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Mo Murphy/Warn Me

-featuring Randy California!

Tracks: Warn Me, Cold Sheets, When The Angels Take Your Friend, What I Meant To Say, I Wish Was, Hello Sailor, No One's In Command, Downtown, The Pounding.

Mo Murphy is a singer/songwriter and director (she makes her own videos), who has released this excellent nine track debut CD which has a guest appearance from Randy California. It doesn't really sound like a debut album, the music here sounds very mature to these ears. The impressive title track is the first cut on the CD, and has Randy California playing subtle guitar lines behind Mo:s suggestive vocal. A great pity that Randy left us too early - I'm sure that more Randy/Mo collaborations would have been very interesting! I think there are some similarities between Mo:s music and Spirit's: It's both accessible and experimental, it's popmusic with a rock influence (without being "heavy"). There is also some influence from jazz (What I Meant To Say) and irish folkmusic (Hello Sailor).

Warn Me is conceptualized around the Kennedy assassination, and I think it's very successfull in making a political statement in a subtle way. So many political songs end up sounding preachy and dull, but this is not the case with this song. The lyrics of When The Angels Take Your Friend has a sort of dreamlike quality, I can't say I understand them, but maybe they weren't meant to be analyzed...:

"A spirit whipping wind above your bed A fly feels safe to land above your head You stage a play for mom and dad A simple plot they couldn't understand They won't be here for the end When the angels come to take their friend"

I Wish I Was is one of my favorites on the album - I love the saxophone arrangement! The irish sounding Hello Sailor sounds like it could be a great single, it has a beautiful melody that one remembers instantly. Downtown is a great cover of the song made famous by Petula Clark, and the video for this song is great - it shows a somewhat different picture of Downtown than the song...

I must say that this one of the best albums I've heard in a long time, I recommend it to anyone who likes intelligent pop music, and for any true Spirit fan it is a must-have! It can be bought from:

http://www.topangaonline.com/music/mo

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