In the summer of 1990, I had one of the best weeks ever. In a seven day period, I saw Nine Inch Nails, Erasure and Peter Murphy in concert. While NIN was the most intense show and Erasure was the most fun, Murphy was the most moving. With his luxurious baritone and knack for poetic composition, the man had the entire crowd eating from his imperious hand. The sense of beauty he created still haunts me years later, so I approached his latest release, a live show from Los Angeles, with eager anticipation.

From the opening tune, "Cool, Cool Breeze", the emotion of that distant summer night immediately rushes back. Performed a capella, the song compels the listener to zero in on the meaning and movement of Murphy's words. When he sings "These words I know are bound and stuck," the crowd calls out at the contradiction between the text's meaning and its lively tone. When he holds his note on the line "With you I'm in no danger," Murphy connects instantly with the crowd; the line takes on a double meaning in which he thanks his adoring audience. As this sinks in, the crowd erupts at the gap revealed in Murphy's otherwise severe emotional armor.

Such emotional disclosures were the primary goal of this recording. By featuring his tunes both live and stripped down, Murphy sought to find something new, both in himself and in his music. While I don't know if the experiment paid off for his soul, it certainly succeeded musically. Some tracks, such as "Marlene Dietrich's Favourite Poem", were relatively sparse in their studio versions, and therefore benefit mainly from the added passion of the live performance. Others are elevated by paring their instrumentation down to the basics. Hugh Marsh's (he has backed Rod Stewart and Soul Asylum) electric violin gives the main melody of "Cuts You Up" more depth than the original's synthesized line, while Peter DiStefano (Porno for Pyros) holds down the guitars nicely. Also, by eliminating the drums, keyboards and tapes that have backed him in the past, Murphy is forced to invest more of himself in the performance than he otherwise might have done. This makes the songs absolutely shimmer. Some tracks are even rescued from lackluster studio performances; in particular, the version of "Indigo Eyes" found here far outstrips the original. In fact, it is so delightful that I'm willing to forgive Murphy for the horrific remix of the song he included on his Roll Call EP.

The second disc contains a scant four tracks, but they are likely to cause the most furor, as they feature Murphy playing with his former Bauhaus collaborator, David J. Three of the numbers, "Who Killed Mr. Moonlight", "All We Ever Wanted" and "Hope", are culled from the pair's Bauhaus glory days. The fourth is a menacing version of Elvis Presley's "Love Me Tender". On a musical scale, these tracks don't match the beauty of the first disc's contents, but come on -- it's freaking Bauhaus! If you have never spent much time with Murphy, this disc presents an excellent entry point. By combining both past and current gems, it shows off Murphy's achievements as a songwriter and performer. Furthermore, by highlighting the sheer volume of passion and vision that still wells from the man, it shows just how much more we can hope for in the future.