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Sunday’s celebration is a memorial to Morphine’s Mark Sandman, who died in 1999. |
Sound off
On our minds and on our playlists
A sad anniversary has produced some positive news for those who loved the music of the late, great Boston rock band Morphine. It has been 10 years since the trio’s inimitable frontman Mark Sandman passed away while touring Italy with the band. Fans wanting to honor his memory have two excellent options.
This Sunday at Pacific Park in Cambridge the Mark Sandman Memorial Concert offers a free, multi-band celebration of Sandman and his music from 1-7 p.m. The diverse lineup boasts a wide range of music made by friends and fans including Zili Misik, Mickey Bones and the Hot Tamale Brass Band, and Mean Creek. The day will also include performances by Sandman’s Morphine bandmates Dana
Then on Oct. 6 Rhino releases a new Morphine collection produced by Conway called “At Your Service.’’ The 35-song, two-disc set is a superb-sounding treasure trove that compiles unreleased recordings, alternate takes, and live perfomances culled from a pair of radio appearances on WMBR in the early ’90s. There’s a twinge of sadness hearing Sandman’s deep, wry voice intoning his familiar introduction “From Boston, Massachusetts, we are Morphine at your service’’ at the start of the album. But the quality of what follows - especially the haunting, twisty, rocking unreleased gems - elicits pleasant memories of the peak of “low rock.’’
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