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PHOTO BY MARC GtNOT
POITMODERH BLUES
bv JIM WINDERS
THE VIEW FROM EXILE:
ELLIOTT MURPHY'S BEAUREGARD
Elliott Murphy's name might be filed under
the category "Artists You Should Know About
But Don’t." if you've been living here in the
U.S., you'll know about him only if you have an
excellent cultural memory and remember that
once in the mid-1970s, rock music critics her
alded him as the next big you know who (hint:
another great songwriting guitar player with
harmonica holder). What you also don't know,
probably, is that he has made a career for him
self during the past ten years or more in Europe.
He has lived in Paris since 1989, and tours regu
larly throughout Western Europe to admiring
crowds who, whatever the language situation,
seem to know his songs quite well.
Beauregard is his newest album, recently
picked up by Koch International after initial
appearance on the French "Last Call" label. It is.
quite simply put, his very best album in a long
and prolific career. It's called "Beauregard" for
the street—me Beauregard—where Murphy lives
with his family, in central Paris not far from the
Porte Saint-Denis. It's an ancient district, and
the street's name derives from medieval times,
when its position atop a slight rise afforded a
good view (Tin beau regard") of the city to the
south.
The album (augmented by two songs not
available on the European release) is spare,
acoustic, and as dear as the bells of the nearby
cathedral Notre Dame de Bonne Nouvelle that
Murphy uses to open the album. But what espe
cially lifts Murphy above the ranks of so many
other troubadours is that he is such a stone
great writer. A published novelist, poet and
critic, he takes his writing seriously. Following in
the footsteps of Fitzgeratd, Hemingway and
other expatriate writers who preceded him to
the City of lights, he gains the same advantage
they exploited so well: using the perspective of
voluntary exile to explore American topics even
more vividly and meaningfully.
For this is a wry ’'American" record.
Springsteen may enjoy some kind of semiofficial
laureate status for his many songs that portray
uniquely American situations, but Murphy,
under a leaden gray Paris sky, imagines forbid
ding Manhattan splines and stark desert vistas.
It's the absurdly vast American landscape that
haunts his imagination in songs like "0
Wyoming" and "Last Train To Memphis." But
when Murphy evokes the American landscape,
the tone is never insipidly nostalgic. If anything,
it's nervous and skeptical as befits a man who,
while undeniably American, has come to be very
much at home in France. Hear it in the way he
snarls the lyrics (e.g. "Somebody wrote a book/
You believed that thing") of the "Subterranean
Homesick Blues"-paced "0 Wyoming."
Some of the best songs are the slow and mid-
tempo mournful ones. "St. Elmo's Fire" casts a
cold eye on the realities of aging, while "Hard
Core" expresses the will to gamble on love
despite the cynicism life can
teach about it. And "Sonny" sets
up a kind of one-way conversa
tion found in some of Bruce
Springsteen's better songs, in
which one character desperately
seeks to be understood by
another. Murphy's writing is
stronger than ever here:
"Sonny—you say you don't recog
nize me/ In fact when 1 knew
you—well I was wearing a beard/
But one day I shaved and looked
in the minor/ Bedded to come
out—come right out of there."
The two bonus tracks for the
American release, "Glorious
Feeling" and "As Bad As It Gets,"
don't quite square with the
acoustic mood of the rest of
Beauregard, but they provide a
dramatic rousing finish to the
record.
However unjust it may have
been to compare Elliott Murphy to
Bob Dylan at the outset of his
career, there is one way the com
parison is valid at this stage: both
men now value performance and
musicianship perhaps even more
than their songwriting craft. In
concert, Murphy deftly mixes
newer songs with the tried-and-
tiue. His between-songs banter,
usually in more than one lan
guage, is witty and well-timed; and he might
just segue into a dead-on version of Del
Shannon's "Runaway," letting his European audi
ences enjoy singing the "wah-wah-wah-wah
wonder" chorus. He is one of the singers whose
voice gains character and becomes more inter
esting as he ages, and he has always been a fine,
solid guitarist. Unlike a certain famous per
former I promise not to mention again in this
piece, he also continues to play harmonica, used
to great effect on "Small Room," "St. Elmo's
Fir?" and "Hard Core."
He's helped musically by Olivier Durand, the
fine lead guitarist from his touring band (who
doubles on mandolin) and his longtime bass
player Ernie Brooks (an original member of The
Modem Lovers), back to play after a long
interval. Some very nice touches are supplied by
Nils de Caster's violin. Elliott's wife fiancotse
even adds a chorus or two. Murphy produced
most of the tracks himself. Beauregard is very
much his record: carefully crafted and a major
statement from an artist who deserves to be
much better known. (Koch International USA, 2
Tri-Harbor Court, Port Washington, NY 11050;
k0chrec0rds@kochmt.com)
Jim Wads*
The 2000 FLAGPOLE
MUSIC
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CONGMfUlAmNS
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THURSDAY, MAY 11
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MAY 10, 2000 SBLMSSHkU