Suzanne Vega
Songs in Red & Gray

Distributed by
A&M

• Year: 2001
• Rating: 10/10
• Cat. No: 493-111-2

Track listing:

1. Penitent
2. Widows 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. Harbour Song
11. Machine Ballerina
12. Solitaire
13. St. Clare

While it may be more than 15 years since her self-titled debut album immediately established Suzanne Vega as a focal point of the singer-songwriter rennaissance of the 1980s, she has since carved out her own niche with a series of evolutionary, creatively expansive releases.

From the broadening of that first record's bare-boned arrangements which resulted in 1987's Solitude Standing, to 1990's full-band embellishments on the underrated Days Of Open Hand, through progressively increased rhythmic experimentation with the aid of Mitchell Froom's offbeat production, Vega has never stood still or taken the easy option.

Yet, Songs In Red And Gray (original working title: The Mother And The Matador) breaks with this tradition by instead drawing upon styles from each past album to construct quite possibly her most complete and satisfying collection to date.

Opening track Penitent is classic Vega distilled into an enchanting, seemingly effortless breeze of fluid melody and precise lyrical couplets. At once both utterly familiar and refreshing, it sets the tone for what follows in impeccable fashion.

Widows Walk, It Makes Me Wonder and If I Were A Weapon take a more strident approach, grounding Vega's more ethereal qualities in a fairly conventional alt.rock format, but still imprinted with the intelligent edge normally associated with her work.

Elsewhere, the legacy of Vega's divorce from her husband Froom colours the likes of (I'll Never Be) Your Maggie May, Soap & Water and the title song... with stunning, poignant consequences. Your Maggie May is a deceptively pretty retort to the 1971 Rod Stewart chart-topper, but it's Soap & Water that etches itself most deeply into the fabric of Songs In Red And Gray. Simply one of her most beautiful and evocative songs she's ever written and recorded, the themes it explores are key to the album's overall atmosphere.

Diversity takes form in the shape of Last Year's Troubles and Machine Ballerina's less introspective pallette, the graceful swoon of Harbour Song, and the 90s-style Vega crops up on just one occasion for Solitaire. It's a reminder that the 11 tracks preceding it have placed melody over insistent rhythmical motifs, and Vega herself has sung again for the first time, perhaps since the debut album, as opposed to offering that trademark half-spoken delivery.

Songs In Red And Gray is over within 45 minutes, eschewing the tendency for overly long and indulgent running times, but it's actually the longest album of Suzanne Vega's career. As ever, there is no filler and nothing remotely sub-standard, maintaining her reputation for absolute precision and quality control.

Review copyright © Liam Carey, 2002.