Peter Murphy - Deep
- FaceOff - עימות חזיתי
- 2 hours ago
- 4 min read
Written By: Moti Kupfer
Release date - 19.12.1989
He had piercing eyes and a gaze that could freeze you in place. If he wanted to hypnotize, he barely had to try. And when he began to sing in his booming, dark voice, you had no choice but to listen, because that is the very nature of strange love. “A strange kind of love, a strange kind of feeling,” sang the prince of dark rock, Peter Murphy, whose third album "Deep" was released on December 19, 1989.
Peter John Murphy was born in July 1957 in Northampton to a large working class family. He was the seventh child, raised in a household that provided its children with a strict Catholic upbringing. Despite this, Murphy describes his childhood as a happy one.
As an introverted child, he found his first connection to music through his mother, who would often hum songs around the house. This is something I deeply relate to, even as an adult it still happens from time to time.
At school, he became close friends with Daniel Ash, with whom he would later form the gothic rock band "Bauhaus". Murphy described Ash as his other half, the person who understood him more than anyone else. Both were drawn to the glam rock movement and artists such as "T. Rex" and David Bowie. However, when Murphy was sixteen, their paths diverged. Ash went on to study art, while Murphy, due to the difficult financial situation in his parents’ home, took a job at a local printing factory to help support the family.
Despite working at the print shop and initially refusing Daniel Ash’s proposal to start a band, Murphy held on to his love for music. He continued attending concerts by David Bowie, Marc Bolan, and Iggy Pop. Meanwhile, Ash’s previous band, "Jackplug and the Sockets", had broken up. Determined to form another group, Ash approached Peter Murphy once again, and this time Murphy agreed to give it a try.
They entered a room at the Northampton teacher training college. Ash connected a microphone, added heavy echo, and asked Murphy to sing fragments from a newspaper he was holding. This moment marked the birth of "Bauhaus", and in effect, the beginning of Peter Murphy’s musical career.
Through "Bauhaus", Murphy built the image of the prince of gothic rock, as the band released four albums over the course of five years before breaking up in 1983.
Following the band’s breakup, Murphy formed a project called "Dali's Car" together with Mick Karn from the band "Japan". Together they released a single album titled "The Waking Hour" in 1984, but creative disagreements led to the project’s early end. Karn summed it up perfectly when he said, “Each of us had a different way of building music.”
At this point, Murphy realized that he had his own ambitions and a clear sense of direction. He felt ready to embark on a solo career, yet still wanted a safety net, which he found in the form of musician Howard Hughes, formerly of the band "The Associates".
Murphy released his first two solo albums in 1986 and 1988. On the second album, "Love Hysteria", Terl Bryant joined on drums, Paul Statham on keyboards, and Eddie Branch and Peter Bonas on guitars. This quartet would also accompany him on his next album, "Deep", this time as his official backing band under the name "The Hundred Men".
On "Deep", Murphy dyed his hair platinum blonde and leaned toward an alternative rock sound, echoing the style he had previously explored with "Bauhaus" in the early eighties.
Murphy’s lyrics on the album are often abstract, and it is not always clear what he is singing about. This ambiguity is part of the mystery he consistently builds around his persona. On one hand, the album blends somber ballads with a gothic touch, such as the chilling "A Strange Kind of Love", released as the album’s third single, and "Cuts You Up", which became a hit in 1990 and entered the Billboard Hot 100. On the other hand, the album also features pop oriented tracks that almost verge on dance rhythms, such as the second track "Shy", and especially the album closer "Roll Call", which opens with electronic drums in the style of "Technotronic" and "Black Box", acts that were firmly in the mainstream at the time.
At the heart of the album lies the emotional ballad "Marlene Dietrich's Favourite Poem", which portrays Marlene Dietrich in the twilight of her life, offering a moment of confession and a request for forgiveness. It is a beautiful song in which Murphy is accompanied by acoustic guitar, a delicate harp, and synthesizers that create a gentle shiver, very much like the atmosphere found in "A Strange Kind of Love".
For Listening: Spotify, Apple Music