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Oct 30, 2023 Web Exclusive By Frank Valish

Here, for the first time on vinyl, is Morphine’s fourth album, Like Swimming, reissued on beautiful and pristine sounding 180-gram vinyl by Light In the Attic Records imprint Modern Classics Recordings. LITA has never been known to do anything less than stellarly, and the presentation of Like Swimming‘s debut vinyl release is spectacular. Hardy gatefold jacket. Exquisite colored vinyl. Exhaustive liner note booklet with band history, album story, photos, and wonderful reproduction of leader Mark Sandman’s artwork.

But the music. The year was 1997. Like Swimming was Morphine’s first album on a major label, the newly created DreamWorks. Morphine had previously found success with the indie label Ryko on albums like 1993’s Cure for Pain and 1995’s Yes, the latter with its infectious groovy single “Honey White.” There had been a sort of danger to those two previous Morphine albums, the sense of newness of the band’s unique bass/sax/drums configuration combining with the dark, mysterious, and sometimes fiery lyrics and deep baritone vocals courtesy of Sandman.

Like Swimming was supposed to be the band’s big break, the culmination of a ‘90s of slogging it out, organically creating a fanbase on top of records that were supported without big label budgetry. But Like Swimming, which was received to mixed reviews at the time, was a different record than Cure for Pain and Yes. It’s smoother, more downcast perhaps. The old Morphine charms were still present, but Like Swimming‘s pleasures are not as in-your-face. The lyrical simplicity of “Early to Bed.” The snakey bass tones and saxophone solo slither of “Wishing Well.” The downtrodden purity of “Like Swimming.” The whispered spoken vocals of “Swing It Low.” The beauties of Like Swimming are not as immediate. They are the sound of a twilight walk along the coast, a smoking jacket with bourbon and a cigarette, a drifting off haze.

Morphine had one more album in them before Sandman’s untimely passing, on stage of a heart attack in 1999. Like Swimming is a more than suitable penultimate release, its nuanced charms unfolding over multiple listens. And I can’t think of a better way to experience those charms than this spectacular vinyl reissue. (www.morphineband.com) (www.lightintheattic.net)

Author rating: 7.5/10