Suicaine Gratifaction

Suicaine Gratifaction
Studio album by
ReleasedFebruary 23, 1999
GenreAlternative rock
Length45:08
LabelCapitol
ProducerPaul Westerberg, Don Was
Paul Westerberg chronology
Eventually
(1996)
Suicaine Gratifaction
(1999)
Stereo
(2002)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic

Suicaine Gratifaction is the third solo album from former Replacements leader Paul Westerberg.

Co-producer Don Was had admired Westerberg for years. He used Westerberg's solo debut, 14 Songs, as daily inspiration while producing the Rolling Stones' Voodoo Lounge. Westerberg once claimed that he had originally been interested in working with Quincy Jones.

Regarding the album's strange title, Westerberg said, "I don't want to think about it too deeply other than the fact that it seems wrong, and therefore it's attractive to me."

The piano solo in the middle of "Born for Me" is the subject of a chapter within Nick Hornby's Songbook, where its simply played, undemonstrative character, of a piece with the song as a whole, is contrasted with virtuosic solos that use the underlying song as a jumping-off point to some unrelated destination. Hornby describes Westerberg as a "born musician" and suggests that he's "a man who thinks and feels and loves and speaks in music." "Born for Me" was rerecorded on I Don't Cares' 2016 album, Wild Stab.