REVIEW: Morphine, B-Sides and Otherwise (Rykodisc)
- Rainier Simoneaux
A vintage illustration on the cover of this collection of rare live cuts, soundtrack efforts, and other songs mined from Morphine's past portrays a woman spiking a dish of pasta with poisonous ingredients. Unfortunately, such a noxious blend is not too far from the usual result when a band purges its vaults and issues their findings within a single volume - a few cuts of remarkable quality debased by others which are so uninspired so as to make one question why they were recorded in the first place. Morphine's B-Sides and Otherwise , though, is at least derived from some quality stock. Since forming in 1992, this Boston-based band has nurtured a distinctive sound based on the smokey, brooding saxophone of Dana Colley and the visceral voice and Beat lyrics of Mark Sandman to create what may be the most uniquely potent music of this decade.
Of the twelve tracks amassed here, however, only the first three capture the minimalist three-piece's craft at its sharpest, perhaps because they are recordings of live radio broadcasts of previously released material. Each of these embody the cool intensity which Morphine brings to a live show and are engineered to perfection (making one wonder about the power a live collection might contain). The remainder of the tracks vary from ambient instrumental soundtrack material to "Pulled over the Car", a quirky, angular song from the Yes sessions which has become a staple of their live sets over the past few years. Other songs, such as "Sundayafternoonweightlessness", give glimpses into Morphine's more improvisational experiments. Ironically, it's during these attempts at the avant-garde ("Kerouac", "My Brain") that they become almost innocuous and banal - one can appreciate the light of day without having to stare directly into the sun.
Though hardly as consistent and solid as their previous albums, B-Sides and Otherwise should be a welcomed addition to the collection of devoted fans. Those who have yet to discover the emotionally explosive sounds of Morphine would be doing themselves a disservice by not checking into their previous studio material.
