This is a very good collection of new recordings of Suzanne Vega songs from the past -- plus a new track, "The Man Who Played God", which has nice complex lyrics about people with an urge to change and shape nature and their surroundings. (Update: I received a helpful comment saying this isn't a new track -- but it appeared on a Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse album rather than a Suzanne Vega album. Thanks!)

Some songs, like the lead track "Luka" or "Angel's Doorway", are just Suzanne Vega with acoustic guitar. Others have a bit more complicated instrumentation. A good guitar-and-bongo version of "Zephyr & I", a string quartet on "New York is a Woman", and a cello on "The Queen and the Soldier".

But this isn't "Suzanne Vega unplugged". Electric basses and guitars make their presence felt, including nice, understated, reverb-soaked guitar on "In Liverpool" and "Ironbound/Fancy Poultry". (I have always enjoyed "Fancy Poultry", with its macabre description of the retail chicken industry.) On "Fat Man and Dancing Girl", the percussion, although acoustic, creates an interesting electronic feel with studio effects, including rotation between the left and right stereo channels.

The most remarkable track is the reworking of "Tom's Diner" -- Vega's biggest hit of all. This version borrows a lot from the famous dance remix that still gets a lot of radio play. Vega's familiar vocal holds together a funky, repetitive disco-era bass line at the bottom end, with rhythm electric guitar and atmospheric string parts on top -- including some nice pizzicato playing in the middle section.

If you are getting the MP3 album, be sure to pick up

with four bonus tracks, including a mandolin-backed "Priscilla", a great new version of "Wooden Horse" (Vega's version of the story of Casper Hauser), and a rousing "Luka" in Spanish. ¡Olé!

These are great re-recordings of previously released songs from Suzanne. Like many artists, Suzanne gets only a small percentage of the revenue generated by her back-catalog of recordings. These new recordings get more of the revenue directly to Suzanne.

[...]

For the Suzanne Vega fan, no need to read further, listen to the preview clips and you will click on the buy button.

Suzanne Vega, her voice just gets better and better. I love this new recording, it is perfection in its imperfection. This is a long way from the Soundstage performances. The problem with those live performances, there is only one take possible. If Suzanne was a bit off that night, well its in the recording. The huge advantage with this recording, she clearly had time to do several takes until they got the song exactly as intended.

The recording has some excellent rough edges, perfect in its imperfection. In her previous studio albums breaths and fingers sliding up and down strings are edited out, or minimized. In this album, you feel her presence. Suzanne Vega is standing in your living room performing just for you. The acoustic recordings sound as if she played guitar and sang at exactly the same time, no track overdubbing. I love the rawness.

Suzanne Vega has performed these songs for a long time. Most artists would tire of them. Instead, these feel like the moment when she wrote the songs, pure and uncluttered without sterile audio production. At fifty one years old, her voice has just gotten more powerful and beautiful.

The singer songwriter is back in fantastic form. The companion CD, Volume 1, (

) has been out for a few months. I am not as big a fan of that CD compared to this one. There is some amazing emotion and energy recorded in this CD. Volume 1 felt a bit flat, but is still a wonderful album.

i loved these versions but found the mp3 (downloaded from amazon) to be recorded way to hot. disturbing distortion in playback.

Suzanne Vega, her voice just gets better and better. I love this new recording, it is perfection in its imperfection.

For the Suzanne Vega fan, no need to read further, listen to the preview clips and you will click on the buy button. This particular edition seems too good to be true. The MP3's are the same as the standard edition, with the added bonus of four more tracks.

This is a long way from the Soundstage performances. The problem with those live performances, there is only one take possible. If Suzanne was a bit off that night, well its in the recording. The huge advantage with this recording, she clearly had time to do several takes until they got the song exactly as intended.

The recording has some excellent rough edges, perfect in its imperfection. In her previous studio albums breaths and fingers sliding up and down strings are edited out, or minimized. In this album, you feel her presence. Suzanne Vega is standing in your living room performing just for you. The acoustic recordings sound as if she played guitar and sang at exactly the same time, no track overdubbing. I love the rawness.

Suzanne Vega has performed these songs for a long time. Most artists would tire of them. Instead, these feel like the moment when she wrote the songs, pure and uncluttered without sterile audio production. At fifty one years old, her voice has just gotten more powerful and beautiful.

The bonus tracks are really a mixed bag to me. The first thirteen tracks are mixed a certain way, clean and simple. The first bonus track, Song of Sand, has an annoying level of reverb or echo compared to the rest of the album. It stands out in shocking contrast to the rest of the album. The second bonus track, Priscilla is a sweet song with mandolin and acoustic guitar backing, unfortunately it is extremely bright and doesn't feel as much a piece of the whole album. The third track, Wooden Horse (Casper Hauser's Song) is worth the deluxe edition. The recording is dark, slow, raw, and beautifully made. I love the slower tempo and lower key compared to the original recording. The final bonus track, Luka in Spanish is fabulous. Suzanne Vega is in my living room. I can hear her touching the body of her guitar, her breath in the microphone, and her fingers sliding up and down the strings. The emotion is strong in this song. Possibly the highlight of the CD.

The singer songwriter is back in fantastic form.