Elliott Murphy

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Elliott Murphy is a talented songwriter, drawing worthy comparisons to Bob Dylan, and his songs of loss and survival are delivered with a haggard voice and punchy Rock & Folk arrangements. Elliott Murphy has released a dozen or so records that have made him a treasure in Paris, where he lives.

Elliott Murphy grew up in an upper-middle-class family. Acquiring his first guitar at the age of 12, Elliott Murphy quickly advanced on the instrument. Within a year, he was playing in his first band. In 1966, Elliott Murphy's band the Rapsillions, placed first in a New York statewide Battle of the Bands.
Together with his brother Matthew Murphy, Elliott Murphy spent the late 1960s in Europe, performing his original tunes in subway stations and street corners. Elliott Murphy also had a bit role in Federico Fellini's 1972 film "Roma". Returning to the United States in 1973, Elliott Murphy formed a band, "Elliott Murphy's Aquashow". Performing frequently at New York hot spots, including Max's Kansas City and the Mercer Arts Center, Elliott Murphy and the group became associated with the art-rock scene that included Patti Smith and the New York Dolls.

Although their 1975 debut album, "Aquashow", was critically acclaimed, it failed to break through commercially. Elliott Murphy's subsequent 1970s recordings - "Lost Generation", "Night Lights" and "Just a Story From America" - sold poorly. In 1980, Elliott Murphy launched his own record label, Courtesan, with a six-song EP, "Affairs". The following year, he released a folk-rock album, "Murph the Surf". Elliott Murphy's album "Party Girls/Broken Poets", released in 1984, was nominated for a New York Music Award as Album of the Year.

Elliott Murphy has consistently worked with innovative producers. "Milwaukee", released in 1986, was produced by Jerry Harrison of the Talking Heads, while "Change Will Come", released in 1987, was produced by James Ball of the Smithereens. A live album, "Hot Point", released in 1989, featured lead guitar by Chris Spedding. Despite the state-of-the-art sound of his albums, Elliott Murphy continued to encounter commercial resistance in the United States. In Europe, however, it was a much different scenario. Elliott Murphy's concerts were packed by enthusiastic audiences while his albums sold well. In 1990, Elliott Murphy emigrated to Paris, where he continues to live with his wife, Francoise, and his son, Gaspard Murphy.
Shortly after moving to Paris, Elliott Murphy released a 24-song album, 12, that was shortened and rechristened "Unreal City "upon release in the United States. In 1995, Elliott Murphy assembled a new band that featured drummer Andy Newmark (Roxy Music, Eric Clapton), acoustic and electric bassist Cuch Merchan (Eurythmics) and percussionist Luis Jardim (Rolling Stones). Recorded at ICP Studios in Brussels, Belgium, the album included a duet with Bruce Springsteen on Elliott Murphy's tune "Everything I Do (Leads Me Back to You)" In 1998, Elliott Murphy returned with the album "Beauregard". "Terre Commune" was issued in 2001.

In addition to his career as a musician, Elliott Murphy has been active as a writer, penning the liner notes for the "Velvet Underground's 1969 Live" and the Violent Femmes' "Add It Up" (1981-1993). Elliott Murphy's articles have been published by Spin and Rolling Stone magazines and have included feature stories on Tom Waits and Keith Richards. Elliott Murphy has also published a novel, "Cold and Electric", and two collections of his short stories. - main sources from Craig Harris, All Music Guide


Never Say Never The Best Of 1995 - 2005

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Folk/Rock | MP3 192 Kbps | 100 Mb | 2005


Except for its earliest period, 1973-1977, Elliott Murphy's recording career has been conducted on small, independent record labels, many of them in Europe, some of them founded by him. As such, Murphy has never had a hit single, but his concerts and recordings have been successful enough to earn him a faithful cult following that allows his career to go on, and he has periodically assembled compilations to sum up phases in that career. Diamonds by the Yard: A Career Retrospective, 1973-1977 cherry-picked the major-label years; Going Through Something: The Best of Elliott Murphy covered the period 1978 through 1991; and now Never Say Never takes the artist from the mid-'90s to the mid-2000s. Murphy is a consistent performer who has hewed to a similar style throughout his career. Strongly influenced by the folk-rock style of Bob Dylan and inspired by his readings in English literature, he writes and performs literate, poetic songs that reflect on life and love, employing rich imagery with an increasingly wry, dispassionate perspective worthy of Leonard Cohen. Blowing on a harmonica, strumming an acoustic guitar, and fronting a rock rhythm section (usually with a second guitar and sometimes keyboards), he sings those songs in a wheezy tenor reminiscent of Tom Petty, but less adenoidal. The ten songs he draws from his albums of the period are typically melodic efforts, leaning toward his more romantic side, and he makes room for a couple of long story-songs (the seven-minute "On Romeo Street" and the ten-minute "Put It Down") that recall such Dylan efforts as "Desolation Row." "Ground Zero" is a heartfelt evocation of 9/11, and the ballad "Everything I Do (Leads Me Back to You)" is a duet with Bruce Springsteen. There are also four previously unreleased tracks, of which the best is the dream song "My Father's House." "Dirty Old Man," on the other hand, may not really belong on an album claiming to contain the artist's best, but it is an amusing change-of-pace novelty. The album comes with a DVD that features five songs drawn from a concert in Ferrara, including such old favorites as "Last of the Rock Stars." There are also two music videos, a discography, and a brief biography.


Tracklist:
01. Never Say Never
02. Come On Louann
03. Small Room
04. A Little Push
05. On Romeo Street
06. Tell Me Murphy
07. Ground Zero
08. Green River
09. Dirty Old Man
10. My Father's House
11. Long Time Coming
12. Put It Down
13. Hard Core
14. Everything I Do (Leads Me Back To You)




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Alive In Paris

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Folk/Rock | MP3 VBR V0 ~250 Kbps | 143 Mb | 2009
Covers included


ELLIOTT MURPHY about his new live album Alive In Paris: "It was the last thing I expected when I moved to France nearly 20 years ago - that my career would be celebrated in a wonderful exhibition at the beautiful town hall of the 6th Arrondisement near Boulevard St. Germain on the left bank of Paris. Gilles Pidard from Paris University 7, along with the help of my wife Françoise Viallon-Murphy and my unofficial archivist Franck Dumaine, managed to pull out hundreds of photos, posters, album covers, writings and everything else you can imagine to put together a truly captivating show. The exhibition ran for nearly three weeks and had hundreds of visitors from all over the world. Even I learned some things about myself. The Last of the Rock Stars expo was topped with a concert in the Salles de Fete of the town hall on 26 September 2008. The place was packed - around 500 people they tell me - and I was joined by Olivier Durand and The Normandy All Stars. Gilles arranged for the whole evening to be filmed and recorded and the images really captured the excitement of this very special evening. The only problem was that the balance of the audio was flawed but luckily two of my fans - Xavier and Pierre - came to the rescue. They had recorded the complete concert themselves and their recordings were absolutely perfect! We put it all together with the help of Julius and Mikael in Le Havre and François in Paris and I honestly can say that Alive In Paris is a fine representation of the excitement both fans and me and my musicians feel each of the one hundred plus nights we hit the stage every year. But this night, in my adopted hometown of Paris was truly an evening that touched my heart and that I will never forget. And I proud to say that I am ALIVE IN PARIS!


Tracklist:

01. Crepescule
02. Sonny
03. Green River
04. Pneumonia Alley
05. Ophelia
06. Canaries In The Mind
07. You Never Know What You're In For
08. Last Of The Rock Stars
09. On Elvis Presley's Birthday
10. A Touch Of Kindness
11. And General Robert E. Lee
12. Diamonds By The Yard




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Notes From The Underground

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Folk/Rock | MP3 VBR V2 ~186 Kbps | 85 Mb | 2008
Covers included


Notes from the Underground is almost the journal of a forgotten man; one whose every pillar has crumbled into dust, with the exception of his humanity. Listening to this set is like going through a recently discovered journal of a poet who has simply vanished into the ether. It's full of intimacies most people would write down in code, if at all, to keep from being discovered. Elliott Murphy is backed by a hot band led by guitarist Olivier Durand and featuring Kenny Margolis on organs, pianos, strings, and accordion, with bassist Laurent Pardo, and drummer Alan Fatras with percussionist Florent Barbier adding some extra texture and bottom end dimension. Murphy's son Gaspard guests on guitar on "Frankenstein's Daughter." The reason for mentioning this band at all is that they are so intrinsic to the intimate atmosphere on this set. Murphy's voice has gotten lower with time, and he's obviously looked back to his early inspirations as both he, and they, have aged. Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen are obvious influences, but Murphy also revisits himself some years on. "And General Robert E. Lee," which opens the set, goes right back to his Night Lights album with its blurry flurry of images, minor chords, and strutting electric and acoustic guitars, with Durand's slide and Margolis' upright piano adding the close-to-the-rails desperation Murphy has always done so well. It's a tune populated with ghosts and archetypes, from the seeming subject in the title to James Cagney a "bad princess," Charlie Chaplin, Jules Verne, Captain Hook and "no Peter Pan," as well as a "dead pharaoh," and "Telstar." Yeah. Murphy pulls it off without seeming the least bit silly. All of the memory evoked in this mid-tempo rocker suggests that these archetypes are wound as tightly in the protagonist's mind and heart as the lover he is speaking to.

The Dylan influence is evidence is most clearly heard in the striking, haunting, country-ish "The Valley Below" that feels like a hymn. It is so close to Dylan that had he written it, it would have appeared on Modern Times; Murphy's low-end vocal even resembles Dylan's and the production is a dead ringer. That's said, it's way more than a knock-off. It's a love song delivered in the moment, but it projects toward the eternal. It's a song about living immediately because it passes so quickly, and could almost be written as pledge and an elegy: "So let us cross over the river/And let us rest in the shade of the trees/Let us gaze upon each other/Let us fall upon our knees/Let us kiss the longest kiss/That would last a thousand years/A century — a lifetime — and my love would still be here." "On My Mind" is another love song that reflects in very mature terms the troubling, astounding mystery of new love finding the protagonist later in life. Durand's guitar and Margolis' organ paint this tune attentively and warmly, but also offer a taut bite that recalls and reminds the listener of the grace and danger in a moment like this. Throughout the album, Murphy's heroes and anti-heroes reveal themselves to be the exact right size. His larger than life outlaws and outcasts are boiled down into a confused man trying to make sense of his blessings and sins, and reconciling his desires with reality. He may long for a few moments for the days of yore, but he realizes that they've led to the present and he hasn't anything to complain about; he's not content, but he's not ravenous, either. Notes from the Underground is a solid, consistent, and tender part of Murphy's catalog. It's a rock record from a man who is trying to accept aging gracefully, but still has a wild child beating in his heart. It's an album for anybody with regrets, anyone who has willingly left anywhere never to return, and anybody willing to accept the cost of great love on its own terms. The bottom line: it's his best record in a decade at least.


Tracklist:

01. And General Robert E. Lee
02. Lost and Lonely
03. The Valley Below
04. On My Mind
05. Ophelia
06. What's That
07. Crepuscule
08. Scandinavian Skies
09. Razzmatazz
10. Frankenstein's Daughter
11. Crying Creatures Of The Universe




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Coming Home Again

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Folk/Rock | MP3 VBR V2 ~184 Kbps | 85 Mb | 2007
Covers included


From the opening drum fill of "Pneumonia Alley" it's clear that Elliott Murphy's 29th album Coming Home Again is something very special in the career of this legendary singer-songwriter. Coming Home Again is already being talked about as a return to the classic Murphy songwriting style that marked his early albums Aquashow and Just A Story From America. Recorded in Le Havre, France with a talented crew of musicians from Europe and America including virtuoso French guitarist Olivier Durand and New York keyboardist Kenny Margolis. In this impressive collection of 13 new songs Murphy tips his hat to cultural icons as diverse as Hemingway and Paris Hilton and exotic locales from India to Veracruz although the music and words belongs to that mythical place his fans now call Murphyland. They will even give you a passport if you ask!*

Coming Home Again features moving anthems ("Pneumonia Alley") and righteous rockers ("Marianne's Garage Sale") and of course the tender ballads Murphy is famous for "(Making Friends With The Dead" & "Home Again") as well as a eulogy to a fallen musical comrade ("Jesse"). The album includes a track so radio-friendly ("A Touch of Kindness") that perhaps we'll be hearing Elliott Murphy back on the radio all over the world once again as with his FM hits of the past "Drive All Night" and "Anastasia."

Murphy (who with guitarist Olivier Durand plays over 100 shows a year all over Europe) says that most of the songs were recently written on the road: "After my blues album Murphy Gets Muddy I wanted to get back to a rich and diverse sound and I was confident that my current band (drummer Alan Fatras [ex-Moon Martin] and bassist Laurent Pardo [ex-Kid Pharoen] and of course guitarist Olivier Durand could give me what I wanted to hear when we went into the studio. In fact, I could hear the finished songs in my head even before we began recording and all the musicians seemed to read my mind. We recorded in-between tours at Florent Barbier's [ex-Roadrunners] brand new studio in Le Havre. For many years now I've been an expatriate American musician living in Paris and on the road and to tell the truth I don't know where home is anymore. But I know that Coming Home Again is where I want to be."

Come home to the legendary sound of singer-songwriter Elliott Murphy with Coming Home Again and you'll never want to leave!


Tracklist:

01. Pneumonia Alley
02. As Good As
03. A Touch Of Kindness
04. Making Friends With The Dead
05. 40 Days And 40 Nights
06. Losing It
07. The Prince Of Chaos
08. Mary Ann's Garage Sale
09. Not Enough Time
10. Johnny Boy Gone
11. Canaries In The Mind
12. Jesse
13. Home Again




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Strings Of The Storm

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Folk/Rock | MP3 192 Kbps | 74 Mb | 2003
Covers included


At age 54, Elliott Murphy has been recording albums of his original compositions regularly for 30 years, and unlike some musicians who have been at it that long (such as Neil Young, whose raucous, Crazy Horse-style guitar playing is echoed on this album's leadoff track and whose After the Gold Rush ballad "Birds" is covered under the title "Bird"), he hasn't changed much about his musical or lyrical approach in that time. The Elliott Murphy of 2003 is not very different from the Elliott Murphy of 1973. He still writes semi-autobiographical songs full of poetic imagery and literary references (The Great Gatsby and Samuel Beckett are favorites), and he still sets them to folk-rock arrangements that call to mind Bob Dylan. If one thing has changed, it is that, for the first several years of his recording career, Murphy worked for major labels that presumably gave him bigger recording budgets and exercised some degree of editorial control over his work. But over the last couple of decades, he has been making his albums for small labels, doubtless recording on a shoestring at times, but pretty much able to do as he liked. The sprawling Strings of the Storm is as good an example of this as any of his albums; in fact, perhaps a better one than most. It is a two-CD studio recording of 21 new original songs (in addition to "Bird," there is a cover of the traditional song "The Banks of the Ohio," for a total of 23 tracks), with a running time over an hour and three-quarters. Murphy leads an acoustic band for the most part, playing his guitar and accompanied by lead guitarist Olivier Durand (whose efforts, which also include a handful of co-writing credits and some singing, earn him a featured billing on the album), longtime bassist Ernie Brooks, and drummer Danny Montgomery, with some added percussion and keyboards here and there, notably Kenny Margolis' accordion, plus frequent harmony vocals by Cindy Bullens. Singing in a gruff conversational voice, Murphy frequently expresses romantic regret, especially in the songs on the second disc, his rueful world-weariness tempered by a lingering, wistful sense of the wonder of romance. This is an album for fans of late-period Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan if they are interested in hearing from another mature, self-reflective musical poet who is hanging in despite life's disappointments, hoping against hope for the next great love or at least still taking aesthetic pleasure in life's emotional and philosophical complexities.


TrackList:

CD 1:

01. Green River
02. Night Falls
03. The Best Kiss
04. Big Sky
05. The Poet And The Priest
06. Le Future
07. Temple Bar
08. The Banks Of The Ohio
09. The Last Star Of The Night
10. Day Is Done
11. From Room 102


CD 2:

01. A Mountain Of Love
02. Mick's Dream
03. La Belle Dame Sans Merci
04. Everybody Got Lucky
05. Look Around You
06. Cutting The Cake
07. Bird
08. Jet-Lag
09. Moan
10. O Catarina
11. The Red Lights/Ground Zero




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Soul Surfing

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Folk/Rock | MP3 192 Kbps | 75 Mb | 2002
Covers included

This umpteenth album from the very prolific Elliott Murphy has at least as much commercial potential as anything he's done since the 1970s. Certainly "Come on Louann" is about as catchy as pop tunes get, and tracks like "A Little Push" and "Irish Eyes" have addictive hooks as well. Throughout the ballad-dominated set, Murphy proves his vocal skill and versatility. The instrumentation, mostly by his longtime cohorts, is terrifically imaginative, with mandolin and accordion appearing prominently and male and female backup vocalists chiming in at just the right times. The original lyrics, mostly about love and mostly melancholy, are as distinctive as you'd expect from Murphy and the two non-originals — Tom Waits' "Hold On" and Toussaint McCall's "Nothing Can Take the Place of You" — garner powerful performances. Murphy's low-key, vocals-upfront production is just right. Once again, you have to wonder why this guy isn't famous.


Tracklist:

01. Come On Louann
02. Strangers On A Train
03. A Little Push
04. Eiffel Tower Blue
05. Fix Me A Coffee
06. Dragon
07. Irish Eyes
08. Tell Me
09. Doctor Of Mercy
10. Black Crow
11. Hold On
12. Nothing Can Take The Place Of You




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Last Of The Rock Stars... And Me And You

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Folk/Rock | MP3 192 Kbps | 165 Mb | 2001


This Spanish tour document isn't the first, second, or even third live album from Elliott Murphy, but it's the best on several counts. For starters, there's simply a lot of it: two long discs, the first devoted to performances by a five-man band, the second to shows where only a guitarist and an accordionist/pianist backed Murphy. And the 22 tracks do a fine job of hitting the high points from the artist's extensive career. The collection opens with the classic "Last of the Rock Stars," the same track that led off Murphy's first album in 1973. It also includes standouts from other early- and mid-career discs; some later winners (notably the epic "Put It Down"); and a trio of well-chosen covers from Dylan, Neil Young, and Willie Dixon. Murphy is in fine voice throughout and the band is easily the strongest he's ever recorded with. The gripes: Two songs appear on both the band and trio CDs, and while the versions differ substantially, you could argue that the space might have been better-used to include even more from Murphy's huge catalog. Also, the singer still hasn't corrected the spelling in the title "Somebodies Anniversary." Oh well. Nobody's perfect — but Murphy comes close with this album.


TrackList:

CD 1:

01. Last Of The Rock Stars
02. Little Red Rooster
03. Take Your Love Away
04. Hard Core
05. Drive All Night
06. Somebodies Anniversary
07. Caught Short In The Long Run
08. Diamonds By The Yard
09. Put It Down
10. Hollywood
11. Rock Ballad
12. Party Girls And Broken Poets


CD 2:

01. Thirty Was a Long Time Ago
02. Last of the Rock Stars
03. On Elvis Presley's Birthday
04. I Wish I Was Picasso
05. Caught Short in the Long Run
06. Blind Willie McTell
07. Anastasia
08. Dusty Roses
09. Change Will Come
10. Cortez The Killer




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Elliot Murphy & Iain Matthews - La Terre Commune

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Folk/Rock | MP3 320 Kbps | 135 Mb | 2001
Covers included


A collaboration stemming from longtime mutual admiration, Iain Matthews and Elliott Murphy find more than a little common ground on La Terre Commune. With each contributing four songs to covers of Bob Dylan's "Blind Willie McTell," Bruce Springsteen's "Sad Eyes," and Jesse Colin Young's "Darkness, Darkness," the two succeed in creating a seamlessly cohesive song cycle. Allowing each other to stake out his own territory in the recording process, Murphy and Matthews complement each other extremely well, not just vocally, but stylistically. Though generally soaked in a contemporary folk-rock aesthetic, their collaboration rocks with heartland soulfulness when not visiting the more pensive moments of Murphy's "Navy Blue" and "Dusty Roses." Similarly, Matthew's "Close to the Bone" recalls the homespun folkiness of Neil Young with its starkly languid tones. Bertold Brecht and Kurt Weill's "The Ballad of the Soldier's Wife" is given a menacing Tom Waits-like feel, with Matthews employing his best raspy growl. Overall, Murphy and Matthews achieve a rare synergy that is mutually gratifying for both songwriters.


Tracklist:

01. One Cold Street
02. Blind Willie McTell
03. Close To The Bone
04. Navy Blue
05. Darkness, Darkness
06. Big Umbrella
07. She's A Mystery
08. I Want To Talk To You
09. Fading Fast
10. Dusty Roses
11. The Ballad Of The Soldier's Wife
12. Sad Eyes
13. Unconditionally




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Rainy Season

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Folk/Rock | MP3 192 Kbps | 74 Mb | 2000
Covers included


Around the same time this album came out, Murphy released the excellent but not exactly trail-blazing April, a live CD that featured faithful covers of some of his earlier recordings. Think that package indicated a creative dry spell? Think again, because here comes Rainy Season, replete with some of Murphy's strongest new songs ever. As always, love relationships are a primary obsession, but there's also a fine tune about growing older in a changing world ("Thirty Was a Long Time Ago") and a high-spirited cover of Willie Dixon's "Little Red Rooster." "Put It Down," which at more than ten minutes may be the longest song Murphy has recorded, is probably worth the price of admission all by itself. It's just as abstruse at times as Dylan's "Brownsville Girl," and just as irresistible. Until its American release, this album is available from

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. Note that German and Spanish versions feature slightly different track lineups.


Tracklist:

01. Thirty Was A Long Time Ago
02. The Day After Valentine's Day
03. Lo And Behold
04. New World Order
05. Little Red Rooster
06. Immigration Cross The Nation
07. On Romeo Street
08. I Wish I Was Picasso
09. Fool For Love
10. Bullet
11. Put It Down




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Elliott Murphy With Olivier Durand - April: A Live Album

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Folk/Rock | MP3 192 Kbps | 87 Mb | 2000
Covers included


Elliott Murphy's second officially released concert album is a first-rate effort, with strong guitar backup by longtime cohort Olivier Durand. Just don't expect much in the way of surprises. Granted, Murphy serves up a couple of new (for him) rock chestnuts — "Gloria" and the Stones' "Wild Horses" — but most of the other songs find him on very familiar turf. The lead-off track, "You Never Know What You're in For," also opened his previous live CD, and three of the other 11 songs were on that disk as well. Moreover, while these are acoustic versions, they vary little from the original arrangements. A few entertaining spoken intros aside, the concert setting doesn't add much. In fact, this sounds more like a live-in-the-studio effort than a concert: Either the audience was very small or very quiet or it's very de-emphasized in the mix. At any rate, you'll barely know it's there. That said, it's hard to imagine a Murphy fan who'd regret adding this one to the shelf. The album, after all, taps some of his best compositions. There are early standouts like "Drive All Night" — Murphy's "Born to Run," more or less — and "Rock Ballad," as well as recent high points such as "Sicily" and "On Elvis Presley's Birthday," a recollection of the singer's father. Note that several European versions of this album are available, and each has a slightly different track lineup. The Spanish edition — the one reviewed here — is the only one to include lyrics (in English and Spanish).


Tracklist:

01. You Never Know What You're In For
02. Sicily
03. Take Your Love Away
04. Hard Core
05. Drive All Night
06. On Elvis Presley's Birthday
07. Caught Short In The Long Run
08. Diamonds By The Yard
09. Party Girls & Broken Poets/Gloria
10. Rock Ballad
11. Wild Horses
12. Been Up These Stairs Before




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Beauregard

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Folk/Rock | MP3 192 Kbps | 70 Mb | 1998
Covers included


Murphy's first album for his new French label opens with the sound of church bells in Paris, where he has lived for years. After that opening, though, come lyrics that are heavily sprinkled with references to Texas, Memphis, New York City, Denver, and other stateside locales. Like most of Murphy's earlier albums, in other words, this one finds him preoccupied with his native America. That's not to say that the disc isn't full of surprises; in fact, it ranks among his most adventurous collections in quite some time. Among the boldest experiments: the hypnotic "O Wyoming," a sort of country rap number that's not at all what you'd expect from either Murphy or rap; the hook-laden "Hard Core," which may be Murphy's strongest bid yet for commercial success; and "Made in Freud," one of several tracks to feature the elegant violin work of Nils De Caster. Other highlights include the affecting "Somebodies Anniversary" (spelling may not be this artist's strong point); the lilting "Small Room," a rather improbable but nevertheless hard-to-resist tale of love and murder; and "Saint Elmo's Hotel," which features one of Elliott's finest lyrics about lost love. Throughout, Murphy sounds confident, energized, and eager to take chances. And the bulk of those chances pay off.


Tracklist:

01. Bells Of Beauregard
02. Somebodies Anniversary
03. Made In Freud
04. O Wyoming
05. Hard Core
06. Moving Sky
07. Well Intentioned Pedestrians
08. Small Room
09. Sonny
10. Last Train To Memphis
11. St. Elmo's Motel
12. You Can't Go Home
13. All These Days
14. Glorious Feeling
15. As Bad As It Gets




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Selling The Gold

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Folk/Rock | MP3 320 Kbps | 91 Mb | 1995


On his eighth studio album of new original material (his 15th release overall) and first in five years, Elliott Murphy returned to a style familiar from his first several albums of the 1970s, singing a group of folk-rock songs full of highly literate lyrics that commented on modern life from an ironic perspective. Many years into European expatriation, the ex-New Yorker, turning on CNN, still found reasons to send "Love to America," as the leadoff track proclaimed. But in the album's strongest track, "Real Time," he showed skepticism about the brave new world of software and virtual reality, describing the future as, "A universe of aging celebrities on the run/In made for TV movies, repackaged compact discs/They call it home entertainment/It's the same old sh*t." Murphy recommended his listeners read a book instead. He also turned personal at times, recalling departed friends such as Andy Warhol and Federico Fellini (in one of whose films he had appeared), and reflecting on the changes in his domestic life in "A Whole New World." The playing was excellent, and Murphy was joined on one song by Bruce Springsteen, with whom he has always shared a sensibility, and on another by the Violent Femmes, whose work he has influenced.


Tracklist:

01. Love To America
02. Take Your Love Away
03. Everything I Do (Leads Me Back To You)
04. Taste The Good Life
05. Selling The Gold
06. A Whole New World
07. Buddy And Peggy Sue
08. Real Time
09. Is Fellini Really Dead?
10. Then I'm Gonna Make Love To You
11. King Of The Serpentine




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Unreal City

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Folk/Rock | MP3 192 Kbps | 74 Mb | 1993
Covers Included


"What I wanted was a simple production of provocative performances: a non-concert live album," writes Elliott Murphy in the liner notes to Unreal City, an abridged, revised, and resequenced version of his 1990 album 12, which was released outside the U.S. in 1990. (12 had 21 tracks; Unreal City 15, 12 of which were on the earlier album.) The songs ("a diary of sorts," according to the songwriter) include reminiscences of childhood along with comments on his new status as a father as well as Murphy's reflections on his career as a journeyman singer/songwriter. "Some say my songs are long and much too complicated," he sings in "Sicily (Tropic of Separation)," "but they're highly personal / I say they're underrated." They are also underproduced on this record as compared to some of his earlier albums, which gives them a more direct appeal. Fans may regret that the album has been cut down for domestic release, but in fact, 12 was a sprawling work; Unreal City benefits from the deletion of extraneous songs and the addition of a few better ones, and, at close to 54 minutes, it's still a full-length record.


Tracklist:

01. Sicily (Tropic Of Separation)
02. I Couldn't Touch You
03. The Price I Pay
04. Destiny
05. The Malady And The Medicine
06. Rio Grande Revisited
07. On Elvis Presley's Birthday
08. The Epicenter
09. On The Wings Of Icarus
10. Sacrifice DJ Premier
11. Automatic Erotic
12. Eliza
13. Greetings From Sydney
14. Something Like Steve McQueen
15. Let It Rain




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Live Hot Point

[IMG]http://i49.*******.com/k4htls.jpg[/IMG]
Folk/Rock | MP3 192 Kbps | 124 Mb | 1989
Covers Included


In the 1980s, as his career was virtually extinguished in the U.S., Elliott Murphy became a headliner in Europe, an unusual occurrence if only because his wordy songs would have seemed to have too many nuances to be appreciated fully to those for whom English is a second language. In part, though, it was Murphy's live shows that built his following, and his first live album, not released in the U.S., helps show how. This hour-long performance, which was recorded live at the Hot Point Festival in Lausanne, Switzerland, on June 17, 1989, finds Murphy with his regular rhythm section of Ernie Brooks (bass) and Tony Machine (drums), plus keyboard player Art Labriola, and "special guest" guitarist Chris Spedding, who takes over mid-set for a couple of his own numbers. Murphy cherry-picks the best songs from his back catalog, going back to 1973's Aquashow ("The Last of the Rock Stars") and 1977's Just a Story from America (the title track and "Drive All Night"), as well as including more recent compositions. Since Murphy's writing and performing style hasn't changed much over the years, the material is consistent, and the album serves as a live "best of."


Tracklist:

01. You Never Know What You're In For
02. The Eyes Of The Children Of Maria
03. The Last Of The Rock Stars
04. Change Will Come
05. Rock Ballad
06. Silver Bullet
07. Hey Miss Betty
08. Ballad Of Me
09. 35 Millimeter Dreams
10. Wild In The Streets
11. Diamonds By The Yard
12. Drive All Night
13. How's The Family
14. Just A Story From America
15. Route 66




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Milwaukee

[IMG]http://i50.*******.com/fn7blj.jpg[/IMG]
Folk/Rock | MP3 VBR V0 ~245 Kbps | 78 Mb | 1986
Covers Included


Murphy adopts a more contemporary rock sound (with production on two tracks by Talking Head Jerry Harrison) for songs often touching on hard and desperate themes.


Tracklist:

01. Taking The Silence
02. People Don't Learn
03. Out for The Killing
04. Sister Real
05. Niagara Falls
06. Runnin' Around
07. Clean It Up
08. Texas
09. He Who Laughs Last (Laughs Alone)
10. Going Through Something (Don't Know What It Is)




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Party Girls & Broken Poets

[IMG]http://i48.*******.com/2crog1x.jpg[/IMG]
Folk/Rock | MP3 192 Kbps | 69 Mb | 1984


Party Girls & Broken Poets is an elegant album by underground visionary Elliott Murphy. The black-and-white cover on gold and white gives a hint to the music inside. The first portion of the album takes a while to kick in, until the third song, "Dr. Calabash." It's a real grabber that is perhaps the strongest track here. With co-production and bass supplied by ex-Modern Lover Ernie Brooks, the sensibilities are in place, but what's missing from Murphy's music is that little extra edge that early Jonathan Richman contained — the spark caught from obsession with the Velvet Underground. "Something New" is a perfect example of how the artist can sometimes miss the mark. It's a cute little pop tune, but it doesn't have the magnetism of, say, the Modern Lovers' "Astral Plane" or Johnny Thunder's "In Cold Blood." "Last Call" is a fine song with a wonderful hook. It may be what inspired Murphy's French recording company to call themselves Last Call Records; previously they were New Rose taken from the Damned song of the same name. The title track, "Party Girls and Broken Poets," is nicely insightful, and "Like a Rocket" has its moments as well. Guest appearances by David Johansen and Violent Femmes' Brian Ritchie on "Blues Responsibility" still can't keep it from sounding like John Cougar Mellencamp, and for Elliott Murphy's audience, that's not a plus. On "The Streets of New York," the poet sees "only people." Don't believe it for a moment — he sees a lot more than people, but it might take a Bob Ezrin or Jack Douglas old-school producer to help him refine that intuition. He's an interesting and prolific artist with a fan base, and this is a worthwhile recording nonetheless.


Tracklist:

01. Three Complete American Novels
02. Winners, Losers, Beggars, Choosers
03. Doctor Calabash
04. Blues Responsibility
05. Saving Time
06. Party Girls and Broken Poets
07. Like A Rocket
08. Last Call
09. Something New
10. The Streets Of New York
11. In A Minute
12. Everybody Knows (Niagra Falls)




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Murph The Surf

[IMG]http://i48.*******.com/op7ivo.jpg[/IMG]
Folk/Rock | MP3 192 Kbps | 72 Mb | 1982
Covers included


By the time of his fifth full-length album, Elliott Murphy had established himself as a club act in the Northeast and in Europe, touring with a tight band consisting of former Patti Smith Group keyboard player Richard Sohl, former Modern Lover Ernie Brooks, and drummer Tony Machine. Murphy, with his Stratocaster as the focus, however, was turning out a series of literate rock songs full of allusions to New York City and references to novelists and movie stars. On Murph the Surf, he reflected on everything from "Modern Romance" to "The Fall of Saigon" (metaphorically, anyway) with his characteristic wit.


Tracklist:

01. Continental Kind Of Girl
02. Off The Shelf
03. Baby I've Been Thinking
04. Modern Romance
05. You Got It Made
06. Fall Of Saigon Murphy
07. Dusty Roses Murphy
08. Garden City
09. Calling On Cathleen
10. Blue Towers




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Affairs

[IMG]http://i48.*******.com/10hpqv9.jpg[/IMG]
Folk/Rock | MP3 VBR 238 Kbps | 78 Mb | 1981
Covers included


Three years after releasing his fourth and last major-label album, Elliott Murphy returned on his own independent label with this six-song, 24-minute EP. But using producer Thom Panunzio and working at The Record Plant among other studios, Murphy got a major-label sound on a typical set of melodic, uptempo rock songs containing his witty lyrics, notably on "Talkin' About America," "Euro-Tour," and "'Cause I Saw You."


Tracklist:

01. Talking 'Bout America
02. Euro-Tour Murphy
03. Veronique (The Actress)
04. Disco Sadness
05. The Ballad Of Sal Paradise
06. Cause I Saw You
07. Cool Panic
08. Change Will Come
09. Drowning
10. Talking About America
11. I Want You




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Just A Story From America

[IMG]http://i46.*******.com/vxp1cw.jpg[/IMG]
Folk/Rock | MP3 320 Kbps | 83 Mb | 1977
Covers included


Murphy travels to England for a streamlined rock sound featuring session aces such as guitarist Mick Taylor and drummer Phil Collins. But it's the songs, such as "Drive All Night," "Rock Ballad," and the title tune, that make the album a standout.


Tracklist:

01. Drive All Night
02. Summer House
03. Just A Story From America
04. Rock Ballad
05. Think Too Hard
06. Anastasia
07. Darlin' (And She Called Me)
08. Let Go
09. Caught Short In The Long Run




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Night Lights

[IMG]http://i50.*******.com/abm44m.jpg[/IMG]
Folk/Rock | MP3 256 Kbps | 74 Mb | 1976


Elliott Murphy returned to recording in New York City for his third album, emphasizing the point by posing for the cover in the middle of 42nd Street. Enlisting producer Steve Katz, who had handled the last three Lou Reed albums, Murphy fronted a studio band including former Velvet Underground singer/guitarist Doug Yule and former Modern Lovers Ernie Brooks (bass) and Jerry Harrison (keyboards), who was soon to join Talking Heads. They gave Murphy a more contemporary and diverse rock sound, further distinguished from the first two albums by Murphy's development into a more expressive singer. He had even cut back on the referential nature of his lyrics, relying instead on clever wordplay and evocative free association, though he was still capable of throwing out lines like "Just a ballad of a thin girl," dangerous stuff for anyone who had been tagged a "new Dylan." For the most part, though, Night Lights showed Murphy to be moving beyond his obvious influences, even if his lyrics sometimes seemed in need of a sharper focus.


Tracklist:

01. Diamonds By The Yard
02. Deco Dance
03. Rich Girls
04. Abraham Lincoln Continental
05. Isadora's Dancers
06. You Never Know What You're In For
07. Lady Stiletto
08. Lookin' For A Hero
09. Never As Old As You




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Lost Generation

[IMG]http://i46.*******.com/ob0b2e.jpg[/IMG]
Folk/Rock | MP3 192 Kbps | 52 Mb | 1975


After his debut album, Aquashow, proved a critical success and a commercial failure, Elliott Murphy switched from Polydor to RCA for Lost Generation, on which Doors producer Paul A. Rothchild and a group of L.A. session musicians gave him a better sound, while his songs seemed like outtakes from the first record. Again, Murphy was endlessly referential, name-checking everyone from Andy Warhol to Ezra Pound, mixing a contemporary New York City milieu with literary, cinematic, musical, and historical allusions in his sometimes whiney sawdust tenor while the band made like Blonde on Blonde. It was the same set of elements that had made Aquashow such a delight, but they weren't blended quite as well this time. Nevertheless, Murphy remained an intriguing songwriter with a nervy cultural sense, and his future seemed promising.


Tracklist:

01. Hollywood
02. Touch of Mercy
03. History
04. When You Ride
05. Bittersweet
06. Lost Generation
07. Eva Braun
08. Manhattan Rock
09. Visions of the Night
10. Lookin' Back




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Aquashow

[IMG]http://i49.*******.com/23jk1me.jpg[/IMG]
Folk/Rock | MP3 320 Kbps | 86 Mb | 1973
Covers included


With all the praise accorded every other artist anointed with the "new Dylan" tag, Elliott Murphy burst onto the scene in 1973 wearing the mantle proudly. His debut, Aquashow, came on like the son of Blonde on Blonde, but with the streetwise poetic bent of Lou Reed. And, as is the case with most 24-year-olds armed with pen, paper, guitar, and harmonica, he has plenty to say. There is the tendency to wield a heavy hand when it comes to his takes on love, fame, growing up, and the underbelly of middle-class life, but Murphy, whose insights cut deeper than the majority of writers his age, is successful more often than not. If the irony of "How's the Family" or the overstated "Marilyn Monroe died for our sins" are a bit much, tracks such as "Hangin' Out," "Scrapbook Graveyard," and "Last of the Rock Stars" more than make up for it, painting a vivid picture of disenfranchised youth — searching yet self-destructive. Still, as good as Murphy can be lyrically, it's the music that first draws you in. From his own electric guitar, and a rhythm section made up of brother Matthew Murphy and Byrd Gene Parsons, to Highway 61 Revisited pianist Frank Owens' organ and piano, Murphy creates some of the most convincing Dylan-esque folk-rock to come along since 1966. In and out of print over the years, Aquashow remains a minor classic, thanks to a keen eye, intelligence, and a sparse, straightforward sound that stays clear of trends.


Tracklist:

01. Last Of The Rock Stars
02. How's The Family
03. Hangin' Out
04. Hometown
05. Graveyard Scrapbook
06. Poise 'N Pen
07. Marilyn
08. White Middle Class Blues
09. Like A Great Gatsby
10. Don't Go Away




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