You must accept that I have no faith (since I accept that you have yours)

Well I can accept that you have your faith
So you must accept that I have none
You chase your god into your grave
I'll die alone when my days are done
All these fabulous beasts that you strike down
All this beautiful land that you claim to command
And all these wars in the name of a book
There's god in your heart but there's blood on your hands

So where are you fires of hell
So where now your golden gates
I see no angels, no heaven on high
I hear no marching of your saints
Go placidly amongst the noise and haste

Well, I know your churches are a sight to behold
And I know your stories as good as any man
I know we all have our crosses to bear
But I'll waste none of my time in desperate prayer
I've rung the bells of the Mont St-Michel
But me and the saviour were never that close
I've called into the night with no hope of reply
But I've seen the holes in the holy ghost

So where now, your peace to all men
So where now, your undeniable proof
Where is it written, in paper or stone
An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth

Piano Magic - March Of The Atheists

Ovations (Make Mine Music, 2009)

Music won't save you from anything

Sur le même thème que la musique magique chantée par Frànçois and the Atlas Mountains, mais avec un assertion opposée :

Music won't save you from anything but silence.

Not from heartbreak, not from violence.

Piano Magic, (Music Won't Save You From Anything But) Silence

Writers Without Homes (4AD, 2002)

Within The Realm Of A Dying Sun

Nouvelle série de "Crossed Covers".
Un peu froide, j'en conviens.
Comme toujours, vos éventuels compléments sont les bienvenus!

Il y a d'abord ce single de "How to Dress Well"paru l'été dernier, ainsi que l'album "Artists' Rifle" de Piano Magic...

Pas moyen de connaître l'origine de la photographie. C'est en revanche plus aisé pour Dead Can Dance:

Un caveau à portée de métro puisqu'on peut le voir au Cimetière du Père Lachaise
(Famille Raspail)

Autre classique, "Closer" de Joy Division. Je dois avouer que mon souvenir de cette pochette était assez imprécis, et je n'étais plus tout à fait sûr qu'il s'agisse bien d'une sculpture, et non d'une peinture photographiée en noir et blanc.

La première impression était la bonne:

Il s'agit d'une des nombreuses statues qu'on peut voir dans le "Cimitière Monumental de Staglieno" situé à Gênes, en Italie.
D'autres exemples, pour la route:

How to dress well - ecstasy with jojo (Transparent, 2010)
Piano Magic - Artists' Rifles (rocket girl, 2000)
Dead Can Dance - Within The Realm Of A Dying Sun
(4AD, 1987)
Joy Division - Closer (Factory, 1980)

I'm thirty two and fading fast

Ca faisait une éternité que je n'avais pas écouté Piano Magic.

La rédaction d'un article "Crossed Covers" à paraître prochainement m'en a donné l'occasion, via l'album Artists'Rifles.

My password is a dead aunt's name,

a monument, a testament,

My password is a dead aunt's name,

a cenatoph, a shallow grave

I'm thirty one and fading fast

Forget the past, repeat the past

I'm thirty two and fading fast

I started last and I finished last

Piano Magic, Password

Artists' Rifles (rocket girl, 2000)

www.piano-magic.co.uk

cromignon (ou pas)

Je crois que ça faisait un moment que je n'avais pas publié d'articles de Crossed Covers pures.
Celui-ci, vous allez vite le comprendre est lié aux chats.
Pas tous les chats, et encore moins tous les félins, juste les chats "collés" sur une pochette sans qu'on sache trop pourquoi.

Best Coast et Klaxons m'auront mis la puce à l'oreille.
J'entame cependant cette série par Themselves, et cet album de remixes sorti en 2003.

Themselves - the no music of aiff's (Anticon, 2003)
Best Coast - Crazy for you (Cooperative Music, 2010)
Klaxons - Surfing the Void (Universal, 2010)
Themselves - CrownsDown & Company (Anticon, 2010)
Mintzkov - rising sun, setting sun (Volvox, 2010)

Allez, en bonus, je vous mets la pochette de Low Birth Weight de Piano Magic,

qui reprend la Kitten Tea Party d'un certain Walter Potter
(taxidermiste anglais, fin XIX / début XXème)

Mignon et macabre à la fois...

Piano Magic - Low Birth Rate (Rocket, 1999)

Halfway through

Ma chanson préférée de l'album. Glenn Johnson écrit toujours des paroles dans lesquelles je me reconnais, ce qui est une performance, vue l'imposante discographie de Piano Magic.
Pas entièrement cette fois. Pourtant le titre même de la chanson - et donc son refrain - ont résonné dans ma tête pendant un bon moment :
"H a l f w a y t h r o u g h"

My youth, I could not drag it
I could not bring it with, so I ended up without
The house was razed, the spark was dowsed
The looks have gone but I soldier on
I'm halfway through
I'm halfway through
Oh, where to go and what to do?

Well, I came of age then I withdrew
Well, I came of age, then hitherto

Halfway through
Halfway through
Oh, where to go and what to do
Now everything is overdue?

The mirror needn't bother
For I'll never know tomorrow

Well, I came of age then I withdrew
Well, I came of age, then hitherto

Halfway through
Halfway through
Oh, where to go and what to do
Now everything is overdue?

Piano Magic - Halfway Through
Part Monster (Important Records, 2007)
www.myspace.com/lowbirthweight

Love and Music

Well, i left home when i was 16
I had no reason, had no rhyme
I did not know where i was going
It did not matter at that time

And there were people on the street, people on the street
The strangest people that you'd ever meet
There were people on the street, people on the street
The strangest people that you'd ever meet

I got a job in the factory
I broke my back, i swept the floor
I met a girl who said she loved me
I hadn't heard those words before

And all i knew was love and music
Love and music got me by
And all i need is love and music
Love and music 'till i die

All i need is love and music
Love and music gets me by
All i need is love and music
Love and music 'till i die

Piano Magic - Love & Music
Disaffected (Talitres, 2005)
www.myspace.com/lowbirthweight

Anything can happen in life (especially nothing)

Anything can happen in life -
especially nothing, mainly nothing.
Once you know that, you're fine.
Once you know that, you can retire.
Set your clock by your heart.
Work's over-rated and it will kill you.
Finish nothing you start
and start nothing you think you'll continue.

I'm disaffected now.
I'm disaffected now.

And to this model I've kept.
I surface at 3 in the clothes that I slept in.
And though I'm drowning in debt,
I'm richer through all the things I'm rejecting.
And in a rare, certain light,
I have a strange charm, I think you'd like me.
And the rain brings me out.
The rain makes me happy.

I'm disaffected now.
I'm disaffected now.

Set your clock by your heart.
Work's over-rated and it will kill you.

Piano Magic - Disaffected
Disaffected (Talitres, 2005)
www.myspace.com/lowbirthweight