By Jim Rowland
Probably best known as frontman of post-punk legends Bauhaus, Peter Murphy is also a prolific solo artist with numerous solo albums under his bat wings. This month Cadiz Music, in association with Murphy’s own Silver Shade label, release two more volumes of the ‘Peter Live’ series of archival live recordings, with these ones visiting performances a decade apart, in 1990 and 2000.
‘Volume Three’, from a performance in San Diego in 2000, features a stellar live band of Kevin Haskins (Bauhaus), Eric Avery (Jane’s Addiction) and Pete DiStefano (Psychedelic Furs). At this point, Murphy had not released a solo album for five years, and whilst the set list is career-spanning, it leans most heavily on material from his then most recent album, 1995’s ‘Cascade’.
Kicking off with his rendition of the Pere Ubu classic ‘Final Solution’, and featuring a striking four song acoustic section, it’s an engaging, dramatic and powerful set with very decent sound quality, strong performances from each band member and quintessential Peter Murphy spreading his wings beyond the Bauhaus template.
‘Volume Four’ goes back ten years to 1990 and a show in Chicago with the band made up of Paul Statham, Peter Bonas, Eddie Branch and Terl Bryant. At this point, Murphy was touring his third solo album ‘Deep’ which had proved particularly successful in the States.
The set features tracks from all three of his solo albums released at that point with a heavier accent on the ‘Deep’ tracks, including the ‘Cuts You Up’ single which had been a US hit.
His very decent version of Magazine’s ‘The Light Pours Out Of Me’ features, as does Iggy Pop’s ‘Funtime’, which was of course co-written with David Bowie, whose influence on Murphy is undeniable. Special mention is deserved for the intro to the wonderful ‘Marlene Dietrich’s Favourite Poem’ in which Murphy tells the audience “You may be able to listen to this or you may not, but if you can’t, just shut up and go away”! That track is the only one to feature on both of these albums, so there’s a great selection across the two.
These two albums will be a welcome addition for keen Peter Murphy fans, but will also serve as a great introduction to Murphy’s solo work for those who may only be familiar with the Bauhaus stuff. They are also further testament to the unique and outstanding vocal talent of Peter Murphy.
- ‘Peter Live – Volume Three – 4th & B San Diego 2000’ and ‘Peter Live – Volume Four – Metro Chicago 1990’ are released today (Friday 31 July).