One of the best bands that I had the privilege of seeing live several times before Mark Sandman's untimely passing.
Morphine's instrumentation was quite unusual: baritone saxophone (played by Dana Colley), percussion (played by Billy Conway and/or Jerome Deupree) and Sandman's own two-string slide bass, and the smooth vocals and sometimes beat-influenced lyrics gave the band a distinctive sound that Sandman dubbed "Low Rock. There were significant jazz and blues elements as well. One critical appraisal suggests that "Morphine immediately established a minimalist, low-end sound that could have easily become a gimmick: a "power trio" not built around the sound of an electric guitar. Instead, with sly intelligence, Morphine expanded its offbeat vocabulary on each album.
MP3: Top Floor, Bottom Buzzer
MP3: A Head With Wings
MP3: Early to Bed
