Good

Morphine

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 27, 1993)
• Original Release Date: September 8, 1992
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Rykodisc
• ASIN: B0000009OQ
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #12,994 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

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

From the Label

The low chords sweep so deeply, the music twists around the wrists, and Morpheus, The God Of Dreams, has a gift for you....he calls it Morphine. And Morphine calls it GOOD, the debut album that was originally released on Boston's small Accurate-Distortion label, and rejected by every major label in the book. Little did they know that the following year's CURE FOR PAIN would set Morphine up as one of the more unique things to happen to indie rock in recent years.

Morphine features the unique instrumentation of Mark Sandman's voice and one-string bass (on later albums he'd get bold and add a second string), which he plays with a glass slide. The music's warm edge is provided by Dana Colley on baritone sax and the commanding drums of Jerome Deupree, Billy Conway's predecessor. The sound of Morphine is low and sensuous, joining a powerful groove with spare penetrating lyrics. A tad bluesier and more atmospheric than their followup albums, GOOD features such tunes as "You Speak My Language" that remain a high point of their live shows.

GOOD was co-produced by Paul Q. Kolderie (Buffalo Tom, Uncle Tupelo, fIREHOSE, Throwing Muses, Pixies, many more) and additional tracks were done with Tom Dube (Tin Machine, Walkers).

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Uniquely Lounge, September 5, 1999

By A Customer

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.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Gold from lead: This shouldn't work as well as it does, January 26, 2005

By	Greg Brady "columbusboy" (Capital City) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

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.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sexiest music on the planet., October 25, 1998

By A Customer

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.