Cure for Pain

Don't know how widely people know Morphine. Browsing about a lot of these Mogs I realize I have no idea who an awful lot of these bands are so I'm not gonna out-hip the hipsters. This might be old news but Morphine is a band that I've liked for a long time and they really have one of the more unqiue sounds in rock music - or did prior to Mark Sandman's death in 1999. One sort of struggles to find the best album by Morphine not because they are all so great but because the very best of the best don't congregate on a single album. I've chosen 1993's Cure for Pain more because it was the first Morphine disc I heard than the fact that it has their best songs. Murder for Money (Like Swimming), Super Sex (Yes), Good (Good) might all individually be better songs than the work on Cure for Pain but the album is a good representation of their sound.Moprhine is a 3 man band with a 2 string bass player and vocalist (Sandman), a sax player (Dana Colley) and a drummer/percussionist (Billy Conway or Jerome Deupree, both played on Cure for Pain). Sandman has a deep, detached bartitone vocal styling. He'll veer at times into more of a beat-poety sort of sound with his vocals. The music is deeply influenced by blues sounds and some jazz. The effect is clearly rock n' roll and decidedly low-fi in the setup. What is impressive about the band is that with a limited size and set of instruments that they really managed to create a lot of interesting sounds.Cure for Pain is the sophomore effort from the band and they hit their stride on this album whihc is consistently better than "Good". The title track is a less-than-perfect introduction to their music. The song highlight's Dana Colley's mournful sax sound and displays the way they arrnage their music but the vocal track is not typical of the band - Sandman is trying to be a bit more melodic than typical. To get a better feel for Sandman's vocal styling's Candy is a better option. The songs are only previews since the band's offical site is toast at this point.Morphine isn't a driving into work band for me but they are a great driving home from work to help the problems of the day melt away as I sink into the songs. One other note, usually "Grestest Hits" albums are a great way to sample a band but the Morphine greatest hits disc is notably poor to my tastes and I think that getting either Cure for Pain or Like Swimming is a better introduction to the band.