La scena musicale di Boston nell'ultimo decennio ci ha offerto ottime band, soprattutto in ambito Punk-Hardcore,dai Mighty Mighty Bosstones ai Dropkick Murphys e citando questi ultimi non posso fare a meno di introdurre gli Street Dogs, ovvero il gruppo guidato dal primo cantante dei Murphys, Mike McColgan all'epoca di Do or Die.
I "Cani Randagi" finora hanno realizzato cinque album e questo Fading American Dreams risale al 2006 ed è sicuramente uno dei lavori migliori della band.
Stilisticamente gli SD fanno uno street punk sui generis dei Murphys prima maniera, quelli meno folkeggianti e più diretti, oltre che ricollegarsi alla vecchia scuola punk rock di Clash e Stiff little Fingers, ma non pensate che siano delle seconde linee, anzi proprio con questo album spiccano il salto di qualità guadagnando in personalità e maturità musicale,regalandoci ottime canzoni dal giusto tiro, con chorus immediati da cantare sottopalco e brani ben strutturati che vanno aldilà dei soliti tre accordi e della batteria "fuori a quattro quarti".
A livello di testi i contenuti spaziano dalla denuncia politica e sociale fino all vita da strada vissuta in prima persona da Mike, principale compositore del gruppo, con un passato da soldato durante la prima Guerra del Golfo e poi come Vigile del Fuoco, esperienze che lo hanno portato a contatto con persone e situazioni di cui fa spesso riferimento nei suoi testi, mai aggressivi o scontati, ma sempre riflessivi e con una punta di speranza per un futuro migliore.
Sicuramente il pezzo migliore dell'album è Final Transmission, una triste ballad dal sapore country,tanto irresistibile dal punto di vista melodico, tanto profonda a livello di contenuti: è la lettera trovata addosso ad un soldato caduto in battaglia( si presume in una delle ultime missioni USA...) dove vengono riportate le sue ultime volontà nel caso,appunto fosse rimasto ucciso in missione. Una chiara denuncia antimilitarista ed una forte posizione contro l'intervento delle truppe americane nei paesi arabi.
La sopracitata Final Transmission, insieme a Shreds of Life sono le uniche concessioni al folk, americano o Irish che sia, mentre il resto del disco è più marcatamente Punk Rock e tra gli highlights non posso non citare Not Without a Purpose (spettacolare il bridge centrale!!) e Right to Your Soul. La prima è una autocelebrazione agli sbattimenti fatti dai "cani randagi" in tutti questi anni on the road
Not without a purpose and it's not without a fight
I've got three tales to tell you so please sit tight
It's the story of three underdogs who've grown to see their light
Not without a purpose, not without a fight
mentre la seconda narra una triste e toccante vicenda di tossicodipendenza.
Because it owns, owns the rights to your soul
Numb like a mortician, funeral parlor cold
Somewhere beneath the rot lies a rose
Before the poison stream stole the rights to your soul
Rights to your soul, rights to your soul.
How do you concede young life to a dragon?
How about kicking your demons loose for a ride on the wagon?
La coscienza politico-sociale degli Street Dogs prende forma invece nella cover del "padrino del folk-punk impegnato" Billy Bragg, There's a Power in the Union e nella titletrack, uno sfogo sul famigerato "sogno americano" sempre più sbiadito ed utopico, visto che chi appartiene alla Working Class, cioè il ceto medio, deve fare i conti con la recessione, la crisi economica ed un futuro sempre più incerto
Working hard from day to day now, I get a check that barely lasts
I'm just another no choice member in Uncle Sam's desperation class
Finding it hard to face my wife, new kid born out of shotgun life
Twenty years old and I love them both, see no sunshine in our skies
Se volete iniziare a scoprire la discografia di questa band vi consiglio di partire proprio da questo disco, una bella sfilza di brani semplici, potenti e melodici che non cambiano le sorti del mondo, ma si lasciano apprezzare e non sono per nulla scontati.
FINAL TRANSMISSION
He had just turned nineteen yesterday
Wanted to be a school teacher someday
Came from a small and modest town
Had never before traveled abroad
He signed on the promise of a college fund
Pop and Mom begged him to stay at home
The last time they saw him was at an airport
He hugged his distraught mother a final time
He went abroad to serve when he was only nineteen
Reality caught up with him, stole a heart full of dreams
He's never gonna get a chance to chase all those hopes
Lost them all amidst this war and smoke
Can you hear the sound of youth negated?
Watch on TV names are taken
Mother, Mother
My final transmission
Paris Island was plain hell on earth
Got gunny yelling at him, "better prove your worth"
Moved on to Baghdad about six months on
Caught an IED today, now he is gone
He went abroad to serve when he was only nineteen
Reality caught up with him, stole a heart full of dreams
He's never gonna get a chance to chase all those hopes
Lost them all amidst this war and smoke
Can you hear the sound of youth negated?
Watch on TV names are taken
Mother, Mother
My final transmission
Dad and Mom I am your only loving son
Hid a written final transmission under my helmet
Love you both in heart and mind
A better set of parents no boy could ever find
Weep for me and say thy prayers
Remember me through all your years
Only got to serve for six months on and
If you're reading this I have passed and gone
So I harbor my final request
A letter in my memory please send
Off to the President and all his men
Begging him with others to bring the troops back home
He's never gonna get a chance to chase all those hopes
Lost them all amidst the war and smoke
Can you hear the sound of youth negated?
Watch on TV names are taken
He's never gonna get a chance to chase all those hopes
Lost them all amidst this war and smoke
Can you hear the sound of youth negated?
Why are all those young lives taken?
Mother, Mother
My final transmission
Wanted to be a school teacher someday
Came from a small and modest town
Had never before traveled abroad
He signed on the promise of a college fund
Pop and Mom begged him to stay at home
The last time they saw him was at an airport
He hugged his distraught mother a final time
He went abroad to serve when he was only nineteen
Reality caught up with him, stole a heart full of dreams
He's never gonna get a chance to chase all those hopes
Lost them all amidst this war and smoke
Can you hear the sound of youth negated?
Watch on TV names are taken
Mother, Mother
My final transmission
Paris Island was plain hell on earth
Got gunny yelling at him, "better prove your worth"
Moved on to Baghdad about six months on
Caught an IED today, now he is gone
He went abroad to serve when he was only nineteen
Reality caught up with him, stole a heart full of dreams
He's never gonna get a chance to chase all those hopes
Lost them all amidst this war and smoke
Can you hear the sound of youth negated?
Watch on TV names are taken
Mother, Mother
My final transmission
Dad and Mom I am your only loving son
Hid a written final transmission under my helmet
Love you both in heart and mind
A better set of parents no boy could ever find
Weep for me and say thy prayers
Remember me through all your years
Only got to serve for six months on and
If you're reading this I have passed and gone
So I harbor my final request
A letter in my memory please send
Off to the President and all his men
Begging him with others to bring the troops back home
He's never gonna get a chance to chase all those hopes
Lost them all amidst the war and smoke
Can you hear the sound of youth negated?
Watch on TV names are taken
He's never gonna get a chance to chase all those hopes
Lost them all amidst this war and smoke
Can you hear the sound of youth negated?
Why are all those young lives taken?
Mother, Mother
My final transmission
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