Suicaine Gratifaction

Paul Westerberg

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 23, 1999)
• Original Release Date: February 23, 1999
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Capitol
• ASIN: B00000I40T
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (59 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #99,844 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Few artists have been so revered and so lambasted simultaneously as Paul Westerberg. That's what happens when you front one of the greatest rock bands of the '80s (the punkish, youthfully disillusioned Replacements) and then can't reach such lofty heights again. Finally, with Suicaine Gratifaction, Westerberg stops trying to be that renegade rocker. Instead, his third solo effort is practically adult-sounding, a mostly somber collection of sweetly ragged folk and rock (often piano-based) that reveals the 38-year-old songsmith more comfortable in his own artistic skin than maybe anytime previously. Thankfully not too comfortable, for Westerberg is wondrous when sounding wounded and worn, which is often the case on this demon-confronting effort. The mostly solid Suicaine Gratifaction is maybe his best effort in a dozen years. --Neal Weiss

Entertainment Weekly
The former Replacements leader returns to basement basics on this loose and lovely lo-fi effort.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fugitive Kind, May 8, 2004

By	M. Casarino (Wilmington, DE United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

What can you say about an artist who begins an album with "I get up from a dream and I look for rain?" A former punk who doesn't let the drums kick in until track 3? A man who would steal the piano line from "The Way We Were," and then give that song the lyric "your world is a balloon to me, I poke a hole and see what's inside?" A guy who would write a song equating an actor with a Christ-like martyr?

You'd say he was an original, that's what.

"Suicaine Gratifaction" is Paul's best solo work to date - an intensely personal, genre-defying lo-fi album with incredible coherence. Paul loves his hooks, and delivers some great ones, along with his patented wordplay. He turns depression into black humor with "It's a Wonderful Lie" and "Sunrise Always Listens," gets exuberant with "Fugitive Kind" and "Lookin' Out Forever," goes romantic with "Born for Me," and then gets delivers a heartbreaking character-study, "Bookmark," that might be the most piercing, and melodic, song he's ever created.

Even the filler is good. "Best Thing that Never Happened" is overlong, but it has a great groove. "Tears Rolling Up Our Sleeves" can't quite justify its title, and "Final Hurrah" gets a little lazy - but B-level Westerberg is better than most artists A stuff. "Suicaine Gratifaction" is Paul's most complete and entertaining album - get it and rediscover what it means to be a true music fan.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Quit Bitchin', July 1, 2001

By A Customer

Stop moaning about the demise of the greatest band of them all. Yeah, I lived the Replacements, I seen the Replacements, I still listen to 'Tim' and 'Let It Be'. Yeah, they are important to me and nobody will ever take that away from me.

Paul westerberg has produced an album here that most artists would die for, and all you seem to read is people saying 'sellout' Get a grip. Those days are gone and Westerberg has produced a classic album that he probably had to turn himself inside out for. Have you ever known an artist to hit you where it hurts, relate things that you wouldn't know where to start with, or be so brutally honest?

This album is great.

PS The Replacements were in a different age and to hark for their reformation is foolish. Lets just be thankful Paul is still around!!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lo-Fi for those who still feel, June 21, 2000

By	Timothy Bailey (Virginia, USA) - See all my reviews

Simply the fact that the most stirring songs on this album are minimally produced further backs testament that Paul Westerberg is one of the greatest "bare-bones" songwriters to ever grace the popular music scene. "Best Thing That Never Happened" sounds like it was recorded from a car in the parking lot outside of the studio with a dictation cassette recorder, which only adds to it's impact. It's refreshing to be reminded that as long as songs are truly written with skill and heart, they don't need whistles and bells to move a listener. This is not the type of album one wants to just plop in the player and listen to passively while cleaning their apartment or driving their car. This is the kind of album that invites you to simply sit in a chair and LISTEN to it. I furthermore can't conceive of anyone listening to "Born For Me" without thinking of someone. This album in my opinion is a healthy dose of the real deal.