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.

iTunes Store Link: Freeze Tag — Suzanne Vega

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.

iTunes Store Link: Marlene on the Wall — Suzanne Vega

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.

iTunes Store Link: Luka — Solitude Standing

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.

iTunes Store Link: Medley: Ironbound/Fancy Poultry — Solitude Standing

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.

iTunes Store Link: Gypsy — Solitude Standing

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.

iTunes Store Link: Book of Dreams — Days of Open Hand

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.

iTunes Store Link: Blood Makes Noise — 99.9 F

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.

iTunes Store Link: 99.9 F — 99.9 F

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.

iTunes Store Link: When Heroes Go Down — 99.9 F

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.

iTunes Store Link: Birth-Day (Love Made Real) — Nine Objects of Desire

Headshots

= 5 stars

A dusky groove supports the whistling Jeapordy theme (that alone is an extra star), followed by some Beatley piano crashes.

iTunes Store Link: Headshots — Nine Objects of Desire

Caramel

= 5 stars

Excellent. Seems phoned in from an alternate place and time, and a new, lounge-y genre for Vega to explore.

iTunes Store Link: Nine Objects of Desire — Suzanne Vega

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.

iTunes Store Link: No Cheap Thrill — Nine Objects of Desire

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.

iTunes Store Link: Lolita — Nine Objects of Desire

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.

iTunes Store Link: My Favorite Plum — Nine Objects of Desire

(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.

iTunes Store Link: (I’ll Never Be) Your Maggie May — Songs in Red and Gray

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.

iTunes Store Link: Last Years Troubles — Songs in Red and Gray

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.

iTunes Store Link: Solitaire — Songs in Red and Gray

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.

iTunes Store Link: Zephyr & I — Beauty & Crime

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.

iTunes Store Link: New York Is a Woman — Beauty & Crime

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.

iTunes Store Link: Pornographer’s Dream — Beauty & Crime

Much time passed between the previous album Nine Objects Of Desire and this one, during which a few things occurred, namely the divorce of Vega and Froom. Scars from that experience litter this album, and while sometimes it makes for poignant listening, other times it’s taken a bit too literally — and I feel I have to look away. While a few songs I find stellar, there’s a slightly disjointed feeling as Vega is working with a new producer, who lends a complex (and at times too ornate for my tastes) but ultimately rather sterile sheen over some decent material.

Penitent

= 4 stars

Fairly guilt ridden, the narrator wonders what they can do to please someone. Whether or not you like the production of this song will indicate if you like the rest of the album. It’s still a bit overly ornate for me.

Widow’s Walk

= 4 stars

A confessional to an abandoned marriage, trying to figure out the why that isn’t there and looking to the future. The chorus is strong and recalls the shipfaring themes of earlier work.

(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.

It Makes Me Wonder

= 4 stars

A little bit of chunky keyboards, a repetitive melody, and a more forward groove recalls Days Of Open Hand and 99.9F. I like the simple keyboard chords on the chorus.

Soap And Water

= 3 stars

Washing awa the wedding band, and talking about how “daddy’s a dark riddle, mama’s a head full of bees” — it can be nothing else than an apology to the daughter that the family is collapsing.

Song In Red And Gray

= 2 stars

Simply voice and guitar, but the song itself is rather depressing, documenting (once again) the failing marriage and the effect on their daughter. The problem is the addition of all sorts of synthetic sounds that I don’t care for.

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.

Priscilla

= 2 stars

The only item of note for me the clattering percussion.

If I Were A Weapon

= 3 stars

This is the type of song that I don’t really care for to but the sound definitely gets stuck in my mind.

Harbor Song

= 2 stars

Forgettable, but emotionally invested to the point of plodding. It’s kind of navel-gazing at this point.

Machine Ballerina

= 3 stars

How I wish there were a vocal melody to go along with the happy introductory chords.

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.

St. Claire

= 2 stars

There’s one chord that doesn’t sound quite right that has always hurt my listening of this song.

Intra Album Rank-O-Rama: 3.38

Next Album: Beauty & Crime
Previous Album: Nine Objects Of Desire

iTunes Store Link: Songs in Red and Gray — Suzanne Vega

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

Next Album: Songs In Red And Gray
Previous Album: 99.9F

iTunes Store Link: Nine Objects of Desire — Suzanne Vega

This album marked a turning point for Vega’s music — coming after the unexpected remix success of Tom’s Diner. This disc features a groove-oriented, electronic feel, and a definite push beyond folk roots to an artist that could take sonic chances. Up to the task was eclectic producer and keyboardist Mitchell Froom who brought in guitarist David Hildago (Los Lobos) and bassist Bruce Thomas (Elvis Costello and the Attractions) to create Vega’s new sound. Froom had worked on Los Lobos’ album Kiko and many of those experiments take further root on 99.9F°, to varying success.

The other item of note is that after recording this disc, Froom separated from his wife and married Vega. Their marriage, daughter Ruby, and eventual divorce would fuel much material on Vega’s subsequent two albums.

While I have fond memories of 99.9F° and the initial shock of the novel sonic direction, it doesn’t fare as well in my Intra-Album Rank-O-Rama method. I think two less songs would helped things out, and at times the production sort of smothers the ideas and Vega’s delicate voice.

Rock In This Pocket (Song Of David)

= 3 stars

From the opening chords, it’s clear this is a different sound for Vega — a pulsing, clattering noise with some whirling keyboards and an almost tribal percussion. The song is about how the small can take the large down.

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.

In Liverpool

= 4 stars

A bit Beatley with some nice, swaying conclusions to the chords and nice guitar. The chorus contrasts with the verse enough to think a new level of songwriting had been reached.

Here’s the video.

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.

Blood Sings

= 3 stars

Do we really have a connection to long forgotten relatives?

Fat Man And Dancing Girl

= 2 stars

Something doesn’t work for me, either the direct pulse, the “monkey in the middle” reminding me of one of those scary monkeys with the cymbals, and the crashing, marching circus recreation.

(If You Were) In My Movie

= 3 stars

The spoken words and the subject are a great idea. I just wish the song’s chorus did more than merely repeat the title.

As A Child

= 2 stars

This whirly tweeting is neat, but the song itself is a bit odd country with a rather odd organ.

Bad Wisdom

= 3 stars

A daughter has learned too many life lessons, that mother doesn’t know about. The song sympathizes with the daughter’s point of view. It’s a thought of the innocence is bliss.

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.

As Girls Go

= 3 stars

We’re stumbling about in the jungle, and the Bruce Thomas bass line has a charm to it, but I don’t know about the song itself.

Song Of Sand

= 4 stars

This is basically a full system removal of all the decorations added on by this album’s ornate percussion. All that’s left is vocals and acoustic guitar. Now that I think of it, this seems to be one of the only songs where Vega is presented in such a pristine state.

Intra-Album Rank-O-Rama: 3.5

Next Album: Nine Objects Of Desire
Previous Album: Days Of Open Hand

iTunes Store Link: 99.9 F — Suzanne Vega

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 incense bowl. There’s some nice vocal layers near the end.

Intra-Album Rank-O-Rama: 3.09

Next Album: 99.9F
Previous Album: Solitude Standing

iTunes Store Link: Days of Open Hand — Suzanne Vega

Vega’s second album fulfilled the promise of the first one’s “sound” and was her most commercially successful, featuring the surprise hit Luka. While that’s the obvious highlight, there are a few other gems waiting to be discovered, like the audacity of Tom’s Diner, the note perfect Gypsy, and the slightly spooky Solitude Standing.

Vega is again backed by notably excellent jazz-rock-folk musicians, namely backup vocalist Shawn Colvin, guitarists John Gordon and Mike Shulman, and bassist Mike Visceglia.

Tom’s Diner

= 4 stars

If you mumble the melody “I am sitting in the morning…” to pretty much any thirty something they’ll know the rest. This tune about people-watching at a West side diner (actually Tom’s Restaurant) inspired one inventive “reimagining” in particular. In its acappella original form, it’s nearly too naked to listen to. But I’ll grant it five stars for audacity, how a chord progression is suggested at through the melody alone, and it’s notoriety as test audio for the development of the MP3 file format.

Here’s the DNA remix that later introduced many to sampling and genre-crossing. Today it seems rather tame but at the time it was… well… either this or C&C Music Factory.

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.

In The Eye

= 2 stars

Something about the pulsing, jumpy beat never quite meshed with the subject matter for me.

Night Vision

= 3 stars

This seems to contemplate the silence after a romantic interlude, as activity fades to darkness. It changes substantially on the line “now I watch you falling into sleep” (1:27).

Solitude Standing

= 4 stars

Beneath a folk-song melody, the shuffle and spiky guitar chords finding unusual notes is a real treat. The magic is the overlapping Fairlight keyboard forming a nearly Bachlike sound, ticking percussion, and one bass descent in particular. The video is a truly dated oddity, featuring the perms and fashions of the 80s.

Calypso

= 4 stars

This is written from the point of view of a character in Homer’s Odyssey.

Language

= 2 stars

Acoustic guitar and voice, with Vega’s voice intertwining an arcing melody. At (1:56) the song changes into a different chord progression that I actually prefer to the song itself.

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.

Wooden Horse (Kaspar Hauser)

= 2 stars

Kaspar Hauser was a found “wild child” who due to his upbringing was illiterate. His only possession was a wooden horse. Eventually it was learned that he was raised in a dark cell. This song probes the mystery but isn’t really compelling until you know the story or perhaps have seen the movie.

Tom’s Diner (Reprise)

= 3 stars

Here’s the missing accompaniment to the opening version, tinkling like a Tim Burton movie. I think I prefer the imagined one in my head.

Intra Album Rank-O-Rama: 3.6

Next Album: Days Of Open Hand
Previous Album: Suzanne Vega

iTunes Store Link: Solitude Standing — Suzanne Vega

For yet another musical series in which I apply the personally biased Album Rank-O-Rama method to an artist’s albums, here’s an old favorite: Suzanne Vega. She just released a new disc called Beauty And Crime.

Suzanne Vega grew up in Manhattan and wrote poems as a child. She began performing with guitar in Greenwich Village while in college. Despite her outward appearance as a singer-songrwriter-guitarist in the vein of Bob Dylan or Joni Mitchell, Vega’s debut album from 1985 (titled Suzanne Vega) is not as “folky” as one may think — the songs are adorned with jazz-rock arrangements, most notably the addition of Fairlight synthesizer and tasteful electric guitar. The musicians backing Vega around this period were producer Steve Addabbo, guitarist Jon Gordon, and bassist Mike Visceglia. The songs also have lyrical wordiness that Vega has only recently recaptured, contemplating the themes of urban life, relationships, and introspective introversion.

Cracking

= 4 stars

The speaking verses are followed by choruses featuring nothing more than an “ah,” accompanied by penetrating guitar. Pleasant enough, but as the years have gone by I wish there was more “there” there.

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.

Small Blue Thing

= 3 stars

One might take this song literally to mean a shy girl watching a lover, but it could any seemingly insignificant concept in need of precious protection.

Straight Lines

= 3 stars

Neighborhood violence, as a woman learns to stand up for herself. The straight lines could be bars on a window, thorns of self-defense, or clarity of purpose with conviction.

Undertow

= 3 stars

Pretty melody, but Vega’s high sung note seems better realized in the simpler Cracking. She also seems unsure how hard to push her voice here — her breathy delivery I find more appealing.

Some Journey

= 3 stars

Not a fan of this relationship song, but there is a notable violin solo.

The Queen And The Soldier

= 4 stars

A long folk-song tale of a soldier wooing an icy queen, but she ends up beheading him. An abuse of power, or just an emperor that doesn’t like to be told about the lack of clothes?

Knight Moves

= 3 stars

A continuation of the previous story? The verse is rather ordinary but the chorus melody (do you love any, do you love none…) is quite nice.

Neighborhood Girls

= 2 stars

The whole band jumps in for a sort of country rock jamboree. The dense lyrics recall Dylan or Lou Reed as we revisit the urban neighborhood from Straight Lines.

Intra-Album Rank-O-Rama: 3.5

Next Album: Solitude Standing

iTunes Store Link: Suzanne Vega — Suzanne Vega

A long time Suzanne Vega fan, I’ve been letting Beauty & Crime steep to where I could write about it objectively and not from that “This is the first album in years! It’s wonderful!” perspective.

After endless repeats and within the context of her previous work on my iPod, I feel there is much that’s genuinely wonderful. Much of the saddening sterility of the previous “divorce” album, Songs In Red And Grey, is absent, replaced with tasteful, polished production, often perfect. Lyrically, it’s magnificent — it sounds as if Vega has almost too much to say these days.

But there are definite flaws — overall I don’t find the material as directly appealing as her earlier work — a large part of me still worships the minimalism of Those Whole Girls or the perfectly formed melodies that needed no backing. As a result I feel the better material (as usual) is stacked at the beginning.

Still, there’s much to enjoy. The album’s smartest conceit is the over-arching subject of New York, where Vega has lived most of her life. Zepher & I tackles the childhood neighborhood, Ludlow Street a particular location with particular memories, and Angel’s Doorway contemplates the uncontemplateable of 9/11. From uptown to downtown the album escorts us through different moods and styles, but a definite move toward light jazz (play the Plush Room soon?). Original bassist Mike Visceglia and KT Tunstall lend ever-tasteful support.

I’d say the first four songs are stellar, with the addition of Unbound and possibly Anniversary — the result a disc that finds a place among the rest of her work.

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 pleasantly forward. One simple bass sound (1:02) recalls Lou Reed’s Walk On the Wild Side.

Ludlow Street

= 4 stars

The percussion is breathy and churning — note the bass line that dips in and out like an undertow, specifically on the bridge where Vega’s voice stays on one note while chords change beneath (1:41).

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.

Frank & Ava

= 3 stars

Decent track but the chanting chorus reminds of Liz Phair or Juliana Hatfield — artists I both like but I’ve always seen Vega as a bit above that sort of pop pandering. The song documents the passionate but tumultuous romance of Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner.

Edith Wharton’s Figurines

= 3 stars

Recalling early folk roots, pleasant enough but leaving me a little wanting now knowing where she’s at now. The death bed contemplation is more lyrically mature than Fifty-Fifty Chance, and the figurines revisits the monitoring theme of Marlene on the Wall.

Bound

= 2 stars

Not into this one. I think I just don’t care for the melody of the chorus, which feels not as compelling as the musical treatment seems to think it is. Production-wise, it recalls Songs In Red And Gray.

Unbound

= 4 stars

The jumpy but definite groove fits into that electronica experimentation of 99.9F speckled with acoustic guitar bites and keyboard chirps. It’s plant cultivation as a metaphor for a living being achieving freedom.

As You Are Now

= 2 stars

A simple acoustic song, reminiscent of the album Days of Open Hand. I don’t care for the marching band type drums and the string treatment — a discussion of Vega’s daughter growing older and the parent’s urge to support the child throughout life (an interesting contrast to Bad Wisdom which empathizes more a daughter’s perspective). The production on the first few albums might have been more appropriate here.

Angel’s Doorway

= 3 stars

The subject matter seems inspired by 9/11 — not naming the event itself but from a survivor returning home from a scene of something unspeakable.

Anniversary

= 4 stars

For some reason the background vocals over this mostly descending chord progression move this song up a few notches for me. The beat is a slower, shuffle, nearly a mellow jazz feel. Each year we grow older and most likely don’t achieve all we set out to do, but life moves relentlessly forward. The chords behind the bridge (1:27) and the way the accompaniment drops out leaving only Vega and guitar (2:03) are sublime pleasure that I could spend about a day contemplating — leading to the lateness of this review.

Wikipedia: Beauty & Crime

Intra-Album Rank-O-Rama: 3.63

Previous Album: Songs In Red And Gray

iTunes Store Link: Beauty & Crime — Suzanne Vega