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The debut of the British band The Servant was a rarity: no success in the U.K., but good feedback in the rest of Europe. They offered a finely crafted pop with electronic influences, the latter paying tribute to the experience of frontman Dan Black with the Italian Planet Funk. The change of direction is evident in the new "How To Destroy A Relationship": out with the electronic touch, Black and the band's music is stripped down to the essentials (the good old friends guitar, bass, and drums) thanks to the contribution of a good producer like Jim Lowe (Stereophonics). However, the move turns out to be wrong: the first two singles, the title track and "(I Should Be Your) Girlfriend", were unsuccessful, so the attempt to make their sound more appealing to the English market doesn't work in their homeland or in our Italy (the record doesn't go beyond position no. 97!). Although not all the work is to be discarded: we find good things especially in "Brains", a nice hint of hard rock (but just a hint, eh!), the interesting "Save Me Now" (with creative drum rhythm on which Black builds a catchy vocal line), and the beautiful melodic opening in the chorus of "Moonbeams". Musically, the songwriting is closer to models declared by the singer himself, such as The Smiths, or to purely English sounds that do not perfectly match the hallucinated lyrics of the good Dan (who has almost entirely abandoned his psychiatric clinic moves on stage - see the video of "Orchestra" from the first LP). It is still a band that, with the next works, should try to return to offering less prefabricated and more instinctive sounds than those of this record, which nevertheless remains a moderately pleasant pastime. But nothing more.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 How to Destroy a Relationship (03:33)
What I thought would never come has come
I wished that I could say I dit it cause I was young
No even now, it's just bad, I'm done
The sweet ropes have come undone
I don't want
Something's gone
Something's wrong with me
[Chorus]
Baby I've never been very good at anything
We could keep talking
I am simply walking out that door
Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde,
dance around in my insides
Don't you see I can't look in your eyes
I'm just scared you see the lies
I don't want
Something's gone
Something's wrong with me
[Chorus]
Did I hurt someone?
Something's gone,
Something's wrong with me
02 Sleep Deprivation (03:42)
I must go now
Nice and slow
In mid conversation
I’ve lost the flow
I ricochet round my room
I can see spiders
Like holograms
I’d turn on the TV but the buttons are jammed
I ricochet round my room
And I can’t wake up in the morning
I can’t even open my eyes
And when I curl up in the evening sleep never arrives
Horrible moments
Waves of fear
What’s that endless buzzing in my ear?
I ricochet round my room
And I can’t wake up in the morning
I can’t even open my eyes
And when I curl up in the evening sleep never arrives
Coz I just can’t stop that thinking that’s running around my mind
Whatever I try whatever I try whatever I try whatever I try
whatever I try whatever I try
And I can’t wake up in the morning
I can’t even open my eyes
And when I curl up in the evening sleep never arrives
You got give me some rest
Give me some sleep
Give me some rest
Give me some sleep tonight
Tonight
Coz I just can’t stop that thinking that’s running around my mind
I just can’t stop that thinking that’s running around my mind
Uh huh
03 Hey Lou Reed (04:09)
With two tape decks and a microphone
I bang on my guitar
Just two tape decks and microphone
And I am a superstar
Though I may never leave this place
And all the stuff I have to face:
Hey Lou Reed
Do you hear me?
I don't want to be no one
I dream my dreams
Suck in my screams
I don't want to be no one
No no no
My walkman plays and this rain whipped train
It slowly fades away
My walkman plays and this rain whipped train
Swoops down on JFK
Though I may never leave this place
And all the stuff I have to face:
Hey Lou Reed
Do you hear me?
I don't want to be no one
Lyrics
Freaked out scenes
Amphetamines
I don't want to be no one
No no no
Does it get cold and alone
When you're all on your own in NYC?
Lisa say, Caroline says, Candy says she want to be with me
Hey Lou Reed do you hear me?
05 Moonbeams (03:41)
Riding on a lonely bus
Like I was riding Pegasus
Slumped down on the seat at the back
A slow motion heart attack
I’m bored of being blue
Well close your eyes and soon
Those moonbeams running in the sky
Were just the same the night you came and fell into my life
Those moonbeams were running out your eyes
And your fingertips
Your cherry lips
But now I look and I see no one
I peer in at the shop displays
Dimly reflected in the window panes
Maybe these mannequins understand
What I let slip my hands
I’m bored of being blue
Well close your eyes and soon
Those moonbeams running in the sky
Were just the same the night you came and fell into my life
Those moonbeams were running out your eyes
And your fingertips
Your cherry lips
But now I look and I see no one
I’m bored of being blue
Well close your eyes and soon
Those moonbeams running in the sky
Were just the same the night you came and fell into my life
Those moonbeams were running out your eyes
And your fingertips
Your cherry lips
But now I look and I see no one
There is nobody here nobody there but me oh me
There is nobody here nobody there but me oh me
There is nobody here nobody there but me oh me
There is nobody here nobody there but me oh me
I want nobody here nobody here BUT YOU
Nobody nobody nobody no
10 On Your Knees Kid (04:22)
Look at my life just going nowhere
I am on my knees
The fat sun runs down over my shoulder
As I walk the streets
O I go creeping up that hill
Looking for something to feel
The city sucks on all the people like they’re sleeping pills
And as she starts to shut her eyes
Like Peter Pan I rise
Look at your life just going nowhere
You are on your knees
And as you start to shut her eyes
Like Peter Pan I rise
Coz up in a cloud it seems the city is just a dream
O yeahhhh
On your knees
On your knees
Get down on your knees
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