Elliott Murphy: Night Lights

I'm still amazed by the depth of rock history: no matter how smart you think you are, there's always some great artist you somehow failed to recognise as one, or that simply didn't cross your way... And that's what happened to me with Elliott Murphy: I barely knew he existed (had heard of the name, I guess), and that's why when some weeks ago I read a long article spanning through his entire career I knew exactly zip of him... So, just after reading I started digging and as soon as I started listening to his debut "Aquashow" I felt sooooo very stupid. I mean: Bob Dylan, Lou Reed, and Richard Hell in one person (and one album!).
So, I was supposed to upload the "Acquashow" LP, sure, but I know there's plenty of blogs with that same album (try PVAC...for instance), and I wanted something a little less obvious, and I went for Murphy's third release, "Night Lights", a slightly inferior one, but with a bunch of great (great!) songs as Diamonds by the yard, You'll never know what you're in for, or Lady Stiletto (about Patti Smith, btw).
And if you're not easily convinced try and read Lady Stiletto's lyrics:

I see this little girl she's dressed in black
She's spitting on the stage
And like some stray cat she arches her back
She leads the anarchist parade
She's a poet with street walking rhymes
They say she's got no shame
And as she screams about some piss factory
Her eyes burn with Rimbaud's rage

Ch baby you got such a way with words
You got such a way with your hairstyle
There's only one thing that you do I don't believe
That's when you smile

Her T shirt's ripped with a passion
Her mind's been raped by Rolling Stones
She keeps her weight down by fasting
On Jim Morrison's bones
And when she's good she's a rock dream witch
With Mac Beth on lead guitar
Just a ballad of a thin girl
I really think she's gonna go far

Oh baby you got such a way with words
You got such a way with your hairstyle
There's only one thing that you do don't believe
That’s when you smile

She really knows how to get to the heart
She writes with a stiletto in mind
She's got just a touch of Bonaparte
She's lack the Ripper's kind
Her wounds are open for the sake at art
She's living right near the edge
I love to see that kind of power
Its getting lonely on this ledge

Oh baby you got such a way with words
You got such a way with your hair style
There's only one thing that you do I don't believe
That's when you smile

And if this didn't do the trick, take a look at Diamonds by the yard played live in 2008:



Night Lights