Like Swimming

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Morphine's music, which connects with listeners on a very physical level, is so simple it's amazing no one's done it before. Using exclusively low-register instruments, Mark Sandman's two-string bass and baritone voice, and Dana Colley's bass and baritone saxophones, the band's songs actually reverberate in the chest, treating listeners to a low-impact massage. And anything that feels this good can't be bad.

But Morphine's blessing--that distinctive low rock sound--is also their curse. Not only do they bind themselves to an instantly recognizable sound, but they also limit themselves in their arrangements: Voice and sax can each hit only one note at a time (though Colley sometimes manages to honk two saxes at once), while the bass can manage a two-note interval at best. It's hard being dynamic using only three or four sounds.

So where does that leave Like Swimming, Morphine's fourth album (and first since signing on with the big boys at DreamWorks)? Pretty much where the band started, it seems--with a blessing and a curse. As with past records, Like Swimming is easy to appreciate, full of loping bass lines and slithery sax riffs that strut through jazzy rock numbers like "Wishing Well" and "Empty Box." But while newcomers may be happy with the band's warm swing, others will pine for the first time they heard the band's earlier breakthrough on Cure For Pain. Only with the album closer "Swing It Low" (a title that could be a band manifesto) does Morphine hint at changes to come: With guitar, keyboards, programmed drums, and no saxophone, the song (first released as a Sandman solo project) proves it possible to capture Morphine's noir moods in midrange as well. --Roni Sarig

--This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Tracks:

Lilah (Instr.)
Potion
I Know You (Pt. III)
Early To Bed
Wishing Well
Like Swimming
Murder For The Money
French Fries w/ Pepper
Empty Box
Eleven O' Clock
Hanging On A Curtain
Swing It Low

Amazon.com

Morphine's music, which connects with listeners on a very physical level, is so simple it's amazing no one's done it before. Using exclusively low-register instruments, Mark Sandman's two-string bass and baritone voice, and Dana Colley's bass and baritone saxophones, the band's songs actually reverberate in the chest, treating listeners to a low-impact massage. And anything that feels this good can't be bad.

So where does that leave Like Swimming, Morphine's fourth album (and first since signing on with the big boys at DreamWorks)? Pretty much where the band started, it seems--with a blessing and a curse. As with past records, Like Swimming is easy to appreciate, full of loping bass lines and slithery sax riffs that strut through jazzy rock numbers like "Wishing Well" and "Empty Box." But while newcomers may be happy with the band's warm swing, others will pine for the first time they heard the band's earlier breakthrough on Cure For Pain. Only with the album closer "Swing It Low" (a title that could be a band manifesto) does Morphine hint at changes to come: With guitar, keyboards, programmed drums, and no saxophone, the song (first released as a Sandman solo project) proves it possible to capture Morphine's noir moods in midrange as well. --Roni Sarig

Customer Reviews:

Morphine Best of the Best.......2006-01-07

Being a huge Morphine fan for years now, and having all of their albums I figured it was time for me to share my thoughts (finally!)

If I had to order the albums in terms of least to most favorite I'd go Good, Yes, Cure For Pain, The Night, & Like Swimming...Like Swimming is their best album in my opinion. Take for example the song Like a Curtain totaly symbolizes what Morphine was about. Drawing beauty from things that seem dark simplistic. The song only has one "riff", but as it progresses it seems to become more and more complex. It might be my favorite Morphine song...period.

I Know You (PartIII) strong enough to carry the album by itself. Billy Conway could not have added a more perfect drum beat during the Chorus ("I know you, you know me too, I know everything that you're gonna do")

French Fries w/ Pepper is another song that proves Mark to be an absolute genius. For those true music lovers (and even more so for bass players), the bass riff itself is amazing. The lyrics are also very good.

I have to end this review a little abruptly, but I definately recomend this album to everyone, as I'm sure you Morphine fans already own it. Bottom line, this is just a very cool album.

this album has everything..........2004-08-31

it's sexy, it's soft, it's hard, it's jazzy, it's rock, it really is a complete package. however, i understand why a lot of people don't like it, it really isn't for everyone. morphine is a unique sound that incorporates a lot of different moods and music types into one album. give it a listen, or three, and it'll grow on you. i promise, you wont be disappointed.

I feel like swimming right now...........2004-06-06

Being from Boston, and being friends with Mark, i can say that i thought he was a man with a vision...well...anyway... I loved this album, and actually found it to be my favorite. Yes I do like all of his albums, but i especially like Like Swimming, for his haunting lyrics and saxaphone sounds. I thought it was a brilliant balance of jazz and rock with poetic verse to bring this album to a life of its own. I love every song but my favorite is Empty Box for its words, they're very meaningful, and whatever one person thinks, another thinks something completely different which brings perspective, that is brilliant... I don't think i have anything more to say except for the people that found it monotonous and boring, or so drawn into the "Morphine Style" get a life, because you completely miss the point Mark wanted and so you just think about what sounds good rather than what's interesting and different and how it continues on as such....

yes and cure for pain are better, but this one's good.......2003-12-20

as i alluded to in the title, cure for pain and yes have more standout tracks, and flow as albums better than like swimming. 'swing it low' is a nice touch on the end, very low and mellow, but also melodic. 'like swimming' was originally going to only be a cd5, with the title track, 'early to bed,' 'french fries with pepper,' and a live version of another song. glad they decided to release these sessions as a full album. not their greatest, but still much better than 95% of other groups' best albums.

a good one.......2003-05-30

I am still a huge fan of "Yes" but I do like this one too...Morphine's sound is bluesy and jazzy...cool and calming...you will love them...once you heard them you're hooked!! A great band from Boston!

Average customer rating:

Swimming In Jello
Judy Pancoast
Manufacturer: MAMANOOK Music
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Pop | Styles | Music

General | Children's Music | Styles | Music

General | Pop | Indie Music | Stores | Music
ASIN: B0009KBTTC
Release Date: 2005-04-15

Tracks:

Kidpop!
Swimming in Jello
Take Me To Your Reader
Wild One
Jump Rope Queen
Bug Huntin'
The Wonderful Apple Tree
Read a Book to Me
Dr. Rixie From Dixie
Ladybug, Ladybug
Try, Try
The Lost Library Book Blues
Memere's House
Candy

Product Description

SWIMMING IN JELLO features 14 of Judy Pancoast's best loved songs, including the title cut which was named Best Song For Young Children by the Children's Music Web in 1998. Heard regularly on XM Satellite Radio's XM Kids, Judy's tunes have young and old alike on their feet dancing and singing along. Always age-appropriate and child-centered but featuring clever lyrics and sophisticated melodies and arrangements, Judy Pancoast's music has been acclaimed throughout the world. Choose this CD if you are just entering the world of Judy and want the best in music for the 4-8 year-old set.

Average customer rating:

excellent!
Brilliant penultimate album for Morphine

Like Swimming (+ Bonus Tracks)
Morphine
Manufacturer: Ryko
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

General | Alternative Rock | Indie Music | Stores | Music

Alternative Rock | Imports | Stores | Music
ASIN: B0000072C5
Release Date: 1997-03-20

Album Details

Japanese Release featuring Several Bonus Tracks.

Customer Reviews:

excellent!.......2000-06-26

This is a great cd! Buy it now!

Brilliant penultimate album for Morphine.......2000-06-20

With wonderful songs like "Empty Box" and "Potion," this album is another Morphine great. They were a fabulous band while Mark Sandman was still around.

Tracks:

Sometimes
How It's Not
Monument
Net
Next Time in Town
Cry Uncle
Angel Uh God
Heaven Again
Everything Must Go
Count Me In
Nobody's Fool
Askin' You To

Album Description

Long awaited second album from singer/songwriter Chris Kowanko. Honest, conversational pop songs of the deceptively everyday with the insight and inner fire of such British outsiders as Roy Harper and The Jazz Butcher. Joining Chris on the record are members of the Patti Smith Group. Recorded in Seattle by indie producer legend Steve Fisk. (Boss Hogg, Unwound, Pigeonhed)

Customer Reviews:

I have just one problem with it..........2001-10-23

...it ends. But enough about endings,
"Sometimes" is such a sweet beginning to the album...in fact. it
seems a companion, a bookend, to "Askin' You To", with its homey
accordion and straightforward lyric. These songs remind me of Neil
Young's "Sleeps With Angels" album, where he used two very unironic
yet sentimental tunes to frame a series of much more potent and
questioning songs. And "Net." I love "Net" This song is
like snow in April, or a kiss thrown from a train...it seems to last
only a moment, and to hang in the air just long enough to lodge in
your ear, and haunt you the rest of the day. "Everything Must Go" is
another total standout; I love the way the guitars sound, especially
the electric guitar in the refrain. But I was completely unprepared
for Nobody's Fool." It's such an understatedly gorgeous song that I
just sat and didn't move while it played. To me, it feels like the emotional peak of the
album. Sorry if all this stream-of-consciousness prattle is hard on
your eyes...In short, I love it.

Average customer rating:

Baby's Classical Lullaby Box

Manufacturer: Direct Source Label
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Ballets | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music

Dances | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music

Pavanes | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music

Waltzes | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music

Quintets | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

Fantasies | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

Preludes | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

Suites | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Cantatas | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Caprices | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Choruses | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

General | Children's Music | Styles | Music

Children's Music | Box Sets | Stores | Music
ASIN: B0007PLLHY
Release Date: 2005-02-22

Tracks:

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (Ah, Vous Dirais-Je Maman)
For Little Liza (Fse)
Gym-No-Pillow, No. 3 (Gymnope 3)
Sonata for Baby ZZZZZ's (Piano Sonata in B Flat, D. 960: 2nd Movement)
Pacifiers & Warm Milk (L'Aube)
Claire in the Moon (Clair de Lune)
Dream Until Tomorrow (Manola)
If Only for a Minute's Sleep [Minuet from Skallsj
Moonbeams (Prde No. 4 in E)
Little Shut-Eye
Magic Carpet Napping (Arabesque No. 1 in E)
Sleepytown Fair (Scarborough Fair)

Tracks:

Gym-No-Pillow (Gymnope 1)
Aria of Golden Dreams (Aria-Goldverg Variations)
Pavanne for a Minor
Cradle Song (La Campanella)
Morning Mood (Morning Mood-Peer Gynt)
Serenade of Dreams (Serenade in D Minor)
Life Lesson (ude)
Paved With Gold (Pavanne in E Minor)
Field of Dreams (Reverie, Op. 15 No. 7)
Green Pajamas (Greensleeves)
Precious Solitude (Solitude)
Hide and Seek (Nocturne Op. 27 No. 2)

Tracks:

Baby Steps (Pathque Sonata, Op. 13: 2nd MVT.)
Going for Gold [Aria - Goldberg Variations]
Travel in Style (Minuet)
Defying Gravity (Gymnope 1)
Footprints (Waltz in a Flat, Op. 39 No. 15)
Power Walking (Fantaisie-Impromptu in C Flat, Op. 66)
Baby Shoes (Old French Song, Op. 39 No. 16)
Put Your Best Foot Forward (The Four Seasons - Winter: Largo)
Step Right Up (Rondo Alla Turka)
Getting Around (Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy - Nutcracker)
Standing Tall (Pathque Sonata, Op. 13: 1st MVT.)
Walking on the Clouds (Brandenburg Concerto No. 1 in F Major: Allegro)

Tracks:

Sonata for Insomnia (Sonata in a Minor)
Signs of Farigue (Cygne)
Into Bed Theresa (Intermezzo in a Major, Op. 118 No. 2 "A Therese")
Minute of Peace (Minuet)
Song Without Words (Song Without Words)
Growing Pains (ude 84)
Whisper Soft, Whisper Low (Pathque Sonata, Op. 13: MVT. 2)
Sleepy Maria (Ave Maria)
One Hundred Thousand Dreams (Pavanne)
Night Song (Nocturne No. 1 in G Minor)
Droopy Eyes (Allegretto)
Out Like a Light (Recuerdos de la Alahambra)

Tracks:

Shake, Rattle and Crawl (Sonata in A, K. 331: 2nd MVT.)
Every Baby's Doing It (Gavotte - French Suite No. 5)
Crawling Around the World (About Foreign Lands & People, Op. 15 No. 1)
Olaby! (Valse)
Up and at 'Em (Dance of the Reed Flutes) [From Nutcracker]
Poetry in Motion (Cygne)
From Here to Eternity (Capriccio in B, Op. 76 No. 2)
Movers and Shakers (Rustle of Spring, Op. 32 No. 3)
Special Delivery (Berceuse - Sur le Nom de Gabriel Faur
License to Crawl [Ah, Vous Dirais-Je Maman]
Happy Baby (The Happy Farmer)
Stroll in the Garden (Country Gardens)

Tracks:

Dreamworld (Canon in D Major)
Like a Breath of Fresh Air (Air)
Too Young to Fall in Love (Coeur Blue)
Fast Asleep (Allegretto)
"SHhh! " (Intermezzo in B Minor, Op. 117 No. 2)
Song for Maria (Ave Maria)
Angel, Please Don't Cry Adta)
Counting Sheep (Prde in a Minor)
Girl With Stars in Her Hair (The Girl With the Flaxen Hair)
Rise and Shine (Soleil)
Barely Walking (Bourr
Lullaby (Wiegenlied)

Tracks:

Time Out (Cantata 147)
Bag of Dreams (Bagatelle)
Too Tired for Words (Impro)
Into Bed, Fred! (Nocturne in E Sharp Op. 9)
Art of Napping (ude 2)
Spring Is Sprung (Song of Spring, Op. 67 No. 6)
Sweet Peace (English Suite No. 1 in a Major BWV 806: Sarabande)
Night Is Young (Sarabande)
Bedroom Eyes (Ave Maria)
Dreaming in Green (Irish Tune Country Derry)
Waltz of the Sleepwalkers (Waltz in C Major)
Slumber Party (Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D Major: Air on the G String)

Tracks:

Burst My Bubble (Sonata in C Major: Allegro, K. 545)
Cannonball! (Canon)
Three Babies in a Tub (Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring)
Across the Deep Blue Sea (Rrie)
Synchronized Swimming (Arabian Dance) [From Nutcracker]
Float My Boat (Moonlight Sonata, Op. 27 No. 2: 2nd MVT.)
Waterworks (Romanze in F Sharp, Op. 28, No. 2)
Fun in the Tub (Oriental)
Different Strokes (Solvejg's Song, Op. 52 No. 4)
Bath Time Boogie (Malaguena)
Moonlight Swim
Squeaky Clean (Ave Maria)

Average customer rating:

Meditations with Mirabai
Mirabai Galashan
Manufacturer: Inside Out Healing
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | New Age | Styles | Music

Meditation | New Age | Styles | Music

General | New Age | Indie Music | Stores | Music
ASIN: B000171UC4
Release Date: 2003-12-01

Tracks:

Intro
Sands of Time
The Ultimate Chakra Balancing Meditation
Meeting your angels or guides
swimming with the wild dolphins

Album Description

If smores could speak they would sound like this... Meditations with Mirabai is a powerful collection of healing and deeply relaxing guided visualization written and performed by Mirabai Galashan PhD. The dulcet British tones of Dr. Galashan float dreamily above the angelic music of renowned composer Anton Mizerak to create a golden sanctuary of bliss and repose.

This cd is so relaxing in fact, that noone has yet to hear it all the way through the first time around without falling asleep before the end.

The cd provides a profound sense of peace, healing and relaxation as you are guided through a progression of meditative visualizations. These meditations will relax, revitalize and inspire you, physically, spiritually and emotionally.

Includes:
The Sands Of Time - experience deep relaxation throughout your body - Ideal for bedtime!

The Chakra Balancing Meditation - a powerful guided visualization to cleanse and balance your energy system, this requires no previous knowledge or experience of the chakras and is the culmination of many years of study and work in my private practice.

Meeting Your Angels and Guides - a magical journey to receive a special message from an angel or guide.