Ten years after the death of fiendishly soulful frontman Mark Sandman, the people still steering Morphine's ship are doing us all a service. This October 6, Rhino/Ryko is not releasing a bloated, repackaged boxed set of hits that have been deep-fat fried and cooled on paper towels for devouring. (Though, admittedly, I'd gobble that up.) Instead, they will roll out At Your Service, a two-disc compilation of 35 unreleased live tracks, studio cuts and alternate takes.
The press release bears excerpting at length:
The 35-song compilation takes its name from the line Sandman used to kick off most shows, "We are Morphine at your service." The music spans the group's entire career and features founding member Dana Colley (saxophone), original drummer Jerome Deupree and his successor, Billy Conway. To commemorate the 10-year anniversary of Sandman's passing, the surviving members will play a memorial concert in Pacific Park in Cambridge on September 27.
Aside: I count it among my few blessings upon this twisted mortal coil that I was able to see Morphine before Sandman died. It was in 1994, at that year's H.O.R.D.E. Tour stop in Pine Knob, Michigan. Neil Young & Crazy Horse headlined, and Morphine played a side stage in the afternoon, going on after Ben Folds Five. Sandman threw a bouquet of flowers to the crowd. Holy shit, was it great. I took this picture -- which my MySpace friends will recognize -- on a disposable camera.
Anyway, back to the matter at hand...
AT YOUR SERVICE is the result of the group's habit of recording everything. In fact, Conway estimates there are at least 60 unreleased Morphine songs, including those featured in this set. The first disc (subtitled "Shadows") contains unreleased diamonds such as "It's Not Like That Anymore," "Women R Dogs," "Bye Bye Johnny," and "Come Along," which mixes hard-swinging jazz with a New Orleans second-line beat. Both discs include parts four and five of "I Know You," a song that began on the group's 1992 debut, Good, and continued on 1997's Like Swimming.The final disc (subtitled "Shade") opens with a performance recorded during the tour for Good at WMBR-FM in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where the band performed five songs, including "Claire," "Shoot 'Em Down," and "Saddest Song." Morphine returned to the radio station a year later during their tour for the album Yes, performing five more songs, including "Super Sex" and "Radar." Among the alternate versions of album tracks on the second disc are such standouts as "Buena," "Empty Box," and "The Night," the title track from their final studio album.
At Your Service will cost you a relatively painless $24.98 for the CD version, $16.99 digital.
Tracklist:
Disc 1 - Shadows
1. "At Your Service"
2. "Come Over"
3. "Come Along"
4. "It's Not Like That Anymore"
5. "Patience" (Alternate Version)
6. "Call Back"
7. "Bye Bye Johnny"
8. "Hello Baby"
9. "Women R Dogs"
10. "You're An Artist" (Alternate Version)
11. "5:09"
12. "Lilah II"
13. "Moons Of Jupiter"
14. "Lunch In Hell"
15. "Imaginary Song" (Alternate Version)
16. "Shadow (I Know You Part V)"
Disc 2 - Shade
1. "Good" (Live - WMBR '92)
2. "Only One" (Live - WMBR '92)
3. "Shoot 'Em Down" (Live - WMBR '92)
4. "Saddest Song" (Live - WMBR '92)
5. "Claire" (Live - WMBR '92)
6. "I Had My Chance" (Alternate Version)
7. "Buena" (Alternate Version)
8. "Empty Box" (Alternate Version)
9. "All Wrong" (Alternate Version)
10. "Put It Down (Wo-Oh)" (Live - WMBR '93)
11. "Free Love" (Live - WMBR '93)
12. "Sexy Christmas Baby Mine" (Live - WMBR '93)
13. "Scratch" (Live - WMBR '93)
14. "Super Sex" (Live - WMBR '93)
15. "Radar" (Live - WMBR '93)
16. "I'd Catch You"
17. "The Night" (Alternate Version)
18. "Take Me With You" (Alternate Version)
19. "Shade (I Know You Part IV)"
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You know ... maybe it was in '97 that I saw them on the HORDE. I found a poster from that tour listing NY&CH, Primus, Ben Folds and Morphine. Don't remember Beck being on the tour, but maybe he didn't play the MI stop I saw. ARGH! Memory failing!
http://www.amazon.com/gp/produ...
I now understand why all the old coots complain when we don't post setlists. It's important to archive one's concert going history! Probably no one at the time thought that midday Morhpine HORDE show was important, but I did then and still do now. I'd choke a nun to have a setlist from that show.
I worked the side gate at HORDE in '97, and got to actually say hi to Morphine when they came out to play their stage.
Fabulous news. I've marked my calendar.
I got to see them at the Folly at some point in the late '90s.
In the meantime, I'll just forget about my Day-Glo orange life preserver; it won't save me. It won't save me.
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