The Night (Morphine album)

Last updated
The Night
Morphine The Night.jpg
Studio album by
Morphine
ReleasedFebruary 1, 2000
Recorded1998–1999
Studio
Genre Alternative rock
Label DreamWorks
Producer
Morphine chronology
Like Swimming
(1997)		The Night
(2000)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [1]
Robert Christgau Scissors icon black.svg [2]
Des Moines Register Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [3]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [4]
Los Angeles Times Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [5]
Orlando Sentinel Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [6]
Pitchfork Media 5.7/10 [7]
Rolling Stone Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [8]
Spin 8/10 [9]

The Night is the fifth and final studio album by the alternative rock band Morphine, released in 2000 via DreamWorks. [4] [10] The album expands the band's sound beyond their usual arrangements of previous albums (bass, saxophone and drums), introducing acoustic guitars, organs, strings and female backing vocals. [11]

Contents

The album peaked at No. 137 on the Billboard 200. [12]

Production

Jerome Deupree, the band's original drummer, who had previously quit due to health problems, rejoined and played alongside Billy Conway, according to credits listed in the CD booklet. [13] The Night was thus Morphine's first album recorded as a quartet rather than a trio. [14] [15]

The band recorded the album over two years [15] in the Cambridge, Massachusetts, home studio of singer-bassist Mark Sandman. [11] [16] Several guest musicians appeared, most of whom were associated with the improvising ensemble Club d'Elf with whom Sandman collaborated occasionally in the late 1990s. [17]

Recording sessions for the album were completed shortly before Sandman's sudden July 1999 death. Sandman and saxophonist Dana Colley oversaw the final mixing process. [18]

Critical reception

The Pitch wrote that "it’s not a romantic exaggeration to say that this album is the trio’s most sensuous, satisfying recording, finally delivering on the diverting-but-two-dimensional original notion of what Sandman termed 'low rock' ... The Night is the first time in ages a posthumous release has made noise from beyond the grave that doesn’t sound like a cash register." [19] Trouser Press wrote that "the tone may be dour due to the singer’s sudden death, but the music is the most fully realized and finely textured Morphine ever mustered." [18] Exclaim! called the album "a slow, grinding burlesque that hovers tentatively between testifying to above and wallowing down below." [20]

Track listing

All songs written by Mark Sandman.

  1. "The Night" – 4:50
  2. "So Many Ways" – 4:01
  3. "Souvenir" – 4:40
  4. "Top Floor, Bottom Buzzer" – 5:44
  5. "Like a Mirror" – 5:26
  6. "A Good Woman Is Hard to Find" – 4:14
  7. "Rope on Fire" – 5:36
  8. "I'm Yours, You're Mine" – 3:46
  9. "The Way We Met" – 2:59
  10. "Slow Numbers" – 3:58
  11. "Take Me with You" – 4:54

Personnel

Adapted from the album liner notes. [13]

Morphine

Additional musicians

Technical

Charts

Chart (2000)Peak
position
US Billboard 200 137

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References

  1. ↑ Prato, Greg. The Night at AllMusic. Retrieved September 26, 2011.
  2. ↑ Christgau, Robert (2000-03-28). "Consumer Guide". Village Voice.
  3. ↑ Munson, Kyle (10 Feb 2000). "Morphine's Sandman brings listeners a dream". Des Moines Register: D11.
  4. 1 2 Larkin, Colin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. 5. MUZE. p. 903.
  5. ↑ Hochman, Steve (6 Feb 2000). "Record Rack". Los Angeles Times: 1.
  6. ↑ Gettelman, Parry (11 Feb 2000). "A NICE SEND-OFF FOR MORPHINE'S SANDMAN". Orlando Sentinel: 9.
  7. ↑ Sage Rockermann, Kristin. "Morphine: The Night: Pitchfork review". Pitchfork Media. Archived from the original on November 23, 2001. Retrieved September 26, 2011.
  8. ↑ Kot, Greg (March 2, 2000). "Morphine: The Night: Music review". Rolling Stone . No. RS 835. Archived from the original on November 14, 2007. Retrieved September 26, 2011.
  9. ↑ "Reviews". Spin. 16 (3): 147–148. Mar 2000.
  10. ↑ "Morphine | Biography & History". AllMusic.
  11. 1 2 "Morphine Widen Sound On Final Album With Guitar, Organ, Strings". MTV News. Archived from the original on April 15, 2021.
  12. ↑ "Morphine". Billboard.
  13. 1 2 The Night (CD liner notes). Morphine. DreamWorks. 2000. 0044-50056-2.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  14. ↑ "Morphine - My part of the puzzle". jeromedeupree.com. Retrieved December 8, 2022.
  15. 1 2 "Morphine on Twitter". Twitter . August 30, 2022. Retrieved December 8, 2022.
  16. ↑ "Sharps & Flats". Salon. February 3, 2000.
  17. ↑ https://x.com/clubdelf/status/1176613559448604673
  18. 1 2 "Morphine". Trouser Press. Retrieved 15 April 2021.
  19. ↑ "MORPHINE". February 24, 2000.
  20. ↑ "Morphine The Night". exclaim.ca.
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