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beauty & crime: an intuitive preview
Last post Fri, Jun 01 2007, 12:34 PM by fatima. 6 replies.
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beauty & crime: an intuitive preview
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Joined on 08-28-2006
gaia, portugal
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Mon, May 21 2007, 2:32 PM
"love is the only thing that matters"
in "ludlow street"
i wrote the following on november 29, 2006:
"i guess i may be way off but
i feel that what really comes through these songs [in "beauty & crime"] is
the feeling of love, in a wide meaning: love of a city, of its spirit and
people, and of a memory of how things used to be; love of family; love of
freedom, especially spiritual freedom; love of oneself and others as the "job"
in life, and the awareness that, even so, love is not enough to keep suffering
and pain at bay. i'll stop now before i fall flat on my face, if i haven't
already. anyway, this is just an intuition, but i feel it very strongly and in a
way i've never felt before in suzanne's music."
and i also wrote this recently: "i feel
this might be an album of contrasts and a very eclectic one in terms of
sound. in those elements, and in their daring stance, it might be
close, in spirit, to "99.9F degrees". / "99.9F degrees literally pulled
the rug from beneath your feet (don't know for sure if there is such an
expression in english), stretching the limits and giving you no
certainty of what to expect. "beauty & crime" might not be so
literal, but i feel all those factors will be there. i, for one, must
say that i love going through a recording that claims all this for
itself."
do i own the cd? no. have i heard it in its entirety? no. but i still stand
by all my words, especially after having heard most of the songs live. and the
ones i haven't heard, namely "bound" and "as you are now", because of their
subject matter, only seem to reinforce my intuition.
more ideas: new york is more than anything a transverse theme; suzanne has
never addressed love (the "job" in life, as she has put it) like this before; in
terms of lyrics, as a whole, i don't think they've ever been as concise, with
close attention to internal rhymes and metaphors; and melodically this is a
treasure: the melodies are so good that they slip under your skin right
away.
and in "anniversary" suzanne has again changed the last verse. the last
stanza reads like this now (love the openness that will close this album):
"Mark the month and all its anniversaries Put away the draft of all
your eulogies Clear the way for all your private memories They live upon
each corner Live on every street. Make the time for all your
possibilities
They live on every street."
take this post as you like. if you can go hear these songs live (pay close attention to "ludlow street"
and "angel's doorway") and make the time for all their possibilities.
love, fátima
chance is the only thing that doesn't happen by chance
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Re: beauty & crime: an intuitive preview
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Joined on 08-28-2006
gaia, portugal
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Mon, May 28 2007, 1:13 PM
more ideas/part 2: one of the things that is really outstanding
about the songs in "beauty & crime" is their incredible plasticity.
"unbound" will probably show it the most, but all the songs have this
element and, because they have it at their root (just acoustic guitar
and vocals), they themselves ask for the arrangement or musical
treatment that best makes this core element shine through, from the
inside out.
i believe this is an intrinsic quality of every vega song,
regardless of their musical outcome, but here it all just feels so
right, as if suzanne did right by her songs and they did right by her,
if it makes any sense.
chance is the only thing that doesn't happen by chance
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Re: beauty & crime: an intuitive preview
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Joined on 08-28-2006
gaia, portugal
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Thu, May 31 2007, 3:02 PM
more ideas/part 3: i was at the movies yesterday and i was struck
by a sentence someone said during a trailer. the movie being advertized
was "shortbus" and i might take the sentence out of its context, but
it's not the movie i'll be relating it to.
one of the characters in this movie says the following: "people
come to new york to be forgiven". as i've written here before, in
"beauty & crime", new york is, to me, the landscape that cuts
through it and inspires and reflects everything. it's a character as
well, of course, but one that permeates all the others, like a vein.
but this is a very real landscape, not an abstract or a mental one,
like "the wide flat land" in (again) "99.9F degrees".
my connection between these two albums comes also from the feeling
that, in both, and as a whole, their respective characters lack
something in a similar way: a sense of relief and a spiritual
elevation, which they struggle for, and for the most part fail to find on
"99.9F degrees", and which they find, on the new record, mostly reflected through
the vessel that is new york, with "her beauty and her crime".
chance is the only thing that doesn't happen by chance
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Re: beauty & crime: an intuitive preview
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Joined on 08-28-2006
gaia, portugal
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Thu, May 31 2007, 3:51 PM
ps: i'd say the characters in "beauty & crime" also find a sense of healing for themselves, reflected through the one slowly rising through the city, in every corner, in every street.
chance is the only thing that doesn't happen by chance
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Re: beauty & crime: an intuitive preview
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Joined on 04-25-2006
Florida
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Fri, Jun 01 2007, 10:00 AM
 fátima:... this is a very real landscape, not an abstract or a mental one,
like "the wide flat land" in (again) "99.9F degrees".
Interesting insight, Fatima. I was thinking the same thing after hearing "Zephyr and I": Many of her songs emanate from Suzanne's incredibly fertile imagination (and those are many of her best songs), and others such as "Ironbound" come from close observation of her environment. You could argue that a few, such as "Neighborhood Girls," come from both. But from what I've heard, it looks as this song will have a very strong sense of place, and maybe of time and specific people as well. I guess we can all discuss once the album comes out why this is. Is it from all the losses she and her city have undergone starting with 9/11, a sense of mortality, or just a time in her life when it makes sense to look around and take stock? Either way, I can't wait to hear the whole thing.
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Re: beauty & crime: an intuitive preview
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Fri, Jun 01 2007, 10:14 AM
Fatima: You remarked on the "incredibly plasticity" of the "Beauty & Crime" songs. While plasticity can be either a compliment or insult, depending upon how the term is used, I really don't think that it can be applied to many of Vega's songs - they're too "real" or "visceral" to be classifed thusly. Perhaps something like "Golden", but to most of her songs - no. However, it is a term that fascinates me, and I would like to understand exactly what it was that you meant. Cheers, Milo/Will
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Re: beauty & crime: an intuitive preview
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Joined on 08-28-2006
gaia, portugal
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Fri, Jun 01 2007, 12:34 PM
hi bob and milo,
bob, i agree with what you say about "zephyr & i". i believe you can
also find that "very strong sense of place, and maybe of time and specific
people", as you put it, in "ludlow street", which i believe you have already heard. if you think
of "angel's doorway" and "anniversary" it is there too. and it is there as well
even in songs like "bound" and "as you are now". these songs are like very real
and sharp snapshots of real people, in real places, at specific
times.
you ask why this is. maybe a combination of what
you suggest could be a starting point to explain it. also "anniversary" was the
very first song suzanne wrote for this album. it was triggered by something very
real and in its lyrics runs this desire to really do real things, if you get my
meaning: "watch for daily braveries / notice newfound courtesies / finger sudden
legacies" and so on. so maybe it all started here but, again, this is just an
intuition of mine.
milo, i see your point but i didn't mean it like
that. by plasticity i mean the songs' ability to be moulded, to sustain any
musical metamorphosis, without ever losing their spirit, if you will. and it is
because "they're too "real" or "visceral"", as you say, that they're able to do
this. it's because they started to be raw, only "feather and bone" (and by that i
mean just suzanne's acoustic guitar and vocals), capturing the essence of
something, that they can ask for, for example, the industrial sound of "99.9F
degrees" or the orchestrations of "beauty & crime".
i believe songs such as suzanne's ask for what they
need themselves. think of "tom's diner": it just needed to be sung, but within
it was this (maybe endless) territory of ways to be moulded into (maybe also endless)
versions of itself. keep in mind the latest version of it suzanne did with her
band, which i believe you've already heard. and on "beauty & crime" remember
the studio version of "frank & ava" while listening to the acoustic version
suzanne did of it on the bbc radio 2 show last wednesday. i hope i made my point
clearer and, of course, i meant that word as a compliment.
thank you both for your engaging
words.
love, fátima
chance is the only thing that doesn't happen by chance
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