A brand new recording of the track Phil Murray discovered in 1976 on the test pressing of Hunky Dory, which did not make it onto that album. It was then intended for Ziggy Stardust, but other tracks took precedence. Here, with a brand new treatment, Phil sings a song he opened the U-Boat show with so many times back in the seventies, with his new band Phil Murray's U-Boat. An album to follow ... 

Bombers

The first day of U-Boat saw me perusing Woody’s record collection. 
There was a white label (test pressing) of Hunky Dory, which included a song called Bombers, later excluded from the final pressing. I suggested we cover it; soon after we demoed it at Trident, where it had been originally recorded by Bowie and The Spiders. 
We opened with it thereafter. 
I later recorded the song once again with John Townley, using the title All Clear. Finally I re-recorded it for the last time as a free giveaway by Phil Murray’s U-Boat at our inaugral gig at The Tavistock Wharf Theatre in 2015. 

13 All Clear

Written for the second U-Boat album, U2, but not demoed until after the split, and given a very different, lighter treatment to that we would have afforded it in U-Boat, with the addition of brass.
It was 1977 when I took a few songs in to John Loader’s Southern Studio in Wood Green, and with Martin Smith, Kevin Savigar, Richard Burgess, Andy Pask and Peter Thoms, we produced what was needed to get signed to Private Stock Records, a deal I had before my three years with Mickie Most and RAK Records. A demo that went no further ...

Starship B165

Track 4 From The 1991 Album PLUS by Phil Murray

Head Over Heels

Phil Murray's Diamond Dogz open their live show with this song.

Phil Murray LIVE

Paul Eyres and I got together and formed a recording band called D-Marks, (as in Deutsche Marks). Paul got us a deal in Germany; around about 1984 we went into the studio in Bielefeld with a few others: John Townley, Ian Wilson and Ivan Opium. I had a song which Blackie had demoed, but never quite got finished. This is it. The chorus still not lyrically complete. If I remember correctly this was a monitor mix. I found it on an old cassette. Transferring it onto the computer was probably the last action that cassette will ever see. It was falling to pieces! We needed a speaking voice for the middle section and asked the Portuguese cleaner if she would oblige, and a good job she so did! So, with limited sound quality and a curse on cassettes … here it is …

My Life

After returning to a cloudy England in January 1982, from the blue skies of Los Angeles, I decided to take a break from music to act. I then completed two theatrical tours for Bill Kenwright. A Mike Harding comedy called Fur Coat And No Knickers was the first, and on the second, I met John Townley, a pit musician at that time who was also performing the voice of the bear. It was Paddington Bear’s Magical Musical and I was playing Mr Brown. That is my excuse for this one and only time I’ve had a mustache! The picture is on stage at The Theatre Royal, Newcastle Upon Tyne, and the two children are nephews who’d come to see the show. After the tour, John and I got together with a new Tascam Eight Track and recorded two songs in his West Drayton living room. In My Life was a song I had kicking around from post U-Boat days. I rescued this from a cassette. John joined us for the first studio trip to Germany for the recording of My Life, but not the second. Why the sudden focus on Life, My Life, In My Life, I don’t know. John and I also recorded David Bowie’s Bombers together on the same demo sessions, and called it All Clear.

In My Life

My thinking about tomorrow track for the PLUS album at the beginning of the 1990's.

Sweet Things

Phil Murray, Carl Raccah and Keith Moore recorded this version of Kites back in 1987, just prior to forming The Secret Service. It was resurrected by the TiME trio in 2010, but never made the set list.

Kites

This is my favourite song from the album Separate Holiday, which I recorded at Banana Studio, Forest Hall, Tyne and Wear, with Stu Haikney, Gary Cowie and Dave Black in 1992. I think it was the only one I managed to keep free of multi tracked backing vocals, which I also like and adorn all of the other tracks. The car on the cover, is the only picture we have of our Lincoln Continental Town Coupe, from our time living in Boca Raton, Florida during the late eighties; otherwise known as The Pimp Mobile!

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