RadicalRiffs

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I’ll stick with another Boston artist for this “Riff”.

In 1983 Peter Wolf and Seth Justman had a falling out about a batch of new songs that Wolf wrote for the J. Geils Band. It seems as though Justman didn’t want to put them on the new album, so Wolf quit and took his music with him. He got a hold of multi instumentalist and former head of The Jonzun Crew, Michael Jonzun to help lay down his tracks. Also helping out were little known artists like, Mick Jagger, Adrian Belew, Eddie Gorodetsky and Elliot Easton to name just a few.

What came out of these sessions is one of the hidden gems of the 80’s. The album Lights Out was released in 1984 so you have to expect some synth throughout (after all, even Van Halen was using synths) but they never overshadow Wolf, who seems to be living on cloud nine at this time being able to be as soulful as he wants and this “Riff” shows a sensitive side to his voice as well.

Recieving writing credits for this song are the members of ZZ Top who released a song by the same title the previous year on their Eliminator disc. This version kicks that one in the teeth. Even thought the cheezy surf guitar solo on Wolf’s is far weaker than Billy Gibbon’s version

Lyrics (continue reading…)

Out of the ashes of the Boston group Treat Her Right, Mark Sandman joined forces with saxaphonist Dana Colley and drummer Jerome Dupree and formed the band Morphine. The unique aspect of this band is that during this period (the 1990’s), the heavy alternative scene was happening with screaming vocalists and ear-splitting guitar riffs (not that that is a bad thing), and along came Sandman’s project with no guitar at all. He played lead bass with a slide and Colley played tenor and baritone sax.

Their debut, Good, was released in 1991 and then Dupree left the band, to be replaced by former bandmate of Sandman, Bill Conway who stayed with the band til the end. The next two releases were the high-water mark for the band. 1993’s Cure For Pain and 1995’s Yes. This, along with constant touring caught the attention of major labels, and in 1996 they signed with Dreamworks and the following year released Like Swimming.

While touring in support for Like Swimming, on July 3, 1999 they were playing in Rome when Sandman collapsed on stage and died from a heart attack. I never did get to see Morphine play live, but I was a fan of Treat Her Right and got to see Sandman play a few times around the Boston area during the late 80’s.

This “Riff” is from their third release 1995’s Yes:

Lyrics (continue reading…)