Album Review: Sister Morphine - "Ghosts Of Heartbreak City"

 

Hailing from South Wales, Sister Morphine are another group, similar to the Last Great Dreamers or Paradise Alley, were regulars on the live circuit in the early '90s just after the glam-punk ship sailed with the arrival of grunge. However, the pandemic saw the band re-establish contact with each other and decide to give things another go and Ghosts Of Heartbreak City, their much delayed debut album, is the result.

My initial thoughts when I reviewed the album's lead-off single Nothin' Dirty In The Truth a few days before writing this 'ere album review was that Sister Morphine sounded a lot like the Backyard Babies but that's actually a bit of a red herring - over the 15 tracks here, they show an impressive amount of variety and twists and turns to keep you interested. Second track Do You Wanna Get Wasted? is a case in point with its chugging Dr Feelgood style riff (that's the pub rock legends not the Crue song for the record) being underpinned by an acoustic strum which gives it a unique sound and makes it stand out while the title track is a Sweet-meets-Smashed Gladys style full on glam stomper complete with some Little Richard style honky tonk piano and big gang chant "woo-ooh" backing vocals. Again, taking well worn templates and twisting them into something a bit different which is always gonna score plus points with this reviewer here.

And the good times just keep on coming - Cry The Rain is a distant cousin of the old Dogs D'Amour classic I Don't Want You To Go with its upbeat tale of heartbreak and Jo Dog style slide guitar, likewise the chantalong Sea Of Love and Days Of Wine And Roses which definitely has a hint of Tyla about it. At the other end of the scale, Red Eye Juice is powered along by frenetic drums giving it the unusual feel of a glammed-up Motorhead of all things, Black Hearts & Bruised Egos bristles with early G'n'R style snottiness and Livin' With Snakes is a full on shitkicking country campfire song with attitude by the bucketload. They even dip a toe into shameless power balladry on Get Back Home and manage to carry it off without sounding cheesy which is no mean feat. It's not plain sailing for the whole thing and there are a couple of tracks which are a bit anonymous (I s'pose that's sometimes an occupational hazard of having a 15 track album) but overall there's far more good than bad here and even the weaker tunes usually at least have a good chorus hook and riff to ensure that you'll listen to them all the way through.

Overall, I was impressed with Ghosts Of Heartbreak City - it's proof that while Sister Morphine definitely have an eye very much on the halcyon days of Soho sleaze, they're also a band unafraid of thinking outside the box to keep you interested. Hopefully now that pandemic's over we'll see them return to the live stage for a few gigs - if so and they pass through West Yorks then rest assured I will most definitely be there.

NITE SONGS RATING: 🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌑🌑 (8/10)