I really had been waiting for Beauty & Crime European release date, but then, there was some disappointment as it turned out to be not available on the Hungarian official release date, June 6. What was more, a scandal was in the air as interestingly nobody heard about it here in the stores. What a crime! After getting fed up with the helpless situation, finally I asked my sister in Vienna to get a copy for me and send it to me to Budapest. She did so, and within 2 days I had my original Beauty & Crime in my hands!

As for the cd, it's very nice to write an album on a city you live in, your homeland. When I first listened to B&C some minutes after it arrived by post, I got dazzled. Especially while listening to Ludlow Street - Zephyr & I was not new to me, since I could have access to that on the website). What a beautiful melody, and poignant story! Of course, if you don't know the background,the original inspiration for Suzanne, you too feel about some deep longing , where frozen memories of your own suddenly become alive under the influence of familiar scene. Anyway, when I first listened to the song, without the lyrics in hand, somehow I misheard something. I heard 'supernovas'...instead of 'stoop and doorway's' - though the first wouldn't make any sense grammatically in plural, after 'each'... Ludlow Street, though having very personal inspiration for Suzanne(the death of Tim Vega, Suzanne's brother) can be each listener's personal memorial place as well,while listening, a point in his/her own life, related to some relative, friend, or lover who cannot be reached any more. The feeling of missing someone. An eternal one.

In the next brilliant song, New York is a Woman, there is a change from the printed lyrics, as Suzanne sings 'you were startled by her beauty and her crime',- so she chose to sing 'startled' instead of 'dazzled'. For me, the orchestra approach is really nice, the wind instruments are a real treatment to the song! the outcome is a wonderful masterpiece, New York is specially captured by Suzanne's words and great tune.

Pornographer's Dream inevitably starts floating into the ears -and mind- by the nice piano notes and the vivid clicking of the fingers, and stays there while the lyrics are delivered too.The original strings' presence here is also a new colour, just like in Ludlow Street, Bound, or As You Are Now (delivered by the London Studio Orchestra). Frank & Ava, just like the opening track, Zephyr & I, are catchy ones, but in a very positive way -they lack the mainstream commercial 'catchyness',- they catch the mind as well! In Frank & Ava, Suzanne describes a story with some touch of irony, gently shaping some interesting message : 'it's not enough to be in love'.

the next part comes sometime tomorrow - of course, not in time of maintenance work... Have a nice coming week,- B&C comes out in the States on Tuesday!

best, Zoli

You can go along West End Avenue in Zephyr & I, finding yourself in walk right in New York - just as Suzanne did with NY graffiti artist, Zephyr before. A single walk and many previous ones from the earlier past, the place unfolds its history , 'its' youth :'this was a youth mall / of america on this street / all of us hanging here / like underaged cops on a beat'. The New York journey in Beauty & Crime starts on the road, each song tells a different story, still they are linked with reality and mystery about the city. Suzanne looks at changes, looking for fixed places, things which can be valued or not: 'Edith Wharton's lovely figurines/ still speak to me today' - she sings in the 6th song, referring to some result of her search. Interestingly, acknowledged New York short story writer, Edith Wharton was also regarded a taste-maker, landscape architect and interior designer of her time, so still a possible compass in our times, as Suzanne sees, when the world is much different from the one it was yesterday. This way it seems universal, maybe not only relevant to New York. Also, the song has a nice melody, and again, Suzanne's guitar playing is very good together with the strings!

To be continued.

Zoli