Suicane Gratification on Vinyl in March

[Jer]

www.theneeds.com/music/n6550275/2015-brings-with-it-exciting-vinyl-releases-diffuser-fm

[bside]

This is great! I hope they keep moving right up through his solo discog. Eventually didn't offer anything packaging-wise but 14 Songs was quite pretty.

[Jer]

Yeah, I agree bside, though I thought the remaster/sound of the Eventually LP was a little better than 14 Songs.

[brianlux]

Excellent! Such a great record and to hear it on vinyl will be superb!

[MacGyver]

Suicaine was the first Paul record I heard. My uncle lent it to me when I was 13. Been a fan ever since!

[bside]

Got the album in the mail today. Haven't listened yet but pretty disappointed in the packaging...it looks like they scanned a CD copy and just blew it up for the vinyl as it's pretty pixelated. Not much in the way of liner notes either, which is a shame since for 14 Songs they used the deluxe version for the packaging, and Suicane also had a pretty cool deluxe CD.

[Jer]

Thanks bside. How does it sound?

I had mixed emotions about 14 songs and Eventually vinyls. I think they both sound decent, worth getting, but not life changing.

I thought the 14 Songs sleeve was ok but Eventually sounds like how you're describing SG. Sure would have been nice to see a little more effort put into these records.

Thx.

[A Regular]

wait, thought the release date was may 19? secret connection?

[bside]

I had preordered with Runt Records www.runtshop.com/item/1000117717.htm.

[A Regular]

Damn, even a buck cheaper than Amazon.

[davpel1]

Love Paul dearly. Have seen the Mats and Paul/Tommy solo multiple times over the past 30 years. So please don't question my fandom when I say that I could happily go the rest of my life without ever listening to SG again. I just despite that album to its core.

I remember when SG first came out . . . I found it so depressing. Not the material, but the fact that it appeared Paul had either hit the songwriter's wall and lost it and/or had simply given up trying to be compelling. That's part of the reason Stereo/Mono was such a revelation. In addition to featuring some of the best writing of his career, I couldn't believe he could still sound so vital and relevant after the mess that was SG.

[Jer]

Mar 19, 2015 11:07:09 GMT -5 davpel1 said:

Love Paul dearly. Have seen the Mats and Paul/Tommy solo multiple times over the past 30 years. So please don't question my fandom when I say that I could happily go the rest of my life without ever listening to SG again. I just despite that album to its core.

I remember when SG first came out . . . I found it so depressing. Not the material, but the fact that it appeared Paul had either hit the songwriter's wall and lost it and/or had simply given up trying to be compelling. That's part of the reason Stereo/Mono was such a revelation. In addition to featuring some of the best writing of his career, I couldn't believe he could still sound so vital and relevant after the mess that was SG.

I understand your position and agree to an extent - I think it's his low point as a songwriter. I find a some of the lyrics cringe-worthy and most of it feels pretty lazy, uninspired and self-indulgent to me. I feel like he was going for a deep, introspective, quiet but intense record, and I think he just tried too hard and missed the mark.

Oddly, it also has what are probably my 2 favorite post-Tim songs of his - Wonderful Lie and Lookin' Out Forever. There's a couple other keepers on there, but it would have made a much better EP, imo. I also like the production.  I think it's a better sounding record than the rest of his solo catalog. 

Plenty of opposing viewpoints on here, and I respect that some people really connect to this record. I ordered the vinyl and look forward to hearing it again, but I have my own 'Best of the Early Solo Records' comp with the tracks I like, and listen to SG no more than once every few years. 

[bside]

Mar 19, 2015 12:09:22 GMT -5 Jer said:

Mar 19, 2015 11:07:09 GMT -5 davpel1 said:

Love Paul dearly. Have seen the Mats and Paul/Tommy solo multiple times over the past 30 years. So please don't question my fandom when I say that I could happily go the rest of my life without ever listening to SG again. I just despite that album to its core.

I remember when SG first came out . . . I found it so depressing. Not the material, but the fact that it appeared Paul had either hit the songwriter's wall and lost it and/or had simply given up trying to be compelling. That's part of the reason Stereo/Mono was such a revelation. In addition to featuring some of the best writing of his career, I couldn't believe he could still sound so vital and relevant after the mess that was SG.

I understand your position and agree to an extent - I think it's his low point as a songwriter. I find a some of the lyrics cringe-worthy and most of it feels pretty lazy, uninspired and self-indulgent to me. I feel like he was going for a deep, introspective, quiet but intense record, and I think he just tried too hard and missed the mark.

Oddly, it also has what are probably my 2 favorite post-Tim songs of his - Wonderful Lie and Lookin' Out Forever. There's a couple other keepers on there, but it would have made a much better EP, imo. I also like the production.  I think it's a better sounding record than the rest of his solo catalog. 

Plenty of opposing viewpoints on here, and I respect that some people really connect to this record. I ordered the vinyl and look forward to hearing it again, but I have my own 'Best of the Early Solo Records' comp with the tracks I like, and listen to SG no more than once every few years.

I definitely agree with some of these sentiments. Usually when I get a new vinyl I spin it right away...I've delayed checking out how the vinyl sounds because we had a bout (finally) of Spring-ish weather and I wanted to keep up the feeling. Suicane has it's time and place, definitely a certain mood record, but I think "Fugitive Kind" is a top song for me.

[anarkissed]

I'm the only one who liked this album...It's not my favorite..."14 Songs", "S/M", and "CFMT" are...But I like this better than "Eventually"...To me, that's the one where he sounded "lazy" and "uninspired" and "trying too hard"...Not that I don't like a lot off that one, too...This guy's half-asses and near-misses and never-was are still pretty interesting...To me (and I'll concede he was trying to do something "dark", here; that's a big reason why I like it), this is the first one where he finally just said: "Fuck it! I'm gonna do whatever I want to, and if people don't like it, they can kiss my ass!" Kinda like the basement years, except he still had a bigger budget, a couple of suits still sweating, and he was really, really depressed...I guess I like it mostly just for that reason: there was still this really vague, last-ditch corporate hope, and he gave 'em this! "Geez, Paul, we thought there were gonna be a couple of songs where you said "fuck" a lot, and threw up in the studio!" I'm waiting for the person who makes a credible case that "Folker" was way, way better than "SG"...

[pat]

Mar 19, 2015 22:21:37 GMT -5 anarkissed said:

I'm waiting for the person who makes a credible case that "Folker" was way, way better than "SG"...

Outside of "As Far As I Know" - which I feel is a PW solo pantheon song - Folker may be my least favorite solo album. Couple decent cuts, but I have not listened to it in a number of years. Remember when it was released and buying it and trying so hard to like it more than I did - but I could never get into it like all the other ones. Just never clicked with me.

[Jer]

Just listened to Folker front to back for the first time in quite a while.

I'll take it over Suicane 10 times out of 10. I think the quality of the songwriting and the feeling/energy is way better. Suicane probably sounds better, and I'm not a huge fan of Paul's drumming, and I don't subscribe to the "first take is always the best" mentality, but even with all that, I think it's a way better piece of work. I didn't cringe once. It's not my favorite PW album, but I don't even put them in the same league.

I think you could scrap half of SG and you've got an ok EP with a couple great tunes. Folker has a couple weaker filler tunes, but even those are better than most of SG to my ears.

[anarkissed]

I always feel like "SG" contained some of the best vocal performances he ever did, and "Folker" some of the worst...

[jess]

Back to the actual vinyl release... finally saw it today at Amoeba & the artwork does look REALLY bad, I'm pretty disappointed. Hopefully it sounds good though. Still waiting on my preorder... we'll see if it ever shows up... : /

[anarkissed]

Mar 21, 2015 13:22:03 GMT -5 Jer said:

Just listened to Folker front to back for the first time in quite a while.

I'll take it over Suicane 10 times out of 10. I think the quality of the songwriting and the feeling/energy is way better. Suicane probably sounds better, and I'm not a huge fan of Paul's drumming, and I don't subscribe to the "first take is always the best" mentality, but even with all that, I think it's a way better piece of work. I didn't cringe once. It's not my favorite PW album, but I don't even put them in the same league.

I think you could scrap half of SG and you've got an ok EP with a couple great tunes. Folker has a couple weaker filler tunes, but even those are better than most of SG to my ears.

10 times out of 10? Geez...I was hoping you'd say at least 9 times out of 10...I think I've listened to "Folker" one and a half times...Mostly, I just pretend it never existed...The songs themselves aren't that bad, but he took that "first take best" to an extreme here...It was like he was intentionally trying to make them sound like shit...Or maybe he just had the flu, and was really fucked up on codeine cough syrup, and didn't know any better..."Energy"? I expect there were a couple of times when Laurie had to come down in the basement and shake him: "Honey? Are you still recording? It's 3 a.m.! Why don't you come to bed and try again tomorrow?"

[Schecky]

Mar 23, 2015 0:57:43 GMT -5 anarkissed said:

Mar 21, 2015 13:22:03 GMT -5 Jer said:

Just listened to Folker front to back for the first time in quite a while.

I'll take it over Suicane 10 times out of 10. I think the quality of the songwriting and the feeling/energy is way better. Suicane probably sounds better, and I'm not a huge fan of Paul's drumming, and I don't subscribe to the "first take is always the best" mentality, but even with all that, I think it's a way better piece of work. I didn't cringe once. It's not my favorite PW album, but I don't even put them in the same league.

I think you could scrap half of SG and you've got an ok EP with a couple great tunes. Folker has a couple weaker filler tunes, but even those are better than most of SG to my ears.

10 times out of 10? Geez...I was hoping you'd say at least 9 times out of 10...I think I've listened to "Folker" one and a half times...Mostly, I just pretend it never existed...The songs themselves aren't that bad, but he took that "first take best" to an extreme here...It was like he was intentionally trying to make them sound like shit...Or maybe he just had the flu, and was really fucked up on codeine cough syrup, and didn't know any better..."Energy"? I expect there were a couple of times when Laurie had to come down in the basement and shake him: "Honey? Are you still recording? It's 3 a.m.! Why don't you come to bed and try again tomorrow?"

I'm OK with Folker. I hated it passionately when it first came out, but being in the 10 CD player in the car, it got listened to more than I would have intended.
After a while, it grew on me. I think it's a 'depressed at dad's death' record.
It could use a good drummer and and some vocal coloration.
from allmusic.com - "There isn't a single bad song on this album, but there aren't any great ones either"