“Ladies and gentlemen, we are Morphine, at your service.”<\/p>\n
Mark Sandman, lead singer of Morphine, used to open many an
\nelectrifying show by uttering that simple sentence. And that
\nphilosophy also applied to their albums. Yes, Morphine was a band
\nthat was willing to take risks, but for the most part, you were
\nmore than willing to go along for the ride because the rhythm
\nsection would always provide an instantly appealing, driving
\nbeat.<\/p>\n
Get ready for a left turn.
\nThe Night<\/i> marks the first Morphine studio album where the
\nlistener is going to be tested. With the exception of a couple of
\nsongs, there are no rhythms that instantly grab you. Instead, they
\nare there, but buried in a forest of violas, interesting percussion
\narrangements a tri-tar and horse-hair piano.<\/p>\n
With
\nThe Night<\/i>, Morphine opens up the recording studio to more
\nguests than the latest Santana album. Former Morphine drummer
\nJerome Deupree plays on most of the tracks, but still doesn’t
\novershadow Dilly Conway’s drum work. Sometimes, the arrangements
\nget too cluttered, but the willingness to take their band’s music
\nto the next level more than forgives Sandman’s ambitious reach.<\/p>\n
Of course, it’s next to impossible to think of
\nThe Night<\/i> as Sandman’s last realized musical statement. And
\nsongs like “I’m Yours, You’re Mine” and “A Good Woman Is Hard To
\nFind” show Morphine more in the experimental arena of their
\nB-Sides And Otherwise<\/i> compilation album than
\nYes<\/i> or
\nCure For Pain<\/i>. Sandman’s husky, dark baritone voice moves in
\nclose for a whisper on “Rope On Fire” but then seems like its
\nfiltered through a noise box in “So Many Ways.”<\/p>\n
You want the accessible Morphine? It’s here. “Souvenir,” “Top
\nFloor, Bottom Buzzer” and the beautiful “Rope On Fire” pull
\nMorphine back to their lethal triple threat of baritone sax, bass
\nand drums. But for the other eight tracks, expect to do some
\ncombing for a catchy riff.<\/p>\n
If you liked Morphine more for their free-flowing prose, than
\nThe Night<\/i> may turn out to be your favorite album from the
\ngroup. Imagery decoractes the album with lines like, “The sky is
\nfilled with question marks, will the chains come apart,” and the
\n“french fries with pepper” number\/word play of “Slow Numbers.” One
\nthing
\nThe Night<\/i> confirms in its first listen: no matter where
\nSandman wanted the group to go, poetry wouldn’t be far behind.<\/p>\n
Dana Colley, a saxophonist so bad-ass that he usually plays two
\nat a time onstage, surfaces throughout parts of
\nThe Night<\/i>, but for a good amount of time, he is almost
\nburied by the percussion. Still, “So Many Ways” automatically ranks
\nup near his “best five” saxophone solos on any Morphine album. He
\nis definitely there throughout the album, but it’s his most
\nrestrained effort to date.<\/p>\n
Fans disappointed with
\nThe Night<\/i> will have to wait next year for the next Morphine
\nrelease: a live album. Other, more willing fans are in for a
\nchallenge.
\nThe Night<\/i> is a rewarding listen, but unlike their
\nmasterworks,
\nYes<\/i> and
\nCure For Pain<\/i>, the result isn’t instantly addicting. Throw
\nThe Night<\/i> in a five-disc changer with the rest of Morphine’s
\ncolleciton and you can see the evolution. Sandman wanted to stretch
\nthe band’s capabilities for
\nThe Night<\/i>. While his loss still leaves a great void,
\nThe Night<\/i> gives a fitting coda to an artist who was able to
\nbalance the need to entertain his devout audience while not
\npandering to them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":25282,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5745],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-36488","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-morphine","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36488","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=36488"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36488\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36488"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=36488"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=36488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}