thank you, lefty, for opening a thread of its own for "beauty & crime". it most definitely deserves it. i could only find it today and listened to it twice just before writing this post. i don't want to spoil anyone's discovery of this record, so i'll just say a few things.

here are some words to attempt to describe it: audacious, moving, reflective, edgy, cinematic, poetic, real, documentary, hopeful, cleansing, passionate, beautiful.

i feel as if i've been through a journey, a long one, which expands the duration of this cd. a journey through real life and what's under it ("under this real life"). a journey through what's gone, what's incomplete, and through what's retained, what remains. this is a rich journey, musically and lyrically, and, for now, i'd like to highlight the dramatic and organic use of strings, horns and programming throughout, but especially on "bound" and the rhythmic audacity and potential of "unbound".

7th album and no false steps. outstanding. congratulations, suzanne, and thank you very much.

love, fátima 

After intensive listening ( I own the album till the 4th june) "Beauty & Crime" is definitely one of Suzanne's best.

The production is outstanding , she finally made a whole album with orchestration and strings and it fits so well to her music. I recognize I'm fond of her Froom years and was a little disappointed with "SIRAG" production.

In "Beauty & Crime" there's plenty beautiful melodies, pieces of poetry ( Pornographer's Dream) and memories .

In each SV album there are always songs I can't stop listening to : "Undertow" for the first album, "Solitude Standing" for the 2nd one, "Room off the street" for the third  album, "As girl go" for 99.9F°, "Headshots" for "9 Objects", "Soap & Water" for SIRAG, "Rosemary" for the Best-Of and this time my favs are "Ludlow Street " and "Pornographer's Dream".

The songs from "Beauty & Crime" can be played with a whole philharnonic orhestra or just a guitar and a bass without losing their potential.

I'm only disappointed, as I said in a recent thread by the rather "secretive" promotion of the album and the press doesn't talk about it much to my opinion
For instance, I'm a subscriber to "Les Inrocks" ( a french music magazine) and they usually do a big case to Suzanne's production but not this time and I'm wondering why. I think I won't renew my subscription next time if they dont write something about "Beauty & Crime" .   

Beauty & Crime is just wonderful! By now I haven't really grasped it in all layers. I also couldn't say at this point it feels like a journey or something else. I just enjoy listening to it whenever I can and feel like in a state that cannot be described by words. While "Ludlow Street" and "Pornographer's Dream" are my favourites so far, I simply love all the others, too!  To me it is Suzanne's best album! (I remember that I thought the same about SIRAG when it came out - an acoustic album was just what I needed at that time. )

I also heard 2 songs of that album live  (N.Y. is a woman and Unbound) - but I must say that I actually prefer the album versions!

Thank you Fatima for your insight in the other thread. I wish I had your ability to describe what you feel so pointedly!

 Cheers,

Annika

I listened to the cd 3 times, and i must say i really like it. It's new, intense, it has wonderful melodies, great arrangements. Many songs persist in my mind a lot.

My favourites at the moments: Ludlow Street - Angel's doorway - Anniversary

I am really curious to hear the songs performed live, see you in Liverpool Suzanne! 

ciao!

Andrea

troubadesse:

Thank you Fatima for your insight in the other thread. I wish I had your ability to describe what you feel so pointedly!

thank you, annika, for your words. i have to confess that many times i don't consciously know how i do it. i just let myself be guided by my intuition. and another thing i do is listen to the album(s) as *less* as i can (suzanne's or any others) and allow them to grow within me, while their songs take their turn on my mental stereo.

i still only have listened to "beauty & crime" twice but it keeps playing in my head. and today i just want to point out the way this album finishes: "angel's doorway" and "anniversary" (the instant classic, even in its demo version, here beautifully arranged) do it with both poignancy and hope.

love, fátima

HEY Suzanne and all the towies of this world

I've just picked up a copy of the new album and totally love it. I really like the sound  and lyrics to "New York is a woman" and Figurines listening to both these songs all the time. Suzanne your amazing your voice is awesome as ever girl. my 6 year old is learning the lyrics to some of the new songs she loves it too. Thanks for realesing some new material for towies.

Hope to see you all soon in Liverpool

 Greeting from Dublin's fair city

Steven

I'm mostly a lurker here and I've only had the record for a couple of days, so I don't really know how to talk about it... Except by saying I'm still in the process of discovering it, and already enjoying it a lot. Settling into the songs as you settle in a new place, or something. I immediately liked "Zephyr & I" and find it a brilliant idea to have it as an opening song: it has that extra little something that makes you want to play the record again once it's finished, just so you can hear that particular song again.

The other highlight for me right now, the one that makes me think "wow, that song is really good" every time I play it, is "Unbound". I found it quite surprizing at first and can't really pinpoint why. I just thought there was something I'd never heard in any other of Suzanne's songs before... and I have no idea what it is. It reminds me a little of what I like about "99.9 F", a similar kind of mood probably. I still need to take time to dwell on the lyrics, I'm still at that stage where I pick bits pand phrases that sounds interesting and intriguing and make me want to listen more closely. I've always been quite impressed by Suzanne's lyrics.

Hey all

Just been looking around the net and came accross this hope you enjoy its a very young Suzanne singing Marlene on the wall.

ciao

http://stage6.divx.com/Diva-Channel/video/1317632/[Live]-Suzanne-Vega---Marlene-on-the-Wall

Hello all.

I bought it yesterday, and i could not wait to get into the car and play it.

It always happens to me the same way. I dont like them that much at the beginning,

 But the more you listen to it, the more you like it.

But i still think that i like more the older ones.

For me they were more.....Suzanne Vega.