Hospital Verses: A brilliant album, offering us a slice of life-affirming rock’n’soul

Stefan Murphy is one of Irish music’s most committed stalwarts. Best known for releasing music as The Mighty Stef, in addition to Count Vaseline, The Sleveens and The Subtonics, Murphy has opened for the diverse likes of Jonathan Richman, The Fall, Happy Mondays and The Stooges. Somewhat surprisingly, Hospital Verses is actually his first solo album under his own name.

When Murphy sat down to write the songs that would become Hospital Verses, he had just been discharged from a drug and alcohol treatment centre in Nashville, Tennessee. The Dubliner has always sung with a big heart and soul, but Hospital Verses truly takes it to another level.

As soon as the opening bars of Crystal Chandeliers strike up, there’s a strong hint of Spiritualized, whose psychedelic take on the blues was also fashioned by a born survivor with experience of life’s dark side. Highlights include The Story of Agnes, Athlete of Seoul, Hospital Verses, When the Saints Come Crawling Home and a cover of Alex Chilton’s All We Ever Got from Them Is Pain.

Back living in Ireland after an extended spell in the United States, Murphy has made a brilliant album, offering us a deeply felt slice of life-affirming rock’n’soul. And if you’re wondering about the striking cover image, it’s a piece of League of Ireland history, adapted from a photograph, originally published in The Irish Times, by Phil Carrick of St Francis FC celebrating knocking Bohemians out of the FAI Cup in 1990.