Published on Dec 31, 1998
Before I got into college radio, I had no idea who Peter Murphy
was, nor did I care. Even after a year in college radio, I didn’t
care who he was – he just seemed too weird for my still
narrow-minded tastes.
Then, I happened to sit down and listen to the copy of
Deep, Murphy’s second solo album, that had been given to me
by the station’s music director. And I wondered… just what had I
been smoking to have ignored this guy? Even today, almost ten years
after this album came out,
Deep contains some great music that doesn’t always reflect
the past of Murphy’s old band, Bauhaus.
There’s no denying that the overall sound on this tape is that
of British alternative pop, but it carves out its own niche in that
it’s not as dark as the goth rock I had expected, and it leaves you
feeling good. Murphy’s use of the twelve-string guitar on various
parts of the album also helps to create a musical texture all its
own – and one that still sends chills down my spine to this
day.
Opening up with “Deep Ocean Vast Sea,” one almost feels that
Murphy is riding the crests of his own song, and is just allowing
his vocals to be shaped by the melodies. This is a new approach to
my ears – and it works incredibly well. Throughout the whole first
half of
Deep, Murphy allows himself to be overtaken by the song.
From “Sky” to “Marlene Dietrich’s Favourite Poem,” Murphy sets
himself apart from the then-blossoming alternative scene as someone
special.
The song that
Deep is probably best known for, “Cuts You Up,” is still as
enjoyable today as it was when I started to hear it on stations
like WXRT-FM in 1990. Murphy quickly shows that he can maintain his
musical integrity while writing songs that are radio-friendly.
Likewise, “A Strange Kind Of Love” is a great ballad that is a
wonderful mood piece. It also features some great guitar work; I
have yet to figure out some of those chord progressions.
The only negative I can find with
Deep is that it gets a little too self-absorbed in the end.
When you follow up a song like “Roll Call” with “Roll Call Reprise”
– I mean, one right after the other – things get to sounding a
little tedious. It’s still a decent track, but I question the
tracks’ placement on the album.
Still, Murphy was shooting bull’seyes for almost the entire
album, and
Deep remains one of the treasures from the “birth” of
alternative rock that still is waiting to truly be discovered.
Especially with the re-formation of Bauhaus in 1998, now could be
the time for
Deep to be re-discovered.