I've never seen a band that has more appropriately chosen a name for themselves than Morphine. What are the two most prevalent images about the drug Morphine? Its ability to ease all physical pain and its addictive qualities. Both of these are quite fitting for both the band and the themes in this album.

This is the album that Mark Sandman as a lyricist (and wannabe beat poet) and Morphine as a band were born to make. Morphine is an extremely accessible band: their music has just the right elements of jazz and pop to make them very soothing to listen to. Mark Sandman's voice is a cool baritone; he sometimes croons, sometimes speaks, is always there. The instrumnation is unique: a rather jazzy drum kit, a two-string slide bass (homemade!) and a baritone saxophone. This music is simply pleasing to the ear to listen to. Sensual. Addicting.

Just like the music causes no pain, the lyrics to this album tackles the issue of pain. The narrators of these songs have dealt with plenty of it. People have always struggled to find the answers to addiction. The answer that most likely explains it all is people's inability to cope with pain. "Someday there will be a cure for pain, and that's when I'll throw my drugs away."

One of the bands mottos is "the sound of no guitars rocking," and this is very true songs like "Thursday" and "Buena." There is a certain groove that gets created that no heavy metal rockers could ever achieve. Growing up, I hated the sound of the saxophone. Not anymore.

There are some great stories on this album, and even more importantly, stories that are told well.

You can't go wrong buying a Morphine album. Cure For Pain is their second album and is almost identical in feel to their first album, simply entitled Good. That album also has great songs and is every bit as listenable as Cure For Pain, without the same running theme of pain running through most of the album.

Their follow-up albums to Cure For Pain also have some great moments, but there are also some experiments that just don't quite work as well as everything on this album. I find myself skipping around on those albums a little too much to rank them as high as Cure For Pain.

One of my favorite pastimes is watching movies and identifying Morphine songs used as background music (usually to the dismay of those around me). Their sound is definitely unique and it there are types of moods in many movies out there that seem to lend themselves to a Morphine song. Never before have I seen such an almost unheard of band be so popular with moviemakers.

Morphine is a band that you can take anyone unfamiliar with their music to and guarantee they will have a good time. The first of four times that I have seen them I was almost totally unfamiliar with them and I have taken friends to see them for the first time twice since. The jazz undertones are incredibly addicting and while the songs are similar, there is enough variety so as not to sound repetitive. And on top of this Mark Sandman just radiates cool. His is a slow dry wit that you can't help but laugh out loud at one of their shows. Of all of the artists on this list, Morphine is the one I would recommend to see if they come anywhere near.