New York is a pretty big city, big enough that there's more than one type of prototypical New Yorker. When she released her debut album in 1985, Suzanne Vega seemed very much a New Yorker, a well-groomed but card-carrying Greenwich Village bohemian who emerged in the wake of anti-folk and the Fast Folk magazine crowd with an acoustic guitar and a stack of songs. While Vega's style has not changed radically with the passage of time, 2020's An Evening of New York Songs and Stories documents her presenting herself to a very ...
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New York is a pretty big city, big enough that there's more than one type of prototypical New Yorker. When she released her debut album in 1985, Suzanne Vega seemed very much a New Yorker, a well-groomed but card-carrying Greenwich Village bohemian who emerged in the wake of anti-folk and the Fast Folk magazine crowd with an acoustic guitar and a stack of songs. While Vega's style has not changed radically with the passage of time, 2020's An Evening of New York Songs and Stories documents her presenting herself to a very different sort of Big Apple resident, the moneyed Manhattan sophisticate who has refined taste and the bankroll to indulge it. This album was recorded live during a series of shows at the Café Carlyle, a classy venue for classic cabaret and jazz artists with intimate seating, a hefty cover charge, and a gently but firmly enforced dress code. While bits of Vega's set run counter to a typical act playing the Carlyle -- if the audience wasn't expecting "Luka," the notion of a song about child abuse would be out of the question -- most is the work of a polished, expert performer who knows how to engage her audience while sounding cool and emotionally engaged at the same time. Vega has never been a flashy vocalist, but with the passage of time that's become an asset; she doesn't have a history of vocal gymnastics to live up to at the age of 60, and she's as authoritative as ever with this material, even more when she allows her maturity to add gravitas to her repertoire. And the low-key arrangements (no drums) are brilliantly executed by guitarist Gerry Leonard, bassist Jeff Allen, and especially Jamie Edwards, whose keyboards evoke piano, vibes, strings, and a number of other instruments that give the songs a rich, satisfying tone. And if Lou Reed's "Walk on the Wild Side" seems at once out of place and on the nose in this context, Vega's rendition makes it sound like something from New York's storied past, as much a part of the city's legacy as the supper club elegance typified by the Café Carlyle. Suzanne Vega was a talent to watch when she was playing Folk City in the West Village in the mid-'80s, and on An Evening of New York Songs and Stories in 2019, she reminds us she's more than lived up to her promise and remains a quietly charismatic performer with plenty of songs worth hearing. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
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Add this copy of An Evening of New York Songs and Stories to cart. $12.90, fair condition, Sold by Service First Media rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Taylorsville, KY, UNITED STATES, published 2020 by Cooking Vinyl.
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Fair. Ex-Library rental. Disc(s) are professionally cleaned and may contain only light scratches that do not effect functionality. Includes disc(s), case, and artwork. May be missing booklet. Disc(s), case, and artwork may contain library/security stickers and ink writing. ARTWORK IS UNORIGINAL AND PRINTED BY LIBRARY. Case and artwork may show some wear. Case may not be an original jewel case. All disc(s) are authentic.
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