I got ‘Cure For Pain’ as soon as it came out and it still finds its way to my cd player. Every time I listen to this album I get the feeling of a dark, smoky, almost underground Boston atmosphere, full of Sandman’s distinctive, deep vocals, anchored by two string slide bass, baritone sax and a drum kit. Morphine intertwines a sound that cannot be easily categorized as rock or blues. Instead, they call to mind lounge jazz elements mingled with the grind of blues, inviting me gradually into a dark alcove of sound, while maintaining rock & roll provisions.
‘Cure For Pain’ is a fearless, energetic album with blasting saxophone-riffs and resounding bass. Morphine’s sounds are smooth, with bluesy sax tunes flirting around deep basslines. Sandman’s songwriting is deceivingly simple, yet craftily performed, his voice a lyrical sensibility, a gloomy mournful bass that echoes despair, confusion, and melancholy. Colley’s sax is at times raw, at times refined; Conway’s drums drive the music alongside Sandman’s groovy basslines. What makes the album a classic is that, although the Boston trio doesn’t uncover much versatility in its instruments, still it produces an unremitting depth on its sound, nothing like the agreeable state of unconsciousness associated with their namesake drug.
It’s pretty much impossible for an album to have nothing but great songs on it. ‘Cure For Pain’, however, is full of great tracks that switch from sad to blues and upbeat jazz, always reflecting an extraordinary chemistry between Sandman, Conway and Colley. Mixing jazz elements with grunge sounds, admittedly, the album’s highlights are the title track ‘Cure For Pain’, ‘Buena’, ‘Candy’ and ‘Thursday’. Yet, the album has other great tracks such as ‘Dawna’, the haunting opening of the album; ‘In Spite of Me’ with Sandman’s whispering voice drifting over reverb drenched mandolins; ‘Miles Davis Funeral’, the atmospheric album’s finale.
Mark Sandman is deeply missed. And Morphine that disbanded immediately after Sandman’s untimely death from heart attack, are deeply missed too from the low rock scene for their jazz and blues conventions that sculptured their own world of gloomy rock beauty. However, the genius of the Boston trio is not lost. It still remains on their moodiness that drips out of ‘Cure For Pain’ mostly from Sandman’s slow-burning passion for the women he writes and sings about. With his velvet, deep voice makes cold, rainy nights fearful, but also savoury. This is the genius of Morphine.
‘Cure for Pain’ is, without any doubt, one of the best and most progressive rock albums of the ’90s.
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