When Mark Sandman, the singer/bassist for Morphine, passed away last summer, I was shocked. After hearing this album, recorded shortly before his death, I am crushed. In the best work by the Boston trio, Sandman takes us on a tour of all the things he has left behind -- although given the title track and the abundance of angels ("Rope on Fire", "So Many Ways"), this is not an album that focuses on death. Instead, Sandman pokes fun at fiery lovers ("A Good Woman is Hard to Find") and takes us to a party filled with friends ("Top Floor, Bottom Buzzer"). Although the band's trademark melancholy is here, love songs such as "The Way We Met" and "I'm Yours, You're Mine" concentrate on the joy to be found instead of the inevitable painful endings. While it is impossible not to listen to this album as the last testament of Sandman, the work of Dana Colley (saxophone) and Billy Conway (drums) is, as always, top-shelf and reinforces the notion that you can judge a man by the friends he leaves behind. By the time the farewells give way to strings on the closing "Take Me With You," you'll be ready to dig in and bodily prevent this album from ending and Sandman from walking away. Although Sandman promises in "Like a Mirror" that he's closer than he seems, fans of the band will only miss him more when the sax fades into the night.