Morphine injects unreleased live and studio recordings into your steaming hide.

August 25, 2009

Jason Harper,

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.