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I have this image of myself reflected in a shop window in some English town that I can't remember, in the summer of 1982. I'm wearing an utterly improbable raincoat, holding the new single by the Psychedelic Furs, in extended version, in my right hand, and I'm trying to figure out how much I resemble Richard Butler. Annamaria is laughing and rightly making fun of me.
When I return to Italy and finally play "Love My Way", I will be perplexed (I will only realize much later that it's a luxury). What is this pop drift?
In September, when the full-length "Forever Now" is released, the same perplexity. Where have the dark bass of "India", the tragedy of "Sister Europe", the complexity of "All of This and Nothing" gone? The edges have been smoothed, the paranoias burned away. The voice remains, and I find no adjective other than the obvious: beautiful. Pop, almost perfect. And here, inevitably, comes the digression. How much does a producer matter? Having abandoned Steve Lillywhite (who was never as "dirty" in his work as he was on our first two albums), they moved to Todd Rundgren. And the difference is noticeable. The former Utopia member indeed fills the operetta with all the things he loved at the time: fake strings played on keyboards, electronic drums, synths coming and going, doubled by guitars on the endings. Which, stated like this, sounds very eighties and should be appalling as the years go by. And yet it still works wonderfully. The fact that a few years earlier Rundgren produced Wave by Saint Patti, and later produced Skylarking by XTC with completely different sounds, says a lot about the man's skill, but it would be a digression that would take us too far.
The substance is that here we are faced with ten pop gems, the kind most bands would commit mass murder to have all on the same album.
We, nostalgic for rougher movements, are free to prefer the first two albums, both then and now. But what is touched by King Midas cannot be debated.
For instance, that post-funk guitar break, stolen from the Bunnymen but done much better, which is in "You and I", how many thousands of bands have used it in the following years (I, with mine, always use it)?
It is impossible to understand which song I prefer, but "No Easy Street", years ago, made it onto a C-90 where I collected my favorite ballads (even though it sounds totally different from all the ballads collected there). And the game "You cry like a baby, you cry like a babe, you cry like a lady, you cry like a girl" I adore, as well as the final guitar solo.
I add nothing else.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 Forever Now (05:38)
a banker in a tired suit
is counting in his head
he's standing in your overcoat
he's lying on your bed
president gas is tap dancing
for the banker he's a thief
he isn't very honest
but he's obvious at least
you and I are walking past yeah
having lost our way
we don't count our money
we are giving it away
yeah giving it away
this policeman is just sitting down
in sunglasses and dirt
undercover now at least
so nobody gets hurt
they go through this pantomime
they do it everyday
they'll be back again tomorrow
but they don't play for free
you and I are walking past yeah
having lost our way
we don't count our paper
we are giving it away
yeah giving it away
doesn't this remind you
of these things we've done before
like counting all the times
we've seen ourselves in other scenes
everybody's busy
listening and pulling blinds
this is all so stupid
we're just shouting I want
you and I are walking past yeah
having lost our way
we don't count our money
we are giving it away
yeah giving it away
let it stay forever now
let it stay forever now
let it stay forever now
let it stay forever now
02 Love My Way (03:33)
There's an army on the dance floor
It's a fashion with a gun my love
In a room without a door
A kiss is not enough in
Love my way, It's a new road
I follow where my mind goes
They'd put us on a railroad
They'd dearly make us pay
For laughing in their faces
And making it our way
There's emptiness behind their eyes
There's dust in all their hearts
They just want to steal us all
And take us all apart
But not in
Love my way, it's a new road
I follow where my mind goes
Love my way, it's a new road
I follow where my mind goes
Love my way, it's a new road
I follow where my mind goes
Swallow all your tears my love
And put on your new face
You can never win or lose
If you don't run the race
03 Goodbye (03:56)
hello to you hello to me
i've somewhere else to be
excuses i get all the time
your answers i don't see
today is easy isn't it so?
i sit and watch the radio
there's nothing coming on at all
hello to you hello to me
ah yeah i really care
i'll see you all around sometime
i hope that i'm not there
today's news is yesterday's news
you don't remember you forget
that's the way the stories all go
hello to you hello to me
and yes i really care
i'll see you all around sometime
if i ever go back there
goodbye to you goodbye again
i've got to get this train
it's nine o' clock already
and i'm twenty minutes late
goodbye to you goodbye again
problems don't exist
i'll see you at the station
you'll be standing in the rain
today is easy isn't it so?
the man says stop
the clock says now
it's exit time for me
goodnight to you goodnight again
i've somewhere else to be
i'll see you all around sometime
i hope you don't miss me
goodbye to you good bye to you
goodbye goodbye goodbye goodbye
goodbye to you
goodbye
05 Sleep Comes Down (03:53)
it's raining in my head
but no tears come down
and i'm dreaming of you
until sleep comes around
sleep comes down sleep comes down
sleep comes down sleep comes down
the orchestra's playing
it's so very loud
and i'm biting my nails
until sleep comes around
sleep comes down sleep comes down
sleep comes down sleep comes down
the clouds are all running
but no tears come down
and i'm thinking of you
until sleep comes around
sleep comes down sleep comes down
sleep comes down sleep comes down
06 President Gas (05:19)
you have to have a party
when you're in a state like this
you can really move it all
you have to vote and change
you have to get right out of it
like out of all this mess
you'll say yeah to anything
if you believe all this but
don't cry, don't do anything
no lies, back in the government
no tears, party time is here again
president gas is up for president
line up, put your kisses down
say yeah, say yes again
stand up, there's a head count
president gas on everything but roller skates
it's sick the price of medicine
stand up, we'll put you on your feet again
open up your eyes
just to check that your asleep again
president gas is president gas again
he comes in from the left sometimes
he comes in from the right
it's so heavily advertised that he wants you and i
it's a real cowboy set, electric company
every day is happy days
it's hell without the sin, but
don't cry, don't do anything
no lies, back in the government
no tears, party time is here again
president gas is up for president
line up, put your kisses down
say yeah, say yes again
stand up, there's a head count
president gas on everything but roller skates
it's sick the price of medicine
stand up, we'll put you on your feet again
open up your eyes just to check that your asleep again
president gas is president gas again
president gas
oh, president gas
whoa, president gas
oh, president gas
whoa, president gas
oh, president gas
whoa, president gas
08 Danger (02:40)
love is hiding in the city
here in all of you
put the place in cages
but don't label it a zoo
get a girl inside your head
get out of the way
write yourself a postcard
when there's nothing left to say
there's danger
i believe it
wake up it's a fight
love me now forever
war's on it's now or never
mr. clean air just went past
eating chewing gum
he doesn't want to see you
he gets sick when you come
make yourself up once again
kick out in a style
ann don't let her sadness show
she paints on a smile
danger
i believe it
wake up it's a fight
love me now forever
the war's on
it's now or never
always it is now
love me
in the jailhouse
pictures of the losers
crying that's enough
get a girl inside your head
get out of the way
write yourself a postcard
when there's nothing left to say
love is hiding in the city
hearing all of you
put the plays in cages
but don't labor in a zoo
there's danger
i believe it
wake up it's a fight
love me now forever
war's on
it's now or never
now or never
09 No Easy Street (04:06)
9-9-9
the police don't come
here on easy street
all the boys in their blue suits
are lying in the heat
you got no reaction
coming down my hall
you had no attraction
for anyone at all
all the dogs are out today
running in the sun
back in the litter
the morning never comes
you got no reaction
knocking on my door
you had no attraction
for anyone at all
the day goes at the factory
i should be happy look at me
it's definitely no easy street
you got no reaction
coming through my door
you had no attraction
for anyone at all
i can see you in the plastic town
that an actor sees
i can see you stuck inside of this cage with me
you'll cry like a baby
you cry like a bird
you cry like a lady
you cry like a girl
on easy street
you'll cry like a baby
you cry like a bird
you cry like a lady
you cry like a girl
on easy street
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