Morphine "Yes" 1995****

It's not often that a band sounds unlike anyone else, but Morphine were certainly that: a unique trio with no guitars or keyboards, surviving purely on the strength of good songwriting, Mark Sandman's low baritone vocal and resounding 2-string bass, and Dana Colley's ever-present saxophone. The sax is an unusual instrument for alternative rock, but it's used to great effect here, either creating a steamy jazz noir atmosphere or running wild, as with the catchy opener "Honey White" and its fast repetitive riff. "Scratch" is the story of a loser sung to a mid-tempo jazz funk tune, while "Radar" is a driving funky number. Second single "Super Sex" starts way low with a reverberating bassline, but soon sees Sandman wailing like a drunken Jim Morrison reciting beat poetry. "Yes" is closer to soul, "I Had My Chance" is a slow bluesy song and "Gone For Good" a desolate country-folk ballad. "The Jury", "Free Love" and the noisy "Sharks" are closer to poetry recitations while "Whisper" is an atmospheric jazz noir. "All Your Way" sports a fetching melody and closer "Pulled Over The Car" sees Sandman narrating a story while the band falls into a soulful groove. All in all "Yes" is an original and often exciting album. As fate would have it, Morphine wouldn't survive for much longer: After 4 years, Mark Sandman would shockingly and unexpectedly collapse to his death onstage in Italy after suffering a massive heart attack at the age of 46. 

People assumed his death to be drug-related, probably because of his band's name and of the complete lack of information about his personal life. He had always been a very private, almost mysterious, person and it wasn't until 2011 and the award-winning documentary Cure for Pain The Mark Sandman Story that people learnt anything about the man. He never used any hard drugs - explanations about the cause of his death range from the combination of  heat, stress and heavy smoking to old wounds: he had been stabbed in the chest during a robbery when working as a cab driver, which might have left an undiagnosed heart defect. Apparently his standoffish character that had him portrayed as "difficult" also stemmed from past traumas: the loss of his two brothers when they were all very young had a decisive effect on Mark shutting himself off and dedicating his life to music and poetry. Thankfully though, even with the film shedding some light into the leader's personality, Morphine's music remains as dark and mysterious as it's ever been.

***** for Honey White

**** for Scratch, Radar, Whisper, All Your Way, Super Sex, I Had My Chance

*** for Yes, Sharks, Gone for Good, Pulled Over The Car

** for The Jury, Free Love