Guest review by Captain’s Bar events manager, Say Something Music label owner and promoter Scott Evans
The prolific Greg Murray & The Seven Wonders are back with yet another song, following the five singles from last year and a planned single-a-month for 2024.
Does this plan lead to a drop in quality? Especially after last year’s superb When I Was In Love With You and The Pain & Glory? Of course not!
Always For Love is another slice of perfected mature pop. Previously I have compared the band to Crowded House and They Might Be Giants, and that is to say they fall into that ilk of 90s artists who put out great commercial songs that were successful without having to compromise the sound they wanted.
Always for Love starts out with a lovely rumbling piano before tumbling straight into upbeat cacophony of music and instruments that have now become synonymous with the Greg Murray sound. Stabbing Memphis horns pierce the sound over a pumping drum and bass and it’s one of those songs that you are so familiar with by the end that you are either singing, dancing or both – and that is a talent that Greg & co have perfected.
The surprise twist comes at the end when Shimmer Johnson – a female singer songwriter based in Edmonton Canada – joins the party with her belting soulful voice and the song takes on a more gospel sound to it. It’s a great inclusion to the song and closes the track well. Shimmer Johnson has had successes in her own right collaborating with some big songwriters and her husband Corey is a music producer and is responsible for all the production of Greg’s songs for the last couple of years in his Canadian based studio.
Listeners can expect a year full of new Greg Murray & The Seven Wonders material and if the quality remains this high, it can only be a good thing. I personally look forward to catching some rip-roaring live shows this summer, I’ll get my dancing shoes on.
Released February 9, listen to All For Love by Greg Murray here:
Read more:
- Greg Murray and The Seven Wonders’ latest dual-release sees band ‘at its peak’
- Greg Murray and the Seven Wonders deliver life-affirming new single Mystery Machine
- Greg Murray and the Seven Wonders deliver life-affirming new single Mystery Machine
