Murray Head music
Murray Head’s vast career and discography is very well documented and appreciated by the lovers of rock and new wave music. With 18 albums released throughout his career, Murray Head was constantly floating on the US Billboard charts and hit single charts around many areas of the world where his music became mainstream. His studio albums were well received and positively reviewed by many producers, artists and record labels globally to the point where his greatest hits were recorded in one single album in order to give his fans the ability to retain his beautiful collection of tunes and melodic vocals.
Starting with his first single, She Was Perfection, which was then considered as a hit single years later, Murray Head introduced his talent to an open public in Britain and proved his overall enthusiastic ability in the guitar and vocals. Even though She Was Perfection did not achieve peak chart positions in any country, it is still considered as one of the best pioneering songs throughout his career which not only introduced his style but also his identity as a musician.
After releasing his first single, instantly his next hit single Superstar followed, one of the most recognizable and loved songs of Murray until this day. Superstar was released in late 1969 by Decca and MCA records before the album was completed, just like it also occurred with She Was Perfection. Superstar was sung by Murray Head along with the Trinidad Singers and reached the position #14 on its first week in the United States. The song continued to emerge in other markets around the world and reached position #6 in Canada, followed by position #9 in the Netherlands. In the United States, Superstar remained floating the Hot 100 chart from positions 14 to 70 for almost three years until the year 1971.
Superstar was inspired by the actions that Judas Iscariot did against Jesus, where the main content of the song is based on the questions of why Jesus arrived in the way that he did and whether or not selling him was part of a divine plan or not. Murray Head took this main influence of Judas along with his spirit to truly comprehend the questioning behind Judas’ actions, a religious viewpoint and influence that is rarely seen in many other rock songs.
After Superstar was released, Murray Head saw his big acceptance to the British and European markets with his mainstream audience and music style emerging like the way he had never seen before. During the entire decade of the 1970′s, Murray released the singles Say It Ain’t So, Joe, Someone’s Rocking My Dreamboat, and Never Even Thought all from the album Say It Ain’t So. These three singles gathered thousands of fans across Europe on each single venue whenever Murray Head performed. The entire decade emerged in him a desire to play many concerts across England, Europe and a few selected cities in the United States.
As the 1980′s emerged, Murray Head released two other hit singles which were titled Cocktail Molotov and Mademoiselle. The first one being used on a soundtrack album titled exactly Cocktail Molotov and the second one being part of the Between Us album which was released in 1978. Both songs were instantly accepted as a new style that Murray Head was trying to experiment and that same style influenced many other songs and albums throughout his career. During the entire decade of the 1980′s, Murray Head continued to release performance dates all across Europe, particularly in England and France, as well as in the United States.
Finally, his peak success was seen when he released his most famous hit single titled One Night in Bangkok, which was released in 1984 and on a concept album for the musical Chess OST. The hit single was completely unexpected to achieve so much fame and success due to being one single that was not included in one of Murray Head’s original albums. One Night in Bangkok achieved position #3 in the US charts, #1 in Australia, Canada, the Netherlands and #12 in the United Kingdom. The song’s full version starts with a melodic instrumental and orchestral introduction, followed almost instantly with an abrupt change in musical style from orchestral to a Thai-oriental style.
The lyrics of the song represent the city of Bangkok, along with its overall nightlife associated with the game of chess, thereby representing the concept album being made for the Chess musical. An overall ambiance of Bangkok, with its skyscrapers, its red-light districts and the exciting adventures that visitors can expect from the city are inferred in the lyrics of the song.
Even though One Night in Bangkok was by far one of the best and highly praised hit singles of Murray Head, he continued to release other singles which even though they did not occupy international charts, they were well received by his fans, record producers and many other artists who collaborated with him. Some of these include When You’re in Love from the Restless album, Picking Up the Pieces and Some People both from the Sooner or Later album.
An original remastered album containing 19 of Murray Head’s greatest hits was released in 2001 and has been in existence ever since. The album includes all the diverse hit singles from Murray Head’s career as well as some other singles that were very well received during the 1980′s and 1990′s due to his worldwide reputation after One Night in Bangkok.
In an essence, the greatest hits of Murray Head surpass many other hit singles from similar artists like him. His overall unique style that developed during many decades and his excellent ability to combine many imagery elements into his vocals were the main factors that brought him the fame and success that he deserved for his enduring and continuous work. Listening his greatest hits can definitely bring a contemporary individual back to two or three decades back and allow the ability to explore his developed styles.
To learn more about Murray Head please visit: MurrayHead.com
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