Michael Martin Murphey
Blue Sky - Night Thunder

"Blue Sky - Night Thunder" is the fresco of a mysterious and fascinating wild west, filled with suggestions and places of the soul seen through the dreamy and imaginative gaze of a great songwriter, unfortunately underrated and practically unknown in our parts: Michael Martin Murphey, a Dallas, Texas native born in 1945, still active, has had a long and inspired career, marked by various phases while always remaining within the country-western niche. Precisely in his early period, in the '70s, he wrote the most beautiful pages of his artistic journey, with albums such as the stunning debut "Geronimo's Cadillac," "Cosmic Cowboy Souvenir," his absolute pinnacle "Swans Against The Sun," and indeed, "Blue Sky - Night Thunder" from 1975, the only MMM album to achieve appreciable sales success.

"Blue Sky - Night Thunder" owes its commercial fortune to its opening track, "Wildfire"; a true manifesto song of Murphey, it fully embodies the spirit of the album: from the onset, the ear perceives an instrumental refinement above the average, a melody that elegantly unfolds, reaching its peak in a relaxed and choral refrain, a voice that in itself may not be exceptional but is clear and seductive enough, and lyrics with evocative, sentimental, and surreal tones make this very unique country ballad a great song, a milestone that opens this deeply inspired album in the best possible way.

Another masterpiece of "Blue Sky - Night Thunder" is certainly "Desert Rat", a slow and drowsy song, imbued with semi-acoustic and airy psychedelia highlighted by a hypnotic and very fitting accompanying music box. It is undoubtedly the ideal background for admiring a desert canyon in full daylight, when the sun radiates all its warmth, blurring the landscape and creating dreamlike scenarios. Not only these two peaks, but all ten songs of this album possess a strong evocative charge, from the urgent country-rock of "Blue Sky Riding Song", a performance almost like a saloon, made original by a sparkling piano and acoustic guitars that draw an unusually syncopated and limping rhythm, to the majestic "Night Thunder", one of the album's most unexpected strokes of genius, compelling and filled with choirs and overdubs, it almost seems like the result of an improbable jam session with early Queen; there are also "minor" episodes that refer to more canonical and conventional country, albeit presented in a personal and creative way, like "Wild Bird" and the cheerful "Without My Lady There".

Even though it does not represent one of the album's most memorable tracks, a song like "Secret Mountain Hideout" further enriches it by offering a lively mix between country rock and rhythm 'n' blues, in which a colorful trombone solo stands out; more in line with the album's landscape setting is the delightful tribal and vaguely psychedelic folk of "Medicine Man", a tribute to a Cheyenne shaman personally known by the singer-songwriter, and the gorgeous "Carolina In The Pines", the second "signature song" of MMM after the already mentioned "Wildfire", a captivating, joyful, and crystalline bluegrass, made even more lively by sparkling piano lines and the lively chatter of steel guitars, which give rise to small "toccatas and fugues" during the piece.

Much like this song, in general, "Blue Sky - Night Thunder" is a very cheerful and positive album, except for the final closing, entrusted to "Rings Of Life", which at first seems almost an alien element in this context: it's a sparse and subdued ballad, the singing is almost disconcerting, the melody fascinating and elusive, veiled with melancholy and introspection: a further coup de théâtre to close in grand style, which anticipates some atmospheres of the following album, the equally dazzling "Swans Against The Sun".

In a context like that of country music, which has its most burdensome limit in often being repetitive and stereotypical, an album like this is pure magic; it wasn't easy to review because it represented a fundamental, almost formative listen for myself, and it holds great sentimental value for me; personally, I consider it among the top ten albums I've had the chance to listen to, perhaps the charm it evokes in me is amplified by the estrangement of the places and landscapes of "Blue Sky - Night Thunder" from the context in which I live, but I don't think this can so heavily impact the final and objective judgment: a product so inspired, particular, and imbued with similar atmospheres and sensations is something truly precious, more unique than rare, which is truly a shame to ignore and forget due to preconceptions and cultural barriers.