Morphine
Good

THE REVIEW

"Tyger! Tyger! Burning bright

In the forests of the night:

What immortal hand or eye

Could frame thy fearful symmetry?"

( Wiliam Blake)

From the forests of the night anything can arise: a tiger, a sob, a laugh, or a poem.

But from the forests of the night "Good" can also emerge, one of the most fascinating and ingenious music albums of the '90s.

"Good" is the first cornerstone by Morphine, a band that from 1992 to 1999 - until the death of their unlucky leader Mark Sandman - carried out a brilliant musical journey, an incredible mystical trip into the night and the depths of the human soul.

Defining Morphine's musical genre would be at least difficult and limiting, but without exaggerating, we could say their music aimed to blend rock, jazz, and blues elements into a uniquely unique mix.

After all, the group's name says it all: their music was meant to be morphine for the human soul, a soul tormented by daily worries and anxieties that suddenly at night finds peace with itself and the world.

It takes little for Morphine to evoke soul catharsis: typically a drum, a saxophone, and a two-string bass. The latter is the very essence of Sandman's poetry, even more than his warm voice that accompanies him through the night.

A bass that sometimes seems to cry, other times dances under the stars, and still others rejoices for the moonlight illuminating the roofs of dilapidated houses.

There isn't a piece of "Good" that doesn't shine with its own light: each track is a small slice of the nocturnal forests where Blake's tiger roams.

"The saddest song" is the spiritual testament of a man bent by despair, "Have a lucky day" the laughter of a compulsive gambler, "You look like rain" a poem whispered softly to a lover, "The only one" the song of a soul watching over the city, and "The other side" a mystical journey in the darkest hours of the night.

Each piece is a shade of the night, the tale of a nocturnal soul, a whisper of the wind that warms the listener's heart.

Although "Good" is only the first stop on a sensational musical journey, it is certainly Morphine's most inspired and engaging work; a tiger that - although at times it tears, at other times it caresses - eases the torments of the listener's soul.

“Good” is a life experience that deserves to be had at least once, a universe of ecstasy with the sacred goal of purifying the soul, a never-ending descent into the depths of the night.