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Morphine - Like Swimming Audio CD

A fair review of the Morphine "Like Swimming" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Morphine reviews here, or go back to the Morphine tabs.

Morphine Band: Morphine
Title: Like Swimming
Rating:
Release Date: 1997-03-11
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Lilah 2: Potion 3: I Know You, Pt. 3 4: Early to Bed 5: Wishing Well 6: Like Swimming 7: Murder for the Money 8: French Fries With Pepper 9: Empty Box 10: Eleven O'Clock 11: Hanging on a Curtain 12: Swing It Low

A Weak Effort
e. While this album has a few really strong songs (i. "I Know You," "Wishing Well," "Murder for the Money") the majority of the songs on this record are not so great. I am a huge Morphine fan and probably saw them play live at least 20 times. My biggest beef with "Like Swimming" is that it contains many songs that they had played live for YEARS and which never made it onto their previous albums. Mark Sandman even made fun of a few of these songs ("11 O'Clock," "Empty Box," "French Fries With Pepper") in his onstage intros. . . perhaps because of their painfully bad lyrics. The overwrought production SCREAMS "We are on a 'Major Label' now" and seems to strongly contradict the "lo-fi" sound they so carefully cultivated on their first three albums. Drum loops and samples, long meandering intros, badly-chorused backing vocals, really cheezy synths. . . All these studio tricks seem to be an attempt to cover up a bunch of half-songs.

While I don't loathe this album the way many of my fellow Morphine fans do (trust me. . . they are out there. . . they just don't post reviews on Amazon), "Like Swimming" is the staggering disappointment in their catalog simply because there is plenty of evidence that Morphine were capable of so much more with every other album they released.


Morphine just gets it.
`Cure for Pain' has been one of my favorite discs forever, and I'm sure that I just need to spend a little more time with `Yes' to feel the same. I've had `Cure for Pain' and `Yes' for years, and now that I've completed my entry level audiophile sound system (B&W 600 series 3, 604s in the front, 601s in the back and the LCR 600 in the center with a 300 watt SVS 10 inch ported sub) I've been buying tons of cd's, as mp3s just wont cut it. `Like Swimming' however, took no time at all for me to get. It has the sound of a bands earlier work even though it's later in the catalogue. Its rough, jagged and inflicting, most bands lose that after moderate success, but here Morphine's dug deeper. If you have any of this legendary groups music and enjoy it, get this disc, hell I'll speak for the three I've mentioned and 'The Night' (bought a few months ago) the bands last disc, which has a very polished, eerie sound with dark lyrics that seems the most fitting way to end their era just before the tragic loss of their front man Mark Sandman. If you've never listened to these guys, I'd recommend `Cure for Pain' first, but I'd give this disc 10 stars if I could. These people are incredibly talented, unclassifiable and wonderful people. I met the surviving members (now Twinemen-check them out!) a few years back while doing sound tech for a local venue. I hung out with them for almost an hour back stage, they were so relaxed and hospitable, flattered and seemed genuinely interested the questions they asked me about my life, avoiding talking about them selves. Not a common theme amongst the hundreds of musicians I've worked with. Do you self a favor, get into Morphine.


Morphine Best of the Best
Being a huge Morphine fan for years now, and having all of their albums I figured it was time for me to share my thoughts (finally!)

If I had to order the albums in terms of least to most favorite I'd go Good, Yes, Cure For Pain, The Night, & Like Swimming. . Like Swimming is their best album in my opinion. Take for example the song Like a Curtain totaly symbolizes what Morphine was about. Drawing beauty from things that seem dark simplistic. The song only has one "riff", but as it progresses it seems to become more and more complex. It might be my favorite Morphine song. . . period.

I Know You (PartIII) strong enough to carry the album by itself. Billy Conway could not have added a more perfect drum beat during the Chorus ("I know you, you know me too, I know everything that you're gonna do")

French Fries w/ Pepper is another song that proves Mark to be an absolute genius. For those true music lovers (and even more so for bass players), the bass riff itself is amazing. The lyrics are also very good.

I have to end this review a little abruptly, but I definately recomend this album to everyone, as I'm sure you Morphine fans already own it. Bottom line, this is just a very cool album. .


this album has everything...
however, i understand why a lot of people don't like it, it really isn't for everyone. it's sexy, it's soft, it's hard, it's jazzy, it's rock, it really is a complete package. morphine is a unique sound that incorporates a lot of different moods and music types into one album. give it a listen, or three, and it'll grow on you. i promise, you wont be disappointed.


I feel like swimming right now....
Being from Boston, and being friends with Mark, i can say that i thought he was a man with a vision. . well. . . anyway. . . I loved this album, and actually found it to be my favorite. Yes I do like all of his albums, but i especially like Like Swimming, for his haunting lyrics and saxaphone sounds. I thought it was a brilliant balance of jazz and rock with poetic verse to bring this album to a life of its own. I love every song but my favorite is Empty Box for its words, they're very meaningful, and whatever one person thinks, another thinks something completely different which brings perspective, that is brilliant. . . I don't think i have anything more to say except for the people that found it monotonous and boring, or so drawn into the "Morphine Style" get a life, because you completely miss the point Mark wanted and so you just think about what sounds good rather than what's interesting and different and how it continues on as such.


You can see a complete list of all Morphine discography, or go back to the Morphine tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.

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