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梁碧滢 译
James Blunt无疑是2005年度欧美主流乐坛最让人惊喜的“黑马王子”。这位曾经在战乱的科索沃率领3万英国维和部队的上尉，用他那伤感而沙哑的嗓音和一首凄美得让人不能不为之动容心碎的《You Are Beautiful》，攻陷了众多乐迷的心。今年三月，在有英国“格莱美”之称的“英国流行音乐大奖”颁奖典礼上，他一举摘取“最佳流行艺人”和“最佳男歌手”两个重要奖项，而他首张专辑《Back to Bedlam》的销量步步高升，风行欧美，他的这份成绩单可谓炫目得让人难以置信。然而，所有被James Blunt打动的人都知道，他并不只是一个背着吉他、拿过往战场上的经历招摇过市的歌手。他的音乐中，有生活，有爱，有他经历过的生与死的决裂，还有让你心潮澎湃的感动……
(Terry)
The music’s romantic aspects and the
singer’s poster appeal—2)tousled hair, 3)bedroom eyes, 4)chiseled features and full mouth—have cast James Blunt as the latest pop 5)pinup.
Droll and 6)unfailingly polite, Blunt also can be defensive and a 7)tad 8)frosty, his tone hardening when he senses a 9)misperception or challenge. He smiles easily, wears a direct gaze and speaks in a 10)crisp, rapid flow, seldom pausing and 11)dodging only matters of his private life. “I find language quite limiting in capturing what’s going on in the mind,” he says. “But combined with the medium of music, I found it captured what I felt. It was a natural and almost necessary outlet.”
Blunt’s outlet yielded an intercontinental 12)commotion. Released in the UK in October 2004, Back to 13)Bedlam sold 2.4 million copies and perched nine weeks at No. 1 (unseating Coldplay) to become the year’s best-selling album in England and the biggest-selling disc in a single year since sales 14)tabulations began there in 1994. “You’re Beautiful,” a gorgeous acoustic slice of heartache and 15)futile 16)pining, spent five weeks at No. 1 last summer. He just won two 17)Brit Awards, the UK 18)equivalent of the Grammys. Blunt threatens to follow a similar 19)trajectory here in the U.S.. Bedlam has gradually built an audience, and all shows on a headline tour starting March 13 sold out the day tickets went on sale.
“Commercialism is an ugly thing to focus on,” Blunt says. “The U.S. is a very different place, and often we in Britain very naively say, ‘We’re going to invade and break America.’ I’m 20)adamant that I haven’t come here to break anyone. I hope people from any country, race or religion can relate. I’m enjoying the opportunity and the experience of connecting musically.”
Blunt hardly seemed destined for rock stardom. He grew up in a home with no stereo (except in the car) and musical training that was long-haired in the pre-’60s sense. At his mother’s urging, he took up the 21)recorder at three, the violin at five and the piano at seven.
“It was a pretty miserable experience to play Bee-thoven’s 22)Sonata in F Sharp Major repetitively,” he says. “But it was a great introduction to an understanding of music.”
Through classmates in boarding school, he got an earful of David Bowie, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Su-pertramp and The Pixies. Later he would 23)gravitate to Jeff Buckley, Paul Simon, Neil Young, Leonard Cohen and Elliott Smith.
“At that age, I was pretty naive,” Blunt says. “I hadn’t come across much. I didn’t have money to buy records. I had my parents’ one Beatles tape, one Beach Boys tape, their one Don McLean. I got myself an electric guitar when I was 14 and found I could experiment, make mistakes and write songs. I could take it away to a private place. A piano is always public.”
At 14, he 24)pledged his life to music, a calling postponed by a four-year 25)stint in the army. Born into a long line of military men, Blunt joined after graduating from Bristol University, going to Kosovo in 1999 first as a 26)reconnaissance officer in the bombing campaign and then as a peacekeeper with NATO forces. As the officer nearest the 27)Macedonia border entry point, he led the march to 28)Pristina.
“There was a column of 30,000 people behind us,” he says. “You’ve got to be a good map reader and turn left instead of right, because to arrive in Belgrade would have been 29)marginally embarrassing.”
Blunt kept a guitar strapped to his tank on patrol in Pristina, not exactly an entertainment capital.
“It was depressing,” he says. “I saw humanity at its worst and most destructive, and at the same time individuals on all sides showed incredible courage through strife.”
His war-zone experiences inspired the tune “No Bravery,” and playing it triggers flashbacks. The 30)genocide he witnessed 31)sears his memory, but you won’t catch him 32)whining about it.
In a 33)jarring shift, Capt. Blunt spent his last year of service in the Queen’s 34) Life Guard, riding horseback and sporting 35)armor, a sword, a plumed helmet and tall boots during her 2002 36)jubilee.
“It was very easy to go from that to being a rock star,” Blunt quips.
Discharged in 2002, he played London’s small clubs and began recording demos, which led to a deal with Elton John’s management firm and an opening 37)slot on the piano man’s tour. After catching him at a 2003 South by Southwest showcase in Austin, 38)Linda Perry signed Blunt to her Custard label, an Atlantic Records imprint.
While “Captain Blunt” may evoke a rapping 39)pothead, the soldier-turned-40)crooner delivered pure pop drama on Bedlam, a personal journey of pain and hope sung in a lovely but wounded voice. Blunt wowed critics, who compared him to 41)Elliott Smith, Damien Rice and David Gray, 42)perplexing since “they don’t sound anything like each other,” he says. “It’s a bizarre and remarkably simplistic comparison.”
“I write songs about my personal experiences because I need to. I wanted to say, ‘This is how I understand my life and my position here.’ If I was the only person to enjoy that, it would be fine. To be able to play live and have this connection with an audience is heart-warming. When people hear a song and tell me, ‘That’s exactly how I feel,’ it’s rewarding. The mind can be a very lonely place.”
充满浪漫奇情的音乐创作，加上
酷帅的海报造型——凌乱随性的头发、朦胧性感的眼神、清秀尖削的下巴、饱满丰润的嘴唇——让詹姆斯·布朗特成为最近流行乐坛又一备受热捧的新偶像。
逗趣古怪、彬彬有礼的布朗特有时也可以显得很自卫，有点冷冰冰，当他感觉到别人曲解他的原意、挑战他的想法时，语气调子马上会僵硬起来。平时他笑容可掬，眼神直接诚实，说话干脆流畅，很少停顿，除了私生活免谈，其它基本是畅所欲言。“我觉得，单靠语言很难完全表达出脑子里的思想感受，”他说道，“加上音乐这个媒介，我的感觉就完全出来了。那是一种很自然而且几乎是不可或缺的情感表达方式。”
布朗特的音乐可谓是技惊四海，风靡全球。2004年10月，他的创作专辑《不安于室》在英国发行，销量达240万张，高踞大碟榜首长达九个星期（踢走酷玩乐团），成为英国年度最畅销的大碟，而且是自1994年有唱片销量统计以来年度销量最大的一张专辑。其中精彩演绎情伤心痛相思无用的《你是如此美丽》在去年夏天连续五周霸占流行榜冠军位置。布朗特还获得“英国流行音乐大奖”中两个奖项，其分量相当于美国的格莱美音乐奖。在美国，他的受欢迎程度大有与英国的情形看齐之势。《不安于室》的捧场客日增，他在美国的巡回表演从3月13日开始，每场演出的门票都在售票开始的头一天被抢购一空。
“强调商业价值的这种做法是低劣的，” 布朗特说，“美国是个很不一样的地方，在英国我们常天真地说‘我们要入侵、攻陷美国市场’。我确信我来美国不是为了打垮任何人。我只是希望不同的国家、民族、宗教的人们能彼此建立关系。我享受这个机会以及在音乐方面进行沟通交流的体验。”
乍看之下，布朗特不像是注定吃摇滚音乐这行饭的人。小时候，他家里根本就没有立体音响设备（车子里倒有），也没接受过六十年代以前被视为嬉皮士之流的音乐训练。在妈妈的督促下，他三岁开始练雷高德（一种笛子），五岁开始学小提琴，七岁学钢琴。
“那时候，重重复复地练习贝多芬那些升F大调奏鸣曲是挺痛苦的，”他回想说，“不过那让我对音乐的了解起了很好的启蒙作用。”
在寄宿学校念书的时候，布朗特从同学那里大量地接触到摇滚音乐，常听的歌手、乐队包括大卫·鲍伊、齐柏林飞艇、平克·弗洛伊德、超级践踏、小妖精乐团。后来他又偏向喜欢杰夫·巴克利、保罗·西蒙、尼尔·杨、伦纳德·科恩、艾略特·史密斯。
“那时候我（对流行音乐）挺无知的，”布朗特说，“之前接触到的不多，自己没钱买唱片，只有属于父母的一盒披头士盒带、一盒海滩男孩的带子，还有一盒唐·麦克林的。14岁的时候我买了把电吉他，发现自己可以跌跌撞撞地写写歌，在创作方面做点尝试。我可以把它带到专属于自己的空间，但钢琴就做不到，钢琴总是在大庭广众之下演奏的。”
早在14岁的时候，他已立志投身音乐界，但这内心的召唤因为四年的军旅生涯而押后实现。出身于军人世家的他，在英国布里斯托大学毕业后即投身军队，1999年赴科索沃，先是任轰炸行动侦察官，后来任北约维和部队军官。当年他驻扎的地方最靠近马其顿边境入口，是他率维和部队进驻普里什蒂纳的。
“我们身后是三万人的纵队，”他回忆说，“你得很会看地图，应该是往左拐，而不是往右，要是拐错了跑到贝尔格莱德那可就尴尬了。”
在普里什蒂纳，布朗特还把吉他绑在他的巡逻坦克车外，那地方绝对不是什么娱乐之都。
“那时候一切很压抑，”他说，“我看到人性最丑陋最具破坏性的一面，同时战争中众生展现的勇气也是震撼人心的。”
布朗特的战地经历是《勇气不再》一曲的灵感源泉，每次当他弹奏起这首曲子，当时一幕幕情景又重现眼前。亲眼目睹过的种族屠杀在他记忆中烙下痛苦的印记，但你不会听见他的牢骚控诉。
最后一年的军旅生涯，布朗特上尉出乎意料地被调入了皇家近卫骑兵团。2002年英女王登基50周年大典上，你可以看到他的踪影，骑着马，身穿盔甲，手持长剑，头戴羽饰头盔，脚穿长靴。
“在马背上晃成摇滚明星，那可容易了”，布朗特抠字眼幽了一默。
2002年退伍之后，他在伦敦一些小型俱乐部演奏，并开始录制试唱带，埃尔顿·约翰的经理人公司相中了他，请他在埃尔顿·约翰的巡回演唱会的开场环节上表演。2003年，知名制作人琳达·佩里在美国德州奥斯丁举行的South by Southwest音乐节上发掘到布朗特，马上把他签到她的吉士打唱片厂牌旗下，那是隶属大西洋唱片公司的一个厂牌。
“布朗特上尉”也许让人以为又是个靠吸大麻获取灵感的说唱歌手，但在《不安于室》这张专辑中，从军人转为吟唱歌者的他以动听而略带伤痕的声音演绎了一段穿越痛苦与希望的个人旅程，上演了流行乐坛的又一完美神话。乐评人为之眼前一亮，把他比作艾略特·史密斯、戴米恩·莱斯、大卫·格雷。布朗特倒觉得有点摸不着头脑了，因为“这三个人各不相像，我怎么会同时像这三个人呢”，他说，“这样的比较太奇怪了，也过于简单化。”
“我把个人经历写进歌里是因为我有这个需要。我要告诉别人‘此时此刻，我就是这么理解自己的生活和角色立场的。’即使没有知音人，也没所谓。能够做现场表演，跟观众直接交流的感觉是很窝心的。每次听到有人在听完我的歌后说‘那正是我心中的感觉’，我就觉得值了，毕竟知音难觅啊。”
James Blunt无疑是2005年度欧美主流乐坛最让人惊喜的“黑马王子”。这位曾经在战乱的科索沃率领3万英国维和部队的上尉，用他那伤感而沙哑的嗓音和一首凄美得让人不能不为之动容心碎的《You Are Beautiful》，攻陷了众多乐迷的心。今年三月，在有英国“格莱美”之称的“英国流行音乐大奖”颁奖典礼上，他一举摘取“最佳流行艺人”和“最佳男歌手”两个重要奖项，而他首张专辑《Back to Bedlam》的销量步步高升，风行欧美，他的这份成绩单可谓炫目得让人难以置信。然而，所有被James Blunt打动的人都知道，他并不只是一个背着吉他、拿过往战场上的经历招摇过市的歌手。他的音乐中，有生活，有爱，有他经历过的生与死的决裂，还有让你心潮澎湃的感动……
(Terry)
The music’s romantic aspects and the
singer’s poster appeal—2)tousled hair, 3)bedroom eyes, 4)chiseled features and full mouth—have cast James Blunt as the latest pop 5)pinup.
Droll and 6)unfailingly polite, Blunt also can be defensive and a 7)tad 8)frosty, his tone hardening when he senses a 9)misperception or challenge. He smiles easily, wears a direct gaze and speaks in a 10)crisp, rapid flow, seldom pausing and 11)dodging only matters of his private life. “I find language quite limiting in capturing what’s going on in the mind,” he says. “But combined with the medium of music, I found it captured what I felt. It was a natural and almost necessary outlet.”
Blunt’s outlet yielded an intercontinental 12)commotion. Released in the UK in October 2004, Back to 13)Bedlam sold 2.4 million copies and perched nine weeks at No. 1 (unseating Coldplay) to become the year’s best-selling album in England and the biggest-selling disc in a single year since sales 14)tabulations began there in 1994. “You’re Beautiful,” a gorgeous acoustic slice of heartache and 15)futile 16)pining, spent five weeks at No. 1 last summer. He just won two 17)Brit Awards, the UK 18)equivalent of the Grammys. Blunt threatens to follow a similar 19)trajectory here in the U.S.. Bedlam has gradually built an audience, and all shows on a headline tour starting March 13 sold out the day tickets went on sale.
“Commercialism is an ugly thing to focus on,” Blunt says. “The U.S. is a very different place, and often we in Britain very naively say, ‘We’re going to invade and break America.’ I’m 20)adamant that I haven’t come here to break anyone. I hope people from any country, race or religion can relate. I’m enjoying the opportunity and the experience of connecting musically.”
Blunt hardly seemed destined for rock stardom. He grew up in a home with no stereo (except in the car) and musical training that was long-haired in the pre-’60s sense. At his mother’s urging, he took up the 21)recorder at three, the violin at five and the piano at seven.
“It was a pretty miserable experience to play Bee-thoven’s 22)Sonata in F Sharp Major repetitively,” he says. “But it was a great introduction to an understanding of music.”
Through classmates in boarding school, he got an earful of David Bowie, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Su-pertramp and The Pixies. Later he would 23)gravitate to Jeff Buckley, Paul Simon, Neil Young, Leonard Cohen and Elliott Smith.
“At that age, I was pretty naive,” Blunt says. “I hadn’t come across much. I didn’t have money to buy records. I had my parents’ one Beatles tape, one Beach Boys tape, their one Don McLean. I got myself an electric guitar when I was 14 and found I could experiment, make mistakes and write songs. I could take it away to a private place. A piano is always public.”
At 14, he 24)pledged his life to music, a calling postponed by a four-year 25)stint in the army. Born into a long line of military men, Blunt joined after graduating from Bristol University, going to Kosovo in 1999 first as a 26)reconnaissance officer in the bombing campaign and then as a peacekeeper with NATO forces. As the officer nearest the 27)Macedonia border entry point, he led the march to 28)Pristina.
“There was a column of 30,000 people behind us,” he says. “You’ve got to be a good map reader and turn left instead of right, because to arrive in Belgrade would have been 29)marginally embarrassing.”
Blunt kept a guitar strapped to his tank on patrol in Pristina, not exactly an entertainment capital.
“It was depressing,” he says. “I saw humanity at its worst and most destructive, and at the same time individuals on all sides showed incredible courage through strife.”
His war-zone experiences inspired the tune “No Bravery,” and playing it triggers flashbacks. The 30)genocide he witnessed 31)sears his memory, but you won’t catch him 32)whining about it.
In a 33)jarring shift, Capt. Blunt spent his last year of service in the Queen’s 34) Life Guard, riding horseback and sporting 35)armor, a sword, a plumed helmet and tall boots during her 2002 36)jubilee.
“It was very easy to go from that to being a rock star,” Blunt quips.
Discharged in 2002, he played London’s small clubs and began recording demos, which led to a deal with Elton John’s management firm and an opening 37)slot on the piano man’s tour. After catching him at a 2003 South by Southwest showcase in Austin, 38)Linda Perry signed Blunt to her Custard label, an Atlantic Records imprint.
While “Captain Blunt” may evoke a rapping 39)pothead, the soldier-turned-40)crooner delivered pure pop drama on Bedlam, a personal journey of pain and hope sung in a lovely but wounded voice. Blunt wowed critics, who compared him to 41)Elliott Smith, Damien Rice and David Gray, 42)perplexing since “they don’t sound anything like each other,” he says. “It’s a bizarre and remarkably simplistic comparison.”
“I write songs about my personal experiences because I need to. I wanted to say, ‘This is how I understand my life and my position here.’ If I was the only person to enjoy that, it would be fine. To be able to play live and have this connection with an audience is heart-warming. When people hear a song and tell me, ‘That’s exactly how I feel,’ it’s rewarding. The mind can be a very lonely place.”
充满浪漫奇情的音乐创作，加上
酷帅的海报造型——凌乱随性的头发、朦胧性感的眼神、清秀尖削的下巴、饱满丰润的嘴唇——让詹姆斯·布朗特成为最近流行乐坛又一备受热捧的新偶像。
逗趣古怪、彬彬有礼的布朗特有时也可以显得很自卫，有点冷冰冰，当他感觉到别人曲解他的原意、挑战他的想法时，语气调子马上会僵硬起来。平时他笑容可掬，眼神直接诚实，说话干脆流畅，很少停顿，除了私生活免谈，其它基本是畅所欲言。“我觉得，单靠语言很难完全表达出脑子里的思想感受，”他说道，“加上音乐这个媒介，我的感觉就完全出来了。那是一种很自然而且几乎是不可或缺的情感表达方式。”
布朗特的音乐可谓是技惊四海，风靡全球。2004年10月，他的创作专辑《不安于室》在英国发行，销量达240万张，高踞大碟榜首长达九个星期（踢走酷玩乐团），成为英国年度最畅销的大碟，而且是自1994年有唱片销量统计以来年度销量最大的一张专辑。其中精彩演绎情伤心痛相思无用的《你是如此美丽》在去年夏天连续五周霸占流行榜冠军位置。布朗特还获得“英国流行音乐大奖”中两个奖项，其分量相当于美国的格莱美音乐奖。在美国，他的受欢迎程度大有与英国的情形看齐之势。《不安于室》的捧场客日增，他在美国的巡回表演从3月13日开始，每场演出的门票都在售票开始的头一天被抢购一空。
“强调商业价值的这种做法是低劣的，” 布朗特说，“美国是个很不一样的地方，在英国我们常天真地说‘我们要入侵、攻陷美国市场’。我确信我来美国不是为了打垮任何人。我只是希望不同的国家、民族、宗教的人们能彼此建立关系。我享受这个机会以及在音乐方面进行沟通交流的体验。”
乍看之下，布朗特不像是注定吃摇滚音乐这行饭的人。小时候，他家里根本就没有立体音响设备（车子里倒有），也没接受过六十年代以前被视为嬉皮士之流的音乐训练。在妈妈的督促下，他三岁开始练雷高德（一种笛子），五岁开始学小提琴，七岁学钢琴。
“那时候，重重复复地练习贝多芬那些升F大调奏鸣曲是挺痛苦的，”他回想说，“不过那让我对音乐的了解起了很好的启蒙作用。”
在寄宿学校念书的时候，布朗特从同学那里大量地接触到摇滚音乐，常听的歌手、乐队包括大卫·鲍伊、齐柏林飞艇、平克·弗洛伊德、超级践踏、小妖精乐团。后来他又偏向喜欢杰夫·巴克利、保罗·西蒙、尼尔·杨、伦纳德·科恩、艾略特·史密斯。
“那时候我（对流行音乐）挺无知的，”布朗特说，“之前接触到的不多，自己没钱买唱片，只有属于父母的一盒披头士盒带、一盒海滩男孩的带子，还有一盒唐·麦克林的。14岁的时候我买了把电吉他，发现自己可以跌跌撞撞地写写歌，在创作方面做点尝试。我可以把它带到专属于自己的空间，但钢琴就做不到，钢琴总是在大庭广众之下演奏的。”
早在14岁的时候，他已立志投身音乐界，但这内心的召唤因为四年的军旅生涯而押后实现。出身于军人世家的他，在英国布里斯托大学毕业后即投身军队，1999年赴科索沃，先是任轰炸行动侦察官，后来任北约维和部队军官。当年他驻扎的地方最靠近马其顿边境入口，是他率维和部队进驻普里什蒂纳的。
“我们身后是三万人的纵队，”他回忆说，“你得很会看地图，应该是往左拐，而不是往右，要是拐错了跑到贝尔格莱德那可就尴尬了。”
在普里什蒂纳，布朗特还把吉他绑在他的巡逻坦克车外，那地方绝对不是什么娱乐之都。
“那时候一切很压抑，”他说，“我看到人性最丑陋最具破坏性的一面，同时战争中众生展现的勇气也是震撼人心的。”
布朗特的战地经历是《勇气不再》一曲的灵感源泉，每次当他弹奏起这首曲子，当时一幕幕情景又重现眼前。亲眼目睹过的种族屠杀在他记忆中烙下痛苦的印记，但你不会听见他的牢骚控诉。
最后一年的军旅生涯，布朗特上尉出乎意料地被调入了皇家近卫骑兵团。2002年英女王登基50周年大典上，你可以看到他的踪影，骑着马，身穿盔甲，手持长剑，头戴羽饰头盔，脚穿长靴。
“在马背上晃成摇滚明星，那可容易了”，布朗特抠字眼幽了一默。
2002年退伍之后，他在伦敦一些小型俱乐部演奏，并开始录制试唱带，埃尔顿·约翰的经理人公司相中了他，请他在埃尔顿·约翰的巡回演唱会的开场环节上表演。2003年，知名制作人琳达·佩里在美国德州奥斯丁举行的South by Southwest音乐节上发掘到布朗特，马上把他签到她的吉士打唱片厂牌旗下，那是隶属大西洋唱片公司的一个厂牌。
“布朗特上尉”也许让人以为又是个靠吸大麻获取灵感的说唱歌手，但在《不安于室》这张专辑中，从军人转为吟唱歌者的他以动听而略带伤痕的声音演绎了一段穿越痛苦与希望的个人旅程，上演了流行乐坛的又一完美神话。乐评人为之眼前一亮，把他比作艾略特·史密斯、戴米恩·莱斯、大卫·格雷。布朗特倒觉得有点摸不着头脑了，因为“这三个人各不相像，我怎么会同时像这三个人呢”，他说，“这样的比较太奇怪了，也过于简单化。”
“我把个人经历写进歌里是因为我有这个需要。我要告诉别人‘此时此刻，我就是这么理解自己的生活和角色立场的。’即使没有知音人，也没所谓。能够做现场表演，跟观众直接交流的感觉是很窝心的。每次听到有人在听完我的歌后说‘那正是我心中的感觉’，我就觉得值了，毕竟知音难觅啊。”