11 short stories of pain & glory (2017)

"Boston Irish folk punk is convenient media shorthand for the Murphys music. Perhaps mindful of the pigeonhole, the band venture away from their own back yard for the first time, recording this album in El Paso. It results in a pleasingly broader palette, from the redneck power pop of "Sandlot", to the melodic and bouncy Madness-like closer "Well Meet Again". Not that theyre ignoring their roots, mind; both "Paying My Way" and "Rebels With A Cause" find them directing their blue collar Celtic rage at a stagnant political system that continues to fail kids and addicts in Massachusetts, their home state. Few songs in their canon are as affecting or as perfectly realised as "4 15 13", written in response to the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013. The track owes a clear debt to the social commentary country hues of their early champion Steve Earle, the sound of a band learning to roar just as loud without the need to crank the amps up to 11." (Terry Staunton, Classic Rock Magazine; 3,5 uit 5 sterren)

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