The Evil Monkey's Records: Song to (re)discover: Jefferson’s Last Flights

mercoledì 12 ottobre 2011

Song to (re)discover: Jefferson’s Last Flights

Ultime partenze per il pianeta di Utopia: il dirottamento dell’astronave non funzionò poi così bene…e allora un paio di pezzi per tentare di scuotere per l’ultima volta le torpide coscienze d’Amerika, già paghe di qualche disordine universitario che non ebbe la costanza per diventare veramente nuova società.

Le apocalissi di When the Earth Moves Again, con il violino languente di Papa John Creach, la ritmica marziale e il basso veramente tellurico di Casady profetizzano un futuro incerto, salvato dai bambini un po’ come accade in The Big One's Still Coming dei Blak Oak; il cantato corale e appassionato riporta l’orologio indietro a Volunteers, ma la terra sotto i piedi del complesso stava veramente collassando e l’abbandono di Balin troncò ogni idea di rinascita.

“If you've only lived on earth you've never seen the sun

or the promise of a thousand other suns that glow beyond here

and if you care to see the future look into the eyes

of your young dancing children don't be afraid of our ways

when the earth moves again”

Un paio d’anni dopo, Sketches Of China: una liturgia orientaleggiante e allegorica aperta dal gong di Mickey Hart, sostenuta dal mellotron di Freiberg e impreziosita dall’ultimo supremo assolo di Garcia, dorato come il sole al tramonto sulla Route 101 verso Sausalito. Un bridge nervoso e un lungo finale quasi gospel in lenta dissolvenza. Un tramonto.

Gli ultimi sussulti del vecchio triplano psichedelico che andava trasformandosi in astronave da classifica e dance-floor.

“And there was a warlord who rode the murky depths of China

With a shotgun in his hand and he wondered where the people'd gone to

Have you got the time to listen while i sing this song

I had the time to listen to the man go right and wrong and right thru

China”

Last departures for the planet Utopia: the hijacking of the starship did not work so well ... and then a couple of songs to try to shaking for the last time the torpid Amerika’s consciences, already satisfied of some college riot who has not had the consistency to become a truly new society.

The apocalypse of When the Earth Moves Again, with the languishing violin by Papa John Creach, the martial rhythmic and the really telluric Casady’s bass, prophesy an uncertain future, saved by the children like in The Big One's Still Coming of Blak Oak; the choral and enthusiastic vocal line turn the clock back to Volunteers, but the ground beneath the feet of the band was actually collapsing, and Balin’s abandonment severed any idea of rebirth.

A couple of years later, Sketches Of China: an oriental and allegorical liturgy opend by Mickey Hart’s gong, supported by Freiberg’s mellotron and embellished by the last upreme solo of Jerry Garcia, golden as the sun setting on Route 101 toward Sausalito. A nervous bridge and a long, almost gospel ending in slow fade. A sunset. The last gasps of the old psychedelic triplane, that was transformed into the charts & dance-floor spaceship.