From the Vault: Morphine - Cure for Pain

From time to time, I'll take a break from highlighting new music to unearth a hidden gem many people may not be familiar with. In particular, I'll try to find albums or artists that stand up to the test of time.

Morphine was a Boston-based minimalist Jazz/Blues/Rock outfit. They featured just drums, bass and sax. Their sound is unique and unlike any other band that I've heard before or since. The music on Cure for Pain, their 1993 masterpiece, is deep and lush; Dana Colley's baritone sax is lower than you're used to and Mark Sandman's voice and two-string slide bass playing both thrum on subdued frequencies. Just as the Allman Brothers are known for their signature dual guitar licks, Colley and Sandman would often duck and dive around each other, roughly following the same melody. On several songs, Morphine thickened the sound with Colley playing double sax or Sandman adding an organ, piano, tritar (three-string guitar), dobro, or found sounds of various sorts.

Every single song on this album is strong. Each one has a fat groove and, like the Violent Femmes, after a few listens, you can sing along word for word. Lastly, I'm not a lyrics guy, as most people who've heard me talk about music know, but Morphine had great lyrics.

Unfortunately, the whole album isn't on Lala, and I do strongly recommend this album over their other material. So check out the tracks on iTunes or Amazon or Last or Pandora or YouTube or something, but listen to this album. You won't be sorry.