Peter Murphy's All Time Top 10

From SMASH HITS JUNE 24, 1982 courtesy of Brian at Like Punk Never Happened

Peter Murphy provided this list for Smash Hits around the same time the single "Spirit" had charted. The forthcoming album The Sky's Gone Out featured covers of Brian Eno ( "Third Uncle") and, as a bonus track, David Bowie ("Ziggy Stardust") which may explain why those artists show up twice on this list.




   1. DAVID BOWIE The Bewlay Brothers - The lyrics are abstract but they convey something special to me
2. SCOTT WALKER If You Go Away- A very haunting love song beautifully sung

3. JACQUES BREL My Death- The lyrics are really strange.  They're also very moving because it celebrates death (which is how I think it should be approached because it's a rebirth.
4. JOHN LENNON Working Class Hero- I just totally agree with the lyrics.
5. THE BEATLES Within You Without You- It's a great psychedelic dance and it's way ahead of its time
6. BRIAN ENO Sparrow Fall Part Three- This conveys more in its simplicity than many songs manage in all their complexity
7. PATTI SMITH Horses- It's a strong poem set perfectly to music. Patti Smith sings like she's possessed and sometimes she goes into hysterical, indecipherable sections which amaze me



8. MARC BOLAN Life's A Gas- It's really sad when you think of him not being here anymore. And this is nice to remember him by
9. DAVID BOWIE All The Madmen- "And I'd rather play here with all the madmen for I am quite content they are all as sane as me."
10. DAVID BYRNE AND BRIAN ENO The Jezebel Spirit- This is set to a recording of an exorcism. It's very interesting.

40 Year Itch: Wind of Change

[Purchase]

For Peter Frampton's first solo album, post Humble Pie, he managed to get guest appearances from Ringo Starr, Billy Preston, Klaus Voorman and Spooky Tooth's Mick Jones. Ringo and Klaus played with Peter on Harry Nilsson's Son of Schmilsson.

There's a cover of "Jumpin' Jack Flash" that doesn't work for me, but the rest of the album is full of very listenable, often lightweight rock'n'roll with mostly forgettable lyrics. (The unforgettable lyric for me is the title cut's  “God knows/I warn’t meant to do no cooking” just because, well, it's so bad.) But I like the album.

Four of the songs ( including "Jumpin' Jack Flash") made the Frampton Comes Alive album which famously sold more than 6 million copies in the US alone. Wind of Change was a more humble success, peaking at 177 in the Billboard album chart.   

40 Year Itch: A Shocking Rock Act in London

It happened on July 29, 1972. The world's first shock rocker ( sorry Alice Cooper), Screaming Lord Sutch,  is arrested for jumping from a bus and touring the city with four nude women. He is charged with "insulting behavior". How very British!

 

Sutch, whose 1970 debut album Lord Sutch and Heavy Friends topped a 1998 BBC poll as the worst album of all time despite having Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck and Nicky Hopkins helping him out, is trying to drum up publicity for his London gigs.

 Here's a clip from one of those gigs, the London Rock And Roll Show. This has to be seen to be believed. In fact it has to be seen to be enjoyed. The "hearing" part isn't all that great. Tho' that might be Ritchie Blackmore playing lead guitar.



 Suffering from manic depression, Sutch committed suicide by hanging in 1999.

40 Year Itch: Wherever He Laid His Hat

[Album Out Of Print]

In 1971, The Temptations were in turmoil. They'd already lost David Ruffin even before entering their "Psychedelic Shack" period. Then, after singing lead on the chart topping "Just My Imagination ( Running Away With Me)" in 1971, Eddie Kendricks left. Paul Williams soon followed. The remaining Temps --who had made a name for themselves with smooth ballads ( "My Girl") and pop hits ( "Ain't Too Proud To Beg") had to carry on without their best known singers. 21-year old Damon Harris and Richard Street were brought in to fill the gaps. Tho' the slick harmonic singing days weren't gone forever, the young bloods did bring something special to the studio. They brought in the street.


It all culminated with the All Directions cut "Papa Was A Rollin' Stone", a 12 minute cover of an Undisputed Truth song that barely charted the year before. A seven minute version of "Papa" hit #1 in the pop charts and scored the Temptations three Grammy Awards. But the 12 minute version is the jam. For the first 4 and a half minutes "Papa" sounds like something Issac Hayes might have done. In fact it's hard to imagine a 12 minute Temptations song before Hayes recorded s 12 minute version of "Walk On By" and a nearly 19 minute version of "By The Time I Get To Phoenix" (on 1969's  Hot Buttered Soul). But again, those first 4 minutes are all instrumental...as played by The Funk Brothers and produced by Norman Whitfield. A thudding, simple bass line repeats itself over and over again behind some wah-wah guitar. The lyrics, by Barrett Strong, tell the story of a dead man who may have fathered some kids but never raised them.

All Directions, like its #1 Billboard charting predecessor Solid Rock, is out of print. And that's a shame. The album kicks off with another cover, Edwin Starr's "Funky Music Sho' Nuff Turns Me On". It sounds strange to these ears, half live and half studio produced.



"Run Charlie Run" follows with a song about white flight that features the unfortunate chant "The niggers are comin'". Otis Williams has said the band fought "tooth and nail" not to record either "Papa" or "Charlie". Let's just say you're more likely to hear the better of those two songs in a concert.


Side Two is softer. Mostly ballads. An Issac Hayes cover ( there he is again),  "Do Your Thing" is the highlight. Hayes's own version, on the Shaft soundtrack, was 19 and a half minutes long.



The success of "Papa Was A Rollin' Stone" would lead the Temps to record more long soundtrack-like songs ( especially on Masterpiece) but even Otis says "Papa" was the last great Temptations tune. And to paraphrase a line from Animal House,  Otis is my man.

40 Year Itch: Bang Bang Shoot 'Em Up Destiny

[Purchase]

Shy and private, Harry Nilsson struggled with his fame. When fame came a-calling with his US/UK #1 interpretation of Badfinger's "Without You" and the Top 10 "Coconut", Nilsson's reaction was an odd one, verging on self-sabotage.He reveled in his bawdy side and displayed a sense of humor that could easily be taken the wrong way.

The obvious single, "You're Breakin' My Heart", had a lot going for it. Both Ringo and George Harrison ( as "George Harrysong") played on the cut --and so did a young Peter Frampton. The only reason it wasn't released on a 45 was the lyric: "You're breakin' my heart/You're tearin' it apart/So fuck you."





For the recording of "I'd Rather Be Dead" (than wet my bed), Nilsson and producer Richard Perry recruited a couple dozen senior citizens, liquored them up, and had them help him with the chorus. Most of the recording sessions were filmed for an unreleased documentary called Did Somebody Drop His Mouse? and this scene towards the end is the most entertaining.

Thank God for YouTube because here is the entire 40 minute doc:



"Spaceman" wound up being the single. It peaked at #23 in the Billboard charts ensuring Nilsson's fame would be short-lived and he'd remain a hero only to the rock and pop cognoscenti.

 

40 Year Itch: Hustlin' Times And Ghetto Streets

[Purchase]

This dude is bad. And he ain't just fly. He's Super Fly.

Has any album captured inner city life better than Curtis Mayfield's #1 charting soundtrack? Tho' the movie has been criticized for glorifying drug dealers, the songs on the soundtrack couldn't be more critical. In his cool falsetto Mayfield sings of  ghetto princes pushing drugs and bedding the "baddest bitches", dead and dying junkies trying to get their next fixes,and children living in one room shacks and runnin' wild in the streets. All set to gorgeous string sections, funky bass lines and a cool conga player( Master Henry Gibson). 

 

It was 1972 --a year after Gordon Parks's Shaft grossed $13 million on a budget of $500,000. Now his son Gordon Parks Jr hoped to recreate the Blaxploitation magic with Super Fly, the story of Youngblood Priest, a cocaine dealer trying to quit the business and go legit. 

  Part of what made Shaft a hit was the Issac Hayes soundtrack which topped the Billboard charts,  won a Grammy and featured the inescapable Oscar Winning single "Theme From Shaft".

    In a documentary on the making of Super Fly , called One Last Deal, writer Phillip Fenty says someone suggested Curtis Mayfield do their soundtrack. As a member of the Impressions and in his solo work, Mayfield had already become a reporter of life in urban America. (Think "This Is My Country").

We had a lot of ideas and Curtis was certainly on our A List but whether we could get Curtis to do it for no money and all the rest of the stuff you know was something else.




Producer Sig Shore sent Curtis the 45 page screenplay and Curtis loved it.Nate Adams, who played the dealer and supervised the wardrobe for the film, says Curtis was a natural fit.

   He has an affinity for this drug hustler scene. He went back to Chicago and he had "Pusherman" in the can. He had "Freddy's Dead" already composed. he just didn't have it as Freddy's dead you know. When he came into the equation I knew we had something .

The movie achieved cult status. But The soundtrack was an even bigger deal --out-grossing the film thanks to two million selling singles "Freddie's Dead" (#2 RandB/#4 Pop) and "Superfly" (#5 RandB/#8 Pop).

The critics heaped praise on the album. Billboard wrote "This LP is not only great but will put the Curtis Mayfield name where it belongs -- at the top." Rolling Stone's Bob Donat wrote "Superfly is not only a superior, imaginative soundtrack, but fine funky music as well and the best of Curtis Mayfield's four albums made since he left the Impressions since the "Gypsy Woman" days."

 Other R and B artists would follow Hayes's and Mayfield's lead. 1972 saw the release of Bobby Womack's Across 110th Street  soundtrack and Marvin Gaye's Trouble Man. James Brown's Black Caesar soundtrack and Willie Hutch's The Mack both came out in 1973.

But by 1979, the year Disco Godfather came out, the days of Blaxploitation films were pretty much over.

40 year Itch: Death of a Long Haired Drummer

[Purchase]

"Bobby had the best groove of any drummer I've ever played with." -- Rick Derringer

On July 24, 1972 24-year old Bobby Ramirez had every reason in the world to celebrate. He and his buddy Jerry LaCroix were playing in one of the hottest bands in America: LaCroix, made up of former members of Edgar Winters' White Trash. They were touring the country with the Top 20 UK prog rockers Uriah Heep, their double live album with White Trash, Roadwork,  was on its way to gold and they'd just put on a stellar show that night in Chicago.

Ramirez, LaCroix and the band manager stopped at the wrong bar to celebrate. The story is that Ramirez went to the bathroom where a man, looking at Bobby's long hair, suggested maybe he'd missed the sign on the door. The ladies room was next door. When Ramirez shot back something with attitude the man punched him, drawing blood. The bar owner tried to intervene but when he refused to call the police, Ramirez followed his attacker out of the bar. LaCroix followed too. The next thing LaCroix remembers is waking up to see Bobby bloodied up and dying in the band manager's arms. His assailant had steel tipped boots and kicked Ramirez to death.

 LaCroix says when Bobby died so did the band's spirit. White Trash broke up that summer. Here's Jerry singing "Turn On Your Lovelight" with Bobby working out on the drums especially at the 3:00 mark.

Of Ramirez's drumming skills, Derringer told Modern Drummer "When I hear the recordings of our rhythm section-Bobby, me, and bassist Randy Jo Hobbs-on Edgar's Roadwork album, it blows my mind how tight we are. I miss him even now. He was also a good human being. In the future, I know we'll be grooving together for the Lord in heaven."