Suzanne Vega - Solitude Standing - 1987 (24/96 Vinyl Rip)

Solitude Standing is Suzanne Vega's platinum second album, released in 1987. It is the most popular and critically acclaimed of her career. Suzanne Vega emerged in the mid-'80s, and while her intimate voice and acoustic guitar brought to mind Joni Mitchell, her urbane lyrics suggested a sensibility that was as much reportorial as confessional.

Vega's second album, which replaced the delicate acoustic textures of her self-titled debut with more dramatic arrangements, includes Vega's career song, "Luka," surely one of the biggest hits ever written about child abuse. But it was the energetic folk-rock production of "Luka," thick with ringing guitars and pushed by perky drums, that let the listener luxuriate in a song that suggested the darkness that can lurk behind a neighbor's door.

The title tune confronts personal loneliness with a similarly powerful performance, while "Ironbound/Fancy Poultry" makes a downtown landscape sound downright homey. Well-turned tunes like "Calypso" and "Gypsy" recall the softer textures of her debut.
"Enjoy this beautiful "follow up" album; it's a great recording". Note: No silence was deleted, so please burn gapless…



Review:

http://www.allmusic.com/album/r21096

Over her 20 year career Suzanne Vega has produced a great deal of music that's as good as or better than any of her more famous singer/songwriter peers, with the difference that she's prepared to push things out to the edge lyrically without losing sight of the fact that what makes a song work is a great tune, an exciting, carefully executed arrangement and… sincere delivery. And, when she gets it right, as she does here, the results are quite stunning.

Stand-out tracks such as "Luka", "Solitude Standing" & "In the Eye" suck you in with their exhilarating, wonderfully catchy rock melodies until you listen again to their perfectly metered lyrics and realise that what she's talking about is something far darker and deeper than their melodies suggest. And when she steps back into the more folk based style that this type of rock-poetry is usually found - areas that artists like Joni Mitchell & Leonard Cohen pioneered - their unusual and above all superbly atmospheric arrangements turn them into something very different and very special. Perfect examples of how to make songs genuinely thoughtful and almost ecstatically enjoyable at the same time.

The result? A beautiful, timeless and unforgettable album that anyone who is into "good music" should have in their collection.
Nicjaytee - review from Amazon.com


Track List:

01 Tom's Diner
02 Luka
03 Ironbound/Fancy Poultry
04 In the Eye
05 Night Vision

06 Solitude Standing
07 Calypso
08 Language
09 Gypsy
10 Wooden Horse
11 Tom's Diner (Reprise)