FEATURE:
A Buyer’s Guide
PHOTO CREDIT: Faubel Christensen
Part Seventy-Six: Suzanne Vega
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I am trying to include…
more women in A Buyer’s Guide. One artists who I like very much and haven’t yet included is Suzanne Vega. The legendary Folk/Alternative Rock artist has produced more than her fair share of magnificent albums! I am going to whittle it down to the essential four, an underrated gem and her latest studio album. I could not see a book related to her, so I will focus on the music solely. Before coming to the recommendations, AllMusic provide some useful biography of a musical titan:
“Suzanne Vega was among the first major figures in the bumper crop of female singer/songwriters who rose to prominence during the late '80s and '90s. Her hushed, restrained folk-pop and highly literate lyrics (inspired chiefly by Leonard Cohen, as well as Lou Reed and Bob Dylan) laid the initial musical groundwork for what later became the trademark sound of Lilith Fair, a tour on which she was a regular. Moreover, her left-field hit singles "Luka" and "Tom's Diner" helped convince record companies that folk-styled singer/songwriters were not a thing of the past, paving the way for breakthroughs by Tracy Chapman, Michelle Shocked, Shawn Colvin, Edie Brickell, the Indigo Girls, and a host of others. Vega's early commercial success helped open doors for a wealth of talent, as she scored a platinum album with 1987's Solitude Standing, and she would maintain a strong and dedicated cult following. Her association with -- and marriage to -- experimental producer Mitchell Froom during the '90s resulted in two intriguing albums, 1992's 99.9 F and 1996's Nine Objects of Desire. Following their painful divorce, Vega returned in 2001 with her first album in five years, Songs in Red and Gray, which was greeted with her strongest reviews in a decade. She explored jazzy arrangements on 2007's Beauty and Crime, and wrote a musical one-woman show that was documented on the 2016 album Lover, Beloved: Songs from an Evening with Carson McCullers.
Suzanne Vega was born July 11, 1959, in Santa Monica, California; her parents divorced shortly thereafter, and after her mother (a jazz guitarist) remarried the Puerto Rican novelist Ed Vega, the family moved to Manhattan. A shy and quiet child, Vega nonetheless learned to take care of herself growing up in the tough neighborhoods of Spanish Harlem. Her parents often sang folk songs around the house, and when she began playing guitar at age 11, she found herself attracted to the poetry of singer/songwriter music (Dylan, Cohen), and found a refuge from New York's chaos in traditional folk (Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Judy Collins, Joan Baez). At age 14, she made her first attempts at writing songs; however, when she attended the High School for the Performing Arts as a teenager, it was to study dance, not music. She subsequently enrolled at Barnard College as a literature major, and during this time, she began playing at coffee houses and folk festivals on the West Side and near Columbia University; she soon moved up to the Lower East Side/Greenwich Village folk clubs, including the famed Folk City club where Bob Dylan started out. In 1979, Vega attended a Lou Reed concert, and the effect was a revelation: here was an artist chronicling the harsh urban world Vega knew, with the detail and literacy of a folk artist. Vega discovered a new voice and sense of possibility for her original material, and her writing grew rapidly.
Vega graduated from college in 1982 and held down several low-level day jobs while quickly becoming the Greenwich Village folk scene's brightest hope. Record companies were reluctant to take a chance on a singer/songwriter steeped in folk music, however, since they saw little chance of any commercial returns. After three years of rejections, Vega and her managers Ron Fierstein and Steve Addabbo finally convinced A&M (which had turned her down twice) to give her a shot, and she signed a contract in 1983. Former Patti Smith Group guitarist Lenny Kaye was brought in to co-produce the debut with Addabbo and lend it a smoother, more contemporary flavor.
Titled simply Suzanne Vega, it was released in 1985 to much critical applause. Thanks in part to the single "Marlene on the Wall," the album was a genuine hit in Britain, where it eventually went platinum; while it didn't duplicate that success in America, the album's sales of 200,000 strong still came as a shock to A&M (and Vega). For the 1987 follow-up, Vega overcame writer's block to craft an eclectic batch of new material, and drew upon a backlog of songs that hadn't fit the debut. Again produced by Kaye and Addabbo, Solitude Standing was Vega's finest achievement; the richness and variety of its compositions were complemented by the lusher full-band arrangements and more accessible (albeit less folky) production. The album's lead single, "Luka," was a haunting first-person account of child abuse, whose terse (and fictional) lyrics struck a chord with American radio listeners. As a result, the album was an instant hit on both sides of the Atlantic; it debuted at number two in the U.K. and went gold within three months in the U.S., peaking at number 11 and eventually going platinum. "Luka" hit number three on the American pop charts -- unheard of for a singer/songwriter in the '80s prior to Vega -- and was nominated for three Grammys. As record companies rushed to fill a market niche they hadn't known existed (and uncovering some major talent in the process), Vega spent almost a year on the road touring in support of the record; exhausted, she returned to New York to take some time off, and also tracked down her biological father for the first time.
When the time came to record her third album in 1989, Vega decided to co-produce it herself with her keyboardist/boyfriend Anton Sanko (longtime bassist Michael Visceglia also had input). Vega began to experiment with her lyrics, pushing beyond the narrative story-songs that dominated her first two records, and had minimalist composer Philip Glass contribute a string arrangement. The result, Days of Open Hand, was released in 1990, but it didn't produce another hit single and was somewhat lost in the shuffle of new female singer/songwriters; though it did sell respectably, reviews were somewhat mixed. Even though the album didn't recapture Vega's 1987 popularity, she was still -- indirectly -- involved in one of '90s most bizarre hit singles. Two British dance producers working under the alias DNA took the a cappella Solitude Standing track "Tom's Diner" and set it to an electronic dance beat, releasing the result as a bootleg single called "Oh Suzanne." When A&M discovered the piracy, Vega decided to allow the single's official release under its original title, and it became a substantial hit in the U.S., U.K., and elsewhere. The following year, Vega gathered a number of other unsolicited versions of the song and compiled them as Tom's Album.
Intrigued by the success of "Tom's Diner," Vega began looking for ways to open up her musical approach. She hooked up with producer Mitchell Froom, best known for his work on '90s albums by Elvis Costello, Richard Thompson, and Crowded House. Froom applied his trademark approach -- dissonant arrangements, clanging percussion -- to Vega's 1992 album, and while 99.9 F° didn't reinvent her as a dance artist (as some expected), the synth-centered sound of the record was unlike any of her previous work. Froom and Vega began dating several months after the record's completion, and they wound up marrying; their daughter, Ruby, was born in 1994, and Vega naturally took some time off from music. She returned in 1996 with Nine Objects of Desire, again with Froom in the producer's chair, though his approach was somewhat less radical this time out; in terms of Vega's subject matter, there was a newfound physical sensuality borne of her marriage and childbirth experiences.
All was not well for long, however; Froom began seeing Ally McBeal singer Vonda Shepard, and he and Vega split up in August 1998. In 1999, Vega released the best-of retrospective Tried and True, taking stock of her past career (she had also split with longtime manager Ron Fierstein); she also published her first book, The Passionate Eye, a collection of poems, lyrics, essays, journalistic pieces, and the like. Vega began playing shows with bassist Michael Visceglia again, and worked on material addressing the breakup of her marriage. Songs in Red and Gray was released in the fall of 2001 and marked a return to the more direct sound of Suzanne Vega and Solitude Standing; it also garnered her the best reviews since those records. Retrospective: The Best of Suzanne Vega arrived in 2003, followed by the Live at Montreux 2004 DVD/CD in 2006 and the all-new Beauty & Crime in 2007. In 2010, Vega released Close Up, Vol. 1 and Close Up, Vol. 2 -- the first half of a proposed four-volume collection of re-recorded versions of songs from her catalog, all featuring stripped-down, unadorned arrangements that highlight the lyrics and melodies -- and followed the first two installments of the series with Close Up, Vol. 3 in 2011. The final release in the sequence, Close Up, Vol. 4: Songs of Family, appeared a year later in 2012 and included two previously unheard tracks -- "The Silver Lady" and "Brother Mine" -- which had been written by Vega over 30 years earlier. In early 2013 she demo'ed new material with the help of Gerry Leonard, her live musical director. This resulted in the album Tales from the Realm of the Queen of Pentacles, which was released in February 2014.
In 2011, Vega staged a one-woman theater piece in which she performed a song cycle about the life and work of novelist Carson McCullers, written in collaboration with Duncan Sheik. In 2016, as the show was being revived in Los Angeles, Vega released an album of its songs, Lover, Beloved: Songs from an Evening with Carson McCullers. The album was released through Vega's own label, Amanuensis Productions. In early 2019, she performed a residency at New York's Café Carlyle, singing a mix of originals and covers informed by life in New York City. A live album from the Café Carlyle engagement, An Evening of New York Songs and Stories, was slated for release in 2020”.
Below is my guide to the essential albums from the iconic Suzanne Vega. Let us hope that we hear more music from her soon. If you are new to her music, then the guide below should be of some assistance when it comes to…
THE albums to own.
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The Four Essential Albums
Suzanne Vega
Release Date: 1st May, 1985
Label: A&M
Producers: Steve Addabbo/Lenny Kaye and Steven Miller (co-producer)
Standout Tracks: Freeze Tag/Small Blue Thing/Undertow
Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?master_id=31638&ev=mb
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/5cboZA5AxA9fc6F1gp818q?si=3kFt9stWRd2VcbYOa6RguQ&dl_branch=1
Review:
“Though early comparisons were made to Joni Mitchell, Suzanne Vega's true antecedents were Janis Ian and Leonard Cohen. Like Ian, she sings with a precise, frequently half-spoken phrasing that gives her lyrics an intensity that seems to suggest an unsteady control consciously held over emotional chaos. Like Cohen, Vega observes the world in poetic metaphor, her cold urban landscapes reflecting a troubled sense of love and loss. The key track is "Small Blue Thing," in which the singer pictures herself as an object "Like a marble/or an eye," "made of china/made of glass," "lost inside your pocket," and "turning in your hand." The sharply picked acoustic guitar and other isolated musical elements echo the closely observed scenes -- everything seems to be in tight close-up and sharp focus. Often, the singer seems to be using the songs to measure an emotional distance; sometimes, as in "Marlene on the Wall," she observes her own actions from a remove. In "Freeze Tag," she tells a companion, "I will be Dietrich/and you can be Dean"; in "Marlene," a poster of the aloof movie star "watches from the wall," observing the singer's succession of lovers, and she tries to emulate her heroine's persona, telling the current one, "Even if I am in love with you/all this to say, what's it to you?" The ten songs on Suzanne Vega constitute the self-analysis of a young woman who desires possession without offering commitment; no wonder that, upon its release, it was taken to heart by young women across the country and in Europe” – AllMusic
Choice Cut: Marlene on the Wall
Solitude Standing
Release Date: 1st April, 1987
Label: A&M
Producers: Steve Addabbo/Lenny Kaye
Standout Tracks: Luka/Iron Bound / Fancy Poultry/Night Vision
Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?master_id=31648&ev=mb
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/5t4dbJ8zlmAKv5OuraAWrL?si=inPUi4E2R9i3u82fHxpwSw&dl_branch=1
Review:
“What makes Solitude Standing such an impressive entry into the rock canon is Vega’s ability to tell a story. Whether fictional or not, many of the songs on this project can be relatable, comedic, or mature. Vega has an acute sense of detail that has developed in the indie-rock genre for quite some time. It feels almost poetic at certain points. Her descriptive language used on the first single, “Tom’s Diner” is funny, light, and engaging. Vega goes a cappella on this track, and many consider this to be her most well-known song of her career (or at least a version of it is: A dance remix by the DNA Disciples was a Top 5 hit around the world in 1990). The rhythm that she uses with just her voice has lead to artists creating different remixes with instruments and electronic sounds for this track. She sets the mood nicely here as well by starting the song with lyrics like, “I am sitting in the morning at the diner on the corner.” It’s easy to sing along to, and there is some light and enjoyable comedy mixed in as well.
Because Vega likes to use storytelling as a device in her lyrics, she does an excellent job setting up not only the plot, but the characters as well. For example, in one of her most mature songs, the hit single “Luka,” she addresses the topic of child abuse. Vega got the inspiration from an actual boy playing in the park who seemed different to her, because he was separate from the other kids. The contrast between the catchy instruments behind the mature lyrics creates something that people will really have to listen to a few times to understand. I
Vega creates this world on the album where her characters in each song want to break away from the depression or angst that they may be feeling. Whether she does this through a certain point of view, or through a first person account, each track uniquely represents something different. On “Iron Bound/Fancy Poultry, Vega sets this dark and depressing background showing the inner conflict that her main character possesses. With a slow-tempo guitar riff behind the lyrics, this is considered another gem on the EP. She uses a first person point of view on “In the Eye” where she has more catchy instrumentals to go along with her almost menacing voice. Lyrics like, “If you were to kill me now I would still look you in the eye,” shows Vega’s insistence on making herself known through love. She goes into more of a folk-style production on “Night Vision.” This song almost reminds me of a Lord Huron song from their second album. While the story in this track is fictional, it is still inspired by poetry and has a more belonging theme to it.
The title track, “Solitude Standing” is more alternative-based and pop influenced. Vega incorporates solitude as a character here trying to set things straight with her personality. Vega seems to be trying to find herself here on this song, leaving the impression that she has been fighting with solitude for awhile now. “Calypso” is taken straight form the story of Odyssey, where Vega uses instances from that play to tell a heartbreaking love tale. Much like in “Luka,” she has a lyric like “My name is Calypso” to set up the story from the beginning. Very moving track. On the song, “Gypsy”, Vega takes a storyline out of a book to put her own style in music form. Over a slow-tempo guitar, she talks of belonging once again much like “Night Vision.” Vega seems to be fighting with solitude as the album progresses on.
What ties this album together nicely is, the “Tom’s Diner” instrumentation at the end. Vega just has a violin playing to the rhythm of her first song on the project, without lyrics. It’s like the listener has to put the two together and envision it his/herself. While Vega has not come out with anything as impactful preceding Solitude Standing, this album has still shown people that storytelling mixed in with a folk-like production can create something that is socially relevant. Vega creates this world that people can relate to, and have their own perspective on. Bands like Lord Huron will try to emulate her style, but the challenge will be difficult” – The Young Folks
Choice Cut: Tom’s Diner
Nine Objects of Desire
Release Date: 10th September, 1996
Label: A&M
Producer: Mitchell Froom
Standout Tracks: Headshots/No Cheap Thrill/World Before Columbus
Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?master_id=31677&ev=mb
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/6yH1CnRs34R23OjFOdPlCI?si=QqMdbn4yRx2vt9-C6mJkqQ&dl_branch=1
Review:
“With "nine objects of desire," singer/songwriter Suzanne Vega's first album in four years, she deftly executes a difficult artistic maneuver: moving ahead by stepping back. The industrial-remix treatment by DNA of Vega's a cappella ditty "Tom's Diner" was an unexpected hit in 1990. But its success also pushed her so far into the icy world of machine pop – and away from the gently penetrating quality of early songs such as "Undertow," "Marlene on the Wall" and "Luka" – that by 1992's 99.9 F, Vega's words and melodies had gotten lost in an impressionistic blur of blips and bleeps. That album's critical and commercial failure proved that her modernist tack was just, as she called one of 99.9 F's typically obtuse tracks, bad wisdom.
Vega is now a wife (she is married to producer Mitchell Froom) and a mother (they have a daughter, Ruby), and Nine Objects of Desire reflects great changes in her lyrical and musical perspective. She addresses the anticipation of birth and death, respectively, in "Birth-day (Love Made Real)" and "Thin Man." There are the remembrances of past mistakes in "Headshots" and, in "Caramel," the fear of new ones. And Vega does all this with an impressive clarity (there's hardly an oblique word or thought here) and economy (no wasted ones, either) that recall her earliest work and are wonderfully displayed in the pointed reflection of "World Before Columbus" ("If your love were taken from me/Every color would be black and white/It would be as flat as the world before Columbus/That's the day that I lose half my sight").
Yet the music is surprisingly spare and buoyant. Against Froom's evocative production and keyboard backdrops, Vega confidently makes her way through the Eurocafe balladry of "My Favorite Plum," an Astrud Gilbertostyle samba; "Caramel"; the arty folk of "Honeymoon Suite"; and even a hint of techno rock in "Casual Match." In Nine Objects of Desire, she has made an album of change and adventure – and good wisdom” – Rolling Stone
Choice Cut: Caramel
Beauty & Crime
Release Date: 17th July, 2007
Label: Blue Note
Producer: Jimmy Hogarth
Standout Tracks: New York Is a Woman/Edith Wharton's Figurines/Unbound
Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?master_id=31716&ev=mb
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/3UPEugvO6SIc10gYad5IWg?si=H-RvT2f-SPO5vBMp-YWqeg&dl_branch=1
Review:
“Musically, this is easily her most adventurous record ever; yet it is also more accessible than any album since her debut. The craft and care put into the songs themselves and their articulation by Vega and producer Jimmy Hogarth are amazing. Here, emotions are laid bare in places whether in the first, second, or third persons, but they are always placed inside elegant yet spare lyrics that are taut, poetic, and evocative. The dreamy soundscape contains layers of guitars, percussion (organic, electronic and live, in one case) strings, reeds, brass, and backing singers (including daughter Ruby Froom who appears on a couple of cuts, and KT Tunstall who appears once). But it's the sound of Vega's acoustic guitar on all these songs that is unmistakably at the top and provides the album's anchor. It's important to note this, simply because it keeps these beautiful pop songs rooted in a new kind of contemporary folk that Vega was a pioneer of in the '80s. And it keeps her rooted to her own catalog, from the beginning to the present. In other words, as she has experimented in the past with all kinds of sounds, she has forever remained herself and never more so than here, whether it's the jazzy, faux bossa nova of "Pornographer's Dream" or its predecessor, the stunning "New York Is a Woman." "Frank and Ava," is a rocking pop tune whose electric and acoustic guitars entwine, seemingly kissing, wrapped around a bassline played by Tony Shanahan from the Patti Smith Group. The deliberate interweaving of strings and her guitar on "Edith Wharton's Figurines" offers a glimpse of the late author's studied cool and dignity as it speaks from the voices of her characters to a songwriter who can see not only herself, but the anonymous millions of others living in and around New York City. "Bound," whose title is attended by a glimpse of Vega's wedding to poet and lawyer Paul Mills (who waited for her for 26 years), along with "As You Are Now," about her daughter (which also contain a photograph of its subject) are among the most nakedly personal songs she has ever written. "Angel's Doorway" is as pointed a musical vignette as one is likely to hear in a pop song. With electric guitars, a seemingly cheesy synth line, droning bassline, and sparkling acoustic guitar with the flat thud of the percussion offers its tonalities of the various voices of those in the city who have been snuffed out but live inside the subject.
The final track, "Anniversary," written a year after 9/11, opens with Vega's guitar skeletally framing her melody. It is the contemplative sound of a city that's gone on, changed forever yet forever itself, despite it being "thick with ghosts, the wind whips 'round its circuitries...as they meet you on each corner/meet you on each street..." even as the residents are exhorted to "watch for daily braveries/notice newfound courtesies/finger sudden legacies..." The song isn't a eulogy, it's the sound that does not simply memorialize, but opens a new chapter. Artists have always helped the rest of us make sense of upheaval, tragedy, tumultuous change, confusion and the darkness that often accompanies history. On Beauty & Crime, Vega accomplishes this in spades, but without any ideologies or with empty, overly simplistic ruminations or platitudes. Her grief is personal and so is her sense of gratitude, dignity, and love -- especially when it's hard. The opening words to "Ludlow Street," way back on track two, sum it up directly and may be the credo of the entire album: "Love is the only thing that matters/Love is the only thing that's real/I know we hear this every day/It's still the hardest thing to feel." Beauty& Crime is, without reservation, the defining creative moment of Suzanne Vega's career thus far, and a morally and emotionally communicative recording that instructs even as it confesses from inside, and reports from the margins and becomes, in its graceful impurity, a vision that is singular and utterly direct” – AllMusic
Choice Cut: Frank & Ava
The Underrated Gem
99.9F°
Release Date: 8th September, 1992
Label: A&M
Producer: Mitchell Froom
Standout Tracks: 99.9F/Blood Sings/When Heroes Go Down
Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?master_id=31672&ev=mb
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/03EEf4WnO2irH5NQvuY4Ul?si=3ZYa0YJkSFi1DU6564ZFsg&dl_branch=1
Review:
“The California born, New York City reared guitarist, vocalist and songwriter Suzanne Vega started off quietly, but intensely, in 1985 with her eponymous debut LP. Solitude Standing, home of the original version of “Tom's Diner,” followed in 1987 and Days of Open Hand in 1990. All three records reservedly combined pronounced guitar play with discreet keyboards and programming. So, it was something of a shock when DNA, a British production duo, borrowed “Tom's Diner” and put its coolly probing “slice of life” perspective over an insistent groove. After sussing out the business kinks between DNA and her label, A&M Records, Vega gave the green light for the single in the fall of 1990. With her lyrical poise and distinct vocal colliding with DNA's beat, fireworks erupted in the clubs, on the radio and on the charts.
Vega, whose biggest hit was “Luka” in 1987, found herself handling this unexpected smash in stride. She began to ponder how she could interpolate the energy of this exchange between herself and DNA into her own artistic matrix. Vega’s creative inquisitiveness led her to intersect with musician and producer Mitchell Froom. Froom was excited with Vega's avidity and agreed to produce her fourth album.
Appropriately titled, 99.9F° simmers in its experimentation. The album nearly defies its genre classifications of alternative pop and contemporary rock altogether. The compositions of the record are rich and funky, but its melodies aren't undercut by the urgency of the album's rhythms. More importantly, the LP retains a discernible fearlessness in its aural attitude that ensured that no snarky critic or lazy fan could level accusations of trend-hopping post-“Tom's Diner.” The live instrumentation on 99.9F° is smart and slinky, paired with a range of kaleidoscopic loops and samples, such as the motorized whir-click of “Blood Makes Noise” or the carnivalesque “Fat Man & Dancing Girl.”
Vega's singing falls between graceful disinterest and curious examination, providing the charge for her musical prose. Her retelling of the Biblical tale of David and Goliath as “Rock in This Pocket (Song of David)” resets the story as an accessible allegory for the human experience. Much of the songwriting accomplishes this and nowhere is this more apparent than on the character studies of the gothic pop of “In Liverpool” and the coiling, jazz sizzle of the title track. In these songs, and others on 99.9F°, Vega sometimes is an active participant in the song scenarios or sometimes not at all. When it’s the former, she offers sophisticated tension on “If You Were In My Movie,” not your typical love song, but no less romantic” – Albumism
Choice Cut: Blood Makes Noise
The Latest Album
Lover, Beloved: Songs from an Evening with Carson McCullers
Release Date: 14th October, 2016
Label: Amanuensis Productions
Producer: Gerry Leonard
Standout Tracks: Carson's Blues/Instant of the Hour After/Harper Lee
Buy: https://www.piccadillyrecords.com/counter/product.php?pid=111765
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/3N6KLqbqg6aVCbfKg8eLnG?si=qChvwHCHSryMwmUt6Ks7Aw&dl_branch=1
Review:
“Suzanne Vega has always been a songwriter with a literary sensibility, displaying a feel for character and wordplay that was noticeably more nuanced than her peers. It seems entirely fitting that Vega might wish to honor one of her influences as a writer, and with Lover, Beloved: Songs from an Evening with Carson McCullers, she's done just that. One of Vega's favorite authors is Carson McCullers, who enjoyed critical and popular success in the '40s with her novels The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, The Member of the Wedding, and Reflections in a Golden Eye. In 2011, Vega performed a one-woman show about McCullers' life and work, and five years later she's released Lover, Beloved, which features ten songs she wrote for the show. (Duncan Sheik co-wrote the music with Vega, except for two songs she wrote in collaboration with Michael Jefry Stevens.) The album often has a somewhat different feel than much of Vega's work, especially in the songs in which she takes on McCullers' persona and discusses her early days after leaving Georgia for New York City ("New York Is My Destination"), and dishes about fellow authors she sees as hopeless inferiors ("Harper Lee"). The vintage jazz accents on "Carson's Blues" and "Harper Lee" also take Vega's songs into musical territory that doesn't always seem comfortable to her. However, the less specifically biographical numbers are quite effective, as Vega takes up stories from McCullers' life and work and weaves them into her own creative sensibility. Vega's vocal performances are intelligent and skillful throughout, and the largely acoustic arrangements give this music a vintage sensibility without forcing the issue. Lover, Beloved isn't a radical shift from Suzanne Vega's usual body of work, but it does find her stretching a bit from her comfort zone, and she sails gracefully along on this smart and tuneful song cycle” – AllMusic
Choice Cut: New York Is My Destination