Customer Reviews

A Shot of Love in a Time of Need

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a remarkable double-CD set that highlights Willie Murphy's recent work as well as work from the 1970s. He must be in his 60s now, but you wouldn't know it based on the energy and drive in these songs. Murphy, who's a legend in Minnesota, could have found wider fame but he stayed in the Twin Cities, although never giving up music. He produced Bonnie Raitt's first album, and you can see why she might have been drawn to his overarching talent. I think he's a genius. This is a great CD. Best musical purchase I've made this year.

Singer, songwriter, producer, bandleader and multi-instrumentalist Willie Murphy is an artist who never gives up, no matter how hard the road he's travelling might get--because he always seems to keep firmly in his mind that his job, his purpose, is to create.

This excellent double-CD package gives us the past and present of the music of Willie Murphy, a fixture on the Minnesota music scene dating back almost to the days when Robert Zimmerman first came down from "the Boundary Waters" to play Dinkeytown coffeehouse gigs with "Spider" John Koerner in Minneapolis.

Koerner, not incidentally, was Murphy's musical cohort for years, starting in the mid-'60s. Willie and Spider John recorded a classic album for Elektra Records in the late '60s ("Running, Jumping, Standing Still") that was reissued on Red House in the '90s.

After he and Spider John stopped touring together, Willie settled down in the Twin Cities (where he still resides) and started leading his band the Bumblebees, aka "Willie & The Bees." This live group, specializing in authentic R&B and funk, became one of the best reasons locally to go out to a bar on a weekend night and get out on the dance floor.

Although he broke up the Bees many years ago (or maybe their time simply passed), Murphy has had more recent bands, such as the Angel-headed Hipsters, and he will still play bars and VFW halls, or whatever venue where a stage can be set up, and--for money, as well as the love of it all--he'll play the blues, and his brand of funk, rhythm & blues, and even some rock 'n' roll to satisfy your soul. Willie has also been known to play solo piano and singing gigs--for years it was at a place called The 400 Bar.

Playing live music for paying customers has been the way Willie Murphy has paid the rent for most of his adult life. His recordings are not as plentiful, but always worthwhile--case in point being his latest collection, which is highly recommended.

Just one other credit of his ought to be mentioned: Murphy is the guy who produced Bonnie Raitt's debut album back in 1971, and played on it (with his band). The next time you hear Bonnie's version of the Stephen Stills song "Bluebird" from that album, you'll now know that you're hearing Willie Murphy backing her up on piano.

Disc one is an album that Willie spent at least several years conceiving, writing, arranging and recording. Half the album is Willie interpreting songs by other writers, the other half consists of his own material.

The focus of the album, as Murphy has explained, is his feeling through music about a particular woman with whom he had a close relationship over many years. That explains why there is more than one tune in a pronounced sentimental musical vein, a style that Murphy is not typically known for. One of these is "Sometimes Dreams Come True," a Murphy original in which he sings, "I remember the night that we met/It's a long time ago, but I can see it yet."

In Murphy's world, as it is for many of us, the past is every bit as vivid as the present. In fact, the past is often MORE alive to us, because our memories (one of the strongest sense experiences a human being can tap into) are taking us back to when we were young, and seeing the beautiful things in life for the first time. It's no wonder we can't let go of it, and even less of a surprise that a true artist (Murphy) would never dream of turning those memories loose, or burying them.

A songwriter like Willie Murphy can always use them to create, or re-create, something beautiful, and he does that here. One of the covers, "Life Is But A Dream," is also in that zone of sentimentality and reflection. But that's only one aspect of this fine album.

It starts off with a horn-driven New Orleans groove, Willie's take on the classic Allen Toussaint song, "Everything I Do Gonh Be Funky (From Now On)." Incredibly enough, this tune, first unveiled to the world in the great Lee Dorsey version from the 1960s, is one that I remember him doing in the late 1970s, when I'd go to hear Willie & The Bees at a Minneapolis nightclub.

Side one also features an outstanding version of "Land of 1000 Dances," with another excellent horn arrangement. Murphy has always been a master with the horn charts, and has had great horn sections in his bands over the years.

The most interesting track on the album, one of Willie's own songs, is the nearly 10-minute "Mud Puddle." This is a strange tune, but a fascinating one, whose enigmatic lyrics are perfectly matched by the mysterious, atmospheric music. I mention this song in particular because the words reveal a point of view that Murphy clearly believes an artist needs to maintain, in order to survive and carry on.

And that is, an artist must always remain a bit wary, a litle bit guarded, about people (the kind who are always there, all around, oftentimes too close for comfort) well-equipped to defeat you, or bring you down--even if it is only through their indifference. "Don't let them see your eyes," Murphy writes. "If you do, they'll see inside/To the place where we all hide/Where the love resides..."

"Love" is a big deal to Willie Murphy--love, in all of its meanings, all of its manifestations, all of its incarnations. As another Minnesota-born songwriter once put it, "Love is all there is, it makes the world go 'round/Love and only love--it can't be denied..." Willie Murphy comes from that exact same place in his writing, and in his music.

The second CD collects 11 tracks that Murphy calls "strays," some going back 35 years or more, that just never fit in with previous albums. One is an early version of "Something To It," one of the songs on the new album. Another, "Fairy Tale," is also from the early '70s, and features members of the Bees, including Voyle Harris and Maurice Jacox. There is one "stray" cover, a nice version of Fred Neil's "Dolphins."

But probably the best of these tunes is "Voice In The Night" (there are two versions here), another of those songs in which Murphy addresses the tricky situation faced by the artist, and how or where he/she fits in today's world. The song also zeroes in on the issue of how lonely it can be to have the desire to create, to know in your heart that you MUST create (whether it be music, or any pursuit that demands dedication), but that it's more than possible to deal with that loneliness and isolation by way of belief and commitment.

"This world is hard to withstand..." Murphy passionately sings, and you know he's lived it. This may be an old song, but it is still completely relevant right now. What Murphy seems to be saying is, "If you have a strong urge to create, be it music or whatever, respect that in yourself. Don't deny it, don't squander that internal challenge. Don't make excuses, just go for it, with all you've got."

And that's not about the "selling" of it, it's just about the creating, for it's own sake.

Because--take it from Willie Murphy--once you've worked through all of that pain and isolation, and maybe scorn and rejection (as well as dejection) too, and manage somehow to come out the other side with your creation to show for it, there is a promise, a hope, of not only artistic satisfaction awaiting you, but peace, tranquility--and, possibly, even personal redemption, too. "It's all worth it," Murphy is trying to tell us. And you believe him. "Voice In The Night" is a great song.

With this two-disc Red House release, there ought to be a true groundswell of renewed interest in, and recognition of, the career and music of Willie Murphy--not only in Minnesota or the Midwest, but all over. This guy has always been the real deal.