“Nothing out there sounds like them,” is a phrase that I haven’t
\nheard that much in the ’90s. I didn’t hear it last night when Third
\nEye Blind came to do a concert. I didn’t hear that phrase when it
\ncame to describing any of the No Limit recording artists (sorry
\nSnoop). In fact, one clear instance where I did hear that phrase
\nwas when I first heard the Dave Matthews Band. And
\nthat<\/i> band even has its own fiddle player.<\/p>\n
That makes Morphine all the more special when it comes to bands
\nthat strike a nerve in their fans. They’re a damn trio and there’s
\nno way you can mistake their sound. Billy Conway’s sparse drumming,
\nDana Colley’s low throbbing baritone sax and Mark Sandman’s suave
\nvoice. Sandman also has some of the meanest bass chops in the
\nbusiness, playing a 2 string slide bass.<\/p>\n
\nGood<\/i> and
\nCure For Pain<\/i>, their first two major albums, were great
\nindications of their power. But it was
\nYes<\/i> when Morphine’s sound finally solidified into one
\nincrediable album. There’s enough lyrical moments in the album to
\nmake it an alternative existance. Electric cigarette lighters,
\nday-glo orange life perservers and the elusive date, “March 4th,
\n1982” are all words that will stick in your mind like overcooked
\noatmeal.<\/p>\n
Pay no mind to the slightly derailed 2nd half of the album, the
\nfirst half of the album ranks at the top of “great first halves” of
\nany album in modern rock. Starting off with the bellowing sax of
\n“Honey White,” Morphine has all cylindars firing up until the song,
\n“The Jury”. They do this by doing what they do best:work the
\ntrinity of the band. That trinity is a catchy-as-hell bass and sax
\nhook. After that is established, Conway’s drums supply the tight
\ndownbeat. Finally, Sandman’s spooky voice and memorable lyrics
\nprovide the topping.<\/p>\n
The first half volleys between pensive, brooding ballads and
\nfull-out rockers. The confessional, “All Your Way” and the
\npulsating, “Super Sex” will make you wish you had a convertable.
\nIt’s near-perfect driving music. And for the stationary folks, it
\nis also perfect whiskey drinking music, right around 2 a.m.<\/p>\n
What makes the first half so great, the structure that refuses
\nto remain in their restricive boundaries, expands at the last half
\nof the album. It is there where
\nYes<\/i> straddles between sheer brilliance and plain sillyness.
\n“The Jury”, coming right after the hushed, “I Had My Chance” is
\npure drunken sub-conscious id. It revolves around a judge
\nsentencing a woman to do hard time, but he is thinking of candle
\nlight, caesar salad and some precious privacy to get it on with his
\nhighness.<\/p>\n
“Sharks” is a great jammer though. Colley sounds like he’s about
\nto bust his sax reed at the end of the song, but it’s a rocker in
\nthe truest sense. After that intense ditty, the album derails into
\nthe train-wreck-love sucks tale of “Free Love”. It’s a good song,
\njust not as classic as the seven or eight other songs on the album.
\nFinally, the album closes with the pensive, “Gone For Good”, a
\ntrack that would have fit perfectly on their first album,
\nGood<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Even with two fair songs on the album, it still deserves to be
\nranked among the best albums that this decade has put out. To be a
\ntrio, playing traditional instruments and produce something so
\noriginal and so accessible at the same time is an accomplishment
\nthat few bands around today can live up to. If you haven’t been
\ninitiated into the band’s sound, by all means, pick up
\nYes<\/i> first. And before picking up
\nCure For Pain<\/i> or
\nLike Swimming<\/i>, their last album, pick up some decent scotch
\non your way home. One listen and you’ll either be hooked or have
\nthe maddening urge to put on Matchbox 20. You know what side you’re
\non.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":24817,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5745],"rating":[5646],"class_list":["post-36021","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-morphine","rating-rating-a"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36021"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36021\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36021"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=36021"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=36021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}