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Suzanne VegaI Think it's Called My Destiny That I am Changing
5 Out Of 5 Stars

Like Tracy Chapman who followed her, Suzanne Vega's debut was a realignment in the folk-mainstream. While it did not have the immediate impact that Chapman's debut or Vega's own "Solitude Standing" did, Vega's debut set a standard soon to be followed by everyone from Sara Hickman, 10,000 maniacs to fellow NYC friend Shawn Colvin. It has antecedents in the likes of Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan and (by her own admission) Lou Reed, using poetic metaphor to describe the emotional distancing and distraction of modern love in New York City.

Kindred spirit Lenny Kaye produced this album with an ear towards spare sound and open passages, often with little more than Vega's guitar and slight synthesizers for backing. His time with The Patti Smith Group obviously gave him understanding for literate writers, as he keeps Vega's voice dry and clear, even rough and edgy. The artist who watches her own succession of lovers in "Marlene On The Wall" keeps her distance from them while transferring her thoughts to the movie star poster hanging in the bedroom. The nearly spoken word of "Cracking" and the more rambunctious closer, "Neighborhood Girl," are near perfect descriptions of the transient and fluid nature of the city; her debut is her most NYC-centric CD aside from "Beauty and Crime."

Vega also keeps to the traditions of folk with another highlight, "The Queen and The Soldier." Placing a political message into a medieval context, the song could be about anything from the Knights of Camelot to any current useless war conflict. Or even about the hopelessness of the refusal of unrequited love. It is this kind of mix of songs and meanings, like on great tracks like "Small Blue Thing" or "Some Journey" that made this such a stunning debut. Vega polished up her singing after this and became a stunning success, but her debut remains a marvel of modern folk music.




Solitude Standing  Nine Objects of Desire Beauty & Crime 


Tracy Chapman Tigerlily 21
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Nine Objects Of DesireThe high hanging fruits
4 Out Of 5 Stars


For a Greenwich Village folkie, Suzanne Vega was one restless woman. Following a love of Nine Inch Nails, she made the "Industrial Folk" (her term) of "99.9 F°" and followed it with this, a slightly more subdued but no less adventurous album. "Nine Objects of Desire" runs the gamut from more industrial (the opening "Birthday") to the jazzy "Caramel" and the dreamlike finale, "My Favorite Plum."

The highlights are, as is typically with Vega's best work, the lyrics. The erotic "Caramel" uses an old standard form of substituting a candy for desire, but she stakes her own territory with the arrangement. "Honeymoon Suite" describes an enigmatic dream encounter her husband had, and includes the beautiful descriptive couplet "When we sleep so close together/that our hair becomes entwined." I have also always loved the teasingly fun way she mixes gambling metaphors on "No Cheap Thrill" with casual romantic encounters. When it comes to these kinds of lyrical puzzles, Vega has few equals.

It's interesting to note that many of these songs seemed rooted in the relationship with her then husband, producer Mitchell Froom. I say this mainly because her next album, "Songs in Red and Grey," was less 'produced' and a heck of a lot more straightforward lyrically, and took five years to appear after this one. Taken as a pair, however, "Nine Objects of Desire" and "99.9 F°" make interesting bookends in Vega's always intriguing career.




Close-Up Vol. 1, Love Songs Close-Up 2: People & Places Retrospective: The Best of Suzanne Vega
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Songs In Red and GrayMama's a head full of bees
4 Out of 5 Stars

There has always been a sense of cool about Suzanne Vega's best work, from the battered child of "Luka" to the way her iciness made the remixed version of "Tom's Diner" so deliciously ironic. With her husband and producer Mitchell Froom, she also made one of the best albums of that period, the jazzy "Nine Objects of Desire."

However, Vega and Froom divorced and, for the first time since the Nine Inch Nails inspired "99.9 degrees," Vega lets the emotions crack though. "Songs In Red and Grey" is an emotional tear-down of her relationship, and her most personal album by a long margin. But then, this is Suzanne Vega we're talking about here. When she sings about the pain of of separation, it's not like she's entering Primal Scream therapy. Instead, it is the words that cut deepest.

"Daddy's a dark riddle,
Mama's a handful of thorns,
You are my little kite,
caught up again
in the household storms."

I can't recall a sadder depiction of divorce in a song than that set of lyrics in "Soap and Water," and Vega nails it completely. The song of an affair in the title track also gets under your skin in the same way. Fortunately, Vega does lighten up on the caustic "If I Were A Weapon" and the amusing "Last Year's Troubles." Despite the pain she had to go through to make this album, her listeners reap the benefit of this excellent and emotive album.




 Beauty & Crime Retrospective: The Best of Suzanne Vega Close-Up 2: People & Places

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