Beauty & Crime
| Beauty & Crime | ||||
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| Studio album by Suzanne Vega | ||||
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Publication |
June 11, 2007 |
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| Label (s) | Blue Note Records | |||
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Format (s) |
CD, download |
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Experimental rock |
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Title (number) |
12 |
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running time |
33:58 |
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Beauty & Crime is the seventh studio album by singer-songwriter Suzanne Vega . It is one of their concept albums and deals with New York City as a theme. It's the first new Vegas material since 2001 (songs in Red and Gray). It was also her first album that was released on the Blue Note Records label. It was released on July 17, 2007 and won a Grammy Award for "Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical".
development
After the rather low commercial success of the last two Vegas albums, A&M Records ended their long collaboration with Vega ( Nine Objects of Desire ; Songs in Red and Gray ). Between 2003 and 2006, Vega toured and sang the first versions of titles that later made it onto the record. These included: Unbound , (Edith Wharton's) Figurines and New York is a Woman. The album was recorded in New York City between November 10th and November 27th, 2006.
reception
The reviews of Beauty & Crime were very positive. Allmusic gave the album a four and a half stars (out of five) while Entertainment Weekly gave the album a 1. According to Metacritic, Beauty & Crime ranks seventeen on the 2007 year-end charts. The album was apparently unsuccessful commercially. Vega said in an interview that she was "actually very happy with him ... - even if nobody seemed to want it."
Track list
The music and the lyrics were written by Suzanne Vega.
- Zephyr & I - 3:11
- Ludlow Street - 3:26
- New York Is a Woman - 2:55
- Pornographer's Dream - 3:25
- Frank & Ava - 2:37
- Edith Wharton 's Figurines - 2:23
- Bound - 4:44
- Unbound - 3:36
- As You Are Now - 2:21
- Angel's Doorway - 2:55
- Anniversary - 3:16
- Obvious Question (bonus piece) - 1:50
staff
- Suzanne Vega - acoustic guitar, vocals
- Mike Visceglia - Bass (4)
- Dougie Yowell - drums (4.6), percussion (4.6)
- Gerry Leonard - electric guitar (1,2,5 to 11), acoustic guitar (4,5,10)
- Graham Hawthorne - drums (1,3,5,6,9 to 11), live drums (2,7,8)
- Tony Shanahan - bass (1,5,9,10)
- Sam Dixon - Bass (2,3,6,11) Live Bass (8)
- Martin Slattery - piano (3, 4, 7, 10), flute (9), wind instruments (3), reeds (3)
- Lee Ranaldo - electric guitar (1,2,10)
- Jimmy Hogarth - percussion (1 to 5,10,11), electric guitar (1), acoustic guitar (11)
- Philip Shepard - cello (1,6,7)
- Matthew Ward - violin (1.7)
- KT Tunstall - background vocals, vocal arrangement (1.5)
- Ruby Froom - backing vocals (2.8)
- Beccy Byrne - backing vocals (8)
- Emily Singer - backing vocals (8)
- Anthony Genn - backing vocals (11)
- London Studio Orchestra - strings (2,4,7,9) conducted by Perry Montague-Mason
- Pete Davis - Programming (2,4,7,8,10)
- Jimmy Hogarth - producer
- Emery Dobyns - sound engineer
Comments Vegas
These are comments about the pieces of music that Vega wrote:
- Zephyr & I : a conversation between the graffiti artist Zephyr and myself, West End Avenue remembered
- Ludlow Street : for my brother Tim who lived there, memories of parties and rehab
- New York is a Woman : NY personified as a woman who has had a hard time but is still beautiful
- Pornographer's Dream : what would he really desire?
- Frank & Ava : a couple who gets along in bed but not out
- Figurines : women past and present, how we suffer for beauty
- Bound : a love song to my husband
- Unbound : a spiritual song about a plant
- As You Are Now : to my daughter who is a natural treasure
- Angel's Doorway : A cop is stationed at Ground Zero and his wife wants him to leave his clothes at the door. Also about troops returning home.
- Anniversary : The anniversary week of 9/11 a year later in NYC
- Obvious Question : about alcohol and the damage done (this track is only available on the Japanese import CD)
Charts
album
| Chart (2007) | Highest ranking |
|---|---|
| The Billboard 200 (US) | 129 |
| Top Internet Albums (US) | 24 |
| Billboard Comprehensive Albums (US) | 140 |
| United Kingdom | 127 |
| Belgium Albums Top 50 | 31 |
| Czech Republic | 37 |
| Estonia | 9 |
| Finland Albums Top 40 | 13 |
| France Albums Top 150 | 52 |
| Germany | 81 |
| Italy | 74 |
| Poland | 49 |
| Swiss Albums Top 100 | 79 |