An unexpected treat, Peter Murphy and Boy George teaming up for a single, Let The Flowers Grow, co-written and produced by Youth aka Martin Glover.
Sound wise, it comes over like the closing song from the soundtrack to a Hollywood movie from the mid to late 80s, sweeping synth strings, chugging guitar and steady, muscular beat underpinning two powerhouse vocals.
It took a couple of listens, but (and excuse the pun) it grew on me. Not an obvious pairing, and even if George's tends to dominate on the shared chorus, the voices complement one another well. And of course, new music from Peter Murphy is a very welcome thing.
It's been ten years since Peter's tenth studio album, Lion, also a collaboration with Youth, so we can but hope that Let The Flowers Grow is a teaser for a bigger project, an album even.
In the meantime, here's a chronological run through of Peter's promos, from his debut solo single (and Pere Ubu cover) Final Solution in 1985 through the optimistically titled HIt Song (it wasn't) in 1992, up to Eliza from Lion in 2014. Never a dull visual and those cheekbones could still cut glass over three decades.
From 2019, there's a live performance of second solo single Blue Heart and then the rather beautiful Keep Coming Back by Cheb I Sabbah from 2021, featuring Peter paired with Azam Ali.
Finally, a step back to 2011 and Peter's appearance on What's In My Bag? at Amoeba Music in San Francisco. At under six-and-a-half minutes, it's one of the shorter entries in the long-running series, but it's a lot of fun.
