Album · Peter Murphy
Holy Smoke by Peter Murphy
Holy Smoke is an album by Peter Murphy, released in 1992. 1 song from it has charted on rock radio countdowns, with 5 countdown appearances in total. The biggest is “The Sweetest Drop”, on 5 lists with a best position of #4.
Holy Smoke, Peter Murphy's fourth solo album, came out on Beggars Banquet on 14 April 1992, and the old Bauhaus singer sounds less like a crypt-dweller than a crooner with a taste for incense. Mike Thorne produced, Murphy kept his backing band the Hundred Men, together since 1988's Love Hysteria, and guests Alison Limerick, Jonathan Carney and Audrey Riley filled out the sound.
That deep baritone rolls over shimmering art-rock arrangements, gothic in mood but warmer and more sensual than the black-clad faithful might expect. It couldn't match the commercial run of 1990's Deep, stalling at number 108 on the Billboard 200, but lead single "The Sweetest Drop" climbed to number 2 on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart. It was his last record before he left London for Turkey, where Cascade followed.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs from Holy Smoke on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Sweetest Drop | 5 | #4 | – | 1992–2003 |
Only songs that appear on at least one countdown are listed. Release data from MusicBrainz.