VOICES - GHOST OF JOHN MURPHY
by James Michael Taylor
- 00. WEATHER MAN w/Jeff Prince dba GHOST OF JOHN MURPHY 2:57
- 01. LEE HARVEY w/Jeff Prince dba GHOST OF JOHN MURPHY 3:45
- 02. DIAMONDS w/Jeff Prince dba GHOST OF JOHN MURPHY 3:30
- 03. NO MORE w/Jeff Prince dba GHOST OF JOHN MURPHY 4:09
- 04. SMALL w/Jeff Prince dba GHOST OF JOHN MURPHY 2:54
- 05. AYAHAUSCA w/Jeff Prince dba GHOST OF JOHN MURPHY 4:50
- 06. TOO MUCH - THE BOOK 2:49
- 07. FORESTS OF IRAN w/Jeff Prince dba GHOST OF JOHN MURPHY 3:31
- 08. ALWAYS w/Jeff Prince dba GHOST OF JOHN MURPHY 4:08
- 09. Standards New New 100213 2:58
GHOST OF JOHN MURPHY is Jeff Prince James Michael Taylor
Review in Fort Worth Weekly by Carey Wolfe: Ghost of John Murphy’s Voices
From the opening fade-in of electric guitars struggling to find a marriage between dissonance and melody, Voices, the debut album from Ghost of John Murphy (a.k.a. veteran Fort Worth singer-songwriters James Michael Taylor and Jeff Prince) tries to worm its way into your mind, seeking out the tuning knob to the subconscious. The signal, fluctuating between colorfulness and static, captures the imagination –– and the ears. Sometimes whether the listener wants it to or not.
The 11 tracks vary in style, from jazzy folk and a sort of tarantella sound to psychedelia and post-punk. The plinking and weaving of the guitars on the opener, “Lee Harvey,” are replaced by real audio of the infamous assassin trying to explain himself but coming across as delusional and lonely. His nonsense is quickly followed by a short, driving, guttural instrumental break with a brief acoustical refrain that gives way to Prince contemplating Oswald’s last moments aboveground, saying in his Texas drawl, “Lee Harvey Oswald was buried in Rose Hill Cemetery in Fort Worth, Texas. Nobody wanted to carry the casket.”
The rest of the album is equally wild. “Weather” is a whimsical, almost choral number about a weatherman with an uncertain forecast on relationships. “Diamond” could easily be at home on a Pink Floyd album circa Meddle, while the anthemic “No More” has the semi-monotone delivery of later-day Butthole Surfers. Other tracks, such as the haunting ballad “Small” and “The Forests of Iran” –– a spoken-word poem set to music and read by the author, Sara Behrad –– are heartbreakingly beautiful and vulnerable. With Taylor and Prince on bass and drums in addition to guitar and vocals, all of the songs are exceedingly well crafted and thoughtful. The lyrical imagery seems just as important as the tones and notes played.
Taylor and Weekly staff writer Prince have been collaborating for years, most recently as Fontanelle with their former bass player, assumedly named John Murphy, who one day sold all his gear and promptly disappeared, giving rise to this new incarnation. Though Taylor and Prince occasionally gig together around town, they don’t get out much. Hopefully, this album will change all that. –– Carey Wolff
John Murphy - inspiration - whereabouts unknown
LEE HARVEY - Archival audio found on line
FORESTS OF IRAN - Poem written by and recited by Sara Behrad - (C) 2013 Sara Behrad
AYAHAUSCA - Chant by Jairo Thanks to Peter Gorman for idea
WEATHER - voice of weatherman is Bill Werngren Listen to Bill’s Texas Bar Radio 88 FM Gothenburg Sweden - http://facebook.com/bill.werngren
Produced by GHOST of JOHN MURPHY All songs by Ghost of John Murphy © 2014 Royal T Music. (p) 2014 Ghost of John Murphy
Recorded at THE BASEMENT, Fort Worth, Texas
Cover photo grabbed from Wikipedia piece on The Forests of Iran
Also by Jeff Prince and James Michael Taylor: Recording as FONTANELLE (Royal T Music) FONTANELLE ONE and FONTANELLE TWO.
All instruments played by Jeff and or James