 Title - ‘Retrospective: The Best of …’ (A&M/Universal)
Artist - Suzanne Vega
I've always had a love/hate relationship with Ms. Vega depending on the song. Sometimes she drives me up the wall and other times I cannot get enough of her! When I first bought her debut I listened to it endlessly, but as I've gotten older it's fallen from grace; the sophomoric writing hasn't aged well and there's an overall preciousness that's as subtle as a sledgehammer. The less said about 'Solitude Standing' and 'Days of Open Hand' the better! And then came 99.9F and 9 Objects of Desire, her greatest albums. Reason? Producer Mitchell Froom dressed the songs with exciting and challenging sounds as the perfect point to Ms. Vega's monotone singing. A lot of people hated these 2 discs! Cries of "selling out", perhaps. But, they are great and they have aged well, timeless if you will; rather like Suzanne Vega.
James Dudley
www.UniversalChronicles.com
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