Remembering George Murray

I am proud to say that I have been buying records, tapes, and ultimately CDs, from George Murray since I first arrived in Dublin in 1977; the exchanges were always accompanied by genuinely interested, entertaining and obviously well informed comments and astute observations about my musical tastes and purchases.
That connection was strengthened as we crossed trails many, many times outside of his shop(s) at live gigs, in every venue from the Stadium, the Olympia and the Gaiety to JJ’s, and most importantly for me, Bruxelles Bar where he was a regular visitor to the Mary Stokes Band’s long running residency. I was always happy to meet him in the crowd, and we would laugh that he was just giving me my money back!
In 1993 Mary and I went to Slane to hear Neil Young backed by Booker T. and the MGs. It was a beautiful day, with great sound and the band were amazing. I met George at the exact spot where the sound was absolutely perfect, and I greeted him warmly and said, “Hey George, great sound, eh?” He nodded sagely and closed his eyes, lost in the music.
Years later, I was driving a refrigerated delivery van, with the freezer unit located directly behind my head. It was unbelievably loud, so I stopped into George at the Record Collector and asked him to get me all the most intensely distorted, off the chain stuff by Neil Young and Crazy Horse he could lay his hands on, and he came up a treasure trove of veritable gems which I used to play at full volume to fight the roar of freezer.
On one of my visits to his shop he presented me with a “surprise”, which I later popped into the deck and turned up full, once I had cleared Naas, and the road opened up ahead of me. I was delighted to hear Neil Young backed by Booker T and the MGs, and I settled right into it. I was about to take my exit when suddenly I heard my own voice shout out at full volume: “HEY GEORGE!! GREAT SOUND!! EH?!!!” He clearly had not been nodding sagely, lost in the music, but had been hoping I’d shut up and go away… we had a good laugh about it later, and he eventually presented me with the original master copy as a gift.
My last visit to him was in October, when I was reading Bill Wyman’s autobiography Stone Alone and I asked him if he could get me some early Stones records with Brian Jones on them, as an accompaniment to the memoir. When I collected what he had gathered, he said that he really wanted me to hear something, and he played ‘Sound of Silence’ by Disturbed up full volume. This time we did listen to it in silent reverie together, both of us with our eyes shut.

Photo Credit: Wally Cassidy