Suzanne Vega | ||
| Allmusic Biography : Suzanne Vega was the first major figure in the bumper crop of female singer/songwriters who rose to prominence during the late 80s and 90s. Her hushed, restrained folk-pop and highly literate lyrics (inspired chiefly by Leonard Cohen, as well as Lou Reed and Bob Dylan) laid the initial musical groundwork for what later became the trademark sound of Lilith Fair (a tour on which she was a regular). Moreover, her left-field hit single "Luka" helped convince record companies that folk-styled singer/songwriters were not a thing of the past after all, paving the way for breakthroughs by Tracy Chapman, Michelle Shocked, Shawn Colvin, Edie Brickell, the Indigo Girls, Sinéad OConnor, and a host of others throughout the 90s. Vegas early commercial success helped open doors for a wealth of talent, and even if she couldnt sustain the level of popularity she reached in 1987 with "Luka" and the platinum Solitude Standing, she maintained a strong and dedicated cult following. Her association with -- and marriage to -- experimental producer Mitchell Froom during the 90s resulted in two intriguing but uneven albums; however, following their painful divorce, Vega returned in 2001 with her first album in five years, Songs in Red and Gray, which was greeted with her strongest reviews in a decade. Suzanne Vega was born July 11, 1959, in Santa Monica, California; her parents divorced shortly thereafter, and after her mother (a jazz guitarist) remarried the Puerto Rican novelist Ed Vega, the family moved to Manhattan. A shy and quiet child, Suzanne nonetheless learned to take care of herself growing up in the tough neighborhoods of Spanish Harlem. Her parents often sang folk songs around the house, and when she began playing guitar at age 11, she found herself attracted to the poetry of singer/songwriter music (Dylan, Cohen), and found a refuge from New Yorks chaos in traditional folk (Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Judy Collins, Joan Baez). At age 14, she made her first attempts at writing songs; however, when she attended the High School for the Performing Arts as a teenager, it was to study dance, not music. She subsequently enrolled at Barnard College as a literature major, and during this time, she began playing at coffee houses and folk festivals on the West Side and near Columbia University; she soon moved up to the Lower East Side/Greenwich Village folk clubs, including the famed Folk City club where Bob Dylan started out. In 1979, Vega attended a Lou Reed concert, and the effect was a revelation: here was an artist chronicling the harsh urban world Vega knew, with the detail and literacy of a folk artist. Vega discovered a new voice and sense of possibility for her original material, and her writing grew rapidly. Vega graduated from college in 1982 and held down several low-level day jobs while quickly becoming the Greenwich Village folk scenes brightest hope. Record companies were reluctant to take a chance on a singer/songwriter steeped in folk music, however, since they saw little chance of any commercial returns. After three years of rejections, Vega and her managers Ron Fierstein and Steve Addabbo finally convinced A&M; (which had turned her down twice) to give her a shot, and she signed a contract in 1983. Former Patti Smith Group guitarist Lenny Kaye was brought in to co-produce the debut with Addabbo and lend it a smoother, more contemporary flavor. Titled simply Suzanne Vega, it was released in 1985 to much critical applause. Thanks in part to the single "Marlene on the Wall," the album was a genuine hit in Britain, where it eventually went platinum; while it didnt duplicate that success in America, the albums sales of 200,000 strong still came as a shock to A&M; (and Vega). For the 1987 follow-up, Vega overcame writers block to craft an eclectic batch of new material, and drew upon a backlog of songs that hadnt fit the debut. Again produced by Kaye and Addabbo, Solitude Standing was Vegas finest achievement; the richness and variety of its compositions were complemented by the lusher full-band arrangements and more accessible (albeit less folky) production. The albums lead single, "Luka," was a haunting first-person account of child abuse, whose terse (and fictional) lyrics struck a chord with American radio listeners. As a result, the album was an instant hit on both sides of the Atlantic; it debuted at number two in the U.K. and went gold within three months in the U.S., peaking at number 11 and eventually going platinum. "Luka" hit number three on the American pop charts -- unheard of for a singer/songwriter in the 80s prior to Vega -- and was nominated for three Grammys. As record companies rushed to fill a market niche they hadnt known existed (and uncovering some major talent in the process), Vega spent almost a year on the road touring in support of the record; exhausted, she returned to New York to take some time off, and also tracked down her biological father for the first time. When the time came to record her third album in 1989, Vega decided to co-produce it herself with her keyboardist/boyfriend Anton Sanko (longtime bassist Michael Visceglia also had input). Vega began to experiment with her lyrics, pushing beyond the narrative story-songs that dominated her first two records, and had minimalist composer Philip Glass contribute a string arrangement. The result, Days of Open Hand, was released in 1990, but it didnt produce another hit single and was somewhat lost in the shuffle of new female singer/songwriters; though it did sell respectably, reviews were somewhat mixed. Even though the album didnt recapture Vegas 1987 popularity, she was still -- indirectly -- involved in one of 90s most bizarre hit singles. Two British dance producers working under the alias DNA took the a cappella Solitude Standing track "Toms Diner" and set it to an electronic dance beat, releasing the result as a bootleg single called "Oh Suzanne." When A&M; discovered the piracy, Vega decided to allow the singles official release under its original title, and it became a substantial hit in the U.S., U.K., and elsewhere. The following year, Vega gathered a number of other unsolicited versions of the song and compiled them as Toms Album. Intrigued by the success of "Toms Diner," Vega began looking for ways to open up her musical approach. She hooked up with producer Mitchell Froom, best known for his work on 90s albums by Elvis Costello, Richard Thompson, and Crowded House. Froom applied his trademark approach -- dissonant arrangements, clanging percussion -- to Vegas 1992 album, and while 99.9 F° didnt reinvent her as a dance artist (as some expected), the synth-centered sound of the record was unlike any of her previous work. Froom and Vega began dating several months after the records completion, and they wound up marrying; their daughter, Ruby, was born in 1994, and Vega naturally took some time off from music. She returned in 1996 with Nine Objects of Desire, again with Froom in the producers chair, though his approach was somewhat less radical this time out; in terms of Vegas subject matter, there was a newfound physical sensuality borne of her marriage and childbirth experiences. All was not well for long, however; Froom began seeing Ally McBeal singer Vonda Shepard, and he and Vega split up in August 1998. In 1999, Vega released the best-of retrospective Tried and True, taking stock of her past career (she had also split with longtime manager Ron Fierstein); she also published her first book, The Passionate Eye, a collection of poems, lyrics, essays, journalistic pieces, and the like. Vega began playing shows with bassist Michael Visceglia again, and worked on material addressing the breakup of her marriage. Songs in Red and Gray was released in the fall of 2001 and marked a return to the more direct sound of Suzanne Vega and Solitude Standing; it also garnered her the best reviews since those records. Retrospective: The Best of Suzanne Vega arrived in 2003, followed by the Live at Montreux 2004 DVD/CD in 2006 and the all-new Beauty & Crime in 2007. In 2010, Vega released Close Up, Vol. 1 and Close Up, Vol. 2 -- the first half of a proposed four-volume collection of re-recorded versions of songs from her catalog, all featuring stripped-down, unadorned arrangements that highlight the lyrics and melodies -- and followed the first two installments of the series with Close Up, Vol. 3 in 2011. The final release in the sequence, Close Up, Vol. 4: Songs of Family, appeared a year later in 2012 and included two previously unheard tracks -- "The Silver Lady" and "Brother Mine" -- which had been written by Vega over 30 years earlier. In early 2013 she demoed new material with the help of Gerry Leonard, her live musical director. This resulted in the album Tales from the Realm of the Queen of Pentacles, which was released in February 2014. In 2011, Vega staged a one-woman theater piece in which she performed a song cycle about the life and work of novelist Carson McCullers, written in collaboration with Duncan Sheik. In 2016, as the show was being revived in Los Angeles, Vega released an album of its songs, Lover, Beloved: Songs from an Evening with Carson McCullers. The album was released through Vegas own label, Amanuensis Productions. | ||
 | Album: 1 of 28 Title: Live in Hamburg Released: Tracks: 23 Duration: 46:18 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Intro (01:20) 2 Marlene on the Wall (03:35) 3 Small Blue Thing (04:15) 4 Caramel (03:16) 5 When Heroes Go Down (02:07) 6 Gypsy (04:44) 7 Harbor Song (04:50) 8 Widows Walk (03:47) 9 (I’ll Never Be Your) Maggie May (04:01) 10 Penitent (04:28) 11 Solitaire (02:21) 12 Priscilla (04:46) 13 Left of Center (02:43) 1 The Queen and the Soldier (?) 2 Solitude Standing (?) 3 Blood Makes Noise (?) 4 In Liverpool (?) 5 Luka (?) 6 Tom’s Diner (?) 7 Calypso (?) 8 Golden (?) 9 Soap and Water (?) 10 Rosemary (?) |
 | Album: 2 of 28 Title: Suzanne Vega Released: 1985-04 Tracks: 10 Duration: 35:49 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Cracking (02:50) 2 Freeze Tag (02:36) 3 Marlene on the Wall (03:40) 4 Small Blue Thing (03:55) 5 Straight Lines (03:48) 6 Undertow (03:28) 7 Some Journey (03:41) 8 The Queen and the Soldier (04:51) 9 Knight Moves (03:36) 10 Neighborhood Girls (03:20) |
| Suzanne Vega : Allmusic album Review : Though early comparisons were made to Joni Mitchell, Suzanne Vegas true antecedents were Janis Ian and Leonard Cohen. Like Ian, she sings with a precise, frequently half-spoken phrasing that gives her lyrics an intensity that seems to suggest an unsteady control consciously held over emotional chaos. Like Cohen, Vega observes the world in poetic metaphor, her cold urban landscapes reflecting a troubled sense of love and loss. The key track is "Small Blue Thing," in which the singer pictures herself as an object "Like a marble/or an eye," "made of china/made of glass," "lost inside your pocket," and "turning in your hand." The sharply picked acoustic guitar and other isolated musical elements echo the closely observed scenes -- everything seems to be in tight close-up and sharp focus. Often, the singer seems to be using the songs to measure an emotional distance; sometimes, as in "Marlene on the Wall," she observes her own actions from a remove. In "Freeze Tag," she tells a companion, "I will be Dietrich/and you can be Dean"; in "Marlene," a poster of the aloof movie star "watches from the wall," observing the singers succession of lovers, and she tries to emulate her heroines persona, telling the current one, "Even if I am in love with you/all this to say, whats it to you?" The ten songs on Suzanne Vega constitute the self-analysis of a young woman who desires possession without offering commitment; no wonder that, upon its release, it was taken to heart by young women across the country and in Europe. | ||
 | Album: 3 of 28 Title: Live at Toms Diner Released: 1987 Tracks: 12 Duration: 44:55 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Tom’s Diner (03:10) 2 Straight Lines (04:17) 3 Small Blue Thing (04:23) 4 Cracking (03:04) 5 Luka (04:38) 6 Undertow (03:39) 7 Solitude Standing (05:07) 8 Language (04:21) 9 Band Introduction (00:54) 10 Left of Center (03:38) 11 Neighborhood Girls (03:38) 12 Marlene on the Wall (04:02) |
 | Album: 4 of 28 Title: Solitude Standing Released: 1987-04 Tracks: 11 Duration: 44:19 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Tom’s Diner (02:09) 2 Luka (03:52) 3 Ironbound / Fancy Poultry (06:19) 4 In the Eye (04:15) 5 Night Vision (02:47) 6 Solitude Standing (04:49) 7 Calypso (04:13) 8 Language (03:57) 9 Gypsy (04:04) 10 Wooden Horse (Caspar Hauser’s Song) (05:13) 11 Tom’s Diner (reprise) (02:39) |
| Solitude Standing : Allmusic album Review : The songs on Solitude Standing, Suzanne Vegas second album, had years listed beside them on the lyric sheet, so you could see that some of them dated back to 1978. But that bold admission heralded the albums triumph -- its diversity was what made it so good. Partially, that was because the old songs were the equal of anything on the first album -- tunes like the a cappella slice-of-life "Toms Diner" and the warmly romantic "Gypsy" simply wouldnt have fit thematically on the debut. On Solitude Standing, however, they became part of an album of story songs set in a variety of musical contexts; many had band arrangements, and in fact, members of Vegas touring band often were credited as co-writers. Additionally, Vega had developed more as a singer without losing the focused intonation that had made her debut -- one of many compelling elements which helped make "Luka," a character song about domestic abuse, a fluke hit. | ||
 | Album: 5 of 28 Title: Days of Open Hand Released: 1990-04-17 Tracks: 11 Duration: 45:50 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Tired of Sleeping (04:23) 2 Men in a War (04:47) 3 Rusted Pipe (04:16) 4 Book of Dreams (03:23) 5 Institution Green (06:15) 6 Those Whole Girls (Run in Grace) (03:08) 7 Room Off the Street (03:01) 8 Big Space (03:47) 9 Predictions (04:59) 10 Fifty-Fifty Chance (02:36) 11 Pilgrimage (05:11) |
| Days of Open Hand : Allmusic album Review : Suzanne Vega is a beautiful example of an artist excelling despite her limitations. While the singer-songwriter doesnt have much of a voice, she has no problem being incredibly expressive. Subtlety is the quality that defines Days of Open Hand, an album every bit as compelling as the superb Solitude Standing. Vega doesnt need to shout or preach in order to get her points across. On "Men in a War," the folk-pop-rock explorer examines the plight of disabled veterans without expressing the type of anger that Bruce Cockburn would when addressing such a subject. Restrained and understated, treasures like "Those Whole Girls (Run in Grace)," "Rusted Pipe" and "Room Off the Street" and the unsettling "Institution Green" show that for all their delicacy, Vegas songs can be quite meaty and give listeners a great deal to think about. | ||
 | Album: 6 of 28 Title: Tom’s Album Released: 1991 Tracks: 13 Duration: 38:06 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Rusted Pipe (04:54) 2 Tom’s Diner (02:09) 3 Dep De Dö Dep (02:44) 4 Daddys Little Girl (04:00) 5 Waiting at the Border (03:15) 6 Tom’s Diner (03:22) 7 Tom’s Diner (02:45) 8 Jeannie’s Diner (02:12) 9 Tom’s Diner Rap (02:16) 10 Tages Kafé (02:04) 11 Tom’s ? (02:03) 12 Tom’s Diner Reprise (02:33) 13 Toms Diner (7″ version) (03:49) |
 | Album: 7 of 28 Title: 99.9 F° Released: 1992-09-08 Tracks: 12 Duration: 37:28 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Rock in This Pocket (Song of David) (03:30) 2 Blood Makes Noise (02:29) 3 In Liverpool (04:44) 4 99.9 F° (03:15) 5 Blood Sings (03:17) 6 Fat Man & Dancing Girl (02:19) 7 (If You Were) In My Movie (03:05) 8 As a Child (02:55) 9 Bad Wisdom (03:23) 10 When Heroes Go Down (01:56) 11 As Girls Go (03:25) 12 Song of Sand (03:05) |
| 99.9 F° : Allmusic album Review : While 99.9 F° is not the techno album that Suzanne Vega was rumored to be making, it does offer a significant departure from her previous contemporary folk albums. Vega uses more synthesizers and drum machines, often evoking a bizarre carnivalesque atmosphere on the album. Still, 99.9 F° is a folk album at heart; every song is steeped in traditional song form, and Vegas writing is strong. Fans of Vegas previous work might be taken aback, but those willing to listen to the album will find that she has produced one of her strongest yet. | ||
 | Album: 8 of 28 Title: Nine Objects of Desire Released: 1996-09-10 Tracks: 12 Duration: 39:03 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Birth-day (Love Made Real) (03:38) 2 Headshots (03:08) 3 Caramel (02:54) 4 Stockings (03:30) 5 Casual Match (03:10) 6 Thin Man (03:39) 7 No Cheap Thrill (03:10) 8 World Before Columbus (03:27) 9 Lolita (03:33) 10 Honeymoon Suite (02:56) 11 Tombstone (03:07) 12 My Favorite Plum (02:47) |
| Nine Objects of Desire : Allmusic album Review : Under the guidance of producer Mitchell Froom, who produced 99.9 F° and married her shortly after that album was completed, Suzanne Vega continues to explore more textured and vaguely experimental musical territory on Nine Objects of Desire. While it is less bold on the surface than its predecessor -- most notably, there are no pseudo-industrial rhythms -- Nine Objects of Desire still bears all the trademarks of a Mitchell Froom production. There is cheap, garage-yard percussion scattered throughout the record, layered keyboards, and overly mannered, arty arrangements. Its not as extreme as Frooms work for Los Lobos, for instance, but it is still more self-consciously pretentious than any of Vegas albums, besides 99.9 F°. Vegas songs manage to cut through the murky production more often than not, and while the album doesnt boast her most consistent set of songs, they are on the whole stronger than the ones on her previous record. The songs on Nine Objects of Desire are more classically structured and inviting than the ones on its predecessor -- it is only the production that keeps the listener at a distance. And thats ironic, since half of these songs rank among Vegas most personal work. | ||
 | Album: 9 of 28 Title: Sessions at West 54th Released: 1997 Tracks: 7 Duration: 24:44 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Marlene on the Wall (03:19) 2 Gypsy (04:31) 3 Caramel (03:00) 4 Small Blue Thing (04:06) 5 World Before Columbus (03:21) 6 Luka (03:17) 7 Cracking (03:08) |
 | Album: 10 of 28 Title: Tried and True: The Best of Suzanne Vega Released: 1998-09-28 Tracks: 17 Duration: 59:46 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Luka (03:52) 2 Toms Diner (7″ version) (03:49) 3 Marlene on the Wall (03:40) 4 Caramel (02:56) 5 99.9 F° (03:15) 6 Small Blue Thing (03:55) 7 Blood Makes Noise (02:29) 8 Left of Center (03:36) 9 In Liverpool (04:44) 10 Gypsy (04:04) 11 Book of Dreams (03:23) 12 No Cheap Thrill (03:10) 13 World Before Columbus (03:27) 14 When Heroes Go Down (01:56) 15 The Queen and the Soldier (04:51) 16 Book and a Cover (03:51) 17 Rosemary (02:44) |
| Tried and True: The Best of Suzanne Vega : Allmusic album Review : This excellent overview of Vegas career contains all the hits and a fair sampling from each of her five albums, though Days of Open Hand receives a cold shoulder (only "Book of Dreams" represents it here), being a critical and personal failure. The CD as a whole shows that while Vega has stayed fairly consistent as a songwriter, her growth has been marked in the collaborations with various producers, from the spare, simplistic sound stages of Steve Addabbo and Lenny Kaye to the lush metallurgy of Mitchell Froom and Tchad Blake. The collection also features that bane of fans, the exclusive track, necessitating purchasing the CD when one owns all the other material. However, these two new songs -- "Book & a Cover" and "Rosemary" -- are quality entries in Vegas songbook, and once again feature the production skills of Froom and Blake. | ||
 | Album: 11 of 28 Title: Songs in Red and Gray Released: 2001-09-25 Tracks: 13 Duration: 45:35 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Penitent (04:18) 2 Widows Walk (03:33) 3 (I’ll Never Be) Your Maggie May (03:48) 4 It Makes Me Wonder (04:02) 5 Soap and Water (03:03) 6 Songs in Red and Gray (04:18) 7 Last Years Troubles (03:35) 8 Priscilla (04:14) 9 If I Were a Weapon (02:45) 10 Harbor Song (04:18) 11 Machine Ballerina (02:57) 12 Solitaire (02:10) 13 St. Clare (02:30) |
| Songs in Red and Gray : Allmusic album Review : In musical terms, it is less significant that Mitchell Froom is no longer Suzanne Vegas husband than it is that he is no longer her producer. Although Frooms experimental style helped the singer/songwriter fulfill her desire to expand beyond her folk-pop roots on her fourth and fifth albums, 99 F° and Nine Objects of Desire, his approach actually worked against the material, cluttering her intimate, direct songs with inappropriate percussion tracks and various kinds of sound processing. So, listeners who responded strongly to her first three albums but found the Froom discs off-putting (and there were plenty of them) should be alerted that, sonically, Songs in Red and Gray is ready to welcome back old fans. Produced by Rupert Hine, it has the kind of carefully played acoustic guitar work and close-up vocal miking that characterized Suzanne Vega and Solitude Standing. That makes it easier to appreciate Frooms departure from Vegas personal life as well as her professional one, however. This is very much a divorce album, its songs frequently touching on romantic discord and the resulting fall-out. Vega is both precise and artful in describing the situation. She writes by metaphor, unafraid, on "Machine Ballerina," for example, to mix those metaphors and pile them up. That allows her some emotional distance, but never at the expense of meaning. Her concern with the dissolution of her marriage and its impact on her child is apparent in "Soap and Water" when she sings, "Daddys a dark riddle/Mamas a headful of bees/you are my little kite /carried away in the wayward breeze," even though the lines make up a succession of metaphors. Her calm, hushed, clear singing only emphasizes the emotional torment the songs trace. The result is an album on a par with her best work. | ||
 | Album: 12 of 28 Title: Retrospective: The Best Of Suzanne Vega Released: 2003-07-07 Tracks: 40 Duration: 2:22:09 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Luka (03:52) 2 Toms Diner (7″ version) (03:49) 3 Marlene on the Wall (03:40) 4 Caramel (02:54) 5 99.9 F° (03:15) 6 Tired of Sleeping (04:23) 7 Small Blue Thing (03:55) 8 Blood Makes Noise (02:29) 9 Left of Center (03:30) 10 (I’ll Never Be) Your Maggie May (03:48) 11 In Liverpool (04:44) 12 Gypsy (04:04) 13 Book of Dreams (03:23) 14 No Cheap Thrill (03:10) 15 Calypso (04:13) 16 World Before Columbus (03:27) 17 Solitude Standing (04:39) 18 Penitent (04:18) 19 Rosemary (02:44) 20 The Queen and the Soldier (live) (05:02) 21 Woman on the Tier (I’ll See You Through) (02:27) 1 Freeze Tag (02:36) 2 (If You Were) In My Movie (03:05) 3 It Makes Me Wonder (04:02) 4 Headshots (03:08) 5 Wooden Horse (Caspar Hauser’s Song) (05:13) 6 Men in a War (04:47) 7 Cracking (02:50) 8 Lolita (03:33) 9 Fat Man and Dancing Girl (02:20) 10 Solitaire (02:10) 11 Rusted Pipe (04:16) 12 Rock in This Pocket (Song of David) (03:30) 13 Birth-day (Love Made Real) (03:38) 14 When Heroes Go Down (01:56) 15 Undertow (03:28) 16 If I Were a Weapon (02:45) 17 Harbor Song (04:18) 18 Casual Match (03:10) 19 As Girls Go (03:25) |
| Retrospective: The Best Of Suzanne Vega : Allmusic album Review : Retrospective: The Best of Suzanne Vega is essentially A&M;s updated version of their 1999 issue, The Best of Suzanne Vega: Tried and True, adding "Tired of Sleeping" from Vegas Days of Open Hand, "Calypso" and "Solitude Standing" from Solitude Standing, "(Ill Never Be) Your Maggie May" and "Penitent" from the 2001 recording Songs in Red and Gray, and "Woman on the Tier (Ill See You Through)" from the Dead Man Walking soundtrack. Unfortunately, A&M; chose to drop "Book and Cover" from the track listing, which was only previously available on The Best of Suzanne Vega: Tried and True, but the overall collection feels a little bit more hearty with a total of 21 tracks instead of 17. | ||
 | Album: 13 of 28 Title: Live at the Stephen Talkhouse Released: 2005-10-25 Tracks: 14 Duration: 57:15 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 Tired of Sleeping (04:00) 2 Widow’s Walk (04:08) 3 Caramel (03:14) 4 Marlene on the Wall (04:44) 5 (Ill Never Be Your) Maggie May (03:59) 6 Penitent (04:26) 7 Gypsy (04:18) 8 Left of Center (02:53) 9 Harbor Song (04:48) 10 Queen and the Soldier (05:12) 11 Blood Makes Noise (03:23) 12 Luka (05:07) 13 Tom’s Diner (03:23) 14 Rosemary (03:40) |
 | Album: 14 of 28 Title: Live at Duo Music Exchange Released: 2006-01-25 Tracks: 19 Duration: 56:58 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Marlene on the Wall (03:39) 2 Small Blue Thing (03:53) 3 Caramel (02:53) 4 When Heroes Go Down (01:54) 5 Gypsy (04:04) 6 (Ill Never Be) Yoru Maggie May (03:37) 7 Penitent (04:16) 8 Solitaire (02:07) 9 Blood Makes Noise (02:28) 10 Left of Center (03:32) 11 The Queen and the Soldier (04:48) 12 Anniversary (02:59) 13 Edith Whartons Figurínes (02:42) 14 In Liverpool (04:41) 15 Luka (03:51) 16 Toms Diner (02:08) 17 World Before Columbus (03:26) 18 Undertow (?) 19 Rosemary (Remember Me) (?) |
 | Album: 15 of 28 Title: Live at Montreux 2004 Released: 2006-09-18 Tracks: 12 Duration: 46:49 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 99.9 F° (03:27) 2 Marlene on the Wall (04:00) 3 Caramel (03:15) 4 Gypsy (04:18) 5 (I’ll Never Be Your) Maggie May (03:59) 6 Penitent (04:23) 7 Left of Center (03:09) 8 The Queen and the Soldier (05:01) 9 Solitude Standing (04:14) 10 Blood Makes Noise (03:43) 11 Luka (03:48) 12 Tom’s Diner (03:32) |
| Live at Montreux 2004 : Allmusic album Review : This is a well-produced video, from the 2004 Montreux Jazz Festival, that captures Suzanne Vega doing a surprisingly large cross-section of her repertory. Most heartening is the presence of pieces off of her debut album, including "Knight Moves," "Small Blue Thing" (which both show up as bonus tracks from a 2000 appearance by Vega, appended to the 2004 concert), and "The Queen and the Soldier," in addition to expected works such as "Marlene on the Wall." And she also performs Pete Townshends "Behind Blue Eyes," a song that she describes as a favorite of hers for many years. What is unfortunate, at least for those who recall Vegas early shows at places like New Yorks late, still-lamented Folk City in the mid-80s, is how much darker her voice is some 20 years on. She does more with it, and is an infinitely more sophisticated performer, to be sure, but her range is narrower and thats a sad thing for those who recall her work back when. On a technical level, the production is superb, with varying camera angles and lots of great shots, and the audio is nice and close as well. The image -- which is extremely crisp -- has an aspect ratio of 1.85-to-1 for the main concert (with 16x9 enhancement) and full-screen (1.33-to-1) for the bonus tracks, and each song gets a chapter marker. | ||
 | Album: 16 of 28 Title: Beauty & Crime Released: 2007-06-05 Tracks: 11 Duration: 34:22 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Zephyr & I (03:11) 2 Ludlow Street (03:15) 3 New York Is a Woman (02:55) 4 Pornographers Dream (03:24) 5 Frank & Ava (02:37) 6 Edith Whartons Figurines (02:23) 7 Bound (04:43) 8 Unbound (03:35) 9 As You Are Now (02:21) 10 Angels Doorway (02:55) 11 Anniversary (02:59) |
| Beauty & Crime : Allmusic album Review : Six years in the pop music world is a long time. In fact, for many artists, its a lifetime or two. Suzanne Vega has been away from recording for a long time, but it isnt because she hasnt been working. She is the subject of Some Journey, a documentary film by Christopher Seufert; in addition, she hosted a memorial concert for her late brother, artist Timothy Vega in 2002, performed with Bill Frisell at the Century of Song concerts in Germany, hosted the American Public Media series American Mavericks (which won a Peabody Award), played a huge gig in Central Park in 2006, played live in the online game Second Life (she was the first artist of many to do so), got remarried, and changed record labels. Shes also been writing songs: lots of them. Songs in Red and Gray, her last offering for A&M, was issued just two weeks after 9/11. Beauty and Crime is a lengthy meditation on the city of New York, the place she calls home. These songs glide like a harlequins ghost through the hearts and minds of city residents past and present, on its streets, in its hotels, apartments, in every corner of the city. There is more than the hint of memory on Beauty & Crime. The album is dedicated to the memory of Tim, who lived on "Ludlow Street" -- the name of the sets second cut, a searing and simply moving tribute to him -- and cites as muses in part "...Edith Wharton and all her heroines...and Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner for their passion," and who have songs named for them here. In doing so, 9/11 itself cannot be left out of the equation, and the albums final two cuts deal with personal versions of this story, one of which is informed by her brother-in-law Angel Ruiz, a New York City cop stationed at Ground Zero after the attacks on the World Trade Center. Most of these songs look at life in the interim, or remembering what the city was like in the 70s as on the cut "Zephyr and I." Musically, this is easily her most adventurous record ever; yet it is also more accessible than any album since her debut. The craft and care put into the songs themselves and their articulation by Vega and producer Jimmy Hogarth are amazing. Here, emotions are laid bare in places whether in the first, second, or third persons, but they are always placed inside elegant yet spare lyrics that are taut, poetic, and evocative. The dreamy soundscape contains layers of guitars, percussion (organic, electronic and live, in one case) strings, reeds, brass, and backing singers (including daughter Ruby Froom who appears on a couple of cuts, and KT Tunstall who appears once). But its the sound of Vegas acoustic guitar on all these songs that is unmistakably at the top and provides the albums anchor. Its important to note this, simply because it keeps these beautiful pop songs rooted in a new kind of contemporary folk that Vega was a pioneer of in the 80s. And it keeps her rooted to her own catalog, from the beginning to the present. In other words, as she has experimented in the past with all kinds of sounds, she has forever remained herself and never more so than here, whether its the jazzy, faux bossa nova of "Pornographers Dream" or its predecessor, the stunning "New York Is a Woman." "Frank and Ava," is a rocking pop tune whose electric and acoustic guitars entwine, seemingly kissing, wrapped around a bassline played by Tony Shanahan from the Patti Smith Group. The deliberate interweaving of strings and her guitar on "Edith Whartons Figurines" offers a glimpse of the late authors studied cool and dignity as it speaks from the voices of her characters to a songwriter who can see not only herself, but the anonymous millions of others living in and around New York City. "Bound," whose title is attended by a glimpse of Vegas wedding to poet and lawyer Paul Mills (who waited for her for 26 years), along with "As You Are Now," about her daughter (which also contain a photograph of its subject) are among the most nakedly personal songs she has ever written. "Angels Doorway" is as pointed a musical vignette as one is likely to hear in a pop song. With electric guitars, a seemingly cheesy synth line, droning bassline, and sparkling acoustic guitar with the flat thud of the percussion offers its tonalities of the various voices of those in the city who have been snuffed out but live inside the subject. The final track, "Anniversary," written a year after 9/11, opens with Vegas guitar skeletally framing her melody. It is the contemplative sound of a city thats gone on, changed forever yet forever itself, despite it being "thick with ghosts, the wind whips round its circuitries...as they meet you on each corner/meet you on each street..." even as the residents are exhorted to "watch for daily braveries/notice newfound courtesies/finger sudden legacies..." The song isnt a eulogy, its the sound that does not simply memorialize, but opens a new chapter. Artists have always helped the rest of us make sense of upheaval, tragedy, tumultuous change, confusion and the darkness that often accompanies history. On Beauty & Crime, Vega accomplishes this in spades, but without any ideologies or with empty, overly simplistic ruminations or platitudes. Her grief is personal and so is her sense of gratitude, dignity, and love -- especially when its hard. The opening words to "Ludlow Street," way back on track two, sum it up directly and may be the credo of the entire album: "Love is the only thing that matters/Love is the only thing thats real/I know we hear this every day/Its still the hardest thing to feel." Beauty& Crime is, without reservation, the defining creative moment of Suzanne Vegas career thus far, and a morally and emotionally communicative recording that instructs even as it confesses from inside, and reports from the margins and becomes, in its graceful impurity, a vision that is singular and utterly direct. | ||
 | Album: 17 of 28 Title: Colour Collection Released: 2007-10-02 Tracks: 12 Duration: 42:21 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Tired of Sleeping (04:23) 2 Left of Center (03:34) 3 Book of Dreams (03:23) 4 Solitude Standing (04:39) 5 Tom’s Diner (02:09) 6 99.9 F (03:14) 7 In Liverpool (04:42) 8 No Cheap Thrill (03:10) 9 Men in a War (04:48) 10 When Heroes Go Down (01:55) 11 Blood Makes Noise (02:28) 12 Luka (03:52) |
 | Album: 18 of 28 Title: iTunes Festival: London 2008 Released: 2008-08-05 Tracks: 6 Duration: 25:02 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Rock in This Pocket (04:12) 2 Gypsy (04:12) 3 Left of Center (02:43) 4 The Queen and the Soldier (05:04) 5 Luka (03:34) 6 Toms Diner (05:15) |
 | Album: 19 of 28 Title: Close-Up, Volume 1: Love Songs Released: 2010-02-02 Tracks: 12 Duration: 45:53 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Small Blue Thing (04:04) 2 Caramel (03:06) 3 (If You Were) In My Movie (02:55) 4 Gypsy (04:09) 5 Marlene on the Wall (04:15) 6 (I’ll Never Be) Your Maggie May (03:36) 7 Harbor Song (04:17) 8 Headshots (02:54) 9 Song in Red and Gray (04:15) 10 Stockings (03:39) 11 Some Journey (04:22) 12 Bound (04:15) |
| Close-Up, Volume 1: Love Songs : Allmusic album Review : The first in a proposed four-volume collection of intimate re-recordings of Suzanne Vega’s catalog, Close Up, Vol. 1 focuses on Vega’s love songs, which means that her two biggest hits, “Luka” and “Tom’s Diner,” are nowhere to be heard. The best-known tune here may be “Marlene on the Wall,” a song from her 1985 debut, which indicates that this is a bit of a crate-digging exercise, reaching deep into various corners from throughout her career. Vega’s new arrangements are anchored on acoustics but not strictly stripped naked: there are other guitars, sometimes electrics, along with traces of bass and percussion, enough to give this some texture and shade but not enough to distract from the songs themselves, all of which are nicely chosen and warmly delivered. There are no radical reinterpretations, only unadorned readings that reveal the sound structure of her readings and her sly, subtle singing. | ||
 | Album: 20 of 28 Title: Close-Up, Volume 2: People & Places Released: 2010-10-02 Tracks: 13 Duration: 48:05 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Luka (03:13) 2 Zephyr & I (03:09) 3 NY Is a Woman (02:58) 4 In Liverpool (04:49) 5 Calypso (03:45) 6 Fat Man & Dancing Girl (02:17) 7 The Queen & The Soldier (05:02) 8 Rock in This Pocket (Song of David) (03:39) 9 Angel’s Doorway (02:53) 10 Ironbound/Fancy Poultry (05:01) 11 Neighborhood Girls (03:32) 12 Tom’s Diner (04:33) 13 The Man Who Played God (03:07) |
| Close-Up, Volume 2: People & Places : Allmusic album Review : The second installment of Suzanne Vega’s four-part thematically arranged intimate re-recordings of her catalog is People & Places, a concept that allows for the inclusion of her two biggest hits, “Luka” and “Tom’s Diner.” Both are here, given austere arrangements that are emblematic of the entirety of the album. Much of this is spare enough to suggest that the album contains nothing but Vega and her guitar, but these are not solo re-recordings -- they’re tastefully colored with strings, electric guitars, and light percussion, subtly changing the feel of some songs but not the intent. Apart from selections from the densely produced 99.9 F°, there are no great reinterpretations of Vega’s work and even those three don’t feel drastically different, just unadorned, fitting the “Close-Up” concept quite well. Curiously, the entire Close-Up project sidesteps nostalgia, and not just because Vega finds space to include a new song, “The Man Who Played God,” co-written with the late Mark Linkous and Danger Mouse, here. She may be revisiting her past but she’s not attempting to re-create it, and this clear-eyed, unsentimental attitude goes a long way toward making these records work. | ||
 | Album: 21 of 28 Title: Close-Up, Volume 3: States of Being Released: 2011-07-11 Tracks: 14 Duration: 44:08 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Undertow (03:31) 2 When Heroes Go Down (02:06) 3 My Favorite Plum (02:38) 4 Solitude Standing (03:59) 5 Cracking (02:58) 6 Last Years Troubles (03:08) 7 Solitaire (02:15) 8 Tombstone (02:47) 9 Blood Makes Noise (03:05) 10 50-50 Chance (02:48) 11 Penitent (04:08) 12 Straight Lines (04:03) 13 Pornographers Dream (03:31) 14 Instant of the Hour After (03:11) |
| Close-Up, Volume 3: States of Being : Allmusic album Review : The third in a series of thematic albums that find Suzanne Vega revisiting her songbook (and not incidentally creating new recordings of her older songs that she owns rather than some major label), Close-Up, Vol. 3: States of Being collects 14 tunes that focus on various forms of emotional turmoil, and encompass what she calls “the freakier side of my songwriting.” Just as she did on the first two Close-Up albums, Vega strips these songs down to their essence, and while her guitar isn’t the only instrument on these new versions, the arrangements are spare and intimate even when she introduces strings and a backing band to the proceedings, and her voice is front and center at all times, her performances carrying the weight of her elegant wordplay and carefully structured scenarios. Vega produced Close-Up, Vol. 3, and her choices are clever, summoning an impressive degree of atmosphere and color with relatively simple backing (and the distorted guitar and percussion on “Blood Makes Noise” do an impressive job of standing in for the busy electronic clatter of the original recording). Vega’s vocal performances here are strong and confident, often more so than they were on her early albums, and she’s lived with this material long enough to communicate the desires and anxieties of her characters like a gifted actress. And like the other volumes in this series, this features a new song, in this case “Instant of the Hour After,” a collaboration with Duncan Sheik from a theater piece drawn from the writings of Carson McCullers, and it’s certainly on a par with the other material cherry-picked from over 20 years of record-making. While fans will have to ask themselves how many of these songs they want to own again, the craft and imagination that has gone into Close-Up, Vol. 3: States of Being sets this apart from most albums in which artists re-record their songs for a new label, and the results confirm Suzanne Vega is still a powerful interpreter of her own material. | ||
 | Album: 22 of 28 Title: Close-Up, Volume 4: Songs of Family Released: 2012-09-21 Tracks: 14 Duration: 47:44 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Rosemary (02:54) 2 Honeymoon Suite (03:13) 3 World Before Columbus (03:01) 4 As You Are Now (02:29) 5 Soap and Water (02:52) 6 Widow’s Walk (03:42) 7 Blood Sings (03:21) 8 Bad Wisdom (03:11) 9 Ludlow Street (03:11) 10 Tired of Sleeping (03:48) 11 Pilgrimage (04:27) 12 Brother Mine (03:15) 13 The Silver Lady (05:36) 14 Daddy Is White (02:44) |
| Close-Up, Volume 4: Songs of Family : Allmusic album Review : Suzanne Vega concludes her series of albums reexamining her songbook with Close-Up, Vol. 4: Songs of Family, and given the albums themes, its appropriate that this is the most spare and intimate installment in this mostly acoustic series. These 14 songs all deal with familial relationships, albeit in many different ways, from a sly contemplation of her marriage ("Honeymoon Suite") to studying the emotional fallout of her divorce ("Soap and Water"), from meeting her biological father for the first time ("Pilgrimage") to revisiting the neighborhood where she grew up ("Ludlow Street"), while also finding room to celebrate her love for her daughter ("World Before Columbus") and the grim tale of another child whose relationship with her folks is not as rosy ("Bad Wisdom"). Vega (who served as her own producer) and her musical director Gerry Leonard have given all the albums in this series a clean and uncluttered sound, but Songs of Family aims for an even more Spartan approach, and while multi-instrumentalist Leonard had added some artful accompaniment on several tracks, the music is subtle even at its most passionate, and Vegas vocals and lyrics are front and center throughout; in her liner notes, Vega declares this album "has the folkiest sound of the four volumes," and that suits these songs quite well. Like the previous three Close-Up albums, Songs of Family is dominated by songs Vega has recorded before, but this set also features three songs that have never before appeared on one of her albums. "The Silver Lady" is a fantasy tale Vega first wrote as a teenager, "Brother Mine" is another bit of juvenilia thats clever and charming, and "Daddy Is White" is a blunt but perceptive autobiographical sketch of how racial attitudes shaped her own upbringing. (The song first surfaced as a demo recording Vega posted along with an essay for The New York Times.) Like its siblings, Close-Up, Vol. 4: Songs of Family may not connect with casual fans happy to hold on to the original versions of these songs, but the subtle but real emotional gravity of these new performances is impressive, and at in its best moments Vega has found fresh life and depth in these reinterpretations; this is stronger and more affecting work than most artists achieve when they give their songs a second try in the studio. | ||
 | Album: 23 of 28 Title: Solitude Standing: Live at the Barbican Released: 2012-10 Tracks: 20 Duration: 1:45:08 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Toms Diner (04:06) 2 Luka (06:19) 3 Ironbound / Fancy Poultry (06:53) 4 In the Eye (05:11) 5 Night Vision (03:56) 6 Solitude Standing (06:15) 7 Calypso (04:44) 8 Language (08:10) 9 Gypsy (05:32) 10 Wooden Horse (Caspar Hausers Song) (05:38) 1 Marlene on the Wall (05:53) 2 Left of Center (03:50) 3 Tombstone (03:02) 4 Blood Makes Noise (03:40) 5 The Queen and the Soldier (05:26) 6 Some Journey (06:04) 7 Toms Diner (reprise) (07:06) 8 Caramel (03:16) 9 In Liverpool (06:39) 10 Rosemary (03:19) |
 | Album: 24 of 28 Title: Close-Up Vol 1-4 (Bonus Content) Released: 2013 Tracks: 12 Duration: 41:16 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 99.9F° (03:06) 2 It Makes Me Wonder (04:04) 3 Freeze Tag (02:53) 4 Knight Moves (03:51) 5 Luka (Spanish version) (03:25) 6 Frank and Ava (02:38) 7 Wooden Horse (Casper Hauser’s Song) (04:23) 8 Song of Sand (03:10) 9 Room off the Street (02:57) 10 Priscilla (03:40) 11 Anniversary (03:05) 12 Language (04:04) |
 | Album: 25 of 28 Title: Tales From the Realm of the Queen of Pentacles Released: 2014-01-31 Tracks: 10 Duration: 36:44 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Crack in the Wall (04:24) 2 Fool’s Complaint (02:39) 3 I Never Wear White (03:08) 4 Portrait of the Knight of Wands (04:18) 5 Don’t Uncork What You Can’t Contain (03:31) 6 Jacob and the Angel (04:05) 7 Silver Bridge (03:47) 8 Song of the Stoic (04:05) 9 Laying on of Hands / Stoic 2 (03:52) 10 Horizon (There Is a Road) (02:51) |
| Tales From the Realm of the Queen of Pentacles : Allmusic album Review : The four volumes in Suzanne Vegas Close-Up series revisited her catalog thematically with stripped-down charts. It appealed to her base of fans who patiently waited seven years for new material. The ten songs on Tales from the Realm of the Queen of Pentacles fits that bill. The set was produced by longtime associate and co-writer Gerry Leonard, and played by a weighty studio cast. The album isnt so much a change of musical direction as it is a classy revisioning of Vegas trademark sound. These tracks address many of humanitys big themes through Vegas canny, detailed gaze, sometimes with the added weight of the metaphorical wisdom from the tarot. "Crack in the Wall" is a Buddhist reflection on awareness with the songwriters signature tight lines and vivid physical descriptions. Its martial snare and painterly electric guitars are countered by Larry Campbells mandolin and banjo. "I Never Wear White" is a punchy rocker with Leonards big fuzzy guitars up front, a whomping bassline by Tony Levin, and the loud drums of Jay Bellerose. Its lyric reveals Vega has lost none of her wry sense of humor. "Dont Uncork What You Cant Contain" samples 50 Cents "Candy Shop" in an allegorical tale about caution, with Pandora as one of its muses. "Song of the Stoic" updates "Luka," in a sense. Written from a drifting, hardworking males point of view, it uncovers the emotional cost that physical abuse can take on an adult life. Its musical vehicle is angular rockist Americana, with the Smichov Chamber Orchestra Prague providing windswept accompaniment, making the lyrics emotional impression indelible. "Laying on of Hands/Stoic 2" discusses the cost of repression -- physical and psychological -- with Mother Teresa and Epictetus its referent examples. The rumbling bassline and slippery backbeat feeds Vegas sung cadences as a psych-tinged six-string fills lines and codas; both feature the powerful backing vocals of Catherine Russell. Not everything here works, though. "Portrait of the Knight of Wands," despite its attractive melody, is marred by a very clunky refrain, and "Jacob and the Angel" feels more like a demo than a finished track. Closer "Horizon (There Is a Road)" is dedicated to Václav Havels memory. Its a gentle acoustic rocker with an elegant trumpet solo in the bridge. Its the one place here where Vegas trademark detachment doesnt reign. Tales from the Realm of the Queen of Pentacles is a welcome return by an artist who has remained stubbornly true to herself and only records when she has something new to say. | ||
 | Album: 26 of 28 Title: Live at the Speakeasy Released: 2014-06-23 Tracks: 13 Duration: 56:15 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Introduction (01:24) 2 Toms Diner (03:09) 3 Small Blue Thing (04:04) 4 Some Journey (05:11) 5 Cracking (03:10) 6 The Queen and the Soldier (05:58) 7 Knight Moves (04:35) 8 Freeze Tag (05:50) 9 Marlene on the Wall (04:26) 10 Undertow (04:13) 11 Straight Lines (05:38) 12 Neighborhood Girls (04:24) 13 Gypsy (04:13) |
| Live at the Speakeasy : Allmusic album Review : Recorded at the influential Greenwich Village club The Speakeasy, this live set from Suzanne Vega is a rare snapshot of an artist just coming into her own. Captured in April 1985 during the same week her self-titled debut album was released, it has the feeling of a hometown record release party as Vega, accompanied only by her guitar, runs through a sharply-honed set list of early material like "Some Journey," "Marlene on the Wall," and "The Queen and the Soldier." At a time when mainstream music was often a highly processed product, both her subtle delivery and thoughtful acoustic songwriting set her apart as she opens this show with the a cappella "Toms Diner," a signature track that wouldnt appear on record until her 1987 breakthrough Solitude Standing. Originally heard as a radio broadcast, Live at the Speakeasy is intimate and engaging, much like that artist herself. | ||
 | Album: 27 of 28 Title: Close-Up Series Released: 2014-08-12 Tracks: 65 Duration: 3:50:42 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Small Blue Thing (04:04) 2 Caramel (03:06) 3 (If You Were) In My Movie (02:55) 4 Gypsy (04:09) 5 Marlene on the Wall (04:15) 6 (I’ll Never Be) Your Maggie May (03:36) 7 Harbor Song (04:17) 8 Headshots (02:54) 9 Song in Red and Gray (04:15) 10 Stockings (03:39) 11 Some Journey (04:22) 12 Bound (04:15) 1 Luka (03:13) 2 Zephyr & I (03:09) 3 NY Is a Woman (02:58) 4 In Liverpool (04:49) 5 Calypso (03:45) 6 Fat Man & Dancing Girl (02:17) 7 The Queen & The Soldier (05:02) 8 Rock in This Pocket (Song of David) (03:39) 9 Angel’s Doorway (02:53) 10 Ironbound/Fancy Poultry (05:01) 11 Neighborhood Girls (03:32) 12 Tom’s Diner (04:33) 13 The Man Who Played God (03:07) 1 Rosemary (02:54) 2 Honeymoon Suite (03:13) 3 World Before Columbus (03:01) 4 As You Are Now (02:29) 5 Soap and Water (02:52) 6 Widow’s Walk (03:42) 7 Blood Sings (03:21) 8 Bad Wisdom (03:11) 9 Ludlow Street (03:11) 10 Tired of Sleeping (03:48) 11 Pilgrimage (04:27) 12 Brother Mine (03:15) 13 The Silver Lady (05:36) 14 Daddy Is White (02:44) 1 Rosemary (02:54) 2 Honeymoon Suite (03:13) 3 World Before Columbus (03:01) 4 As You Are Now (02:29) 5 Soap and Water (02:52) 6 Widow’s Walk (03:42) 7 Blood Sings (03:21) 8 Bad Wisdom (03:11) 9 Ludlow Street (03:11) 10 Tired of Sleeping (03:48) 11 Pilgrimage (04:27) 12 Brother Mine (03:15) 13 The Silver Lady (05:36) 14 Daddy Is White (02:44) 1 99.9F° (03:06) 2 It Makes Me Wonder (04:04) 3 Freeze Tag (02:53) 4 Knight Moves (03:51) 5 Luka (Spanish version) (03:25) 6 Frank and Ava (02:38) 7 Wooden Horse (Casper Hauser’s Song) (04:23) 8 Song of Sand (03:10) 9 Room off the Street (02:57) 10 Priscilla (03:40) 11 Anniversary (03:05) 12 Language (04:04) |
| Close-Up Series : Allmusic album Review : In 2010, celebrated singer and songwriter Suzanne Vega launched an ambitious project she called the Close-Up series; it was a series of four albums, released over the space of two years, in which Vega re-recorded favorite songs from her back catalog in spare, acoustic-based arrangements, with the song selection for each album determined by theme. Close-Up, Vol. 1: Love Songs dealt with love and relationships, Close-Up, Vol. 2: People & Places was dominated by story-songs that focused on characters and locations, Close-Up, Vol 3: States of Being concerned emotional and psychological subjects, and Close-Up, Vol. 4: Songs of Family focused on the bonds of family as well as the joys and sorrows of marriage. The Close-Up Series is a special box set that includes the four Close-Up albums in full; in addition, the set includes a bonus disc that collects extra tracks that were included in certain digital releases of the albums, as well as a DVD of Vega performing a solo acoustic show at New Yorks City Winery. | ||
 | Album: 28 of 28 Title: Lover, Beloved: Songs From an Evening With Carson McCullers Released: 2016-10-14 Tracks: 10 Duration: 33:01 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Carson’s Blues (02:56) 2 New York Is My Destination (03:08) 3 Instant of the Hour After (03:06) 4 We of Me (02:52) 5 Annemarie (03:17) 6 12 Mortal Men (02:47) 7 Harper Lee (03:43) 8 Lover, Beloved (03:24) 9 The Ballad of Miss Amelia (04:17) 10 Carson’s Last Supper (03:31) |
| Lover, Beloved: Songs From an Evening With Carson McCullers : Allmusic album Review : Suzanne Vega has always been a songwriter with a literary sensibility, displaying a feel for character and wordplay that was noticeably more nuanced than her peers. It seems entirely fitting that Vega might wish to honor one of her influences as a writer, and with Lover, Beloved: Songs from an Evening with Carson McCullers, shes done just that. One of Vegas favorite authors is Carson McCullers, who enjoyed critical and popular success in the 40s with her novels The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, The Member of the Wedding, and Reflections in a Golden Eye. In 2011, Vega performed a one-woman show about McCullers life and work, and five years later shes released Lover, Beloved, which features ten songs she wrote for the show. (Duncan Sheik co-wrote the music with Vega, except for two songs she wrote in collaboration with Michael Jefry Stevens.) The album often has a somewhat different feel than much of Vegas work, especially in the songs in which she takes on McCullers persona and discusses her early days after leaving Georgia for New York City ("New York Is My Destination"), and dishes about fellow authors she sees as hopeless inferiors ("Harper Lee"). The vintage jazz accents on "Carsons Blues" and "Harper Lee" also take Vegas songs into musical territory that doesnt always seem comfortable to her. However, the less specifically biographical numbers are quite effective, as Vega takes up stories from McCullers life and work and weaves them into her own creative sensibility. Vegas vocal performances are intelligent and skillful throughout, and the largely acoustic arrangements give this music a vintage sensibility without forcing the issue. Lover, Beloved isnt a radical shift from Suzanne Vegas usual body of work, but it does find her stretching a bit from her comfort zone, and she sails gracefully along on this smart and tuneful song cycle. | ||