REVIEW: Michael Robert Murphy - Chaos Magick

Since Liverpool’s psych rock pop favourites The Wicked Whispers parted ways their doogle haired frontman Michael Robert Murphy has been quietly releasing stoned cold classic singles with the help of fellow musical titans The Coral; Out Of Sight with its timeless genius structure; The Scots of St James phased blissed out psych of Puzzles and Holding On echoing more shuddering Electric Prunes like sounds, MRM knows how to create a cauldron mix fit to have your senses experience new delectations.

Recorded in a remote farm studio in the Wirral Merseyside, Michael describes his debut solo album, which features some Liverpool legends including Echo and The Bunnymen’s Will Sergeant and The Coral’s Ian Skelly, Paul Molloy and Ian Mac, as “A scouse lo-fi autobiographical psychedelic odyssey”. Reverberating this anecdote when listening to the album in all its glorious wonderment, the listener will be taken to spaces and stratospheres not thought possible on this mortal realm. Opening atomic excursion Splinter In The Mind’s Eye chimes loved up merriment ‘I just want to be with you’ with a sweet acoustic backing; Cyclone has firm reflections of The Coral tripper picnics but within this hamper visualizes droplets of piquant maturity; Like A Shadow follows complementary traits to The Byrds I See You, the McGuinn similarities aren’t copycat excuses, instead MRM is standing on the shoulders of giants.

The ambiguous singles Lift The Curse, Prometheus Fountain and Whispers On The Wind are all still as naggingly obsessive listening material from when they were first released, the latter has the added dazzling ingenuity of Bunnymen guitarist Will Sergeant; with the final studio battles of Watch The Storm and In A Dream That Holds The Key MRM firmly pulls the sword from the stone and achieves a long player complete with enough bends, twists and surprises Cilla Black would no doubt be singing her heart out in approval. Michael Robert Murphy achieves a resounding crackerjack release, the likes of which his fans were no doubt hoping for, no one will feel vanquished by this titanic symphonic **** star effort.

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