Customer Reviews

The Waking Hour

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

When first released, this album was a real enigma - Mick Karn fans wanted something similar to his first solo album "Titles", Peter Murphy fans were thinking Bauhaus, and back to Karn again, for those (most) that had no idea his even did a solo album, they were waiting for something like the later era Japan. The common thread between karn and Murphy was a love of 70's glam and after they had each explored and became tired of the formulas with their previous acts, they moved onwards to record one of the most interesting and challenging albums of the ultra-fertile mid 80's. Murphy's lyrics have never been better----singing over karn's somewhat chaotic bass lines was a true test of meddle for PM who had always been much more straight forward and seemingly in-control. For the most part he seems a bit lost as he takes his well-worn personal themes and lays them atop music that simply didn't make sense to him - the crazy thing, is that it all worked beautifully. To this day I think it's the best thing Murphy's ever done (though he disowns it no doubt due to a bit of ego clashing with Karn and Bauhaus fans that simply couldn't accept it (but for some reason could accept Tones on Tail). I wonder if David Jay and David Sylvian could have come up with something this interesting......At any rate - a true jem for Goth fans as well as a treat for the artsy Fripp, Eno, Laswell set......Karn has to be one of the best bass players ever to walk on this planet and the fact that he collaborated with Murphy was something I felt was ultra-cool (Karn could play circles around most jazz and studio heavy hitters). Very cool and highly recommended.

Unlike my fellow reviewers here, I am not that familiar with either Murphy's or Karn's works. I knew about Bauhaus via a friend of mine, who taped me almost a whole album. But, what drew me to this cd was a Bass Player magazine review of it. It more than lived up to the praise it received there. Karn's bass is on equal footing with Murphy's vocals - something one doesn't find in many albums. The atmosphere it creates is definitely unique, the rythms and sonorities seem almost from another planet. I was definitely impressed. To me, the marriage between Karn's musical frames and Murphy's unique voice is one made in heaven. Definitely a powerful match. For fans of unique, experimental music only.

Bauhaus was gone. Dave and Pete didn't like each other anymore. Pete met Mick and had a one album stand.
This is a very unique album. Pete had just come off of Bauhaus and Mick from Japan and Numan. They pulled those two major musical forces together to bring us Dali's Car. Soft spoken and spooky, it is a short album and each of the songs is distinctive and will get stuck in your head for years. I bought this album when it came out. It was stolen and I didn't buy it again for many years. The reason I bought it after more than a decade was that I would still sing the songs to myself and I needed to hear them again.

I have to admit, having heard this years after it's initial release, it holds some kind of odd fascination for me that I didn't get the first time around. I have to admit, I was not a fan of Peter Murphy at all back in those days.

After very recently hearing this in, of all places, a pub and ona local college radio station, I was floored by what unfolded.

The combining of Mick Karn and Peter Murphy's muses for a time worked really well, at least long enough to put out "The Waking Hour". Freed from the constraints of their respective bands, Karn (ex-Japan) and Murphy (ex-Bauhaus) constructed a set of mysterious, hypnotic and oddly alluring art-rock songs.

Here, Murphy begins to find his legs as a vocal artist, eschewing the over-the-top histrionics and caterwauling of Bauhaus in favor of darkly melodic (owing to his on the cusp of tenor and baritone vocal range)and more textured/nuanced ideas that a studio environment allowed him to explore. Of course, he writes the usual variety of mysterious and cryptic lyrics to go along with it.

Mick Karn really carries this album as its resident multi-instrumentalist. The songs are driven by a combination of slithery, snaky and angular unpredictable fretless bass lines propelled along by steady yet very interesting rhythmic patterns generated by drum machines (with some live percussion mixed in). If I have to give it minus points for anything, it's the now extrenely dated nature of the drum machines on here. But that gripe aside, MIck Karn weaves surreal soundscapes with not only his serpentine bass but also a dizzying variety of warm and unique synth/keyboard textures with a heavy emphasis on Middle Eastern/Turkish/Arabic sonic flavors (Karn was originally born on Cyprus and was exposed to much of these types of musics growing up).

The songs aren't overly long, just long enough to be interesting.

Give it five stars for uniqueness and originality, with just one star off for some dated production things. Overall, VERY enjoyable and hypnotic!

A one-off collaboration between ex-Japan bassist/multi-instrumentalist Mick Karn and ex-Bauhaus vocalist Peter Murphy, this one never quite reaches the elvel you'd hope it does. The two of them don't ever quite blend together, stylistically-- essentially, Karn sets up a number of moods, similar in voicing to his first solo record ("Titles") or the last Japan album ("Tin Drum") and Murphy sings over them. Murphy seems out of place here-- this is a far cry from Bauhaus-like gothic music and further still from the sort of pop that he'd succeed so well with in the near future, and he doesn't always seem to know what to do. Evidentally the project started as mailing tapes back and forth and fell apart when the pair got into the studio.

Mind you, when he does succeed, the results are breathtaking-- the opening couple tracks, "Dali's Car" and "His Box" both feature brilliant bass playing from Karn and a totally off-kilter and bizarre vocal from Murphy, but the album fizzles out after that, between dull ("Cornwall Stone"), ill-conceived ("Create and Melt") and totally forgettable ("Moonlife" and the instrumental "Artemis", which would not have been out of place on Karn's previous record). The closer and single from the album, "The Judgement is the Mirror", fares somewhat better, but lacks any real energy.

Overall, this album just didn't work-- its an odd record and has its moments of beauty, but it doesn't move me like much of the work from Karn and Murphy separately have.

this is a great album! it is, when it comes down to it, and experimental project, and album. peter murphy was just coming out of bauhaus,and mick karn was just coming out of japan. however, it is not as simple as japan + bauhaus = dali's car. the collaboration of styles is a lot more subtle than that. dali's car has aspects of bauhaus and japan, but its more experimental than sentimental. what you get is a sound that is wholly original in its composition, and something that defies categorization. something that is beautiful and atmospheric.

This C.D. pairs Peter Murphy (old school Death Rock/Goth-father) and the bass player from Japan. The slide bass is amazing!Quirky and cool 80's music from out of the norm.

I first heard this album in 1988 during the heyday of Goth. I had searched it out because I was a Murphy fan and thought it had to be great if Peter Murphy was singing. Well, it wasn't so much like Murphy's solo material at all, and I listened to it once and got rid of it. I was a dumb punk at the time.

Fast forward ten years later to 1998. I no longer listened to Goth much at all at this time, I grew tired of Peter Murphy and his "serious" fancy produced music, although I still enjoyed his vocals now and then. But, this album, Dali's Car still haunted me and I had to find it and listen to it again. I still didn't own it again at this point, I just had to hear it. I started to like it.

Fast forward to 2008, twenty years after I originally owned it, I had to buy it again. Why? Crazy shittt really, because I never listen to Peter Murphy anymore at all, never listen to Goth at all, no connection with it at all. I listened to Dalis Car a couple times after I bought it again. I started to really appreciate this piece of art.

Fast forward to 2010, the date of this review. I have to listen to it again and again, it just has this haunting thing about it. Dalis Car now sounds so excellent, far removed from Goth and the 80's, something that was lost in the wrong time.

I don't listen to the style of music that Dalis Car is associated with anymore at all. But Dalis Car can't fit into any category of music because its too unique. The closest genre would be indie-pop. I now realise that Dalis Car is Peter Murphy's best work, and that Dalis Car is not so much "Peter Murphy" as it is a collaborative effort of innocent musicians experimenting and creating a one of a kind, way ahead of its time, superb work of art.

Absolutely worth every penny. This used to be rare album back in the day. You were considered very hip and cool if you owned it, because it was hard to find. Now Amazon has a billion copies. Ah, the good ole days of underground alternative. It is the only album Dalis Car ever did, and if you love Peter Murphy, this is a must have.
I was glad I found it. Because it was always about the music, and this album sounds just as good as it did back then. Buy it, you won't regret it.

While unexpected and perhaps enigmatic, "The Waking Hour" is one of the most gorgeous albums produced by a so-called "super-group" -- that is, members of several previously successful bands (Peter Murphy of Bauhaus, Mick Karn of Japan). While not in any sense a successful venture per critic standards, it has been a gem for collectors for many years, what with its driving bass and melodic turns of phrase. It is a dreamy fantasy of an album, most suited (to my mind) to a sunny, lazy early 1980's afternoon drinking vodka-crans and smoking Nat Shermans while taking in the Springtime. A true beauty, it should not be missed. If you're a fan of Murphy's solo work or Japan, I highly recommend it.