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Elliott Murphy: Aquashow (Polydor PD-5061)

Gary Kenton, Phonograph Record, 3 January 1974

DON'T YOU just hate to pick up a music magazine (or megapaper, as the case may be) and see a review in which some snot-nosed critic is calling some album you've never heard of the best album of the year? It's tough to take something like that seriously. And that's the main reason I'm not going to come out and call Elliott Murphy's debut album, Aquashow, the best LP of the year. I wouldn't want to blow my credibility before I even got a chance to talk about the music on this record. But, if anybody outside of a small circle of friends in New York knew who Elliott Murphy was, I wouldn't hesitate to go out on a limb. As it is, I'll limit my personal classification to saying that, with the possible exceptions of Mott, 10cc, The Wailers' Burnin', and The New York Dolls, no one has put out a better rock 'n roll set this year than this here upstart newcomer Elliott Murphy.

Total word count of piece: 724

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