ARTiST: The 4 Of Us
TiTLE: Fingerprints
LABEL: EMI
GENRE: Rock
TiME: 40:54 min
SiZE: 59,3 MB
BiTRATE: VBRkbps
RiP DATE: Sep-30-2006
RELEASE DATE: Oct-02-2006
WEBSiTE: n/a
Track List:
01. Wildflower 03:31
02. Dive In The River 02:57
03. Free Spirit 03:26
04. Blue 03:46
05. What's To Come 03:14
06. Sweet Love 03:21
07. Anything Can Happen 03:46
08. Same Mistake Again 02:52
09. Disconnected 04:12
10. Flesh And Bone 01:54
11. Into Your Arms 04:07
12. Late Night Destruction 03:48
Release Notes:
Brendan and Declan Murphy have never been especially
careerist or commercial-minded. TheyÆve always done
their own thing, which hasnÆt always been a good
thing. Had the Newry band (I think there were five
of them at the time) slogged the States on the back
of their 1989 debut Songs For The Tempted, theyÆd
probably never have come back.
Instead, possibly shell-shocked from their sudden
rise to prominence on this side of the pond, they
chose to return to the studio rather than tour.
1992Æs Man Alive was a full-on rock record when the
vast majority of their established audience were
popping pills and going raving. Painfully
perfectionist, they then scrapped what wouldÆve been
their third album, having spent three years working
on it.
Eventually, after what pretty much amounted to a
seven-year silence, they released the solid
Classified Personal in 1999. It took another four
years to produce Heaven & Earth, but it was well
worth the wait. Nervy, edgy and utterly beautiful,
it was a certified masterpiece.
ItÆs taken just three years for Fingerprints, which
is actually very quick by their standards.
Unsurprisingly, itÆs not Heaven & Earth 2, but
another subtle segue into different territory.
It opens with the epic æWildflowerÆ, distinguished
by DeclanÆs gently strummed guitar and BrendanÆs
instantly recognisable vocal: ôTo find a rose I held
thorns / Until my hands were ripped and torn / But
youÆre a master of disguise / And I have come To
realise / ThereÆs no temple thereÆs no shrine / To
keep you confined / Out of site, IÆm running blind.ö
The rather standard æDive In The RiverÆ is the
closest thing to a filler track on the record, but
æFree SpiritÆ is a soaring classic.
More spoken than sung, the deeply melancholic and
regretful æBlueÆ ranks as one of the most hauntingly
beautiful things theyÆve done, up there with
PrinceÆs æSometimes It Snows In AprilÆ.
The rest is a scattering of pickings so rich itÆs
hard to pick stand-outs (though the pleading
æDisconnectedÆ is a real gem). It ends on a dark and
lonely note with æLate Night DestructionÆ
(ôSometimes in the early hours I want nothing in my
headö).
Then you play it again.
Fingerprints wonÆt be leaving my stereo anytime
soon. Musically deep, textured and multi-layered,
and lyrically older, wiser and slightly more fucked
up, it seems to get better and better with every
listen.
9 / 10
Olaf Tyaransen
HOT PRESS