Biography
Murphy Blend originated in Berlin as one of numerous German ensembles that issued a single recording before retreating into obscurity. Their sole LP, First Loss, appeared in 1971 and has since earned recognition as a landmark of Teutonic heavy rock. Although the music drew from British heavy-rock acts such as Deep Purple, Uriah Heep, and Atomic Rooster, the quartet’s strangely accented vocals, fresh fusion of progressive and psychedelic elements, and brooding intensity aligned them with contemporaneous heavy Krautrock outfits like early Jane.
Details surrounding the four musicians, who borrowed their name from a pipe-tobacco brand, remain sparse. They apparently coalesced at the start of 1970, comprising Wolf-Rudiger Uhlig on organ, cembalo, piano, and vocals, Wolfgang Ramler on guitar and vocals, Andreas Scholz on bass, and Achim Schmidt on drums and vocals. Uhlig, who had pursued several years of classical study, blended thematic material from that tradition with his thick Hammond organ textures, lending the group’s weighty sound a distinctly progressive cast.
The band booked time at Munich’s Union Studio for a week in early October 1970 and an additional three days in early December to lay down First Loss. Jonas Porst, who managed the more mainstream act Ihre Kinder, produced the sessions, and the Kuckuck label—a Polydor subsidiary devoted to Krautrock—issued the album in early 1971. Beyond the six conventional tracks, which showcased incisive guitar-and-organ riffs together with thoughtful lyrics, the record is remembered for its final cut, the three-second “Happiness,” one of the briefest pieces in the Krautrock canon.
Soon after the release, the group dissolved; Uhlig formed the short-lived Hanuman in May 1971 alongside several jazz and blues players. Scholz later joined another fleeting, comparatively mainstream outfit, Blackwater Park, which likewise produced only one album. In 1991 the Ohrwaschl label reissued First Loss on CD in a limited run of one thousand copies.
Details surrounding the four musicians, who borrowed their name from a pipe-tobacco brand, remain sparse. They apparently coalesced at the start of 1970, comprising Wolf-Rudiger Uhlig on organ, cembalo, piano, and vocals, Wolfgang Ramler on guitar and vocals, Andreas Scholz on bass, and Achim Schmidt on drums and vocals. Uhlig, who had pursued several years of classical study, blended thematic material from that tradition with his thick Hammond organ textures, lending the group’s weighty sound a distinctly progressive cast.
The band booked time at Munich’s Union Studio for a week in early October 1970 and an additional three days in early December to lay down First Loss. Jonas Porst, who managed the more mainstream act Ihre Kinder, produced the sessions, and the Kuckuck label—a Polydor subsidiary devoted to Krautrock—issued the album in early 1971. Beyond the six conventional tracks, which showcased incisive guitar-and-organ riffs together with thoughtful lyrics, the record is remembered for its final cut, the three-second “Happiness,” one of the briefest pieces in the Krautrock canon.
Soon after the release, the group dissolved; Uhlig formed the short-lived Hanuman in May 1971 alongside several jazz and blues players. Scholz later joined another fleeting, comparatively mainstream outfit, Blackwater Park, which likewise produced only one album. In 1991 the Ohrwaschl label reissued First Loss on CD in a limited run of one thousand copies.