Biased Interpretation of Sound: Morphine proves addiction can be good for the soul
By Matthew Genthe
Staff Writer

Within every adolescent there burns a secret desire.

These buried yearnings manifest themselves differently in different cases.

Some kids smoke cigarettes, drink Mountain Dew and listen to Metallica blasting out of late model American sedans at the local 7-11.

Some buy bellbottom jeans at the local thrift store, pull their parents' love beads out of the cardboard boxes in the attic and burn out following the nouveau-hippy band of their choice.

Still more don the "alternative" clothing and culture they find at local shopping malls, imitating the latest pop-punk icon by their choice of hair color.

But what all of these kids don't know is that there's a new product out there that will give them a rush of hipness - the likes of which they have only dreamed of before. Something that will make them feel so cool that they should be able to refrigerate a side of beef for a week, and so hip that they shouldn't be able to see past their pelvises. This substance is Morphine.

Morphine is addictive. Morphine is a band. It consists of three members - Mark Sandman, Dana Colley and Billy Conway - none of whom play the guitar. This is strange, as it's hard to produce a teen-angst filled rock and roll album without wailing guitar riffs and screaming, climactic, minute-long electric guitar solos. Or is it?

Morphine has a drummer (no surprise there), a saxophone player (who often plays two horns at once - one in each corner of his mouth) and a vocalist, who plays a two-stringed electric bass with a slide.

Morphine's instrumentation is not a gimmick; they have a consistent, well-defined sound that grooves relentlessly from song to song.

Morphine's newest album is called "Yes," and with its release, Morphine won more critical acclaim. They also gained a little popular success as their third album spent more than a few weeks on the college radio charts.

The reason for this success is their sound - it seems to be somehow retro and ultra-modern, a grunge version of beat poetry. On "Yes," the drums snap restrained jazz beats, the slide-bass lopes along and the baritone sax groans simple lines that are flavored with subtle nuance. In one word: groovy.

Of course, no matter how hip these cats are, what makes or breaks a band is song writing. Lucky for us, Sandman is more than just a Doors-ish baritone and coordinated bassist; he's a man who can pen an album's worth of jaded post-pop.

The listener can't help but feel cooler-than-thou when listening to tracks like "Whisper," where Sandman croons, "Though we haven't really spoken still, I sense there is a rapport, so whisper me your number, I'll call you up at home."

Or even better, on the first single, "Honey White," the title character makes a deal with the devil. In a lyrical conversation, Honey says, "You'll get me when I'm old and wrinkled, and not a day before that."

One can almost hear the saxophone paint the devil's confident grin as he replies, "Honey, it won't be that long. Besides, I'd like to see you a little more fat."

It seems that Morphine is at its best when it's experimenting, and such is the case with "Yes." On the track titled "The Jury," the narrative of a man who commits a crime to escape his suburban prison is told in the form of a sparse, disjointed prose-poem spoken over swirling aural jazz.

On "Sharks," poetic approach is used in more rock-oriented song context, and the result, in my opinion, is the best track on the album.

Another song that seems to be doing its own thing on "Yes" is "Free Love." This bassy, heavy, droning, almost gothic ballad spits cynical lyrics like, "Free love. What is it? Can I get some?" It gives a dark focus that makes the track quite listenable, despite its plodding tempo.

While Morphine is often at its best when experimenting, though, it is usually at its worst when trying to write more mainstream pop songs such as "All Your Way," in which we see an almost trite narrative from man to woman used. This is odd because on Morphine's second record,"Cure for Pain," the more pop-ish tunes, such as the title track and "Honest," are the best on the album.

Even when Morphine does slip slightly, there is always the instrumentation ready to save the song - though overall there aren't many that need saving.

So remember: you heard it here first. Be the first kid on your block to say "Yes" to Morphine and watch your white-break walk become an addict's strut.