She's probably the person who got me into poetry. I remember remarking to a 6th form friend, "Do you think she's obscure on purpose?" But thus far in my career I had not "got"poetry and never re-read poems (which is essential with the good stuff). What happened with Suzanne Vega's first album, and even more-so with this, was that I kept listening because I liked the sound, and then suddenly realised what she was on about. It quietly dawned on me that poetry is powerful because it repackages thought in transformed and intensified ways, that then requires the dilution of time for it to unwind in the mind and ingrain itself. I think she kicked me in that direction.
In many ways, Solitude Standing was more accessible and less sparse and obscure than the first album. This was shown in Luka providing a chart hit (I'm not sure a lot of us initially realised it was describing violence towards children), and the remarkable Tom's Diner was later picked up by DNA and remixed (not a lot of people know this, but Tom's Diner was the test track used in development of MP3 compression, because if the purity of her unaccompanied voice could be preserved, it must have worked).
High points for me....the unnerving In the Eye, the title track's evocation of loneliness, Night Vision's rendering of a universal human experience, and just the general unfathomable loveliness of Gypsy.
2 comments:
This isn't a comment on the album (yet) - just a word of thanks for the anticipation of listening to it, sounds great. And I remember her a little.
It's the best thing you've ever posted. There; I said it. Absolutely love the album - the voice, the words, the music. It's a perfect combination.
More like this please!
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