In the era of omnipresent auto-tune along comes an artist who has the courage to put her voice out there virtually unprocessed sometimes backed by nothing but her guitar. As a result you will not hear pitch perfect vocals here. Sometimes the deep emotions Suzanne is feeling as she sings cause her voice to waver or quake.

So why does this effort rate 5 stars? Stripping away the studio trappings means you will experience a deep emotional connection to every word Suzanne sings. The words remain pristine and poetic and in these stripped down arrangements they shine like diamonds. Many of the old songs are rephrased, sang in new ways by a more mature artist. Songs such as "Harbor Song" reveal their true emotional power in whole new ways when the external trappings have been stripped away.

Finally, Suzanne Vega is a true singer/songwriter. You won't find six different people claiming credit on every song she sings as is the case with so many other "singer/songwriters" who have never written a single song by themselves and won't sing anything somebody else writes unless they get a piece of the songwriting credits and the royalties. Suzanne is the real deal! This album is worth your time and money.

In the era of omnipresent auto-tune along comes an artist who has the courage to put her voice out there virtually unprocessed sometimes backed by nothing but her guitar. As a result you will not hear pitch perfect vocals here. Sometimes the deep emotions Suzanne is feeling as she sings cause her voice to waver or quake.

So why does this effort rate 5 stars? Stripping away the studio trappings means you will experience a deep emotional connection to every word Suzanne sings. The words remain pristine and poetic and in these stripped down arrangements they shine like diamonds. Many of the old songs are rephrased, sang in new ways by a more mature artist. Songs such as "Harbor Song" reveal their true emotional power in whole new ways when the external trappings have been stripped away.

Finally, Suzanne Vega is a true singer-songwriter. You won't find six different people claiming credit on every song she sings as is the case with so many other "singer-songwriters" who have never written a single song by themselves and won't sing anything somebody else writes unless they get a piece of the songwriting credits and the royalties. Suzanne is the real deal! This album is worth your time and money.

When I first heard Suzanne Vega in the 1980s, her lyrically-powerful yet fragile voice seized me. I followed her through the next couple decades, enjoying each new album, and the intelligent, yet vulnerable, lyrics she produced. This album reinterprets songs from throughout her career and prior albums.

The cover of this album shows a sepia-tinted black and white photograph of her and her guitar. I think this image perfectly matches what one receives from the album itself. She strips each song to its essentials. Her instrumentation is spare. And yet Suzanne Vega's delicately-beautiful voice unfolds the lyrics with heartbreakingly-clear precision, the tracks exquisitely shaded with the emotion appropriate to each lyric's subject.

I particularly like "Bound." In my mind or heart, I hear a soul whose lover has left or is leaving, but who remains suspended between despair and hope that perhaps that lover can be reclaimed: "And I ask, I'm asking you / If you might still want me." Somehow, the gentle interplay of guitar and voice captures this ephemeral moment of intermixed sorrow, expectation, acceptance, wistfulness, and questioning much more clearly than the more fully orchestrated arrangement of the same song from her "Beauty and Crime" album.

Ms Vega recorded these songs many years ago, so why bother with a new CD? The voice is terrific, perhaps even better than all those years ago. The presentation is a bit more emotional, more serious.

For some listeners, this project will seem unnecessary and redundant. Me, I found value in this collection. I still enjoy it after repeated plays.

A quieter, close-up, intimate view of some great songs Suzanne Vega has written over the years. These are legitimate well-produced alternate takes. If you are a fan, you need to have this. If you are new to Vega's music, this wouldn't be a bad place to start on a Suzanne Vega collection. I can't say I favor these arrangements over the originals, but I don't like them any less, either. The title "Love Songs" is a bit deceiving though. It seems that most are on the twisted and down side of love. It would be as accurate to tag these "lack-of-love songs." It isn't a depressing album, but let's just say the mood is subdued. And Vega does write beautiful words, melodies, and chords. I felt the second half of the album was a little heavier. It sagged a bit compared to the first. So four stars, for an excellent drum-less collection of sparsely-arranged gems from Vega's repertoire.