I really enjoy reading your opinions about music I like, so thanks to rubber soul, Carpe and SGR for your detailed comments about
Cure For Pain: I read them avidly.
Alas, I can't contribute any background info like rs did, but I have listened to some subsequent Morphine albums, so I will have that perspective to add. Here is my own track by track run down:
1. Dawna: so short, I don't think of it as a track, so much as a perfect, spooky curtain-raiser for
Buena, which follows it so seamlessly.
2. Buena: a beautiful, measured build up as the bass, drums, and vocals come in and then the first sax solo blows us away.
3. I'm Free Now: this one reps a real drop in excitement for me as the vocals dominate, rather than the sax.
4. All Wrong: this is more like it! Good funky sax riff straight out of the box, and a great line:
"She had a smile that swerved all over the road.". As Carpe mentioned, some great whaa-whaa stuff enlivens the second half of the song.
5. Candy: unlike your dark suspicions about this song, rubbersoul and SGR, I thought this one was just about Candy inviting her boyfriend down to her house at the beach! A sedate but pleasant song imo.
6. A Head With Wings: SGR is unhappy about the lyrics, Carpe thought it was boring and rubber soul didn't mention it: I therefore designate this track as the album's underrated gem. It has perhaps my favourite sax solo on the album, and though Mark Sandman's lyrics are hardly exceptional, I just love his delivery on
"I've got a head with...yeah...oh...a head with wings"
7. In Spite of Me: It's most noticeable for having mandolin as the lead instrument, and no sax. In one way it's a welcome change of mood, but at the same time sounds like it's from another album altogether.
8. Thursday: We're back on track with the "proper" Morphine sound, and this time, a song that tells a clear enough story. It's quite fast-paced, but doesn't quite have the impact of the first half of the album.
9. Cure for Pain:
Quote:
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For a title track, “Cure for Pain” is surprisingly forgettable. It does have an okay sax solo I guess. And lyrics about how people do drugs because they’re in pain. Eh, not into this one.
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Really can't improve on your description, SGR!
10. Mary Won't You Call My Name?: OK, but by now the Morphine sound is feeling rather "samey"
11. Let's Take a Trip Together: "Brought the drugs to the lounge" says Carpe, which about sums it up. Some nice oozy sax, but it was more slow than psychedelic and didn't do much for me.
12. Sheila: By the time this song ends, I'm tired of hearing the word "cat" in what I regard as the lyrics low-point of the album. A very forgettable track imo.
13. Miles Davis' Funeral: More like something by Calexico than Morphine, this leisurely outro would've made a neat book-end to the intro track, if only they had had the sense to put some saxophone in it. Duh!
So, overall, an album that starts strong. Full marks to Morphine for their unusual, stripped down line up and the absence of lead guitar. But slowly, song-by-song, the excitement wanes. Some songs sound like wasted opportunities that could've been developed beyond their typical 3-mins, but other songs make it feel like the band didn't have enough ideas or variations of mood - or when they did try to vary things, it was done too suddenly, without much effort at integration.
Subsequent albums, to my mind, bare out the idea that their ideas rather dried up: they have a few good tracks on each album, although, in fairness to the band, by my ranking, "good" just means "of equal quality to
Buena"
Rating:
8/10