In the early 90’s, Morphine turned the power trio genre on its head. Armed with Mark Sandman’s baritone vocals, laconic two-string slide bass and Beat-fueled poetry, Dana Colley’s multi-tracked saxophone and Billy Conway’s perfectly placed drums, Cure For Pain remains one of the pinnacle albums of the late 20th century.
“Unquestionably one of the best and most cutting-edge rock releases of the ’90s.”_ – Allmusic
“Low-rock” and “Fuck-rock” are two descriptors enigmatic Morphine front man Mark Sandman used to describe his band’s beat-inspired blues-jazz-rock holy racket. Along with Sandman’s baritone vocal delivery and laconic two-string bass styling, co-founder Dana Colley played a saxophone as his lead instrument of choice instead of the expected guitar, creating a quirky and burning sensibility. Original drummer Jerome Deupree, who was replaced by percussionist Billy Conway during the recording of 1993’s Cure For Pain, flushed out the unorthodox trio. Released on vinyl as the second title on Light In The Attic’s Modern Classics Recordings imprint (following a reissue of Mercury Rev’s seminal Deserter’s Songs) we’re happy to put this essential album back out in the world.
Do you have a spare $225? Neither do we, but that seems to be the average out-of-reach price for an original vinyl copy of Cure For Pain these days. Oddly, the LP has only been available as a vintage limited run Brazilian pressing. Featuring the essential songs “Buena,” “Sheila,” “Candy,” and the moving title-track “Cure For Pain,” this is the album’s first-ever US vinyl issue. Modern Classics’ Cure For Pain features lovingly re-mastered audio, 180-gram wax, deluxe “tip-on” gatefold jacket with original album art.
Tragically, Morphine’s Sandman passed away on-stage at an Italian gig with the group in 1999, leaving behind five engaging albums. Today, the group is hailed as one of the great band’s of the last 25 years and was recently profiled in the feature-length documentary Cure For Pain: The Mark Sandman Story (2011). We’re extremely proud to help spread the gospel of Morphine’s Cure For Pain, a longtime personal favorite of ours. We hope you enjoy the album’s dream-like state on black virgin vinyl as much as we do.
