Suitcase Pimps - Love Is Grand (2003) [SACD]

Sonically the disc is excellent, it is a great melodic rock album. The drums sound crisp, the guitars
are nice and crunchy and this lends itself nicely to the SACD format. The performace is great,
excellent writing and musicianship. There are traces of a Pink Floyd influence but in a modern context.
Upon checking out the bands website I found out that "Love is Grand" is actually a concept album.
As well as the great songs there are some pretty cool vignettes between songs. As the last song fades out you can
actually hear the sound get buried alive. I don't know how they did it but it is really cool. You can hear the dirt
covering the grave. If you like well executed rock music, I highly recommend this release.

The Suitcase Pimps is also currently an Editors Choice here at CDBaby for Extended Jams http://cdbaby.com/style/112

The Suitcase Pimps CD is a special Stereo Hybrid SACD that plays in all CD players. Listeners with an SACD player will experience greater sonic quality and optimum listening pleasure.

Suitcase Pimps Unleash \"Love is Grand\" Stereo SACD

The Tale of the Suitcase Pimps begins with the partnership of guitarists Pete Lauck and Brad Henderson. \"We began writing songs and recording them in demo fashion, thinking that no one would ever hear them. We just created music that we wanted to hear,\" says Lauck. At the time the pair were entrenched in the music business via studio work and live projects and more often than not playing music that was not to their liking. \"There is a great compromise you make when you are a gun for hire, these songs were made to quell the inner desire to do something grand,\" exclaims Henderson. \"We never cared whether anyone would hear the music, we just created because we had to,\" states Lauck.

Flash forward a year later when up and coming producer John Billings stumbled upon a DAT recording of the \"Pimps\" demo\'s. \"I was struck most by the inner conflict and torment those songs contained, knowing those two guys personally, I realized that they had both poured there twisted little hearts into every note,\" Billings recalls. Billings immediately contacted the pair. \"This was the diamond in the rough every producer looks for,\" he adds.

Henderson and Lauck then began the process of compiling all the material they had and trimming it down to the absolute best. Yet the turning point in the evolution of the record came when Henderson noticed a central theme in all the songs. \"Once I had all the titles and rough lyrics in front of me, I realized that this record was more than just a collection of songs, it told a story,\" states Henderson. That story would be the rise and fall of a struggling musician. Ending ultimately with his demise to his own demons. \"I got chills when I began lyrically connecting the dots,\" he says.

What emerged from the sessions was a concept record of grand proportions, a \"Pink Floyd\" if you will for the slacker generation. Attention to detail was paramount. Producer John Billings under the tutelage of master rock producer Michael Wagener had learned how to make huge rock statements. But now he was set to make one of his own. Sonically the group spared no expense and the results are devastating. \"This is a headphone record and once it gets in your head, there is no escape,\" Lauck ruminates. \"We take you back in time when musicianship meant something, when great care was taken to make the absolute best record we could,\" adds Henderson. The band crosses genres smoothly and changes directions frequently to keep the listener drawn in.

The most sonically shocking moment is the grand finale. As the strains of \"Goodbye\" fade into the abyss, your taken to an actual graveyard and the sonic landscape is actually buried. As the sounds of a distant train wail, you hear the mumblings of the gravediggers and the dirt being piled on top of the grave. What you are hearing is what it would sound like to be buried alive. What more fitting way to end a modern rock masterpiece?