SUZANNE VEGA RELEASES“BEAUTY & CRIME”,
HER FIRST ALBUM IN SIX YEARS 

By Rob Nagy 

It has been more then twenty years since singer songwriter Suzanne Vega first emerged  onto the pop music scene. Paving the way for numerous female artists to follow, Vega’s drive and determination to express herself musically soon found her to be a fixture in New York’s Greenwich Village folk scene. Graduating from New York’s High School of Performing Arts, depicted in the 1980’s television show “Fame”,  Vega moved on earning at degree in English literature from Barnard College. With impressive academic credentials under her belt, Vega ventured into the world of music testing her skills as a songwriter and performer becoming a fixture in and around the New York City coffee house circuit. Vega worked tirelessly  gaining numerous opportunities playing live while sharing her life experiences having grown up in the tough neighborhood of New York's Spanish Harlem. By 1984 Vega’s efforts paid off when she was signed to a major recording contract with A & M Records. In less then a year Vega released her critically acclaimed 1985 self titled debut achieving platinum status in the U.K. while receiving video rotation on MTV and VH-1 with the single “Small Blue Thing”.  Vega’s intelligent and well crafted compositions had broken through the barrier of commercial acceptance, the best was yet to come. Two years later Vega’s sophomore release “Solitude Standing” yielded Vega’s most commercially successful album with the single “Luka”, breaking the top one hundred in the U.S. and the top twenty in the U.K. While the albums follow-up single “Tom’s Diner” didn’t achieve the commercial success of “Luka” the song did manage to chart in the U.K. and is considered to be one of Vega’s best works.  Over the next thirteen years Vega periodically released new albums and compilations to critical acclaim and charting success in varied degrees. While she had shown that she was incapable of making a bad record, many of her releases failed to achieve the commercial success of 1987’s  “Solitude Standing”.  After a lengthy hiatus from the public eye Vega signed with the prestigious Blue Note Records in 2006 proving that Vega was still considered a marketable talent in a niche market.  Her long anticipated Blue Note debut “Beauty & Crime” was released in July of this year to rave reviews from her fans and critics.  With this, her most impressive release to date, Vega has again proven that she is one of the most prolific songwriters and female vocalists of our time giving us a collection of eleven new compositions that capture an emotion, passion and storytelling that only an artist of Vega’s caliber could achieve. From the opening song “Zephyr”,a hypnotic beat of pure pleasure, Vega sets the tone for one of the best records of the year. The haunting and mysterious “Ludlow Street” reminds us of how hard love is to find. New York Is A Woman pays a jazzy tribute to a city that will never die. Frank & Ava is mesmerizing with its Bohemian tone and cool beat.  Unbound steps things up a bit with its hip techno beat and catchy lyrics and vocals. Angel's Doorway, a tribute to a New York City cop and a personal friend, captures the stench that those who worked at “Ground Zero” following the events of 9/11 had to come home with at the end of the day. In all there is not a disappointing track on a record. This could be Vega's best work. One can only imagine what lies ahead for Vega as she appears to be venturing into a fertile period of great songwriting. Anyone that does not pick-up a copy of “Beauty & Crime” is missing out on a stellar and dynamic record. 

On December 5th Suzanne Vega, fronting her amazing four piece band, played to a near capacity crowd at the Sellersville Theatre in Sellersville, PA., performing her entire “Beauty & Crime” release as well as select titles from her rich history, which included “Tom’s Diner”, “Luka”, “Blood Makes Noise” and “Marlene on the Wall”. Vega's show was captivating from the opening chord to the final encore. She is a shining example of an artist to whom time has been very kind and has only improved, musically, with age. Winding down a six month tour to promote her new release, Vega will take a break through early January before she heads off to Japan and Australia To stay up to date with Suzanne Vega go to www.myspace.com/suzannevega,  www.vega.net, www.suzannevega.com