Morphine-Cure For Pain (1993)

 

Artist: Morphine

Title: Cure For Pain

Label:  Rykodisc

Format: CD

Cat #: RCD 10262

Year of Release: 1993

Country and Year of Edition Issue: US Columbia House Version

Listed Condition: VG+/VG+

Sell Date: 7/2/25

Sell Price: $5.71

Discogs Last Sold: 5/12/25 NM/NM $4.95

Low: $1.48

Median: $4,50

Average: $4.51

High: $9.98

Current low price: $4.50

Current Number on Sale at Discogs: 5

Have/Want: 85/69

Where Sold: Miami, FL

Time it took to sell: 2 years

Where and When Bought: Facebook CD $2 lot

Gwiz-gau Letter Grade: A-

Sad To See It Go: No

Mark Sandman's voice was already known to me from the late 80's radio (at least in Boston) hit "I Think She Likes Me" from his band Treat Her Right.  I saw an early show at the Middle East in 1990 when I was there for some other band.  I didn't think much of them at the time thinking what Sandman the sort of sub-blues with horns that Treat Her Right did.  A dreaded Berklee bar band.  Then a few years later my Dad out of the blue was saying he saw a great band on Conan O'Brian that did a song he really liked called "Honey White."   He pronounced it Mor-phine with poetic emphasis.  That was from the next album which also sold in this order.   He rarely bought any music but I saw a cassette of that album laying around the house shortly after that.  He loved the instrumentation, the lyrics, all of it.  I could swear I saw this one around as well.  Maybe he saw "Buena" on Conan a couple years before.  I'll have to ask him and get back to you.

Taking a closer look at it, he was right and I was wrong.  This is a great album full of memorable songs.  The title track "Cure For Pain," "Candy" and  "Sheila" were the standouts for me, but really there isn't a bad cut on the album.  That Morphine actually cracked Billboard was a surprise for me but there was a Noir/Pulp Fiction/David Lynch thing going on in mid 90's pop culture that in hindsight set the stage for this one-of-a-kind bass/sax/drums instrumentation to be popular.

Sometimes the narrative in your head conflicts with reality.

7/4/25 ED NOTE: "I'm Free" is actually the song that has been going through my head non-stop since I published this yesterday.  Sometimes the song that sinks in your brain isn't the one you first notice.