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Good
Morphine
Good
Genres: Country, Alternative Rock, Pop, Rock
 
  •  Track Listings (13) - Disc #1

With no guitars and a half a set of bass strings, Morphine managed to rock harder than most of their fret-bound competition while retaining the slippery nocturnal undercurrent that would become their signature sound. On th...  more »

     
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CD Details

All Artists: Morphine
Title: Good
Members Wishing: 2
Total Copies: 0
Label: Rykodisc
Release Date: 7/27/1993
Genres: Country, Alternative Rock, Pop, Rock
Styles: Americana, Indie & Lo-Fi
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPCs: 014431026324, 014431026348, 014431026362, 743431100146

Synopsis

Amazon.com
With no guitars and a half a set of bass strings, Morphine managed to rock harder than most of their fret-bound competition while retaining the slippery nocturnal undercurrent that would become their signature sound. On this 1992 debut album, the Boston trio strips down the minor-key blues of frontman Mark Sandman's former group, Treat Her Right, and adds a host of off-kilter elements. Sandman's slide bass and narcoleptic vocals are perfectly complemented by Dana Colley's frenetic baritone sax, which he plays like a cross between Rahsaan Roland Kirk and Van Der Graaf Generator's David Jackson. Sandman reportedly played one-string bass for this album (he'd later expand to two), and the sound quality here is murkier than on subsequent efforts. But tracks such as the infectious "You Speak My Language" and the prophetic "Do Not Go Quietly unto Your Grave" (Sandman would die onstage in 1999) are powerful indicators of Morphine's dark musical glories to come. --Bill Forman

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CD Reviews

Uniquely Lounge
09/05/1999
(5 out of 5 stars)

"I was very sad to hear Mark Sandman had died. Of Morphine's albums, their debut is my favorite. The idea behind the group - two-string bass, sax, and drums - sounds impossible. But it creates an atmosphere evoking smoky bars and irresistable sleaziness. "You Speak My Language" is my wive's and my "song", although it's hardly sentimental. "You Look Like Rain" is probably the ultimate come-on to any woman with half a brain. A world without Mark Sandman is a lesser world indeed."
Gold from lead: This shouldn't work as well as it does
Greg Brady | Capital City | 01/26/2005
(4 out of 5 stars)

"Imagine a rock band...with only guitar, no bass (because the guitarist/vocalist plays a self-made "tritar"...featuring 2/3 of a guitar coupled with 1/3 of the bass' usual strings), a drummer that relies more on a light touch with sticks and brushes than pounding out tom-tom blasts. Now consider also that saxophone is a vital element of this rock band, not as an occasional solo or to play brass stabs as accents, but to play melody and countermelody, variously underpinning and cementing the tunes together. A hideous unlistenable melange, right? That's where you'd be wrong...



Morphine somehow manages to season this sonic soup into a strange and exotic dish that soothes the palate. The name of the band is apt. It is not a dulling of the senses they evoke but rather a mellow gauzy somnolescence...the dreamy wistfulness of the late evening.



Standout tunes are the strutting "Have a Lucky Day", the aging rabblerouser's advice of "Do Not Go Quietly Unto Your Grave", the rollicking misfit anthem "You Speak My Language", bouncy "Claire", and the spare, jazzy "You Look Like Rain".



"Good" is good but not fabulous..same goes for "The Only One","Test-Tube Baby/Shoot'm Down","Saddest Song" and "The Other Side"...all worthy efforts, but not as immediate.



The only truly weak point is "I Know You (Part I)" which quickly establishes a somber mood with (I presume) a baritone saxophone with such a rumbling, buzzy tone that it approximates an Australian didgeridoo. Unfortunately after the promising start, it doesn't really "go" anywhere. Part 2 of the tune fares better.



Morphine isn't for everyone. But for the more adventurous music lovers, a shot of this might start a new addiction."
Sexiest music on the planet.
Greg Brady | 10/25/1998
(5 out of 5 stars)

"Sultry sax, loping drums, dreamy bass, smart & sexy lyrics/vocals. I have every release by Morphine, but 'Good' started the whole slow-burning sexy journey. When I start feeling the pain of todays artery-clogging polyglot "flavors of the month" (or, as my 10 year old son helped me realize when he proclaimed, "there are too many bands"), I simply load up my carousel with a 5-disc dose of Morphine. Like a slow-drip morphine pump, it sure kills my pain."