The 4 of Us:irishmusicmail

Fingerprints-CD~fingerprints~Brendan and Declan Murphy have never been especially careerist or commercial-minded. They've always done their own thing, which hasn't 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 , they'd 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. 1992's 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 would've 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.It's taken just three years for Fingerprints, which is actually very quick by their standards. Unsurprisingly, it's not Heaven & Earth 2, but another subtle segue into different territory. It opens with the epic 'Wildflower', distinguished by Declan's gently strummed guitar and Brendan's instantly recognisable vocal: "To find a rose I held thorns / Until my hands were ripped and torn / But you're a master of disguise / And I have come To realise / There's no temple there's no shrine / To keep you confined / Out of site, I'm running blind." The rather standard 'Dive In The River' is the closest thing to a filler track on the record, but 'Free Spirit' is a soaring classic. More spoken than sung, the deeply melancholic and regretful 'Blue' ranks as one of the most hauntingly beautiful things they've done, up there with Prince's 'Sometimes It Snows In April'.The rest is a scattering of pickings so rich it's hard to pick stand-outs (though the pleading 'Disconnected' is a real gem). It ends on a dark and lonely note with 'Late Night Destruction' ("Sometimes in the early hours I want nothing in my head"). Courtesy of http://www.hotpress.comWeblink:

01 Wildflower 02 Dive In The River 03 Free Spirit 04 Blue 05 What's To Come 06 Sweet Love 07 Anything Can Happen 08 Same Mistake Again 09 Disconnected 10 Flesh and Bone 11 Into Your Arms 12 Late Night Destruction~Fingerprints-CD|futurecd006|~3069~11940~the 4 of us fingerprints~

Songs for the Tempted-CD~Songs for the Tempted~01. DRAG MY BAD NAME DOWN 02. FOOL FOR TEMPTATION03. MARY04. ONE STRONG HAMMER05. JOLENE06. LIGHTNING PAUL07. I JUST CAN'T GET ENOUGH08. WASHINGTON DOWN09. KILL YOU10. HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS11. LOVE WITH CHRISTINE Produced by Mark Ferda & THE 4 OF US. Except track 2 Produced by THE 4 OF US. Additional Production by Michael H Brauer for MHB Productions. Recorded at Homestead Studios, Co. Antrim, Northern Ireland.~Songs for the tempted|4653482|~3069~8493~The 4 of Us~

Off the record- CD~Off the record~01 - DRAG MY BAD NAME DOWN (3:51) 02 - THE GIRL NEXT DOOR (3:32) 03 - POSSESSED (3:22) 04 - WASHINGTON DOWN (3:05) 05 - CHANGE (3:39) 06 - SHE'S SO REAL (3:27) 07 - MAYBE IT'S YOU (3:50) 08 - SHE HITS ME (4:00) 09 - ONE MORE SHOT (4:15) 10 - HYMN FOR HER (3:12) 11 - MARY (SUPER A.D. REMIX) (3:30) Produced by Pat O'Donnell & THE 4 OF US. Engineered by Enda Walsh & Pat O' Donnell. Mixed by Pat O' Donnell. Recorded at Amberville Studio Summer 2000.~Off the RECORD|CDRECORD1|~3069~8488~The 4 of Us~