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Murphey knows
What he wants to do
By ASHI.YN JONKS
Austin. Texas, has recently
become a haven for native
Texan musicians who. for one
reason or another, have drifted
back to their homeland after
For
Onlv
disappointing brushes with the
archtypal search for Fame and
Fortune in the glitter meccas
of Los Angeles and New York.
As a result, the music coming
from Austin of late has reflec
ted an unwillingness to give
By HILL KING
I recently went on a trip by
car to Tuscaloosa. Alabama.
That might not thrill you, or
even seem to have much to do
with the business of reviewing
singles, but actually it does
If you spend 14 hours driving
in a car (seven going and
seven coming back) then, if
nothing else, you will hear a lot
of AM radio and that means
you will hear just about every
single out at the moment, over
and over and over.
After having experienced 14
hours of Georgia and Alabama
AM. I can tell you one thing for
sure. There are very few really
good singles out right now. and
from what I’ve been told, the
situation isn't likely to change
radically in the near future
Among the better releases
currently on the charts is
Gordon Lightfoot s “Sundown.”
It's a nice, easy number in the
typical Lightfoot vein. Grand
Funk, however, is not so
typical with their slowed down
version of the old Little (Carole
King) Eva hit. "Locomotion.”
Produced by the Wizard.
Todd Rundgren. the GF release
is a good example of the new
directions the group seems to
be heading into (and the change
is welcome).
While the Bachman Turner
Overdrive's “Let It Hide"
sounds a great deal like the
Doobie Brothers, the Brothers
themselves are also out cur
rently with “Another Park.
Another Sunday” which is an
improvement over their last
couple of singles.
One of the more interesting
aspects of the singles (and
album) charts lately has been
the performance of two of the
Beatles. Hingo Starr and Paul
McCartney Both have been on
the charts continuously since
November, and McCartney is
now climbing again with the
title cut from the LP “Band On
The Hun." the third single to
be culled from that album It is
excellent
The Guess Who haven't been
on the charts for a long time,
but they are back now with
“Star Baby." an upbeat single
with a nice guitar break
Anne Murray is also back on
the singles scene, (his time
with a reworking of the old
Rubber Soul Beatles number.
"You Won’t See Me” She does
a pretty decent job, although I
miss the fuzz bass of the
original
One of the most familiar
sounds on AM radio over the
past few years has been Chica
go and their never-ending
string of h«ts With the album
Chicago VII,” the group is
trying for a more FM sound,
but that hasn’t stopped their
new single “Searehin' For So
l/>ng" from getting plenty of
airplay. It has -a very distinc
tive beginning, and features
the group's more recent em
phasis on harmony
If you remember “Swamp
Witch" from last summer and
“Spiders and Snakes” from
earlier this year, then you
won’t be surprised to learn
that the same persn. Jim
Stafford, is behind that gim
micky "My Girl Bill" which is
sure to scandalize you until the
final stanza which reveals that
“She’s my girl. Bill.”
On the instrumental front.
Marvin llamlisch is mining
more gold from his Oscar
winning work on “The Sting”
through the single of “The
Entertainer.’’ There’s not real
ly much to it. though and you’ll
soon tire of hearing it
Paul Williams’ “I Won’t Last
A Day Without You” has only
been done fifty times and the
latest version is the dreariest
of them all That’s only natural
though, because its done by the
Bobsey twins. Richard and
Karen Carpenter.
Someone else in thinking
about being a carpenter, and
its the one and only diction
teacher's nightmare. Leon Rus
sell. who takes a few liberties
with “If I Were A Carpenter”
but. of course, it’s all in good
fun
Harry Nilsson (and friends
Ringo and George) strike again
with the calypso vampire
theme from the Apple film
“Son of Dracula’’ entitled
“Daybreak " Another winner
for Harry.
One of Athens' own, Flo
Warner, will probably have a
smash hit (at least she should)
with “We re Over.” It’s a good
song and she has Some Voice
On the junk side, a group
called Paper Lace has a piece
of fluff entitled "Billy, Don’t
Be A Hero” and ZZ Top has
released a noisy thing called
"La Grange ’’ Stay away from
both.
And. for you fans of prison
songs, a new group called
Wilbur. Mitchell and Tony has
a song out entitled “We're
Free! I hear it’s selling really
big in Gaines*, lie
into commercialism and an
innately Texan stubborness
that has occassionally resulted
in albums created by people
who can only be called stone
geniuses. Doug Sahm is a good
example, but probably an even
better one would bo Michael
Murphey. who many of us will
remember as the man respon
sible for Geronomo's Cadillac.
Murphey. the son of a baptist
preacher, left Texas and wound
up in L A. cranking out over
500 songs for Screen Gems as a
staff writer Deciding, finally,
he was ted up with being a
song writing machine, he re
turned to Austin, where he was
heard by producer Bob John
ston (of Bob Dylan and Johnny
('ash fame) and was immcdi
ately signed to A&M records.
His first album (the aforemen
tioned Geronomo’s Cadillac)
met with critical response and
sold fairly well, but the more
mellow Cosmic Cowboy Souve
nir album did not fair well at
all in the record racks, even
though the critics wrote raves.
Murphey was unceremoniously
dropped from A&M. and his
first release for Epic, titled
Michael Murphey is now avail
able
If nothing else, he proves
that "hot guitar" a la Johnny
Winter does not good rock 'n*
roll make Good rock depends
on a personal attitude, not
artificial pose Although listen
ing to Murphey s lyrics proves
without a shadow of a doubt
that the man is real; and its
about time that some genuine
feelings and perceptions that
make you feel good get back
into music.
Its refreshing to know that in
the face of all the glitter
hustlers and purveyors of qua-
lude bummers, there are still
musicians and writers around
doing their damnedest to bring
you up instead of down. As Sir
I)oug Sahm said before embar
king on a tour with the
Grateful Dead. "Man. people
are really ready to rock n’ roll
again.” Lei us fervently pray
that truer words were never
spoken.
To understand Murphey one
must understand his milieu. By
nature Texans are ferociously
independent and long haired
Texans are no exception to the
rule All of Murphey's albums
reflect his unwavering sense ol
independence but always ex
pressed with a good natured-
ness and humor that's hard to
miss Whether the songs on the
new album are mellow, hot
country or rock ’n’ roll. Mur
phey pulls it all together with
his uniquely warm and open
sensibilities (that’s the Austin
quality in his music, folks!)
It takes a genius such as
Murphey to make one’s ideas
so readily identifiable. In every
cut you can’t help but feel his
personality, it comes out in
every word he sings The
album can reach the listener
on many levels at the same
time, even the rock n’ roll cuts
have lyrics that can make you
think (or dance, whichever you
prefer) while the mellow cuts
makes you sigh and say.
"Yeah." Only he could fuse all
these elements together, (which
is evident in the fact that his
backup band is the same
backup band as Jerry Jeff
Walker’s but sounds complete
ly different under Murphey’s
control ) The man really knows
what he wants to do.
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