"What about some special guests?" asked Marc Ridet. "How about Ernie Brooks?"
"Well...he is very special, but he is not a guest. He's been playing with me for fifteen years. And he is always the last to leave the hotel."
"Yes, it can be said that Ernie hates to leaveanything."
"And yet he plays the bass like a ballet dancer, he is the Nijinsky of the four string." And so Ernie Brooks came to Hot Point.
"Will there be thunder and lighting this night?" asked Elliott.
"I cannot say for sure," said Marc. "In Switzerland the weather is kept in secret numbered accounts."
"Well then we had better bring our own thunder. We must find Tony Machine."
"Will that be difficult? I hear he is wrestling bears in a Polish circus."
"And who wins?" asked Marc.
"They say the bears are no longer willing to leave their cages." And so Tony Machine came to Switzerland.
"And the keyboards? asked Marc Ridet. "You are old enough to have a piano player on stage with you."
"Mozart is dead," said Elliott. "But I know of one man who still smiles like an angel and plays like the devil."
"Then he must be Italian."
"We must find Art Labriola - we will look for the grand smile of New York." And so Art Labriola came to Hot Point.
"But there are still missing ingredients," said Elliott.
"And what are they?" asked Marc.
"Magic," said Elliott gravely. "And Soul."
"But in America they have burned all the witches," said Marc. "And Marvin Gay is long gone."
"Yes but I know one magician who can fly with an electric guitar, whose solos will still be heard centuries from now; whose hands must have wings and who usually dresses in black."
"You cannot mean Chris Spedding?" asked Marc. "He is the only musician whose magic is both black and white - rock and roll. But does he have a telephone?"
"He doesn't need one. He is pure electricity." And so Chris Spedding came to Hot Point.
"And I know a man from the mean streets of Brooklyn who sings with the soul of Frankie Lyman and the spiritual rhythm of Martin Luther King,"
"This could only be Garland Jeffreys? The Rock 'n Roll Matador?"
"None other!" And it was truly live and now it will live on forever this labor of love. EM.

He tours France, Spain, Italy, Germany and Scandinavia when he's not writing. He's had collections of short stories and a novel published in Europe during the last couple of years. He's realesed well over a dozen of the most passionate, literate, intelligent rock albums of our times. Sidemen on his albums have included members of The Violent Femmes, The Smithereens, The Talking Heads, The Velvet Underground, neo-folkie Shawn Colvin and even AOR warhorses like Phil collins and Billy Joel. During his last European tour, when Bruce Springsteen played Paris, Elliott Murphy was the artist he asked to join him on sage, where the two performed an acoustic version of Murphy's signature song "Rock Ballad". He made endless, slogging rock and roll tours and played in stripper joints.

His name is Elliott James Murphy and his is one of the more remarkable stories in modern rock'n roll.

The Aquashow
Murphy was a smart, rebellious kid, growing up in Garden City, long Island in the 1960's. He liked surfing, girls, music and F. Scott Fitzgerald. His father, Elliott Sr. ran the Aqua Show, a water ballet at the site of the 1939 World's Fair in Flushing Meadows. The Big Bands played there; Duke Ellington, and other top acts of the day. In high school, he won the New York State Battle of the Bands. Weekend nights, Murphy would go into Manhattan, seeking out the Velvet Underground, making the scene. With his brother Matthew he travelled to Europe, busking in subway stations and on the street corners to make a living. When he returned to New York in 1973 he put together a band -Elliott Murphy's Aquashow- and started playing out at Max's Kansas City and the Mercer Arts Center alongside bands like The New York Dolls and The Patti Smith Group.

Aquashow, Murphy's debut, was released by Polydor in November 1973. The critical response was immediate and overwhelming. Feature stories appeared in Rolling Stone,News week, The New Yorker and elsewhere. More albums followed, Lost Generation and Night Lights for RCA in 1975 and 1976, Just A Story From America for Columbia in 1977.

In 1980, Murphy formed his own label and released the six-song EP. Affairs, which, although limited by distribution in the US, sold strongly and received glowing press notices. It also sparked considerable interest in Europe, where Murphy began touring regularly. "It was astonishing" he says in retrospect. "All the effort had been directed at making me a star in the US.-I had no idea I had any following abroad until I played a theatre show in Paris. I got six encores and the audience sang along to all the songs". In 1982 he released Murph The Surf, an album that saw his talents reach full fruition in exquisitely crafted folk-rock.

1984's Party Girls/Broken Poets, recorded for Warner Brothers in Europe, made several US critics' Ten Best of the Year lists and was nominated for Album of the Year by the New York Music Awards. Fan clubs sprang up in France, Italy, japan and the US. Murphy was writing extensively, penning articles and short stories for Spin, Rolling Stone and numerous other publications, including interviews with Tom Waits and Keith Richards.

In 1986, Murphy released the stunning Milwaukee album with Jerry Harrison (keybordist for the Talking Heads and former Murphy bandmember) as producer. The follow up, Change Will Come, recorded in new York with Smithereens producer James Ball, was also warmly received. A live album, Hot Point, with Chris Spedding guesting on lead guitar, followed, and in 1990, following his move to Paris, Murphy released what it probably his major work until now, the intensely personal twenty four song 12 (released in shortened form in the US under the title Unreal City). In the last few years two anthologies have appeared, Paris/New York and Diamonds By The Yard.

Beginning in the summer of 1995 Murphy began work on his newest studio album, Selling The Gold. The album was recorded at ICP Studios in Brussels, Belgium, whose unique collection of vintage guitars, amps and keyboards, plus definite pro-artist environment was very attractive to Murphy. "The album is a return to the studio production and sound of my 70's albums like Night Lights and Just A Story From America" says Murphy. "I wanted to return to a big sound but with no synthesizers (actually there's one little one but you'll have to find it). I had been working in my home studio on the songs for the album for over a year...but I just didn't know how to give birth to them. Luckily, I discovered ICP Studios, whose director John Hastry shares the same attitude as I do towards a studio environment that is geared toward the musicians-not the equipment". Murphy began working on the album with a new team of musicians: Andy Newmark (Roxy Music, Eric Clapton) on drums; Chucho Merchan (Eurythmics) on both acoustic and electric bass; Luis Jardim (Rolling Stones) on percussion. Special guests included Bruce Springsteen who sings on "Everything I Do (Leads Me Back To You)", The Violent Femmes and slide guitar virtouoso Sonny Landreth ."Having such wonderful friends as Bruce Springsteen, Sonny Landreth and The Violent Femmes appear on the album is nothing less than an act of grace and an immense gift to the soul" he says. "Selling The Gold was most enjoyable recording experience in over twenty years and some fifteen albums, so no matter what it sells I would have to call it (in my humbel opinion) a grand sucess".The album contains eleven tracks, all written by Murphy. Highlights include "Love To America", "Is Fellini Really Dead?" and "Take Your Love Away".

He's not a household name and he may never be one. But he is a survivor. He's an artist whose music has continued to evolve, change and grow for the past twenty years. With Selling The Gold he has released one of the finest albums of his incomparable career. He's one of the most admired songwriters in the world and there is no doubt his work will continue to astound and amaze us for years to come. 

ELLIOTT MURPHY DISCOGRAPHIE

ALBUMS: 1 AQUASHOW (Polydor 1973) 2 LOST GENERATION (RCA 1975) 3 NIGHT LIGHTS (RCA 1976) 4 JUST A STORY FROM AMERICA (Columbia 1977) 5 AFFAIRS (Courtisane 1980) 6 MURPH THE SURF (Disc AZ 1982) 7 MILWAUKEE (New Rose 1985) 8 CHANGE WILL COME (New Rose 1987) 9 PARTY GIRLS & BROKEN POETS (WEA 1984) 10 LIVE HOT POINT (New Rose 1991) 11 APRES LES DELUGE (New Rose 1987) 12 12 (New Rose 1990) 13 IF POETS WERE KING (New Rose 1992) 14 UNREAL CITY (Razor & Tie 1993) 15 DIAMONDS BY THE YARD (Razor & Tie 1992) 16 PARIS/NEW YORK (New Rose 1993) 17 SELLING THE GOLD (Musidisc 1995) 18 GOING THROUGH SOMETHING (Dejadisc 1996) 19 BEAUREGARD (Last Call 1998) 20 APRIL - LIVE - (Last Call 1999) 21 LA TERRE COMMUNE - WITH IAIN MATHEWS - (Last Call 2001) 22 SOULSURFING/RAINY SEASON (Last Call 2002) 23 SOUL SURFING/ THE NEXT WAVE - EP - (LAST CALL2003) 24 STRINGS OF THE STORM - DOUBLE CD (LAST CALL 2003)

OEUVRES LITTÉRAIRES (FRANCE) BOOKS: COLD AND ELECTRIC (Editions Entreligne 1990) CAFÉ NOTES (Hachette Literatures 2002) SHORT STORIES COLLECTIONS: LE LION DORT CE SOIR (Librairie Gibert Joseph 1992) POETRY: Nouvelle Revue de Paris (France)

LINK PAGE

A website dedicated to pictures of Elliott

Elliott's Website