If, like this writer, you go back 25 years with legendary Bauhaus frontman PETER MURPHY, you may initially have difficulty in equating the idea of a sublime "pop" album with the man often charged with unleashing the forces behind the dreaded Goth movement during the 1980s.
But there again, for all the mascara, pretension, leather trousers and bizarre hairstyles, the whole pathetic Goth thing is often accredited to three influential men and one woman (Robert Smith, Nick Cave, Siouxsie Sioux and Murphy) who - lest we forget - were actually making tremendously adventurous alternative rock music long before the godawful G word was coined as a buzzword and dorks like The Mission, Specimen and Fields of the Naff (er, Neph, sorry) hijacked it for their own clueless gain. If you think I'm barking, spend a day or two with fantastic records such as "Faith", "Tender Prey", "The Scream" and "In The Flat Field" and maybe you'll realise why I have a problem with talents such as these being lumped in under the Goth umbrella.
The moral of this rant is that the convenient tags we use for comparison day in and day are at best lazy and often inaccurate and don't allow an artist to grow in the wider sense. Yes, I loved (and still love) Peter Murphy's work with Bauhaus, but over twenty years later, I - for one - am delighted he continues to strike out for pastures new and isn't attempting to rewrite "Bela Lugosi's Dead" for the five hundreth time.
Indeed, invest even cursory interest in Murphy's solo career and you'll unearth diverse albums such as "Holy Smoke", "Deep" and 2002's avant-garde "Dust": a record steeped in the personal experience of Murphy's life in his adopted home town of Istanbul. All of these records are well worthy of investigation, but only after you've first got your hands on "Unshattered": a consistently impressive new studio album that finds Murphy embracing a lighter, more philosophical tone and creating that sublime pop record I hinted at earlier.
And you might be surprised, but it really suits him at this juncture. Recorded predominantly in LA, with contributions from Stephen Perkins, Eric Avery (both Jane's Addiction), Bauhaus's Kevin Haskins, long-time Murphy acolyte Paul Statham and producer Gardner Cole (Madonna), "Unshattered" presents eleven warm and polished tunes - many of which would sound good barrelling out of a radio close to you - without sacrificing Murphy's trademark enigma factor.
Opener "Idle Flow" gives you some idea what to expect from the album. It's stealthy, insistent and (naturally) dramatic, with Murphy's fabulous dark croon (yes, he still flirts with Bowie a tad) as instantly recognisable as ever. Clearly, he's in viciously good vocal nick, but musically the anthemic backdrop also fits surprisingly effectively.
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Indeed, as you proceed, you soon realise its' assured pop appeal is no red herring, either. Songs like "Piece Of You" and "Face The Moon" are warm, tender and satisying affairs; "Emergency Unit" is a slow-buning slice of excellence and "Kiss Myself" positively basks in its' radio-friendly confidence, making room for acoustic guitars, accordion and harmonica. Indeed, it wouldn't be too presumptuous to suggest it sounds like an across-the-board hit waiting to happen.
Of course it's probably inevitable with musicians like Perkins and Avery on board that the urge to rock does finally come into play, and when "Unshattered" veers into songs like "Blinded Like Saul" and "The First Stone", the guitars do indeed take a turn for the dense and gnarly. Nonetheless, a fine team effort ensures the increased heaviosity doesn't destroy the mood, and sensibly the supporting cast still take care to give Murphy's vocal plenty of space.
The album's closing track "Breaking No-one's Heaven" is the one place where "Unshattered" begins to hark back to "Dust"'s more experimental, avant-garde feel, with its' Middle Eastern textures and Murphy's initial spoken-word dialogue. Shortly, though, it's blossomed into another sublime moment hung upon a lovely, plaintive chorus ("The simple love I give to you is breaking no-one'e heaven") before tailing off into a stange, disconnected dub that's very much the exception rather than the rule where this disciplined platter's concerned.
But really "Unshattered" is an impressively effective and affecting album which ensures cherry picking tracks becomes rather unneccesary after a few listens. It's commercially glossy and expansive stuff, but never less than substantial either and suggests Peter Murphy's emergence into the light after so many years harnessing the forces of darkness has been well worth waiting for. If this is what his new-found positivity can achieve, long may he continue to keep the shadows at bay.
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