FFWD Weekly
Copyright © 1997. All Rights Reserved.
MORPHINE
Like Swimming
(DreamWorks / Universal)· Fourth full-length from Cambridge-based bass, sax and drums trio.
· While the album was originally slated for release late last year on Ryko, Morphine and the already finished Like Swimming were signed to the mighty DreamWorks Records label.
Tom Waits' designated driver. Younger, lucid and able to seduce something more appealing than the dilapidated out-of-tune piano in the corner or the dilapidated out-of-tune whore who leans against it. Drunk sure, but a red wine sexy, able to drive but maybe we should walk back to your place drunk. A second wind, 4 a.m., I've got the answer - let's fuck drunk. Is there a better drunk? Is there anything more lubricating than squeezing out of a sticky downtown vinyl booth well-past closing with someone who turns you on? Not because they were the last one there but because they
were only one there. And got you off when they said hello. And drank with you. And got drunk with you. The conversation made sense and the attraction did too. Even before the eyes glazed over. And when they did the sparkle swam through. The room wants to spin but the mind stays put.#
When two drunks romance eachother and charm eachother and neither one needs eachother and there aren't any games - two Greg Dulli's without any malice who know what they are and what they want - the music won't make a difference. Or change a life. But it will be satisfying. And memorable. And cool. And funky. And long enough to outrun a hangover. Or sleep. There'll be a repeat. Maybe not tonight, tomorrow, next week or in the morning. Another lounge seduction and another ride home. But more certain music and the same satisfying result.
So who do you leave with?
Screw Tom. He fell down the stairs a long time ago. And stopped making sense even longer.
Mike Bell
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