Sergeant Buzfuz - Firehorse

  by Dixie Ernill

published: 10 / 4 / 2004

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Second LPs are always difficult if you are following up a debut that received rich praise from various sources including the NME. This is the case for Joe Murphy’s Sergeant Buzfuz and their new LP, 'Fire Horse'. I haven’t heard the debut, but it must have been better than this, because this really is rather ordinary. Peddling his trade as a Bob Dylan wannabe, sadly our Joe comes up short. Sure his lyrical observation is fine and the songs themselves aren’t bad, but in this overpopulated zone of singer songwriters, the voice is king and Joe’s voice is nothing but plain and average, which kind of leaves him behind the 8 ball before he strums a note. The likes of Johnny Bramwell in I Am Kloot or Stephen Fretwell could probably make some of these songs into something special and with that in mind you would be better seeking out their back-catalogues before you invest in this. In the middle of all this ordinariness is one potentially great song in 'Grand Scheme Of Things', which benefits from a slightly altered approach with the addition of a chorus and a female backing vocal, but one swallow does not a summer make and normal (sub-standard) service is quickly resumed. Browny points are also lost for the choice of band photo inside the CD case with Joe Murphy looking like an evil hypnotist and a young lady looking scared or bored or both. You have probably guessed that I lost interest in this LP long ago.Well there’s a reason for that……….

Track Listing:-

1 Scratch A Lover
2 Obedience
3 Untitled #2
4 Ghost
5 Cactus
6 Fire Horse
7 Grand Scheme Of Things
8 Shimmers Like Gold
9 A Horse To Take You
10 Don't Drink Yourself To Sleep
11 See-through

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