There was a time, back in the 1970s, when Elliott Murphy was promoted as the Next Big Thing. After all, he was a strong singer-songwriter who at times sounded like a Long Island answer to Bruce Springsteen with added echoes of Bob Dylan, and who had some very famous supporters; his 1977 album Just a Story From America features guitar work from former Rolling Stone Mick Taylor, drumming from Phil Collins and a cover photo by David Bailey. But Murphy never quite made it, even though a lengthy string of subsequent albums for non-major labels included appearances by yet more celebrities, including Springsteen himself.

Fifteen years ago Murphy moved to Paris and began to establish a new reputation as a successful European star who now only occasionally makes an appearance at "somewhere where they can understand the lyrics".

Appearing at the Borderline, he still looked like a veteran rocker, with his black hat and long blond hair, and sounded even more versatile and confident than on those 1970s albums, though his style is still something of a pastiche. He played sturdy semi-acoustic guitar, with a harmonica strung round his neck, and was backed by a suitably global band, with an excellent French guitarist, Olivier Durand, along with a Spanish bass player and American drummer.

As for the songs, there was a bit of everything, from the stomping pop and country-rock of Come on Louann and Green River to a thoughtful song about 9/11, the inevitable echoes of Springsteen and Dylan, French lyrics, and a batch of literary references (Murphy is now also a novelist). He mostly stuck to his own songs, but there were a couple of efficient covers, from BB King's The Thrill Is Gone, showing his current interest in the blues, through to a treatment of Sympathy For The Devil, though without the attack that the Stones themselves are currently showing in the US. No matter. This was a reminder that Murphy is one of the great forgotten rock survivors.