- Audio CD (5 April 1999)
- Number of Discs: 1
- Label: Chrysalis
- ASIN: B000023XLY
- Other Editions: Audio CD | Audio Cassette
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 83,898 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
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Product details |
Track Listings
| 1. It's A Wonderful Lie |
| 2. Self-Defense |
| 3. Best Thing That Never Happened |
| 4. Lookin' Out Forever |
| 5. Born For Me |
| 6. Final Hurrah |
| 7. Tears Rolling Up Our Sleeves |
| 8. Fugitive Kind |
| 9. Sunrise Always Listens |
| 10. Whatever Makes You Happy |
| 11. Actor In The Street |
| 12. Bookmark |
| 13. Wonderful Copenhagen (From Film 'Hans Christian An |
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
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 1980s (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 sombre 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
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
This album should be taken as seriously as Dylan's Blood on the Tracks or The Replacements All Shook Down (in many ways it is a relation- this will dissapoint those who like the more punk side of Westerberg- that's what Stereo/Mono and those Replacements reissues are for!).
The album opens on the acoustic It's Wonderful Lie, sounding like Dylan meets Torture; next track Self Defense is a definite influence on Ryan Adams Heartbreaker. Wonderful...Next two songs rock as prime late Replacements- Best Things That Never Happened a charming mid paced rocker, while Lookin Out Forver is as great as Crazy Horse...Born for Me features Shawn Colvin on backing vocals and is not unrelated to 1990's Sadly Beautiful...Final Hurrah is another rocker played with Don Was and Jim Keltner; while Westerberg plays all the instruments on Tears Rolling Up Our Sleeves- which is a DIY classic up there with Apples in Stero and Magnetic Fields...Fugitive Kind opens like Self Defense, with a hint of If I Should Fall from Grace With God-Pogues- before building to an all out rock song featuring Soul Asylum's Dave Pirner...Sunrise Always Listens is another heartbreaker recorded at home, Westerberg almost describes the room he's in- making it a relative of Brian Wilson's Busy Doin Nothin...The hit single that should have been Whatever Makes You Happy is next (well, it did feature in Dawson's Creek when Jen started drinking whisky and stuff...); this is as catchy a pop song as any- Paul McCartney would kill to write something as great as this...Actor in the Street sounds like a blend of Morrissey and The Rolling Stones; this is a good thing, I feel. Bookmark is the end of credits song, a dark elegiac song that is best appreciated at night...The album ends on an uncredited encore, Westerberg rockin out again - and transcending the darkness that preceded it: wonderful.
Suicane Gratification is one of Westerberg's finest works and is deserving of wider appreciation rather than the neglected status it has now (Westerberg was dropped after, proof that you can't market gold). This and All Shook Down are his masterpieces.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Paul Westerberg's great new Replacements album. Okay, none of the others are here but it was his songs and singing previously too. There are wonderful songs here every bit as good as those from his former incarnation: Bookmark, Sunrise Always Listens, Whatever Makes You Happy, Fugitive Kind, It's A Wonderful Lie and Lookin Out Forever to name just a few. We would all be acclaiming his genius if Tommy were there and the name had changed back. Silly, isn't it? Other than Actor In The Street which I can't fathom, every song here is a very good one. That can't be said of say, 'Pleased to meet me' from his past. (The wild rock n roll tracks never recorded well.) Looking forwards rather than back, the 'Stereo/Mono' set which should have been an official double album having been released weeks apart only, is one of the greatest double albums! First the raw and wonderful 'Suicane...' though... (with Suicidal - in true Westerberg tradition - album title too.)
Allmusic shows how wrong they can get it with 'Suicaine Gratification' somehow a weak album. They corrected the same feeling about 'Sorry Ma' from Replacements, jumping it up to 5 stars. The Replacements name carries a lot of weight of course... They're just as wrong about Suicaine as they are about Lamchop's 'Is A Woman'. Maybe they've got it in for the best lyrics on the planet round turn of century. I don't know...
Allmusic shows how wrong they can get it with 'Suicaine Gratification' somehow a weak album. They corrected the same feeling about 'Sorry Ma' from Replacements, jumping it up to 5 stars. The Replacements name carries a lot of weight of course... They're just as wrong about Suicaine as they are about Lamchop's 'Is A Woman'. Maybe they've got it in for the best lyrics on the planet round turn of century. I don't know...
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Vibrant Songwriting
Paul Westerburg's 1999 album Suicaine Gratification is something of a mixed bag, but certainly contains sufficient inspiration to attain at least a four star rating. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Keith M
God makes another album
Before I review Suicane Gratification, it is necessary to stress a point- Paul Westerberg is among the top ten songwriters in rock history. Read more
Published on 21 July 2003 by "monsterpuppy"
disappointment
The great Paul Westerberg took a crtical pounding for his first 2 solo cds '14 Songs' and 'Eventually'. Read more
Published on 1 May 2002
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