Testa Rosa II

by Testa Rosa

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  • Digital Album

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1.
03:56
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2.
04:17
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3.
03:38
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4.
03:17
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5.
02:49
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6.
02:26
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7.
05:02
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8.
04:08
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9.
03:28
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10.
04:55
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11.
04:51
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about

"unlike most of what passes for pop music these days, this is music with a sophisticated sound that has more in common with Steely Dan, Boz Scaggs, and Elton John's early work -- and with the vaunted 4AD sound of the 80s and 90s that made albums by the Cocteau Twins, This Mortal Coil, and Lush so listenable -- than any of the current chart-toppers featuring one-name artists hiding behind a homogenized army of faceless hit producers."
theonetruedeadangel.blogspot.com/2011/05/better-late-than-never.html

"The first half of 'II' waves and winks at girl-group flirt-pop spanning the past 50 years, while its final five tracks are contemporary triple-A rock songs fit to rotate through the left-hand side of the FM dial."
Sam Seiler, Special to the Journal Sentinel
www.jsonline.com/entertainment/musicandnightlife/109907759.html

"The good news is it's still catchy pop. The better news is that on 'Testa Rosa II' the pop is more varied and at times, well, almost symphonic."
Bobby Tanzilo - OnMilwaukee
www.onmilwaukee.com/music/articles/testarosa2.html?page=1

"Sonically the album takes singer Betty Blexrud-Strigens’ haunted pop songs and muscles and massages them with hooks galore, at times echoing vintage girl-group 45s and other times hinting at 4AD dream-jangle."
Blaine Schultz - Express Milwaukee
www.expressmilwaukee.com/article-13606-testa-rosarss-richly-arranged-second-album.html

".. refreshingly, the group sounds void of aspirations toward hipness and pays no allegiance to any one genre or period of time."
Todd Lazarksi - Milwaukee Magazine April 2011

"Testa Rosa isn’t Milwaukee’s flashiest or edgiest rock band, but on II it might be the most gorgeous."
Steven Hyden - AV Club
www.avclub.com/milwaukee/articles/testa-rosa-ii,49697/

credits

released 01 January 2011

tags

tags: alternative pop rock Milwaukee

license

all rights reserved

feeds

feeds for this album, this artist
Track Name: Big Girl
there she was working all alone
her fingers to the bone for me
while I was stuck inside my head
painting the town red

but mama i'm a big girl now
and you'll get along somehow
i know i'm gonna make you prouder than you've ever been
the world ain't such a big bad thing
i'm going for a diamond ring
guess you didn't notice i'm a big girl now

and he was money in the bank
with no one there to thank but me
for every shirt upon his back and i'm in gunney sax

but mama i'm a big girl now
and you'll get along somehow
i know i'm gonna make you prouder than you've ever been
the world ain't such a big bad thing
i'm going for a big brass ring
guess you didn't notice i'm a big girl now
Track Name: The White Cobra
hear what you say, see what you do
but it's not what leads me to you
in stunned silence from day one

your eyes say or seem to
here I stay, and me too
like blue sirens on gray dawn

oh whoa the white cobra

horizon a new day
arrives in the driveway
a smooth iron gong

the wind blows through you
frost and snow become you
like new diamonds on charcoal

oh whoa the white cobra
oh whoa the white cobra

hear you say see what you do
but it's not what leaves me blue
on one quiet sunday lawn
from day one
mm
Track Name: If Only I Had Run
weird how we get along
decided from early on
we would be in avalon

cuz all the northern lights
were like a shining knife
and then held your hand up high

and love thinking about you
can you feel it coming
ooh yeah there's something about you
makes me feel like running
you know I wonder what I might have done if only I had run

and so the world became a song
nothing we did was wrong
it was a new phenomenon

to me it felt so right
when on the darkest night
you made it brighter brighter brighter brighter brighter bright

i didn't know you were waiting with a fanfare
to rise above it all into the northern hemisphere
i see you sparkly and shiny like a sequin covered mirror
but you're brighter brighter like a lighter shining in the night

and love I'm thinking about you
can you feel it coming
ooh yeah there's something about you
makes me feel like running
you know I wonder what you might have done if only I had run
Track Name: The Black Saltwater Sea
once there was a lady i forget her name
and there was a ladies man
and everybody acted as if nobody could see
and so he pulled one over time and time again

with eyes wide shut again
even though we told you you could not depend on him
you learn to hold it in
until it's coming down a black saltwater sea

so it was he came and went and didn't care
love was just a stupid game
he'd crush her like a velvet glove and mess her pretty hair
but she'd always let him come back just the same

with eyes wide shut again
even though we told you you could not depend on him
you learn to hold it in
until it's coming down a black saltwater sea

wait wait wait she cried in vain
all the while the water rising filling up her brain
it pulled them down the drain
and it was coming down a black saltwater sea

with eyes wide shut again
even though we told you you could not depend on him
you learn to hold it in
until it's coming down a black saltwater sea
Track Name: Cavalier Mystere
I have my chapeau soleil (sun hat)
I have chaussettes de genou (socks of knee )
a panier de picnic (basket of picnic)
and sportifs blouse (sporty blouse)
turn the handle, open the door, who do you see?
only cycliste (cyclist )

I have my le costume de bain (bathing costume)
sac de plage et radio (bag of beach and radio)
I havelunettes de soleil (sunglasses)
and le grande parasol (large the parasol)
turn the handle, open the door, who do you see?
garcon de la mer (boy of the sea)

my robe de soiree lies in waiting (evening gown)
bourse et souliers too (purse and shoes)
cape de sortie it's so lonely (exit wrap)
waiting just for you

I have my tuque et gants (hat and gloves)
a pantalon de ski (ski pants)
I have le masque and foulard (mask and scarf)
montagne bottes de neige (mountain boots of snow)
turn the handle, open the door, who do you see?
only homme de ski (man of ski)

(instrum) doot doot

I have un gris cardigan (gray cardigan)
and protecteur de poche (pocket protector)
I have my calculatrice (computer)
moi aime vous étudier (me like to study you)
turn the handle, open the door, who do you see?

oui grand cerveau (yes large brain)
je vous veux (I want you)
penseur vous (thinker you)

bonjour madame, duex bichon frise? (hello madam. two curly pets?)
Track Name: Carpet Cube
do do do do do do...
Track Name: My Sin
my sin, how did you get here?
you know you're not allowed in
I thought we made that clear
but somehow you made it to my door again,
taking for granted that I need a friend.

my sin I'm giving you notice
even though I can't pretend,
now that it's coming to an end
I'm better without you

it could have been great but I'm awfully busy
and you know that there are people and places that I have to be
and I'm already late but keep them waiting
and don't forget to close the door behind you, my sin

so take a minute or all day
I'll think the words you never say
and the kind of girl you thought you were before
has turned into a sad cliche

it could have been great but I'm awfully busy
and you know that there are people and places that I have to be
and I'm already too late but keep them waiting
and don't forget to close the door behind you, my sin
Track Name: Moon Rocks
you are Apollo eleven
and moon rocks you carried home
known but to some

taken away or buried in vaults
covered in crystal, probably lost
inside a bureau of some bureaucrat
mounted on velvet, sunk into glass

in closets
kitchen cupboards
china cabinets
taken for junk

your moon rocks
who lost
your moon rocks
how could

you.. rock, you're more like diamond
from the heavens and nobody knows
unless they look close, so many colors
but like a plain rock you fit right in
down here on earth

taken away or buried in vaults
covered in crystal, probably lost
inside a bureau of some bureaucrat
mounted on velvet, sunk into glass

in closets
kitchen cupboard
china cabinet
taken for junk

your moon rocks
who lost
moon rocks
how could you?
Track Name: Last Surf
summer of mine, seventy-nine days long
counting the ways, catching a wave and you're gone
glittering sun, I have begun to see you now
in a new light, fire at night keep us warm

all of the days string along, they go on
follow a wave to you
summer has only begun now it's gone

salt in the air, sand in our hair, and our shoes
radio on, playing the summertime blues
killing the flame, feeling a change in the weather
why does it end? wish I could stay here forever

all of the days string along, they go on
follow a wave to you
summer had only begun now it's gone
Track Name: Little Boat
don't you wonder what it's made of?
iron linen dirt wood paint or love
it could never float, you're thinking
how to keep it all from sinking?

alone alone alone alone you are but one
in one and one and one and one hundred million

can i take you to another shore
it could not be worse than what i've been before
all the stars that we have never seen
how to know they're out there waiting

alone alone alone alone you are but one
in one and one and one and one hundred million

put your faith in me
we'll sail your little boat across the sea
yes the ocean is so mighty
and your little boat is so small

yes I know that you are frightened
there's no reason to believe me
when you cannot see a horizon
but how can I help you see
Track Name: The Window
the window and the cars below
surprisingly long to fall
and tomorrow will they even know
you're smiling above them all

cause you're lucky, right
no one could fill your many shoes
why would you leave it all behind you

it's ringing, on another call for ice in your lowball
and screaming on the tv show that cries through the neighbors wall
and now you're leaving cause that's what you do, don't ask me how i knew
i've seen it, written all over you, in your eyes and little lies of where you were
and there's a window i can never get through
but why take me so high just to bring me down without you