Murray Head ‎- Say It Ain't So (1975) Vinyl

If you like Pink Floyd, Neil Yong, Grateful Dead Etc., you will like this. It has a folk/blues acoustic sound. Murray Head is better known for his 80's hit "One Night in Bangkok" which is a totally different style than this. This album was Murray Head's biggest, and best shot at stardom. Sadly, it didn't make as much of a splash as he'd likely hoped, and subsequent albums were more popular in the Francophonic world than in Britain or the U.S.A.
"Say It Ain't So" is still a very strong record, with strong ballads and a uniquely 1975 rock sensibility, notably the David Gilmour-esque guitar playing on "Boy on the Bridge". The centerpiece of the album is the title track, "Say It Ain't So Joe", as haunting a ballad as ever appeared in the 1970's, featuring Murray's alternatingly smooth, raspy, and finally agonized voice in a quietly escalating song about Josef Stalin.
Other strong tracks are the steel drum tinged "Boats Away", "Boy on the Bridge", "When I'm Yours", and "Never Even Thought". One track keeps this from being a five star record, the bizarre dixieland trombone filled "Someone's Rocking My Dreamboat". It breaks the continuity of the (otherwise almost early Peter Gabriel like) record, and just isn't a very good song. Luckily for Murray's reputation, it's a cover song.
The liner notes state that most of the songs were written for a musical called "Atlantis". The musical appears to have sunk into the ocean, but "Say It Ain't So" remains. Murray Head had one of the best voices in rock. It's sad that inept management kept him from having the standout career he deserves.