The Best Solo You Never Heard

One of the best solos I've ever heard, from one of the most unique English session players ever to live: the late, great Alan Murphy.

Alan worked with Go West, Kate Bush, Scritti Politti, Mike and the Mechanics and Level 42 throughout the 1980's; a phenomenally interesting and criminally underrated guitar player.

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S O C I A L S

V I D E O C H A P T E R S

00:00 - "S.O.S" Solo
00:20 - Go West
01:13 - Alan Murphy
02:18 - Alan's Style
02:30 - Alan's Gear
03:32 - Recommended Listening

[Eflatmajorsharp]

I love his work on Go West’s “Baltimore to Paris”, sublime, perfect. Thank you for this moment Richard ❤

[jayboy]

At last. Alan Murphy along with Dann Huff absolutely melt my face. Richard. I can honestly say your solo could easily stand in for Alan’s sad sad loss. Outstanding mate. Outstanding.

[ExplosionDestroyer]

Great video. Alan Murphy is another one of my favorite session guitarists along with Steve Lukather, Michael Landau, Michael Thompson, Dann Huff, Paul Jackson Jr, Jay Graydon, Dean Parks, Steve Farris, and Tim Pierce just to name a few. These guys always manage to impress me everytime whenever I hear their playing.

[Stu]

Huge fan of both Go West and Level 42; I have all of their stuff.

Awesome that somebody out there on internetland is giving Alan some love; he's another underrated gem that most fans of the eighties and nineties probably have heard without registering who it was they were actually listening to... as is often the case for session players sadly.

[ChrisMuellerMusic]

Did know Alan until now. Mission accomplished, Richard! And very well that is! Thank you!

[kevinbarnett]

Great playing Richard - Alan was one my heroes too - sorely missed

[johnmcevoy]

The solo in "Silent Running" has a great notchy tone and buttery legato phrasing. A tutorial on the proper use of the vibrato bar. One of my favorites. RIP, Alan.

[deluxairhead]

Well said Richard, firstly love your work, secondly great call on Alan Murphy, his tone is so 80-90's but how's the phrasing incredible player, more break downs please, have a great

[DannsTheMan]

Thank you for introducing me to Alan Murphy. I'm a huge Dann Huff fan (even going by the online moniker Dann'sTheMan), and started following your channel as a result of your insightful coverage of him. I'm based in the UK and have enjoyed the odd Go West tune over the years, but haven't listened to their albums. I'm just not familiar with the UK session cats but used to scour the liner notes of CCM and Gospel session cats, hence my introduction to Dann. Alan Murphy seems like a wonderful place to start!

[danielbrockmann]

Just rediscovered Don't Look Down with very Dann Huff like jangle parts and two awesome solos by Alan 😍, thanks for the reminder Richard!

[LeoTorresGuitar]

Man that's a great solo, but you've actually improved it. The way you phrased it and arranged it tidily makes it flow a lot more! Kudos to you man

[SamBellGuitar]

Thank you! So cool. Go West are awesome. Alan Murphy is a Legend. Hope you're well.

[gratefulape]

Incredible player, great band. I think the only British rock/pop player who could touch him was Francis Dunnery of It Bites.

[eficer]

This is so awesome to see. I was just thinking about how under appreciated Alan Murphy is in the context of modern electric guitar, I love his work in almost every context. Thanks for sharing a bit of his legacy!!!

[craig_ingram]

I loved the Go West singles back in the day but never knew the players. Thank you for highlighting this remarkable talent.

[Johnsormani]

The go west album was one of my favorite pop albums of my youth. Alan was such a great guitarist and was the inspiration for my use of the tremolo. I also had a first generation squier strat with a locking trem on it. Such a shame we lost him so soon

[corocolt]

The Silent Running main solo and outro solo always resonate with me - here I was thinking it was done on a Steinberger vs a Squier!😂

[fallingmanuk]

Thank you for a great video about the late great Alan Murphy - one of my all-time fave guitarists. I saw Go West in Ipswich a couple of weeks ago with Wet Wet Wet and both bands were very good, and GW's current guitarist certainly plays very well considering what big shoes he has to fill on the first two albums' material!

[claymor]

Saw him live with Kate Bush Easter ‘79 before I knew his name and came away hugely impressed. Later on saw him with his fusion band SFX at the Cricketers in Kennington and wasn’t disappointed. Truly cutting edge for the time.

[warwickgb]

Great video Richard. I saw them live at what was I think the last live gig at the Birmingham Odeon in 85/86, a sad day for what had been one of the main Birmingham live music venues for years. Always loved Alan’s playing- Warning Sign by Nick Heyward is another great solo.