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С выходом этого диска у Мариллион появился повод порадоваться: это четвертый студийный диск с новым вокалистом; ровно столько же было записано с Фишем. После эпического "Brave" группа вернулась к стандартной длительности альбома в 50 минут, не особо нагружая его какой-либо концепцией или развернутой историей. Восемь недлинных композиций, разрозненных как тематически, так и стилистически. Открывающая альбом композиция "Gazpacho" выдержана в более или менее традиционной Мариллионовской манере, с фирменной гитарой Розери, атмосферными клавишными и вполне узнаваемым звучанием: эта композиция вполне могла быть записана и с Фишем. Зато следущая композиция являет собой заявку на нечто супероригинальное - "Cannibal Surf Babe" звучит, словно Бич Бойз вперемежку с "альтернативой" середины 90-х. Очень нетипичная композиция для Мариллион, зато отвратительный стон Хогарта здесь очень к месту. Далее следует вещица "Beautiful" - попсовая мелодичная баллада с несколько наивным текстом. При прослушивании создается впечатление, что эту композицию забраковали еще при записи "Seasons End"; звучит несколько архаично, да и вокал Хогарта здесь не стонущий, а ломающийся. "Afraid Of Sunrise" - спокойная песня с каким-то карибским оттенком и очень симпатичной игрой Пита Тревейвеса на басу. Дослушать до конца, правда, не всегда удается - слишком уж нудно и однообразно. Следующее творение - "Out Of This World" - очередной тоскливый опус со стонущим вокалом Хогарта на фоне невразумительной музыки, больше напоминающей похоронный марш. После непродолжительного соло на гитаре, которое, как всегда, "ни о чем", Хогарт переступает границу хоть сколько-нибудь хорошего вкуса, и начинает просто ныть. Вот-вот заплачет. Формула, опробованная на "Seasons End", в качестве альтернативы подражанию Genesis, и заключающаяся в создании атмосферной бутафорской музыки, поверх которой звучат стенания Хогарта, пригодилась и при сочинении заглавной композиции альбома. Третью композицию подряд группа не может выйти из минорной тональности, являя очередной образец тоскливого и однообразного музла. "Beyond You", звучащая на моей копии почему-то в формате "моно", больше напоминает Криса Айзека. Под занавес группа раскошелилась на пару банальных, но заводных гитарных риффов, и небольшой синтезаторный проигрыш - так начинается "King", посвященная, по всей видимости, Элвису Пресли. Далее подключается Хогарт и не выключается уже до конца альбома, даже когда аккомпанемент полностью затихает.
Вот такой вот получился альбомище. По правде сказать, Мариллион - не самая плохая группа на свете; более того, в группе очень хорошие исполнители (даже Хогарт) и композиторы. Не скажу также, что этот альбом из ряда вон плох. Нет. Худо-бедно, но это все еще неопрогрессив, это все еще музыка, сделанная хоть с мало-мальским вкусом. Но, как мне кажется, группе просто зачастую не хватает чувства меры. Зацепившись за какую-то идею, они выжимают из нее все, что только можно, порождая на свет сонмище безликих и совершенно однообразных тоскливых песен. Однако, если с чувством меры у группы были проблемы еще при Фише ("Clutching At Straws" тому явное подтверждение), то с его уходом она растеряла те крохи чувства юмора, унаследованные еще от Genesis. С Хогартом коллектив выдавал каждый стон и каждый вздох своего нового певца за нечто глобально-трагическое и вселенски значимое, и это при полном отсутствии внятных и оригинальных идей. К существенным недостаткам этого альбома могу также отнести очень резкое, неприятное звучание. Особенно это касается гитар и кое-где - вокала.
Заключение: не самый плохой альбом Мариллион, но формула, хорошо сработавшая на "Brave", уже явно исчерпала себя. |
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Punching at the sky
They say the King is losin' his grip again
They said you're bullet proof, they said you feel no pain
It seems the hero is misunderstood again
Is it love or is it surgery
Makes her seem so ill at ease
As she's begging you to please calm down
In her silk Armani on her knees
Did you carry out those threats I heard
Or were you only playing macho?
And the stains on her Versace scarf
Were they really just Gazpacho?
They say the King is watching his back again
They say the King is losing his grip again
Raging like a bull to an empty ring
D'you think they will forgive a hero anything?
Now the ring is just a band of gold
And your wife needs police protection
While you're sparring with the journalists
You're trying to win back her affection
Is this what it means to be a man
Boxing up all your emotion
So now she's gone and you're alone at last
You can tell it to the ocean
They say the King is losing his grip again
They say the King is countin' his numbered days
You never lost a fight in your whole life
You never had no trouble sleepin' through the night
The bottle and the doctor get you through the day
The boys who run the house'll make it all okay
You think they will forgive a hero anything
Maybe Hollywood
But maybe then again
Now the ring is just a band of gold
Drive the road
Cannibal Surf Babe
Let's meet up and get beat up
Well she tied me to the headboard with a surf leash
And her wet hair hugged her body like a long-lost friend
And I really tried my best to get across to her
But nothing she would say could be defended
Well her birthday suit it was her only present
When I looked into her eyes - no history
And I told her eating people wasn't pleasant
But she laughed a snake eye laugh and walked away from me
And I watched her as she walked across the coals
I watched her as she walked across the coals
Singing: I was born in nineteen sixty weird
And I'm your nightmare surfer babe
Mr. Wilson where's your sandbox and your beard
'You still looking for the perfect microwave?
So I really did my best to get across to her
I said: "One day every pebble hits the beach"
And I kissed her face and held her like a long-lost friend
But she was too far out there to be reached
To be reached
She was too far out there
She was singing: I was born in nineteen sixty weird
I'm your nightmare surfer babe
Mr. Wilson where's your sandbox and your beard
'You still looking for the perfect microwave?
And the sun came up over the mountain
And the waves rolled in across the bay
And the fabulous brightly-coloured birds flew up out of the forest
And she said "Well we're all heaven's beautiful children living together in paradise
Lie down my dear... you're going to enjoy this"
And she looked like she'd had sex
With a Tyrannosaurus Rex
Singing: I was born in nineteen sixty weird, old man
I'm your nightmare surfer babe
Mr. Wilson where's your sandbox and your beard
'You still looking for that perfect microwave?
Perfect microwave
And I watched her as she walked across the coals...
And the sun came up over the mountain
And the waves rolled in across the bay
And the fabulous brightly-coloured birds flew up out of the forest
And she said "Well we're all heaven's beautiful children living together in paradise
Lie down my dear... you have enjoyed this"
Beautiful
Everybody knows we live in a world
Where they give bad names to beautiful things
Everybody knows we live in a world
Where we don't give beautiful things a second glance
Heaven only knows we live in a world
Where what we call beautiful is just something on sale
People laughing behind their hands
As the fragile and the sensitive are given no chance
And the leaves turn from red to brown
To be trodden down
To be trodden down
And the leaves turn from red to brown
Fall to the ground
Fall to the ground
We don't have to live in a world
Where we give bad names to beautiful things
We should live in a beautiful world
We should give beautiful a second chance
And the leaves fall from red to brown
To be trodden down
Trodden down
And the leaves turn green to red to brown
Fall to the ground
And get kicked around
You strong enough to be
Have you the courage to be
Have you the faith to be
Honest enough to stay
Don't have to be the same
Don't have to be this way
C'mon and sign your name
You wild enough to remain beautiful?
Beautiful
And the leaves turn from red to brown
To be trodden down
Trodden down
And we fall green to red to brown
Fall to the ground
But we can turn it around
You strong enough to be
Why don't you stand up and say
Give yourself a break
They'll laugh at you anyway
So why don't you stand up and be
Beautiful
Black, white, red, gold, and brown
We're stuck in this world
Nowhere to go
Turnin' around
What are you so afraid of?
Show us what you're made of
Be yourself and be beautiful
Beautiful
Afraid of Sunrise
Dressed in black, no turning back
We blanked out on the Great White Way
Fingers in desire's crack
We'd bridge and tunnel into day
Abandoned to the salt of skin
Abandoned to the highway
Sand running in the hourglass
Heat of leather and mirages
So how do we now come to be afraid of sunlight
So how do we now come to be afraid of sunlight
Day-Glo Jesus on the dash
Scorch marks on the road ahead
Friendly fire in hostile waters
Keep the faith, don't lose your head
Don't lose your head
So how do we now come to be afraid of sunlight
Afraid of Sunlight
Agave flower
Sleep beside me
Driving on
Nevada's burning
Phoenix rising
Driving on
To sunlight
Day-Glo Jesus on the dash
Scorch marks on the road ahead
Friendly fire in hostile waters
Keep the faith, don't lose your head
Don't lose your head
So how do we now come to be afraid of sunlight
How do we now come to be afraid
Afraid of sunlight
Out of This World
Three hundred miles an hour on water
In your purpose-built machine
No one dared to call a boat
Screaming blue
Out of this world
Make history
This is your day
Blue Bird
At such speeds, things fly
What did she say?
I know the pain of too much tenderness
Wondering when or if you'll come back again
Wanting to live for you
And being banned from giving
But only love will turn you around
Only love will turn you around
Only love
Only love will turn you around
So we live you and I
Either side of the edge
And we run and we scream
With the dilated stare
Of obsession and dreaming
What the hell do we want
Is it only to go
Where nobody has gone
A better way than the herd
Sing a different song
Till you're running the ledge
To the gasp from the crowd
Spinning round in your head
Everything that she said
Afraid of Sunlight
Drive the road to your surrender
Time comes around... out of my hands
Small boats on the beach at the dead of night
Come and go before first light
Leave me running in the wheel
King of the world
How do you feel?
What is there to feel?
So how do we now come to be
Afraid of sunlight?
Tell me girl why you and me
Scared of sunlight?
Been in pain for so long
I can't even say what hurts anymore
I will leave you alone
I will deny
I will leave you to bleed
I will leave you with your life
So how do we now come to be
Afraid of sunlight?
Tell me girl why you and me
Scared of sunlight?
All your spirit rack abuses
Come to haunt you back by day
All your Byzantine excuses
Given time, given you away
Don't be surprised when daylight comes
To find that memory prick your thumbs
You'll tell them where we run to hide
I'm already dead
It's a matter of time
So how do we now come to be
Afraid of sunlight
How do we now come to be
Afraid of sunlight
Day-Glo Jesus on the dash
Chalk marks on the road ahead
Friendly fire in hostile waters
Keep the faith
Don't lose your head
So how do we now come to be?
Beyond You
If you were a baby I would take you and run
I could hide you in the folds of my heart
There's a truth in the madness that I can't get beyond
And a fever that won't leave me alone
I don't want my heart
Don't want my head
Don't want my friends
Don't want my bed
I can't live with myself
I can't live with myself
Can't take no help
I try to want to
But I can't get beyond you
I will stare from the window
At the shapes in the rain
As the space between us drives me insane
I can't live with myself
I can't live with myself
Can't take no help
Don't want no one else
If I was a child
I would refuse to leave
I would sit down on the street
Kick my legs and scream
I'm not much of a man
But I know how I am
I know this won't fade away
I will pretend and be strong
But I wonder where I belong
And the feeling comes in waves
A hole in my body, aching
Like a heart dying
A soul crying
Exhausted and insecure
Took all you have and I still want more
So I reach out to hold you
But all I do is hurt you
Hurt you
I can't live with myself
I can't live with myself
Can't take no help
I try to want to
But I can't get beyond you
If I was a child I would take you and run
And I say I don't know... But I know
And I say I'll go
You just spent the whole day
Driving away
King
How long can you stand
Tightening up
Avoiding the fight
Avoiding the truth
Tighten the smile
Tighten the lie
Will you get what you want
To be cursed with your dreams
I hope for your sake
Something gets in the way
How long can you stand
Living under the lens
The kiss of success
The ensuing, all consuming, mess
Message of love
They arrive everyday
People you touch
Wasting away
People you don't know
Give you no choice
And you're sick to your stomach
At the sound of your voice
And the shape of your face
And the sound of your name
They send you pictures of yourself
It's someone you don't know
And they call you a genius
Cause you're easier to sell
But the fire in your belly
That gave you the songs
Is suddenly gone
And you feel like a fake
Is that what you want?
I hope for your sake
You've got what it takes
You've got what it takes
To be spoilt to death.