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Was (Not Was): Boo!

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Was (Not Was): Boo!
E chi l'ha detto che gli anni Ottanta hanno prodotto solo ciarpame sonoro?

Certo, la finezza non era annoverata tra le qualità più cool, ma di cose degne ce n'erano davvero parecchie: tra queste la indefinibile "creatura" di dance mutante ad alto tasso r&b dei detroitiani [e dove altro se no?] David Weiss e Don Fagenson, famigerati fratelli in musica con la sigla Was (Not Was).

Il loro ritorno con Boo! parte più o meno da dove erano rimasti, con il consueto dispiego di musicisti e ospiti e una sempre prefetta cura del dettaglio sonoro: a menare le danze sono le tre voci principali, Donald Ray Mitchell e gli immancabili Harry Bowens e Sweet Pea Atkinson, cui spetta il compito di rompere il ghiaccio con il funk ironico e piuttosto contagioso di "Semi-Interesting Week".

Il piatto è misto e gustoso, pop-soul quando serve ["Big Black Hole", "The Miracle", "Crazy Water" o la romanticheria indie di "From the Head to the Heart"], automat-dance alla bisogna ["Your Luck Won't Last"], cinicamente r&b come in "Forget Everything", futuristico e jazzato nella conturbante "Needletooth".

Ci sono poi le comparsate di Bob Dylan - tra gli autori di "Mr. Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore" - e di Kris Kristofferson, strepitoso a narrare la conclusiva "Green Pills in the Dresser", tanto per non dimenticarci quanto intrinsecamente americana sia la musica dei fantasiosi signori Was.

Chi li aveva amati vent'anni fa ritroverà dei vecchi amici, chi non li conosce apprezzerà comunque un lavoro che potrebbe infrangere qualche cuoricino nuovo, specie se non indurito dal cinismo degli anni!

Track Listing

01. Semi-Interesting Week; 02. It's A Miracle; 03. Your Luck Won't Last; 04. From the Head to the Heart; 05. Big Black Hole; 06. Needletooth; 07. Forget Everything; 08. Crazy Water; 09. Mr. Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore; 10. Green Pills In the Dresser (featuring Kris Kristofferson).

Personnel

Album information

Title: Boo! | Year Released: 2008 | Record Label: Rykodisc

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