This is my last post on Suzanne Vega’s music for now. After listening to all of her songs my conclusion is that while she has a pleasant voice, some of the production techniques starting with 99.9F may not paint it in the best light. Still, my favorite album is Nine Objects of Desire and her later work shows a lyrical maturity that I believe is being overlooked.

After my album ranking project, the albums ended up in the following order, from best to worst:

• Nine Objects Of Desire Intra Album Rank: 3.91
• Beauty & Crime Intra Album Rank: 3.63
• Solitude Standing Intra Album Rank: 3.6
• Suzanne Vega Intra Album Rank: 3.5
• 99.9F Intra Album Rank: 3.5
• Songs In Red And Gray Intra Album Rank: 3.38
• Days Of Open Hand Intra Album Rank: 3.09

And here’s a list of all the songs I granted five stars:

Freeze Tag

= 5 stars

Strange chords with a meandering melody, shifting rhythm and some nostalgic lyrics referencing classic films stars Dietrich and Dean, Bogart and Bacall. I like how the melody is echoed by the guitar, round-style.

Marlene On The Wall

= 5 stars

Still one of my favorite Vega songs, with a changing tempo, steam-pipe keyboards, tasteful drums, metallic guitar, and a poster of film star Marlene Dietrich that may have seen too much, hinting at some personal paranoia. The wordy verses find release in the exquisite guitar solo at 1:29. This is first song on this disc with drums.

Luka

= 5 stars

Among the best songs Vega ever recorded, there’s a genuine band feel, and when the Byrds-like guitars chime in after the chorus it’s a magic, uplifting feeling of hopeful contrast that the song’s negative subject matter benefits from.

Ironbound / Fancy Poultry

= 5 stars

What I love is how two songs blend together forming a medely of sorts - the “bound” of the first expands into the “freedom” of the second.

Gypsy

= 5 stars

A Dylan-like folk tune that I wish Vega did more of - but it’s nearly impossible to follow up this sort of perfection.

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.

Blood Makes Noise

= 5 stars

This is almost literally a mechanical production inspired by the Tom’s Diner remixes, but what makes more sense is the pumping, pulsing bringing the lyrics of adrenalie to life.

99.9F°

= 5 stars

“You seem to me…” is this mellower version of Blood Makes Noise - but the bridge with the spacey Vega vocals (1:05) is a place she’ll return to on pretty much every album after this one.

When Heroes Go Down

= 5 stars

If Vega fronted a rock band I guess it would sound like this. I think it’s pretty cool. The bridge recreates the dippy percussion groove explored on every other track for this album, but her vocal delivery is basically a chanty rant that collapses rather Lennon-like to me.

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.

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.

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.

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.

(I’ll Never Be) Your Maggie May

= 5 stars

At this point it’s evident that Vega is much more personal here than she’s ever been, not singing about dusky actresses on her wall or other people’s lives. This is probably the most direct you can get, talking directly towards a former lover that she’ll never be what he wants her to be, and it tries to paint this rejection in a positive light - but other songs on this album make this positivity feel somewhat contrived. Other than that, it’s a catchy melody and one part where the ornate music drops away for a more sentimental thought (2:43) is quite exquisite.

Last Year’s Troubles

= 5 stars

The most straightforward and pleasant song on this album - a few keyboard twiddles and odd sounds - but there’s a gypsy folk mandolin lick bearing a hooky melody, probably the best since Tom’s Diner. It comes in between verses, but voice is finally added (2:09) to great effect.

Solitaire

= 5 stars

I’m fascinated by this song, from the chirpy keyboards to the dizzy pulsation near the end. It talks about a man playing solitaire late at night, while ignoring his lover. I can’t help but wonder if this game of solitaire isn’t some sort of more literal, personal late night pastime of the former lover, and the song No Cheap Thrill somehow a close cousin.

Zephyr & I

= 5 stars

The choppy rhythm and smooth as glass background vocals create the best song I’ve heard from Vega in the past decade. It recalls the cleaner sound of the first two albums but looks plesantly forward. One simple bass sound (1:02) recalls Lou Reed’s Walk On the Wild Side.

New York Is A Woman

= 5 stars

The piano and odd third chord with the brass band set this as an Elvis Costello outtake from Spike. A newcomer journeys to Manhattan for the first time and finds things to love and hate. Despite the light jazz feel, there’s some similarity to a basic folk song like The Queen And The Soldier.

Pornographer’s Dream

= 5 stars

Hints of other songs fuel this dusky, jazzy diversion - from Thin Man, Caramel, to Iron Bound Poultry and even In Liverpool, but something new. But the melody is more complex and syncopated than usual, as she reaches for high notes once avoided (1:24). One perfect moment for me is the toned drum that adds two cute stabs (0:46) at the end of each verse.

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