Suzanne Vega – Suzanne Vega (1985)

An American folk-singer-songwriter who I always think of as quite recent, but in fact she has been around since 1985, which is 40years – more than half my life.  She has released 10 albums, though I only have the first five.  She is quite original, her songs sound like nobody else’s.  Her singing voice is more conversational and often sung quite dead-pan; she lets the lyrics tell the story.  This album seemed to creep out, the cover photo was quite unflattering and yet it sold well, more by word of mouth than by promotion.  The first single ‘Marlena On The Wall’ was like many of her songs quirky and you felt there was far more behind the song that was unspoken, an air of mystery. The production was stripped back at a time of over-produced releases where more and more was thrown into the mix -and here we had a quiet voice allowed to come to the fore.  Incidentally I have just looked at the musicians on this debut and there were quite a few, including the use of synths which you barley notice at all.  Best songs  – ‘Marlena’, ‘Small Blue Thing’ and ‘Cracking’.  Her next release was her biggest seller and included ‘Tom’s Diner’ and ‘Luka’ – but I still like this quiet little debut.