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In retrospect, this album seems like a calculated attempt to recreate the success of Luka, and has a more cohesive sound, but for whatever reason, the commercial production and songwriting didn’t work. The promotion machine was behind Vega this time out, but sadly, nothing came of it. Perhaps it was the somewhat obscure subject matter of dreams, fortune-telling, and hospitals? A bold change was needed, and thankfully one came from an unusual place in time to fuel the next album.

Tired Of Sleeping

= 3 stars

Background vocals by Shawn Colvin help this recounting of dream imagery, but something about this song never seems to gel into interesting listening for me.

Men In A War

= 4 stars

Nice energy, great subject matter, with a neat rhyme pattern. It’s a little long, though - especially considering it repeats two chords until the drummer stars in The Machinist.

Rusted Pipe

= 3 stars

This song creates a definite mood. I’ve always interpreted it as someone recovering from a rough illness where they were bedridden and unable to speak. The Shawn Colvin harmony vocals are a highlight.

Book Of Dreams

= 5 stars

I like this optimistic tune, inspired by XTC, the Byrds or the Beatles. The video shows the amount of thought and care that was going into the marketing at this point, inspired by visual surrealists like Magritte or Joseph Cornell. One line contains the title of the album.

Here’s the video.

Institution Green

= 2 stars

Ode to the impersonal feel of bureaucratic institutions. The ticking noises always creeped me out. Just think Brazil and run away.

Those Whole Girls (Run In Grace)

= 4 stars

This is some real, minimalist stuff, and perfect in that sense. All that’s left is meaning and the absence of rhyme.

Room Off The Street

= 3 stars

Back in the urban jungle of Straight Lines, we have a folky, gypsy tune, which seem to hint at the more complex production or genre-bending of subsequent albums.

Big Space

= 2 stars

Interesting keyboard lick to introduce wonderment at where the actual soul is located between the brain and the nerves and the physical world.

Predictions

= 3 stars

A recounting of various fortune telling tools, that could be of use in the next song.

Fifty-Fifty Chance

= 3 stars

Someone’s on their death bed after a suicide attempt, and the strings bring to life the emotional urgency. The medical fear seems to follow from Institution Green.

Pilgrimage

= 4 stars

Some layered keyboards and some neat background vocals surround a song about an incence bowl. There’s some nice vocal layers near the end.

Intra-Album Rank-O-Rama: 3.09

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