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OR EMAILMusic Notes: Suzanne Vega, Nine Objects Of Desire
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This album is my present favorite, although some may feel the Froom production overbearing to where Vega is obscured - her voice echoing out from the bottom of a well. But I find much to love, as the songs’ variety shows an embrace of old-yet-new styles; almost as if each tune takes an old favorite as a template: we have hints of Steely Dan, the Beatles, and Burt Bacharach’s The Look Of Love. Lyrically, Vega moves beyond the inward mysticism of Days Of Open Hand to wiser, jaded observations on family and relationships.
These are the nine objects of desire: Mitchell Froom gets two songs (presumably Honeymoon Suite and No Cheap Thrill), their daughter Ruby gets two (Birth-day and World Before Columbus), Froom’s daughter from a previous marriage is another (Lolita), death gets two (Thin Man and Tombstone) and the rest are three other men (Headshots, Caramel, Casual Match), one woman (Stockings), and a plum (My Favorite Plum).
Birth-day (Love Made Real)
= 5 stars
With the naive organ and Bruce Thomas on bass, this is practically a This Year’s Model outtake. It’s about the birth of Vega and Froom’s daughter Ruby and the tension builds to a breaking point but never exactly resolves. Possibly the female equivalent (or aftermath) of Costello’s Pump It Up.
Headshots
= 5 stars
A dusky groove supports the whistling Jeapordy theme (that alone is an extra star), followed by some Beatley piano crashes.
Caramel
= 5 stars
Excellent. Seems phoned in from an alternate place and time, and a new, lounge-y genre for Vega to explore.
Stockings
= 2 stars
A character study based on some tiresome guitar droning, with a keyboard line I find particularly odd (1:43).
Casual Match
= 3 stars
A groove-driven song, reminiscent of the previous album.
Thin Man
= 4 stars
Complicated jazz chords plus a muted horn section. It’s amusing to follow the muffled guitar solo (2:07), navigating the territory somewhat unsuccessfully.
No Cheap Thrill
= 5 stars
Straight ahead pop rock with a goofy distorted guitar lick. Note the climbing horns that play all the wrong notes near the end.
= 2 stars
A beautiful song, cluttered with uncalled for production.
Lolita
= 5 stars
Mitchell Froom produced Cibo Matto which seems to be evident on this track, plus some touches of Santana. Vega’s voice echoes down the alleyway.
Honeymoon Suite
= 3 stars
A quite literal and autobiographical song, but the waltz rhythm with a wheezy, whining organ doesn’t quite congeal for me.
Tombstone
= 3 stars
This piano boogie contains a middle part that’s very Elvis Costello / Brutal Youth, resulting in some daffy fun.
My Favorite Plum
= 5 stars
A perfect blend of Portishead, loungey-bachelor-pad, and James Bond. When the organ breaks in at 1:15 it’s like the sixties all over again.
Intra Album Rank-O-Rama: 3.91
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"Heh... yeah now that I think about it, was that theater as empty as youremember? So many plot holes - of which you list several. I think Hubbardwrote himself into a corner with the premise - the humans are enslaved by anall powerful alien race, so how exactly do you get the humans to a levelwhere they can overthrow their masters? It seems half the solution wasmaking the Psychlos complete morons... anyhow, it's definitely good forlaughs." - 
I watched both the videos and I have to say I enjoyed the music more when I closed my eyes. The vids didn’t fit the tone of the songs to me, particularly the latter more staccato tune … the setting seemed kind of generic for the song. Anywho, not quite as edgy bit a tad in the vein of Ani … also reminded me of Tori … am I betraying the age of my musical tastes here?
Yep I must say, since I don’t watch MTV anymore, seeing the videos is always pretty jarring - meaning I tend to not like them either.
I have the first two Tori Amos albums but kinda lost track of her career after that… maybe I should check ‘em out!
I just have to ask: when you say you have her first two albums, you don’t mean this one I take it: http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Alley/4370/yktrfaq.html
I got a hold of that years ago and it’s simply hilarious - predates anything most people have ever heard by her - extremely on the mainstream side of things and utterly bizarre to say the least
I have to admit I haven’t gotten anything of hers recently either … I’ve been pretty lazy about getting new music, which is why I perk up when I see other people recommending stuff, since I don’t feel like I have the time/energy to go out and search for things, particularly written by artists I don’t already know!
Ha ha, no - the first two I have are Little Earthquakes and Under the Pink. As for Y Tori Kant Read I actually looked for it a long time ago (for novelty’s sake) and couldn’t find it. Looks sorta 80s metal!
Yeah, it was like poppy 80s stuff … truly terrible and mainstream. I think I got a bootlegged copy off a friend a while back. If I dig it up sometime I’ll be sure to post it somewhere it can be downloaded and let you know. Very very very odd
[...] Nine Objects Of Desire Intra Album Rank: 3.91 [...]