I first encountered
the magnificent Murphy in 1975, when I was bottom-of-the-bill to him, in a
horrible pub in Acton, West London. (A gig, by the way which we're both
still waiting to be paid for).
Noel took the floor (and part of the ceiling) wearing ancient jeans, a
wonderful serene smile, and the rugby shirt of a considerably smaller man.
Within seconds, the Murphy magic was working. I'd never seen anything like
him. He's an amazing singer in the old tradition who can break your heart
with an Irish ballad, and then have you crying with laughter with songs
and stories about beer, banter, and (of course) building sites.
I started searching for his records (and some very good ones there were
too) but never found one that really captured the true warmth and
spontaneity of Noel Murphy "live" with an audience. Well, now at last
there is one!
In 1997, Noel assembled a fine new set of songs, a splendid band of
first-class folk musicians, and a whole audience-full of friends
supporters and partners in crime. He put them all together in that
venerable Folk Music venue, The Cabbage Patch, Twickenham. All I had to do
was switch on the tape machine and record two hilarious, moving, magical
gigs.
As "live" albums go, this is about the liveliest one you'll ever hear.
There's atmosphere by the bucketful. Murphy and the boys play their hearts
out, and the audience are with them every inch of the way.
The album won't win too many prizes from High-Fidelity magazines (for
instance, Murphy has a habit of turning his back on his microphones and
congratulating the musicians while they're a playing a particularly good
bit!) but it does capture the personality of the man the warmth and
passion of the audience … and my Goodness me, what a band!
For lovers of gentle Irish humour, brilliant traditional music, and large
hairy men in rugby shirts telling outrageous gags about bricklayers, this
is the real Noel Murphy.
Doc Cox
