl that it would be alright
Let me go
On a hilltop in the bustley nights
With a legendary lord I used to like
And there will be tears in our eyes
I never said I want to be the one who said
I told you so
But you're all a lowly bunch of parasites
And I told my girl that it would be alright
Let me go
On a hilltop in the bustley nights
With the legendary lords I never liked
And there will be tears in our eyes
Last night you know
An architect saved my life
I knew in my heart
I wouldn't die tonight
Thank you all
I thank you all so very much
You know I never really wanted to be touched
To be touched
To be touched
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