Morphine / Like Swimming by Duane Gibson Rykodisc A session of listening to the fourth effort from this mostly guitar-less Boston trio, Like Swimming, is just that -- like swimming. It's an exercise that involves little resistance but nonetheless manages to tire you out. What the album is not like, however, is any of the group's other recordings. Yes, Mark Sandman's unique lyrics and prominent 2-string slide bass are still present, as are Dana Colley's saxophone and drummer Billy Conway's consistent rhythms; the album is notoriously Morphine in length, checking in at under 38 minutes. What is not present, however, is the pop catchiness of the band's previous release, Yes. Almost all the songs on this album require you to wade through them several times before acquiring an appreciation for them, although I wouldn't say this album grows on you. It's more like a preparation -- you have to take a few dips in the kiddie pool before you can fully immerse yourself in the deep end. The album opens with a haunting one-minute instrumental featuring only Sandman's unitar, informing the listener that this is, in fact, Sandman's album. Just as he commands Morphine's live shows, he takes charge of this recording at the very beginning and does not relent. The talents of Colley and Conway are at times overshadowed by Sandman's egoism, but this phenomenon is not new to Morphine fans and certainly isn't detrimental to the album. Colley does demonstrate the legendary double sax on "Wishing Well," when he plays a baritone and a tenor sax simultaneously. He also breaks out the seldom-heard bass sax on "Eleven O'Clock," and his sultry contributions to the band's trademark bottom- heavy sound are indispensable. Conway has the unenviable task of corralling and tying together both Sandman's ego and Colley's jazz tendencies, but he does an admirable job supplying the consistency necessary to balance the otherwise random structure of the album. The unique musical talents of the band's members are bound nicely by Sandman's strange yet simple lyrics, including sagacious tidbits like "Early to bed and early to rise / Makes a man or woman miss out on the nightlife" and a track consisting entirely of one deeply personal lyric in repetition -- "Every night about eleven o'clock I go out." The songs on Like Swimming form a unit reminiscent of a toddler's jigsaw puzzle -- the pieces don't quite fit together properly, but the effort and personality reflected in their arrangement more than redeem any imperfections. Give it a try; the album can be a little scary and intimidating at first, but once you've conquered it you'll realize that it's worth risking drowning to experience the freedom of swimming.

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