Suzanne Vega

It's good. Really like the vibe of the songs without percussion. A folk album that doesn't sound too folky.

Interesting to hear a blend of 80s production and the guitar-heavy folk sound. It does get repetitive very quickly (2.5-3)

This reminds me of Tracy Chapman's self titled album, in that they're both really earnest singer-songwriter albums released during a time when that sort of thing wasn't in vogue. Suzanne Vega is one of the people who seemed to spearhead a kind of singer songwriter revival that when coupled with the emerging indie scene sort of laid the foundation for what the zeitgeist of the early '90s would look like. She has a real talent for storytelling that is really well-presented across this album. Of the singer songwriter music coming out in the '80s, very little of it could give what Vega brings narratively on Marlene On The Wall, The Queen And The Soldier, or Knight Moves. And it isn't like this is just '70s folk worship. Her arrangements and production do sound distinctly of their time, and her conversational singing tone sets her apart from much of folk rock. I honestly really enjoyed a lot of this album. Her lyricism and songwriting are pretty special, and the aesthetic here is a really enjoyable way to push folk into the '80s. This is really solid!

I didn’t have high hopes for this album, and it still underperformed.

3.5 rounded down

Suzanne Vega did 'Tom's Diner', so I want to give her a chance, but this album is missing one important thing: Tom's Diner. :(

I do not like that the tracks are listed in two different fonts.

Anyway, this is kind of like a proto-Jewel or Sarah McLachlan. More poetry than bop. Maybe she even inspired SNL's Jane Wickline.

I feel like anyone who knows me would expect me to hate this, but there's something in it that really grabbed me. The production is excellent - minimal yet full and crisp. The vocals sound delectable - smooth, clear, emotive yet calming. I love the lyrics and the delivery of the vocal lines - the rhythms are really unique and give these songs a lot of energy. Some of these songs remind me of ones I've written, in spirit rather than sound, but it inspires me to want to write more. You don't need a huge range or complex arrangements to write something beautiful and striking - sometimes simplicity, rhythm, and carefully-chosen words are all you need.

2.4

It's not bad, never heard of her before. But also delivery and voice and lyrically it's really a bit boring to me. Probably just about average. "Small blue thing" stood out to me

Singer songwriter acoustic guitar nonsense. Inoffensive: I can't hate, but I don't love it, either.

Suzanne Vega has a lovely voice, I am looking forward to listening to her self titled debut album.

I enjoyed it, the songs are catchy and pleasant to listen to. There is some lovely guitat work throughout the album and it flows really well with variety throughout. This is a great album. She has a great NYC sound and is very similar to the Caves and Cohen type of music.

Favourite track: Everything was a pleasant listen but I particularly enjoyed Freeze Tag
Least favourite track: Everything on the album is worth a listen.
Album artwork: Standard album cover

3.5
Гарний альбом, мені подобається музика Сюзанни, те як вона будує вокальні гармонії. Деякі пісні звучать занадто наївно, але то таке.

loved this album since back in the day

"Marlene on the Wall" is a great song, and there are several other really good tracks on here. I like Vega's voice a lot too.

Suzanne Vega was an album that did what it set out to do rather well. It is another one of those more relaxing folk albums kinda like stuff by Cat Stevens or Joni Mitchell and i always do enjoy them as they have some pretty relaxing vibes. This album was no exception to that rule as it shared a lot of the strengths it has with albums like those. The songs here are relaxing and have some pretty good stories within them. It is not perfect though as some of the songs can become quite samey to each other and i was not a fan of some of the vocals in Cracking but those were some small gripes i had with it. I still enjoyed this album a decent bit.
Best Song: Neighborhood Girls
Worst Song: Cracking

Das Debütalbum ist ein leises, aber eindringliches Statement aus der New Yorker Folk-Szene der 1980er. Mit Songs wie Marlene on the Wall und The Queen and the Soldier zeigt sie ihre poetische Stärke und ihre Fähigkeit, komplexe Emotionen in minimalistische Arrangements zu kleiden. Die Produktion ist zurückhaltend, was ihre klare und schöne Stimme und ihre introspektiven Texte in den Vordergrund stellt.

I have Solitude Standing in my cassette collection.
I must have taped it off a friend’s album at some point. I have no idea which friend or why I chose to record it. I’ve not listened to it for nearly 40 years. But I do remember liking it a lot. 



I’d never heard Suzanne Vegas eponymous debut album. But listening to it now I realise my decision making was good back then.

Nothing grabbed me on this one. Seemed like a little bit of production help could have made a couple of these tracks a bit more accessible.

yeah she got a nice voice but that's all I like about the album

I’m at a 5.

Historically, there’s been a pretty good track record with singing-songwriting women on the list for my ears, and Suzanne Vega is thankfully no exception to that. The only track I knew from her before listening to this album was “Tom’s Diner”, but I’m not sure that really prepared me for this album like that. This is a bit of a lyrically-driven album (although the instrumentation & vocals are arguably strong enough on their own), but I think at its very core, a lot of the themes here are still rather straightforward, just expressed with a bit of poetic flourish to try and create more vivid & richer imagery. It’s most apparent to me on the tracks that take a more medieval tone, like “The Queen & The Soldier”, which is one of my top 2 tracks on the entire thing. At the very base level, that track is nothing more than a sad woman pushing a man out of her life who means well, but the imagery & verbiage of the track elevates it higher, swirling to the more bombastic climax of the soldier being killed on her order, while she still sits alone, anguished & depressed with a crown on her head, and his death solving nothing.

The other of my top 2 tracks is “Marlene on the Wall”, which is an acoustically-driven banger about the struggle of full commitment to love. It feels like an early 90s track in the best way, and it’s arguably the best showcase of Suzanne Vega’s narrative vocal style. She still carries a good sense of power in her vocals, but it’s underlined with a sense of clarity & observancy that adds both urgency & earnestness to the track. It’s present throughout the album, but “Marlene on the Wall” specifically blends it with more of the catchy 80s vocal hook style that’s usually not as apparent on this album.

Even though those are my top 2, there’s so many well-written tracks on this album that could easily get their own paragraphs. I love the double metaphors at play for “Freeze Tag”, blending childhood innocence with only being able to “act” out a relationship. I *really* love the sense of helplessness portrayed on “Small Blue Thing”, and the tone in her voice fully creates the sense of empathy present in that track. “Some Journey” is a super strong track that tackles something I’ve occasionally wondered: how different could some friendships be if you met outside of the confines of your hometown, without the baggage or history emerging from it?

If I have any minor knocks, it’s that “Cracking” is a bit of a bad tonesetter (without a second listen), “Knight Moves” is a little ambiguous & “Neighborhood Girls” isn’t as compelling of a closer as some of the other tracks might’ve been, but those are nitpicky at best. Any album that can get me this engaged in its storytelling while having great instrumentation has to be doing something right; this is a REALLY strong album for my tastes. It’s worth a 5 to me, and I’m kicking myself for not looking any further into Suzanne Vega past “Tom’s Diner”. Definitely worth being on the list, and a pretty recommended one at that.