Michael Martin Murphey
Cosmic Cowboy Souvenir

Michael Martin Murphey's first album, "Geronimo's Cadillac" from 1972, immediately demonstrated the enormous potential of its author: perhaps the most eclectic and brilliant country-western songwriter of all time, capable of ranging from protest songs to gospel, passing through picturesque tex-mex sketches, poignant acoustic ballads, majestic and evocative piano-ballads, fragments of lively country-pop and elusive blues undertones. If there is a flaw to find in a record of the caliber of "Geronimo's Cadillac" it is certainly that it presents itself more as a collection of (great) songs rather than as a true album; "Cosmic Cowboy Souvenir" from 1973, Murphey's second album, less spontaneous but certainly more thoughtful and personal than its predecessor, manages to develop its own well-defined sound, which indeed places it in a very particular niche, given that "Cosmic Cowboy Souvenir" in terms of sound and atmosphere stands out among the excellent production of the '70s of the Texan singer-songwriter.

This album is perhaps the most glaring definition of a subgenre known as Progressive country, a term coined to define a more refined style of country rich in influences, which had a core of artists based mainly in Austin, to which Murphey himself belongs, in contrast to the more popular and mainstream scene of Nashville. In the case of "Cosmic Cowboy Souvenir" the influences are essentially psychedelic in nature: this album sounds wonderfully visionary, shrouded in a vague but well-perceptible acid and alcoholic halo, which greatly enhances its charm. The track that opens the proceedings, "Cosmic Cowboy Pt.1" is a clear example of it: it's a country rock anthem that is suitably rousing and characterized by a rickety and slightly tipsy interpretation; in the lyrics, western culture and hippie culture intertwine in an improbable but suggestive mix, in "Prometheus Busted" the raucous and somewhat rough honky-tonk sound meets none other than classical mythology, in a performance made even more surreal by a relentless almost operatic chorus that intones the hammering refrain "Turn him loose, won't you turn him loose, Zeus". Also contributing to this particular atmosphere are ballads like the rickety "Drunken Lady Of The Morning", which sketches an improbable female portrait with sparse and essential style, characterized by strong shades of madness and alienation, the dreamy "Honolulu", which has a calm, soft rhythm, almost like a psychedelic lullaby, in which faded childhood memories resurface, and finally "Rolling Hills", very simple, serene, and linear, which closes the album leaving behind the surreal tones of the previous songs.

In "Cosmic Cowboy Souvenir" there is also a more spiritual soul, which loses the more earthly and alcoholic connotations, but not the halo of psychedelia, in favor of solemn and elegiac tones. This thread includes the very elegant "Blessing In Disguise", a piano-ballad with a smoky, nocturnal atmosphere, on which MMM delivers a beautiful poem with an almost dark flavor, and especially the two great pillars of the album, two grand and visionary compositions, almost two frescoes of paradise according to the 1973 Michael Martin Murphey, the sumptuous "South Canadian River Song", which is prog-country in all its aspects: for its seven-minute duration it weaves through continuous changes of tempo and scenario: the beginning is slow, indolent, unreal, then a piano with an almost jazz-like flavor introduces an epic and airy central part, where the songwriter's dream takes shape, only to lose itself in a frenetic instrumental escape that gradually returns to the initial unreal calm atmosphere. "Alleys Of Austin" is much less pretentious from a musical point of view, it is initially an acoustic ballad with strong spiritual tones, accompanied by echoes of angelic choirs and synthesizers acting as solemn organs, accompanying Murphey's subtle and dreamlike voice in an enchanted journey between Texan bars and heavenly jam sessions, street musicians and angels plucking their harps funky-style.

While other masterpieces by this extraordinary author, such as "Blue Sky-Night Thunder," "Swans Against The Sun," or the same "Geronimo's Cadillac," remain substantially linked to an earthly dimension, albeit imbued with a certain unmistakable surrealist touch both musically and lyrically, "Cosmic Cowboy Souvenir" floats lightly in a lysergic dimension suspended between dream and reality; its visionary sound is simply extemporaneous magic, a unique alchemy, bound to a particular moment, enclosed in the multicolored whirlwind of an album that is neither replicable nor repeatable, one of a kind.