J.F. Murphy in Merchants of Dream - Strange Night Voyage, from 1968-- limited time only

 

This was mostly written by J.F. Murphy, who was covered here I thought exhaustively before (more than 11 years ago!!), but I was mistaken in that exhaustion.  I still think he's a totally underrated genius of songwriting, tragically forgotten by everyone.  Anyhow in 1968 he made this purely psych album along with the group called Merchants of Dream.  Info from discogs:

US American psychedelic rock group, released one album in 1968.

Members:

Jack Murphy [J.F. Murphy] (vocals, keyboards), Jeff Druck (lead guitar), David Bumgarner (guitar, vocals), John Bumgarner (vocals), John Pizow (bass), Bobby Mussac (drums).

Murphy's bio on discogs here, mostly leaning towards recent activities.  His best albums were with the band "JF Murphy and Salt" recall.

So I was eager to hear this particular record, but in fact it's really in keeping with the year of 1968, with the kind of silly psych that was common in that crazy era, defined by the Vietnam War--whose important political lessons are now forgotten or never mentioned, sadly.

Extensive info on an amazon review which well deserves to be read through:

Congratulations to England's Cherry Red label for making available this obscure Peter Pan concept album available on CD for the first time. STRANGE NIGHT VOYAGE was recorded in May 1968 and released by A&M Records as 'SP 4149.'

The compositions of John Francis "Jack" Murphy were discovered by a St. John's University classmate, Vinny Testa. Testa was an executive of Community Productions, headed by George "Shadow" Morton. He had worked with The Shangri-Las, Janis Ian and Vanilla Fudge, and this was helpful in setting up the recording deal with A&M...

According to the liner notes, psychedlic rock, strings, harmonies and driving beats were used to create a clever parallel between Peter Pan's quest for perpetual childhood and contemporary rebellion against adult "morals" (the Generation Gap) and the Vietnam War.

Released in early 1969, neither the album nor the single ("Dorothy the Fairy Queen" & "Sing Me Life") received much promotion or recognition. After playing a few gigs, the band broke up and Murphy worked as a solo artist with Testa as producer...

Murphy wrote songs for numerous stage musicals, including 'The Silver Dollar,' Rudolph,' 'Zelda,' 'Carmen' and 'The Count of Monte Cristo.' His score for 'The Civil War,' written with Frank Wildhorn, was nominated for a Tony Award.

He released a rock-oriented disc, 'LIVE & LEARN,' in 2003. His current production, 'Wonderland: Alice's New Musical Adventure,' explores childhood themes again and is scheduled to debut on Broadway during 2011.

Fans of The Association, Strawberry Alarm Clock, the Turtles and other late 1960s bands who combine vocal harmonies with adventurous psychedelic instruments should find plenty to enjoy with 'STRANGE NIGHT VOYAGE.'

So in summary we can appropriately call it artistic juvenilia, colored by those times, from Murphy.

First track as sample, Mother's Overture:

 

 Last track, We are Dream Vendors: