The Night (Morphine album)

Last updated
The Night
Morphine The Night.jpg
Studio album by
ReleasedFebruary 1, 2000
Recorded1998–1999
Studio
Genre Alternative rock
Length50:09
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

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.