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Rating: At the beginning of the Tin Machine experience, the group had stated that they would produce at least three albums: detractors appreciated that the third attempt consisted of this collection of live recordings, rather than another sonic assault that masked uninspired songs.
David Bowie claimed to benefit from the group dynamic, which returned the enthusiasm and credibility of someone not constantly in the spotlight: away from the gigantism of the performances of the '80s, from the screaming masses, from the responsibility of always being at the center of attention, he could feel free to play, focusing on intonation and instruments (even the sax is dusted off).
The album mainly demonstrates the technical mastery of the musicians and the tendency to improvise, which was an integral part of their live performances, for better or worse: while the energy of "Under the God" and the melodic texture of "Goodbye Mr.Ed" are appreciated, there's not much point in listening to a "Heaven's in Here" over 12 minutes long, or a "Stateside" ruined by the drummer's over-the-top performance.
A missed opportunity for "I Can't Read", perhaps the best song in the band's skimpy discography: dangerously tense in the original version, here it swings between deconstructed verses and thunderous accelerations in the choruses, but doesn't fully convince.
Great perplexities, moreover, are to be reserved for the choice of songs: rather than drawing only from the band's two already published albums, it would have been possible to include covers of "Debaser" by Pixies or "I've Been Waiting For You" by Neil Young, even though they were performed in concerts, to make the offering more appealing.
Dishonorable mention for the title, which combines a Texan slang expression with a mockery of "Achtung Baby", the recent masterpiece by U2.
Ultimately, it is just an adequate product, a snapshot of a band that, despite operating at full capacity, fails to convince either the purists of rock or Bowie's longtime fans: however, the band demonstrates, if nothing else, that they can relate to the new rock heroes of the '90s (Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden) with a similar sound vocabulary.
Only for completists.
Tracklist and Lyrics
01 If There Is Something (03:57)
If there is something
That I might find
Look around corners
Try to find peace of mind, I say
"Where would you go
If you were me?
Trying to keep a straight course is not easy"
Somebody special
Looking at me
Same kind of reaction
Wanted to cry with me
If there are many
Too easy to say
When it's love
It's just a game-ame-ame-ame
I would do anything for you
I would come all day
I would swim all the oceans blue
I would walk a thousand miles
Reveal my secrets
More than enough for me to share
I will put roses around your door
Sit in the garden
Growing potatoes by the score
Shake your head girl, with your ponytail
Takes me right back (when you were young)
Throw your precious gifts into the air
Watch them fall down (when you were young)
Your love - could feel you put them on the ground
It used to fall apart (when you were young)
Your love - could feel you put them on the ground
The hills were higher (when you were young)
Your love - could feel you put them on the ground
The trees were taller then (when you were young)
Your love - could feel you put them on the ground
The grass was greener (when you were young)
Your love - could feel you put them on the ground
It use to fall apart (when you were young)
02 Amazing (04:07)
I'm lazy
You're crazy, girl
Stay by my side
I'm scared you'll
Meet someone
In whom you'll confide
Life's still a dream
Your love's amazing
Since I found you
My life's amazing
I pledge you
You'll never be blue
There's too much at stake to be down
My nightmare
Rooted here watching you go
Divine in both, our lives
Life's still a dream
Your love's amazing
Since I found you
My life's amazing
My life's a roll
Go go go
And it's amazing
03 I Can't Read (06:28)
I can't read and I can't write down
I don't know a book from countdown
I don't care which shadow gets me
All I've got is someone's face
Money goes to money heaven
Bodies go to body hell
I just cough, catch the chase
Switch the channel watch the police car
CHORUS
I can't read shit anymore
I just sit back and ignore
I just can't get it right, can't get it right
I can't read shit I can't read shit
When you see a famous smile
No matter where you run your mile
To be right in that photograph
Andy where's my fifteen minutes
CHORUS
04 Stateside (08:11)
(Hunt Sales/David Bowie)
I'm goin' home, I've been gone much too long
She said she missed me since I've been gone
I'll be back soon, ain't no doubt
'Cause she said she wanted my lovin', my lovin'
CHORUS
No holding back I'm going home
No holding back I'm going home
I'm going stateside with my convictions
I said I'm comin' home soon, I don't know when
It'll be sometimes soon, sooner than
I thought I'd be, I thought I'd be
I thought I'd be stateside sooner than later
Marilyn inflatables, home on the range
Where the livin' is easy on a horse with no name
Kennedy convertibles, home on the range
Where the sufferin' comes easy on a blond with no brain
I'm goin' stateside
I'm goin' stateside
I'm goin' home, it's been so long
She said she missed me and all the fun we had
I think it be the best way
She said she missed me in every way
CHORUS
I've been gone so long
I've been gone so long
I'm missing you
Marilyn inflatables, home on the range
Where the livin' is easy on a horse with no name
Kennedy convertibles, home on the range
Where the sufferin' comes easy on a ten dollar raise
I'm going stateside
I'm going stateside
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05 Under the God (04:06)
Skin dance back-a-the condo
Skin heads getting to school
Beating on Blacks with a baseball bat
Racism back in rule
White trash picking up Nazi flags
While you was gone, there was war
This is the West, get used to it
They put a swastika over the door
Under the God
Under the God
One step over the red line
Under the God
Under the God
Ten steps into the crazy
Washington heads in the toilet bowl
Don't see supremicist hate
Right wing dicks in their boiler suits
Picking out who to annihilate
Toxic jungle of Uzi trails
Tribesmen just wouldn't live here
Fascist flare is fashion cool
Well, you're dead - you just ain't buried (yet)
Under the God
Under the God
One step over the red line
Under the God
Under the God
Ten steps into the crazy
As the walls came tumbling down
So, the secrets that we shared
I believed you by the palace gates
Now the savage days are here
Under the gods
Crazy eyed man with a shot gun
Hot headed creep with a knife
Love and peace and harmony
Love you could cut with a life
Under the God
Under the God
One step over the red line
Under the God
Under the God
Ten steps into the crazy
06 Goodbye Mr. Ed (03:31)
The ghost of Manhattoes
Shrieking as they fall
From AT&T
Someone sees it all
Goodbye Mr. Ed
Andy's skull enshrined
In a shopping mall near Queens
Someone sees it all
Icarus takes his pratfall
Bruegel on his head
Goodbye Mr. Ed
Four and twenty black kids
Some of them are blind
Someone sees it all
Tolerance of violence
By the fellows with no heads
Goodbye Mr. Ed
Some things are so big
They make no sense
Histories so small
People are so dense
Someone sees it all
Goodbye Mr. Ed
Some things are so big
They make no sense
Histories so small
People are so dense
Someone sees it all
Goodbye Mr. Ed
Never mind the Pistols
They laid the Golem eggs
Others came to hatch them
Outside the pale
Someone sees it all
Goodbye Mr. Ed
07 Heaven's in Here (12:07)
Baby I dream between the blade and the tongue
Of the rose on your cheek the wounded and dumb
We stumble and fall we stumble and fall
Skin on skin but there's heaven in...
CHORUS
Heaven's in here
Heaven's in here
Among the twilight and stars
Like a rocket to mars
Heaven in here
The first and the last are telling it all
Telling you loud but selling it small
I'm taking a swing at this shadow of mine
Crucifix hangs an' my heart's in my mouth
But it's here
CHORUS
Heaven in one sigh
Heaven in two eyes
Heaven lies between your marbled thighs
The rustle of your falling gown
We stumble and fall like tragedy falls
We stumble and twirl there's heaven in here
We stumble and fall uncertain we fall
Flesh on flesh but there's heaven in...
Heaven's in here
CHORUS
You'll dance to my tongue we'll dance on the sun
We're the twilight and stars
There's heaven in here
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