Songs In Red And Grey: Suzanne Vega: Amazon.ca: Music

1. Penitent

2. Widow's Walk

3. (I'll Never Be) Your Maggie May

4. It Makes Me Wonder

5. Soap And Water

6. Songs In Red And Gray

7. Last Year's Troubles

8. Priscilla

9. If I Were A Weapon

10. Harbor Song

11. Machine Ballerina

12. Solitaire

13. St. Clare

Product Description

From Amazon.co.uk

Suzanne Vega remains one of the most relentlessly, mercilessly tasteful recording artists alive. Every note on Songs in Red and Gray has been arranged with the meticulous precision of a butler laying silver on a table, every sound so polished and buffed that you barely notice you're listening, every syllable of every lyric only admitted to the melodies after painstaking reviewing and rewriting, and every song sung as if Vega believes that her core audience consists of elocution teachers. This has, occasionally, worked for Vega before--it should not be forgotten what an original presence she sounded around "Left of Centre" and "Marlene On The Wall"--and it works, occasionally, for Vega now. There are a few fine songs here--notably the gently acerbic "Last Year's Troubles" and the wryly subversive "Maggie May" (not the Rod Stewart standard)--but there is also a whole lot of glutinous, over-refined suet. Vega still needs to give her songs a much longer leash. Andrew Mueller

Chronique amazon.fr

La chanteuse new-yorkaise a toujours plus ou moins mis sa vie en musique. Ainsi, un album comme le superbe Nine Objects Of Desire témoignait en 1996 des joies de la maternité. En 2001, Songs In Red And Gray est plus amer, le ton d'ensemble étant marqué par sa récente séparation d'avec son mari, le producteur Mitchell Froom dont elle n'avait, auparavant, cessé de chanter les louanges. D'où un album hanté par le divorce et ses déboires, qui s'interroge sur les vertus du mariage. Si l'ambiance folk enchantera sans problème les amateurs (fort nombreux) de "Luka" et "Tom's Diner", l'heure est malgré tout aux bilans et remises en question comme en témoignent "Widow's Walk" et le cynique "Soap And Water". D'une poésie trouble et intacte, produit par Rupert Hine, l'ensemble offre encore à entendre les virtuoses vocalises de la maîtresse de céans portées par des arpèges tout en finesse. On écoutera en boucle le superbe "I'll Never Be Your Maggie May", triste constat et réponse personnelle d'une grande dame encore sous le choc à un classique signé par Rod Stewart. --Hervé Comte

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Customer Reviews

70 Reviews

5 star:		(37)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

Average Customer Review

4.4 out of 5 stars (70 customer reviews)

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5.0 out of 5 stars Agreed, her best since her first, July 13 2004

By

Speedylady (Third Rock from the Sun) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Songs In Red And Grey (Audio CD)

Few albums have touched me and knocked my socks off at the same time as this one has. This is by far her best songwriting since Suzanne Vega and Solitude Standing. I have enjoyed all of her albums, but these songs have a rawness, intimacy and intensity that I have rarely ever seen. On top of that, the musical arrangements framing the lyrics are perfect - not over done, not underdone. You can "feel" the emotion before she starts singing. I am not a professional critic, but I would say this is a flawless album. Pure Suzanne in the lyrics and her songwriting has reached a maturity and level of excellence that all of her fans have been watching her work towards.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Her best, May 7 2004

By

Conor Lynch "CJL" (Dublin) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Songs In Red And Grey (Audio CD)

Suzanne Vega's "Songs in Red and Gray" is, in my view, her masterpiece. Gone are the sometimes precious melodies and forced intellectuisms that dulled some of her previous works. Here we have a more world wisely approach gathered from over 22 years in the business. This is her most mature and flowing work to date. The general theme is one of heartbreak and determination of a marriage broke down. Similar in theme to Shawn Colvin's "A few small repairs" but not in tone. The music here is reflective (Soap and Water, Penitent) and persuasive (Last Years Trouble, Maggie May). Each song is a highlight and the change here is that the production is non showy (courtesy of Rupert Hine) in comparison to her ex producer (and ex-husband). The CD concludes with St. Clare (the sole cover) and is a beautiful epitaph to this superb CD. Released soon after 9/11 this CD had an apt resonance and sounds as beautiful now as it ever did with regal lyrics and flowing melodies. I would recommend this to fans and casual browsers alike.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Her best, Jan 3 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Songs In Red And Grey (Audio CD)

Suzanne Vega continues to grow as an artist, and I can't think of one of her recordings that wasn't better than the last. "Songs in Red and Gray" is no exception as she comes into a mature middle age. Although I would not take the editorial review here as a guide, the reviewer is right that Ms. Vega has always controlled her voice perfectly and used words with extraordinary precision. What is different now is that her poetry - and no, it will not win a Pulitzer prize, but her verse certainly stands out in the world of pop music - has moved from painting a cool tapestry of New York images 20 years ago to painting a rich world of love and joy and loss today.

For anyone who has experienced the pain of a disintegrating marriage, the fierce tone and intense imagery of "Widow's Walk", "Soap and Water", and "If I Were a Weapon" (reminiscent of "If You Were In My Movie", but with substance) will be intensely evocative, and are the most obvious gems here. This is not just a "divorce album", though. "Penitent" is a deeply moving song of spirituality that could not have been written by a younger Ms. Vega, and touches me to the core. There isn't a song here that isn't strong, though as always there are some I don't understand, however dazzling their images. "Maggie May" doesn't seem to allude to the old Rod Stewart song; his Maggie May left the protagonist, whereas this one is left. It isn't one of my favorites here, but seems to be one of Vega's based on its inclusion in her Retrospective CD and set lists. I do better with her more straightforward material. "Priscilla" is a beautiful childhood story, "Last Year's Troubles" a nice bit of social commentary, and "Solitaire" may be a light song but it captures perfectly the mood of being mesmerized by a late-night game.

Some of the criticisms below may matter more to you than to me. For those who want a pristine guitar and voice sound akin to Ms. Vega's eponymous recording of 20 years ago, wait for a live recording I suppose. Her preference over her last 5 CD's is obviously to use more instrumentation. For those who preferred the 99.9F� sound, that is obviously gone. But if you are open to a tasteful recording, as always for her, for meticulously-crafted and powerful imagery, as always for her, and for lyrics that rise to a whole new level of maturity and meaning, "Songs in Red and Gray" is a must-have. At this point, Suzanne Vega has a true oeuvre, and this is its culmination. There may be better still to come, but if she were to stop singing today one could not be less than wholly satisfied with what she has produced here.

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Just a great album
This is onw of the best albums i have in my collection (1000)

Published on Oct 1 2003

5.0 out of 5 stars the best album of 2001
and one of the best CD's I have (out of 700+). I like all of Suzanne's work, but this one truly is her masterpiece.

Published on July 22 2003