Like Swimming

Morphine

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 11, 1997)
• Original Release Date: March 11, 1997
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Dreamworks
• ASIN: B000005AM3
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #10,193 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Morphine's music, which connects with listeners on a very physical level, is so simple it's amazing no one's done it before. Using exclusively low-register instruments, Mark Sandman's two-string bass and baritone voice, and Dana Colley's bass and baritone saxophones, the band's songs actually reverberate in the chest, treating listeners to a low-impact massage. And anything that feels this good can't be bad.

But Morphine's blessing--that distinctive low rock sound--is also their curse. Not only do they bind themselves to an instantly recognizable sound, but they also limit themselves in their arrangements: Voice and sax can each hit only one note at a time (though Colley sometimes manages to honk two saxes at once), while the bass can manage a two-note interval at best. It's hard being dynamic using only three or four sounds.

So where does that leave Like Swimming, Morphine's fourth album (and first since signing on with the big boys at DreamWorks)? Pretty much where the band started, it seems--with a blessing and a curse. As with past records, Like Swimming is easy to appreciate, full of loping bass lines and slithery sax riffs that strut through jazzy rock numbers like "Wishing Well" and "Empty Box." But while newcomers may be happy with the band's warm swing, others will pine for the first time they heard the band's earlier breakthrough on Cure For Pain. Only with the album closer "Swing It Low" (a title that could be a band manifesto) does Morphine hint at changes to come: With guitar, keyboards, programmed drums, and no saxophone, the song (first released as a Sandman solo project) proves it possible to capture Morphine's noir moods in midrange as well. --Roni Sarig

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Morphine Best of the Best, January 6, 2006

By	Daniel M. Schottland "Danny Schotts" (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Being a huge Morphine fan for years now, and having all of their albums I figured it was time for me to share my thoughts (finally!)

If I had to order the albums in terms of least to most favorite I'd go Good, Yes, Cure For Pain, The Night, & Like Swimming...Like Swimming is their best album in my opinion. Take for example the song Like a Curtain totaly symbolizes what Morphine was about. Drawing beauty from things that seem dark simplistic. The song only has one "riff", but as it progresses it seems to become more and more complex. It might be my favorite Morphine song...period.

I Know You (PartIII) strong enough to carry the album by itself. Billy Conway could not have added a more perfect drum beat during the Chorus ("I know you, you know me too, I know everything that you're gonna do")

French Fries w/ Pepper is another song that proves Mark to be an absolute genius. For those true music lovers (and even more so for bass players), the bass riff itself is amazing. The lyrics are also very good.

I have to end this review a little abruptly, but I definately recomend this album to everyone, as I'm sure you Morphine fans already own it. Bottom line, this is just a very cool album.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I feel like swimming right now...., June 5, 2004

By	Sean Widlake (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Being from Boston, and being friends with Mark, i can say that i thought he was a man with a vision...well...anyway... I loved this album, and actually found it to be my favorite. Yes I do like all of his albums, but i especially like Like Swimming, for his haunting lyrics and saxaphone sounds. I thought it was a brilliant balance of jazz and rock with poetic verse to bring this album to a life of its own. I love every song but my favorite is Empty Box for its words, they're very meaningful, and whatever one person thinks, another thinks something completely different which brings perspective, that is brilliant... I don't think i have anything more to say except for the people that found it monotonous and boring, or so drawn into the "Morphine Style" get a life, because you completely miss the point Mark wanted and so you just think about what sounds good rather than what's interesting and different and how it continues on as such....

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jazzy, May 31, 1999

By	[e-mail] (Chicago) - See all my reviews

These guys are too "rock" to play jazz clubs and too "jazz" to play rock clubs. No matter; their deep, seductive sax is makes you want to start swaying with the music. Play this album on big speakers.

The lyrics are simple; they kind of remind me of some of Slim Gaillard's excellent Swing music, but Morphine has more edge.