ELLIOTT MURPHY
''STRINGS OF THE STORM, DISC ONE''
NOVEMBER 11 2003
108:27
DISC ONE
1 - Green River 6:27
2 - Night Falls 6:07
3 - The Best Kiss 4:46
Olivier Durand / Elliott Murphy
4 - Big Sky 4:41
5 - The Poet And The Priest 6:11
6 - Le Future 4:17
7 - Temple Bar 3:06
8 - The Banks Of The Ohio 3:39
Traditional
9 - The Last Star Of The Night 6:15
10 - Day Is Gone 4:36
Olivier Durand / Elliott Murphy
11 - From Room 102 4:16
DISC TWO
1. A Mountain Of Love 4:03
2. Mick's Dream 4:07
3. La Belle Dame Sans Merci 2:57
4. Everybody Got Lucky 3:37
Olivier Durand / Elliott Murphy
5. Look Around You 6:40
6. Cutting The Cake 4:25
Olivier Durand / Elliott Murphy
7. Bird 4:07
Neil Young
8. Jet-Leg 5:08
9. Moan 3:14
10. O Catarina 3:41
Olivier Durand / Elliott Murphy
11. The Red Lights 11:47
Olivier Durand / Elliott Murphy
Tracks By Elliott Murphy, Except As Indicated
All Tracks Featuring Olivier Durand
Ernie Brooks/Arranger, Bass (Acoustic)
Cindy Bullens/Guitar (Acoustic), Vocals
Olivier Durand/Arranger, Baritone, Guitar Acoustic, Guitar (Baritone), Guitar (Electric), Mandolin, Slide Guitar, Vocals
Kenny Margolis/Accordion, Arranger, Mellotron, Moog Synthesizer, Piano
Danny Montgomery/Arranger, Drums
Elliott Murphy/Arranger, Bass, Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric), Harmonica, Kazoo, Organ, Vocals
Thomas Schaettel/Mellotron, Organ, Piano, Piano (Electric)
Jerome Soligny/Vocals
REVIEW
William Ruhlmann
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.
OFFICIAL BIOGRAPHY
More then thirty-five years have passed since the release of Elliott Murphy's ground-breaking first album Aquashow in 1973 (recently declared an Album Classic by the UK's prestigious UNCUT magazine) and since that time Elliott Murphy, singer-songwriter, rock troubadour, indefatigable road warrior (over 100 shows a year!) and prolific author of fiction has once again proven his dedication to his music and his commitment to his growing legion of fans with the release of his new CD Notes From the Underground featuring eleven new Elliott Murphy songs (five of which are co-written with long-time guitarist Olivier Durand. The album is already being hailed as his best in a decade (All Music Guide).
Aside from Elliott’s French guitarist extraordinaire Olivier Durand Notes From the Underground features keyboardist Kenny Margolis (Willie Deville, Cracker) and Murphy's touring band of drummer Alan Fatras and bassist Laurent Pardo as well as Elliott's son Gaspard on guitar on featured track "Frankenstein's Daughter".
Born to a show business family in New York, Elliott began his career by winning the New York State Battle of the Bands in 1966 followed by a troubadour like odyssey in Europe where he played on the streets in Amsterdam, Paris and Rome including a bit part in Federico Fellini's film Roma. Returning to the US he quickly secured a recording contract and following the critical success of Aquashow came in quick succession Lost Generation (Produced by Doors producer Paul Rothschild), Night Lights (featuring Billy Joel), Just A Story From America (featuring Phil Collins and Mick Taylor) and many others albums. Highlights from recent albums include an extraordinary duet with Bruce Springsteen ("Selling The Gold") who often invites Elliott on stage with him during his European tours.
Murphy is also a published author of various collections of short stories, the most recently being Café Notes (Hachette) and two novels Cold And Electric and the neo-western Poetic Justice (Hachette.) A new novel Tramps is expected in 2009.
Elliott lives in Paris, France.
OFFICIAL SITE
''STRINGS OF THE STORM, DISC ONE''
NOVEMBER 11 2003
108:27
DISC ONE
1 - Green River 6:27
2 - Night Falls 6:07
3 - The Best Kiss 4:46
Olivier Durand / Elliott Murphy
4 - Big Sky 4:41
5 - The Poet And The Priest 6:11
6 - Le Future 4:17
7 - Temple Bar 3:06
8 - The Banks Of The Ohio 3:39
Traditional
9 - The Last Star Of The Night 6:15
10 - Day Is Gone 4:36
Olivier Durand / Elliott Murphy
11 - From Room 102 4:16
DISC TWO
1. A Mountain Of Love 4:03
2. Mick's Dream 4:07
3. La Belle Dame Sans Merci 2:57
4. Everybody Got Lucky 3:37
Olivier Durand / Elliott Murphy
5. Look Around You 6:40
6. Cutting The Cake 4:25
Olivier Durand / Elliott Murphy
7. Bird 4:07
Neil Young
8. Jet-Leg 5:08
9. Moan 3:14
10. O Catarina 3:41
Olivier Durand / Elliott Murphy
11. The Red Lights 11:47
Olivier Durand / Elliott Murphy
Tracks By Elliott Murphy, Except As Indicated
All Tracks Featuring Olivier Durand
Ernie Brooks/Arranger, Bass (Acoustic)
Cindy Bullens/Guitar (Acoustic), Vocals
Olivier Durand/Arranger, Baritone, Guitar Acoustic, Guitar (Baritone), Guitar (Electric), Mandolin, Slide Guitar, Vocals
Kenny Margolis/Accordion, Arranger, Mellotron, Moog Synthesizer, Piano
Danny Montgomery/Arranger, Drums
Elliott Murphy/Arranger, Bass, Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric), Harmonica, Kazoo, Organ, Vocals
Thomas Schaettel/Mellotron, Organ, Piano, Piano (Electric)
Jerome Soligny/Vocals
REVIEW
William Ruhlmann
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.
OFFICIAL BIOGRAPHY
More then thirty-five years have passed since the release of Elliott Murphy's ground-breaking first album Aquashow in 1973 (recently declared an Album Classic by the UK's prestigious UNCUT magazine) and since that time Elliott Murphy, singer-songwriter, rock troubadour, indefatigable road warrior (over 100 shows a year!) and prolific author of fiction has once again proven his dedication to his music and his commitment to his growing legion of fans with the release of his new CD Notes From the Underground featuring eleven new Elliott Murphy songs (five of which are co-written with long-time guitarist Olivier Durand. The album is already being hailed as his best in a decade (All Music Guide).
Aside from Elliott’s French guitarist extraordinaire Olivier Durand Notes From the Underground features keyboardist Kenny Margolis (Willie Deville, Cracker) and Murphy's touring band of drummer Alan Fatras and bassist Laurent Pardo as well as Elliott's son Gaspard on guitar on featured track "Frankenstein's Daughter".
Born to a show business family in New York, Elliott began his career by winning the New York State Battle of the Bands in 1966 followed by a troubadour like odyssey in Europe where he played on the streets in Amsterdam, Paris and Rome including a bit part in Federico Fellini's film Roma. Returning to the US he quickly secured a recording contract and following the critical success of Aquashow came in quick succession Lost Generation (Produced by Doors producer Paul Rothschild), Night Lights (featuring Billy Joel), Just A Story From America (featuring Phil Collins and Mick Taylor) and many others albums. Highlights from recent albums include an extraordinary duet with Bruce Springsteen ("Selling The Gold") who often invites Elliott on stage with him during his European tours.
Murphy is also a published author of various collections of short stories, the most recently being Café Notes (Hachette) and two novels Cold And Electric and the neo-western Poetic Justice (Hachette.) A new novel Tramps is expected in 2009.
Elliott lives in Paris, France.
OFFICIAL SITE
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