Suzanne Vega - Close-Up on Suzanne Vega Album (2012) | Guest posting over at ATSE by Mike Solof

Suzanne Vega - Close-Up on Suzanne Vega Album (2012)

 (A MIKE SOLOF GUEST POST)

Paul says: This was an idea of guest poster Mike Solof. Between 2010 and 2012, Suzanne Vega rerecorded many of her earlier songs in acoustic mode, and then released them as four albums, each with different themes. Mike noticed that all of the songs from her 1985 self-titled debut album were included. So he gathered them all, then reordered them to the same order as the original album. Finally, he added "Left of Center," which was only released on a movie soundtrack in 1986.

The result is an alternate version of her 1985, with a more acoustic sound. So it's just a nice option if you want to hear that album in a different way sometimes. 

As usual, Mike has more info (and photos) in the PDF file included with the download. 

This album is 42 minutes long. 

01 Cracking 
02 Freeze Tag 
03 Marlene on the Wall 
04 Small Blue Thing 
05 Straight Lines 
06 Undertow 
07 Some Journey 
08 The Queen and the Soldier 
09 Knight Moves
10 Neighborhood Girls
11 Left of Center 

Birthdays | SUZANNE VEGA

 Happy birthday to Suzanne Vega, born as Suzanne Peck in Santa Monica, California on this day in 1959.

Suzanne Vega - ‘Luka’ live on The Old Grey Whistle Test!

 [full version here] Route had an interrupted version . . . . . .

Route

Suzanne Vega: BBC Sessions, Volume 5: In Concert Shepherd's Bush Empire, London, UK 1997

Suzanne Vega: BBC Sessions, Volume 5: In Concert, Shepherd's Bush Empire, London, Britain, 2-11-1997

Paul he say: Here's another album of singer-songwriter Suzanne Vega performing for the BBC. This time, it's a concert from 1997.

In late 1996, Vega released the studio album "Nine Objects of Desire." This concert was from the tour supporting that album. Naturally, many of the songs performed are from that album.

Overall, the sound quality is very good. However, there were some concerning gaps. A chunk of the middle of the song "Caramel," was missing, about a minute. The second half of the last song, "Gypsy," was also missing. Furthermore, the start of "Marlene on the Wall" was missing. I generally filled these gaps by using portions of versions recorded at the "Sessions at West 54th" TV show that same year. That's why those three songs have "[Edit]" in their titles. Additionally, some of the audience cheering between songs didn't seem to line up, meaning the cheering of the end of one song didn't match with the start of the next one. I tried to fix that by adding more cheering. But I suspect some songs could be missing, plus there could be missing banter. So if anyone has more of this concert, let me know, so I can add it in. But at least what is here should sound fine, after my fixes.

This unreleased album is 54 minutes long.

01 Stockings 
02 Rock in This Pocket [Song of David]
03 talk
04 Caramel [Edit] 
05 Small Blue Thing
06 Marlene on the Wall [Edit] 
07 Fatman and Dancing Girl
08 The Queen and the Soldier 
09 Room Off the Street 
10 Blood Makes Noise 
11 talk 
12 Luka 
13 Tom's Diner 
14 talk 
15 Men in a War (Suzanne Vega)
16 Gypsy [Edit] (Suzanne Vega

Suzanne Vega - BBC Sessions - Volume 2: In Concert Glastonbury Festival Worthy UK 1989 | ALBUMS THAT SHOULD EXIST

Suzanne Vega - BBC Sessions, Volume 2: In Concert, Glastonbury Festival, Worthy Farm, Pilton, UK 1989

Paul Says : Back in the summer of 2023, I posted a BBC album by Suzanne Vega, but then forgot to follow up with more. Finally, here's another one. 

This is from the big annual Glastonbury Festival, though perhaps it wasn't so big back in the 1980s. As I write this in 2025, Vega has performed at this festival a surprising number of times. Seven times in all so far: 1989, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2011, 2014, and 2022. However, the only BBC recording I can find from her is this 1989. That's also surprising, since the BBC didn't broadcast many sets back then, and has broadcast more and more as time has gone on. So if anyone has any of her other Glastonbury sets, please pass them on so I can post those too.

I read an interview with Vega many years after this concert in which she was asked: "What is the closest you've come to death?" She responded, "A death threat at Glastonbury Festival in 1989. The police told me not to go on, but I said I had to because I was headlining. So I wore a bullet-proof vest. It seemed unlikely that I would be assassinated, but it was shocking and very stressful." Given that, I give her kudos for putting on a remarkably poised performance here.

Vega was probably close to the peak of her popularity around this time. Her 1988 album "Solitude Standing" did especially well in the the British charts, making it to Number Two there, compared to Number 11 in the U.S. 

This concert is unreleased, but the sound quality is excellent. 

This album is 44 minutes long.

01 talk
02 Solitude Standing 
03 talk
04 Small Blue Thing
05 Cracking
06 talk
07 Freeze Tag 
08 Left of Center 
09 The Queen and the Soldier 
10 talk 
11 Pilgrimage 
12 talk 
13 Men in a War
14 talk
15 Luka 

Songwriters’ Circle : RICHARD THOMPSON, LOUDON WAINWRIGHT III & SUZANNE VEGA | Albums That Should Exist

Richard Thompson, Suzanne Vega & Loudon Wainwright III - Songwriters' Circle, BBC, London, Britain, 9-26-2010

Paul says : In my constant search for more BBC material, I've come across some unusual things. Such as this. It's a concert where Richard Thompson, Suzanne Vega, and Loudon Wainwright III were all on stage the whole time together and took turns playing their own songs. But the other two didn't just sit and listen when it wasn't their turn. They'd practiced some in advance, or often sang or played guitar. Thompson, in particular, is an excellent lead guitar player and frequently added his guitar skills to the songs by the other two. It's a very interesting three-way musical interaction by three great musical artists.

Apparently, this "songwriter's circle" is something the BBC has been doing since at least the 1990s. The format is always the same, bringing three musicians together to take turns playing songs. I'll try to post more, but these are hard to find since they don't get the interest a show by just one artist does, yet they aren't various artists shows with tons of different acts either. If you have any others, please let me know.

This show is officially unreleased. But, as you'd expect from the BBC, the sound quality is excellent. You can watch the whole thing on YouTube.

This album is an hour and four minutes long.

00 talk 
01 Keep Your Distance 
02 talk 
03 Marlena on the Wall 
04 talk 
05 One Man Guy 
06 talk 
07 1952 Vincent Black Lightning 
08 talk 
09 Luka 
10 talk 
11 Dead Man
12 talk (
13 Down Where the Drunkards Roll 
14 talk 
15 Frank and Ava 
16 talk 
17 House 
18 talk 
19 I Feel So Good
20 talk 
21 Gypsy 
22 talk 
23 Be Careful There's a Baby in the House 
24 talk 
25 Genesis Hall
26 talk 
27 Tom's Diner 
28 talk 
29 The Swimming Song 

As Paul listed a link to this from the Songwriters’ Circle series featuring Richard Thompson, Loudon Wainwright III and Suzanne Vega  I thought it worth posting it properly here . . . . click the link above or in the original post to go there its really worth it . . as Paul mentions this series is under exposed and its like the BBC didn’t really know what to do with it and tucked it away on a dusty shelf but it pays off if you find them . . . .  

Suzanne Vega - 1990-12-15 - Centre Sportif, Differdrange, Luxembourg - BBChronicles

    

Good start to the week again boys and girls and BB Chronicles doesn't post as much as say the boys over at the Floppy Boot Station or the back of the Voodoo Wagon but heck when he does. . . . that's a doozie of a Suzanne Vega from 1990 this morning! Really fine, fine quality and in two different formats and even the mp3 is crisp and clear as a bell but he always makes FLAC files available too. Vega is in her prime here and playing with a really tight very nineties sounding band and I cannot stress how great this set and recording is. Check out what BB says about it here Suzanne Vega 1990 - Live in Luxembourg - BBChronicles

Tracklist:
01 Rusted Pipe
02 Tired Of Sleeping
03 Straight Lines
04 Ironbound / Fancy Poultry
05 Marlene On The Wall
06 Some Journey
07 Room Off The Street
08 Freeze Tag
09 Neighborhood Girls
10.Gypsy
11 Wallaby Song (a capella)
12 Those Whole Girls (Run In Grace)
13 Pilgrimage
14 Luka
15 Institution Green
16 Left Of Center
17 Solitude Standing / band intros
18 Book Of Dreams
19 Men In A War
20 The Queen And The Soldier
21 Tom's Diner
22 Wooden Horse

Musicians:
Suzanne Vega - vocals, guitar
Marc Shulman - guitar
Anton Sanko - keyboards
Mike Visceglia - bass
Frank Vilardi - drums

Solitude Standing 1990

Luka - 1990 UK