The Giant Panther

I was thinking about my recent Silencers post and I thought I'd toss another relatively hard to find chestnut out to the masses. BM (Before Morphine) there was a local eighties band here in Boston called Treat Her Right. The band's lead singer was Mark Sandman. Unfortunately Mark is no longer with us having suffered a fatal heart attack while touring with Morphine overseas in 1999. Sandman had a unique baritone sounding voice that oozed blues, booze and cigarettes. The song I Think She Likes Me was getting a ton of airplay way back in the late eighties (I believe RCA Records re-released the original 1986 recording a couple of years later resulting in a slight resurgence) and I was instantly smitten by this tune. If the legend is true, Sandman was at a bar in Colorado when a woman, he felt, started coming on to him. Not knowing she was married to someone in the bar he proceeds to buy her a drink and they get to chatting. The next thing he knows the husband is all over him trying to protect his territory. I don't know if Mark actually told this guy "I Think She Likes Me," but the story is great. You've probably witnessed something similar yourself somewhere along the line.

Treat Her Right was one of several Boston bands fighting to get noticed after forming in 1985. This particular incarnation of Sandman and company only lasted two studio releases, both of which are very good (Tied To The Tracks is the other one) before morphing into Morphine around 1991. I can distinctly remember being bummed out at the time and fighting the urge to get into Morphine due to my discontent. Boy was I wrong. If you aren't into Morphine wake up and smell the coffee right now. I'm not much of a Jazz Man (as Carole King might say), but this stuff is the perfect blend of blues and jazz music. Saxophone galore. Treat Her Right had more of a harmonica dominated sound, but both bands rock. The music makes me want to find a martini and take up smoking. I know I listed this post under One Track Mind as opposed to extolling the virtues of the entire CD, but trust me when I tell you this is not the only track on this record. That is, if you can find it. Treat Her Right could never quite get off the ground nationally and Morphine ended up selling 100 times the records (warning: no proof of that statement), but Mark Sandman was one helluva musician. I just loved his stuff. He was just 47 when he died; younger than I am now. Memo to self; take nothing for granted.

You won't hear much from Treat Her Right on any radio station and their records are long out of print, but grab them if you can find them. And for God's sake, buy the four Morphine CDs and anything else you can get your hands on by Mark Sandman. I hope you like this one as much as I do. Merry and Happy to everyone out there in Giant Panther land!

Treat Her Right - I Think She Likes Me.mp3 YSI