Elliott Murphy

A Rock Troubadour Returns to Connecticut

text & pixs by Cary Doll
(SugarBuzz CT-NYC)

SugarBuzz Magazine

Rock’n Roll Troubadour, Storyteller Extraordinaire and America’s Best Kept Rock’n Roll Secret are but 3 names I have for Elliott Murphy, who recently graced Connecticut with his presence, where he hasn’t performed since 1982!!! This is a man who has been around for years but is ‘quietly’ winning fans wherever he plays. Who IS Elliott Murphy you ask?? Well, he is a rock’n roll literary storyteller who writes intelligent, and interesting lyrics, much in the tradition of Bruce Springsteen, a contemporary of his and good friend of Elliott’s.

A New York musician, Elliott began his career in the early 70’s, moved to Paris in the mid 1980’s, and is plotting to play in America a lot more in the future. Some people have said he’s a little like Bob Dylan, but even though there might be a noted musical influence, he is by no means trying to be Dylan or copy him. No, Elliott is “pure Elliott”. And THIS TIME, when he came to Connecticut, he brought along his French band, the Normandy All Stars (Olivier Durand, Laurent Pardo on bass, and Alan Fatras on drums).

Sidekick Olivier Durand played with a style and passion that the French are noted for. He relished in his lead guitar role and entertained the small crowd. Laurent played bass ably but without fanfare. And Alan played not drums, but a concoction not usually seen on band stages called a “cajon”, and also had a tambourine attached to his foot, to keep the beat.

Apologies if some of the (newer) song titles given aren’t exactly right. Someone else grabbed the set list before I could get it, and Elliott didn’t announce that many song names, he just played them. I guess he just forgot to tell us some of the songs they hear in Europe all the time. He tours much of the year throughout Europe. If he plays near you, do yourself a favor and check him out.

Elliott opened the set with “The Valley Below”, a love song off of his newest CD “Notes from the Underground”…which says “Let us kiss the longest kiss, that would last a thousand years; a century, a lifetime, and my love would still be here…” How can you not love lyrics like these??

Next came “O Wyoming” (from Beauregard) “Mercy”, “Green River”, “Sonny” and “Sally”. Then he launched into a past favorite, “Something Like Steve McQueen” and told a story how that song came about when Ali McGraw stopped by to see his show one night when he used to have a stint at Tramps in NYC.

After that was “Delilah”, and “Hey Now (Cha Cha Cha)” (unfamiliar to this writer). But oh, the golden nuggets “You Never Know What You’re in For” (‘Night Lights’), and “Last of the Rock Stars” (from ‘Aquashow’) followed which brought many smiles in the audience, and then the sad and poignant “On Elvis Presley’s Birthday” came next , written for his dad, who had passed away.

He continued on with the song he prefaced as “the #1 song in Belgium…well, a certain part of Belgium”: “A Little Touch of Kindness”. He then did one of my very fave songs off the new CD, “And General Robert E. Lee”.

Ending the evening was 𠇍iamonds by the Yard” from the “Night Lights” album…or so we thought!…he came back and did a new song “What the F*ck Is going on?” about the economy and people losing their houses while others take million dollar bonuses. The concert ended with an oldie but goodie. Jann Klose, the opening performer for Elliott, sang some of the lyrics to an old Elliott favorite “How’s the Family?”, a song that goes way, way back to Elliott’s first album “Aquashow” released in 1973. Jann joked that this one song had more lyrics than Abba’s whole repertoire, and that is why he needed to use a ‘lyric cheat sheet’.**********

You can read all about the expansive career of Elliott Murphy and a lot more at-

www.Elliottmurphy.com

SugarBuzz Magazine