tortorino@hamstr.DEC (Sandy T., MKO1-2/H32, 264-5977) (06/28/85)
WHile you're on the subject of Suzanne Vega, an excellent album, look who the producer is-- Lenny Kaye of Nuggets, Patti Smith fame. And, speaking of new albums, try the new Talking Heads. It might be their best yet...
allynh@ucbvax.ARPA (Allyn Hardyck) (07/03/85)
In article <4550@mit-eddie.UUCP> nessus@mit-eddie.UUCP (Doug Alan) writes: >While on the topic of good music, I'd like to plug again Suzanne Vega's >debut album "Suzanne Vega". It is nothing like any of the other music >described here, but it is incredibly good. It's progressive folk music >(or something like that). Actually, it sort of sounds like Windom Hill >(only better!) with (great!) lyrics. From the May 24 edition of BAM: "...the LA Times and NY Times were fighting over which city's next big thing (they got Suzanne Vega, we got LJ's Maria McKee) is the *true* country-folk- and-Patti-Smith-worshippin' savior of down-home music." Funny how one stream of thought can lead us from Kate Bush to Maria McKee (well maybe not, in a crass cosmetic sense :-)). Any other LJ fans out there (that is besides Ed Wang and Dave Comay...)? I'm still trying to make up my mind - "Ways To Be Wicked"'s just a bit too Tom Petty-sounding in my opinion.
nessus@mit-eddie.UUCP (Doug Alan) (10/01/85)
> From: etan@tellab1.UUCP (Nate Stelton) > Suzanne Vega > Everybody who listens over my shoulder makes the same observation: it > sounds like poetry that had music written for it later on. The folk-rock > music is mildly interesting at best, and at other times, it becomes an effort > for me to keep my mind from wandering.... Boo! Hiss! May you spend eternity in pergatory locked in a room with Lionel Richie and Steve Perry! Okay, maybe I'm being a little bit too severe, but I say "Suazanne Vega" is the best album of the year! No, strike that, make it "second best album of the year". I just saw Vega live, and she was just as amazing as on record. Don't miss this album and don't miss her if she comes near you. "I am raining down in pieces" Doug Alan nessus@mit-eddie.UUCP (or ARPA)
etan@tellab1.UUCP (Nate Stelton) (10/07/85)
In article <5420@mit-eddie.UUCP> nessus@mit-eddie.UUCP (Doug Alan) writes: >> Suzanne Vega >> Everybody who listens over my shoulder makes the same observation: it >> sounds like poetry that had music written for it later on. The folk-rock >> music is mildly interesting at best, and at other times, it becomes an effort >> for me to keep my mind from wandering.... > >Boo! Hiss! May you spend eternity in pergatory locked in a room with >Lionel Richie and Steve Perry! Egad! What did I say? Oh please! Not that! >Okay, maybe I'm being a little bit too severe, but I say "Suazanne Vega" >is the best album of the year! No, strike that, make it "second best >album of the year". OK, if you want talk best of the year so far (for contemporary rock-type stuff, and I know what you were going to say, Doug), ...NOW HEAR THIS, USENET... Metal Fatigue -- Allan Holdsworth & IOU Go out and buy it today! -etan
strock@fortune.UUCP (Gregory Strockbine) (10/11/85)
>>> Suzanne Vega >>> Everybody who listens over my shoulder makes the same observation: it >>> sounds like poetry that had music written for it later on. The folk-rock >>> music is mildly interesting at best, and at other times, it becomes an effort >>> for me to keep my mind from wandering.... >> I have a similar problem with this album. I like the first song, kinda sounds like Laurie Anderson's voice, but after awhile I just forget there is even a record playing. My wife, who LOVES Joni Mitchell, bought this album because of the writeups that said Vega is the new Mitchell. Her reaction --- where's her voice, cause Vega just kinda speaks the words instead of singing (maybe not all the songs, I can't remember).
nessus@mit-eddie.UUCP (Doug Alan) (10/14/85)
> From: strock@fortune.UUCP (Gregory Strockbine) > I have a similar problem with this album. I like the first song, kinda > sounds like Laurie Anderson's voice, but after awhile I just forget > there is even a record playing. Maybe there's a fuse blown in your stereo or something! > My wife, who LOVES Joni Mitchell, bought this album because of the > writeups that said Vega is the new Mitchell. Why is it that when any female does a ballad or two, they are the next Joni Mitchell? They said this about Kate Bush too. Foo! Not very similar at all. And both Suzanne Vega and Kate Bush are much better than Joni Mitchell! (Sorry, Joni...) > Her reaction --- where's her voice, cause Vega just kinda speaks the > words instead of singing (maybe not all the songs, I can't remember). Only on the one you just mentioned and "Neighborhood Girls". Go listen again. Her voice is wonderful (though perhaps not *the* greatest or anything...), and so is her music and lyrics. I saw her live, and she started with a solo a cappella. It was amazing. No voice??? Hah! "I am raining down in pieces" Doug
elf@utcsri.UUCP (Eugene Fiume) (10/16/85)
> ............... And both Suzanne Vega and Kate Bush are much better > than Joni Mitchell! (Sorry, Joni...) > > > Doug Either this is a poor joke or Doug has once again demonstrated his ignorance and arrogance. I'll assume the former unless Doug chooses to complete the demonstration. "much better" indeed. What the hell is THAT supposed to mean? -- Eugene Fiume {decvax|allegra}!utcsri!elf
boyajian@akov68.DEC (JERRY BOYAJIAN) (10/18/85)
> From: mit-eddie!nessus (Doug Alan) >> My wife, who LOVES Joni Mitchell, bought this album because of the >> writeups that said Vega is the new Mitchell. > > Why is it that when any female does a ballad or two, they are the next > Joni Mitchell? They said this about Kate Bush too. Foo! Not very > similar at all. And both Suzanne Vega and Kate Bush are much better > than Joni Mitchell! (Sorry, Joni...) Well, Doug, I am one of those people who have thought of Suzanne Vega as "the new Joni Mitchell" (I didn't know that anyone else has done so, though). It's got little to do with the fact that she sings a "ballad or two". I find Vega's lyrics to be complex and rich in the same way as Mitchell's and in a similar style. Though Kate Bush's lyrics are also rich and complex, they are in a different style than Mitchell's. While I like Kate Bush's songs (aside: I love her new album!), they don't remind me at all of Joni Mitchell. Suzanne Vega's do. --- jayembee (Jerry Boyajian, DEC, Acton-Nagog, MA) UUCP: {decvax|ihnp4|allegra|ucbvax|...}!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-akov68!boyajian ARPA: boyajian%akov68.DEC@DECWRL.ARPA
nessus@mit-eddie.UUCP (Doug Alan) (10/18/85)
> From: elf@utcsri.UUCP (Eugene Fiume) >> [Me:] ............... And both Suzanne Vega and Kate Bush are much >> better than Joni Mitchell! (Sorry, Joni...) > Either this is a poor joke or Doug has once again demonstrated his > ignorance and arrogance. I'll assume the former unless Doug chooses to > complete the demonstration. > "much better" indeed. What the hell is THAT supposed to mean? Foo! Go away. It's called "personal opinion". And if you think Joni Mitchell is better is better than SV or KB that's fine with me. (Though you'd be wrong!) -Doug Alan nessus@mit-eddie.UUCP (or ARPA)
notes@mcgill-vision.UUCP (10/18/85)
I must admit that I haven't really heard any more than a small piece of one Suzanne Vega song, but it seems to be a case of the US press praising wildly a home-grown talent when someone doing much the same thing but in a far deeper and altogether *better* way gets missed because he/she's not American. I'm talking about (and some of you will know this already) a Canadian, Jane Siberry, probably the most original and amazing new performer to take pop music as an approach in a long time. With the release of her 3rd album "The Speckless Sky" about a month ago here in Canada, she's finally made the critical waves all across our fair country that she deserved for her first two albums. As far as consistency of excellence goes, I've never even heard of a performer who started a career so strongly. Through her first three albums there is not a single weak cut. And when she's at her best she's brilliant. The music is clearly built around the lyrics, yet it really can't be possible to say that it is subserviant to them because it is just so uniformly inspired. Beautiful and haunting are probably the best words that I could find to describe both her poetry and her music, and when they come together they are more than a match for anything that ever insinuated itself into your psyche. I think its about time that I brought my copies of the albums into the lab and wrote a more complete and detailed review, because I have a feeling that you Americans out there need some educatin'. BTW: Her first album 'Jane Siberry' is, as far as I know, not available in the US, but it alone is worth a trip to the Great White North. The others (available in Canada through Duke Street Records of Toronto) are, apparently, being distributed by Wyndham Hill (sp?) in the US. She's also just passed through the US with a medium-sized performance tour and is about to start (actually has already started) a big Canada-wide tour. My tickets for Sunday night at the Spectrum in Montreal are just burning a hole in my pocket. Lee Iverson utcsri!mcgill-vision!leei Computer Vision and Robotics McGill University Montreal, PQ