Discography: Suzanne Vega
The latest revision of this discography can be found at:
http://discography.vega.net/
You can find the official Suzanne Vega websites at:
http://suzannevega.com/
and:
http://vega.net/
Join Undertow, the Suzanne Vega electronic mailing list! Send a message to:
<undertow-request@vega.net>
Some information included in this discography was used with permission from a discography compiled by Gary Hanley. Some information included in this discography was taken with permission from The Suzanne Vega Discography, first edition, December 1993, by Hugo Westerlund, published in Language Vol. 6, No. 3.
Special thanks to: (in alphabetical order)
Tito Aceves, Timo Ahonen, Ross Alford, David Algranti, Mario Anders,
William C. Andrews, Geoff Arnold, Adam S. Berry, Ian Blake,
Jeff Burka, Jason Clarke, Benjamin L. Combee, Heath David,
Arnaud Desitter, Jennifer Dixon, Chris Dow, V Eisenberg,
Jürgen Felkel, Neil Francis, Mike Franke, Julie E Graham,
Wade Greiner, Ulrich Grepel, Sandy Halflinger, David J. Hammar,
Allan Hirt, Jörg Holle, Dina Hornreich, Kenton Hoover,
Wolfgang Husmann, Sharon A. Jennings, Brendan Jones,
Matti Kalalahti, Marion Kippers, Igor Kleimenov, Klaus Kluge,
John Kortink, Paul Lebeau, Stephen Lemercier, Guillaume Lesage,
Deanna Light, Richard K. Lloyd, José Carlos Maltez, Marietto,
Márton Mihályfi, Serge Mironneau, Tom Napper, Andrew Neumeyer,
Toan Nguyen, David A. Pearlman, Steve Pearson, Örjan Petersson,
Mark Prior, Chris Reichardt, Dennis Reiter, Joachim Ritter,
Huub Ritzema, Darren Sanders, Al Savage, Keith Sawyer, Andrea Sbisà,
Michael Schuster, Christopher Seufert, Fátima Castro Silva,
Brian Sizelove, Christopher Smith, Eric Szczerbinski, James Uther,
Suzanne Vega, Rob Walters, Steve Ward-Smith, Stephan Weber,
Hugo Westerlund, Mark Wilding, Rutger “Spikey” Wimmenhove,
Rob “Woj” Woiccak, Steve Zwanger.
Plain-text discography available upon request.
Notes
Amnesty International appears to have released a series of press releases on picture disc. One of the discs includes a picture of Suzanne Vega. However, Ms. Vega does not appear on the disc.
Suzanne Vega's song “Caramel” was used in the trailer for the feature film Closer, but the song does not appear in the film itself, nor does it appear on the DVD (DVD 2005.03.29 US Columbia Tristar ?). Suzanne Vega's song “I'll Never Be Your Maggie May” was used as the soundtrack for UK television advertisements for an ITV drama series called Life Begins, written by Mike Bullens.
Suzanne Vega was rumoured to be working on a new album to be titled Century of Song in 2005, but apparently the project was shelved. In addition, there was to be a live album, recorded during shows in 2003 and 2004, entitled Some Journey but that project appears to have been shelved as well.
Award-winning director Christopher Seufert, from Mooncusser Films, has begun production on a feature length documentary with Suzanne, tentatively entitled Some Journey. The documentary will include footage of her live performances, personal life, and side projects.
Suzanne Vega recorded two new songs for a “Best of ...” collection entitled Tried and True which was released in September 1998 in Europe. It was to be released in the USA in the spring of 1999 to coincide with the publication of Suzanne's 240-page book of stories, poetry, and lyrics, entitled The Passionate Eye, the Collected Writings of Suzanne Vega. However, what with the demise of A&M records, plans to release Tried and True in the USA were scuttled. Until now. On April 22, 2003, Tried and True was released in the USA, but it has a different cover, catalog number, track listing, and, last but not least, a different title: Retrospective: The Best of Suzanne Vega.
An interview with Suzanne Vega is featured in the book Behind The Muse: Pop and Rock's Greatest Songwriters Talk About Their Work and Inspiration by Bill DeMain. The book features interviews with over 40 successful and respected songwriters (including Brian Wilson, Andy Partridge, Smokey Robinson, Todd Rundgren, Nick Lowe, Neil Finn, and others).
In 1996, it was rumoured that a 4 CD box set of Suzanne Vega's songs would be released. The set was to be called Drive. It was never released. Around that same time, there was also a rumour of a collection of early songs to be titled Thirteen Early Songs. It, too, was never released.
The song “Small Blue Thing” was used in the BBC television movie entitled The Lost Language of Cranes, an adaptation of the David Leavitts novel.
Suzanne Vega wrote the foreword to a book by Amnesty International, called Childhood Lost, about the political abuses of children. The book was published in the UK.
Suzanne Vega was asked by Philip Glass to sing a song for a movie he was working on — he is writing the music, not sure who wrote the words — the director of the movie is a Brazilian woman. Does anybody have any more details about this movie?
A promotional video was filmed for the Hector Zazou song “The Long Voyage”, from the album Songs from the Cold Seas, featuring Suzanne Vega.
D.A. Pennebaker filmed a documentary about Suzanne Vega during her Days of Open Hand tour (Spring 1990) in England, but the film was never finished. A shortened version has been aired, called Portrait of an Artist, very different from the album of the same name.
Mark Summers samples “Tom's Diner” by Suzanne Vega on his Party Children single (12" 1990 UK Island 12 BMW 177 / 875 531).
Chiara Civello covers “Caramel” on her album Last Quarter Moon (CD 2005.02.01 US Verve Forecast B000347302). Easyworld cover “Luka” on their 'Til the Day single (C5 2004.01.19 UK Jive 82876585362). Alexa released singles of her cover of “Luka” which also include numerous remixes (C5/12" 1997.08.18 UK Chase CDCHASE11/12CHASE11). Kate Rusby & Kathryn Roberts cover “The Queen & The Soldier” on their eponymous album (CD 1995 UK Pure PRCD01). Sasha Sokol sings “En la Ciudad (In Liverpool)” on her album Once Once (CD 1997 Sony). Larry Schneider covers “Tom's Diner” on his album So Easy (CD 1996 US Label Bleu), which is possibly a bootleg. The British female a capella group Henwen cover “Small Blue Thing” on their CD No Wrapping (CD 1998? UK HEN03), and they also cover “Some Journey” on a cassette entitled Henwen (CT 1995? UK [no c/n]). Javier Alvarez covers “Gypsy” on his album Dos (CD 1996 US Chrysalis?). Nancy Zeltsman covers “Gypsy” on her album Woodcuts (CD 1993 US Gm GM2043CD). Tomoyo Harada covered “Marlene on the Wall” and “Small Blue Thing” on a mini-album with an untranslatable title (CD 1991.05.21 For Life FLCF-30099); the songs have appeared on a number of her subsequent releases. The Lemonheads covered “Luka” on their album Lick (CD 1988 US Taang! TAANG! 32), and released the song as a single (7" 1989.11 US Taang! TAANG! 31). “Weird Al” Yankovic covers a small portion of “Tom's Diner” in his song “Polka Your Eyes Out” on his album Off The Deep End (CD 1992.04.14 US Scotti Bros 72392 75256-2). François Méchali covers “Tom's Dinner” [sic] on his album Détachements d'Orchestre (CD 1992 FR Charlotte ?).
Elisa Point performs a song entitled “Café Suzanne Vega” on her album La panoplie des heures heureuses (CD 2000.12 FR Musid 320432). Murs and Slug perform a song entitled “Suzanne Vega” on their 2002 album Felt — A Tribute to Christina Ricci. On her 1988 album Good Thing He Can't Read My Mind, Christine Lavin performs the song “Mysterious Woman”, a tribute to (and perhaps a parody of) Suzanne Vega.
The limited edition CD package for Days of Open Hand won Best Packaging in the 1992 Grammy Awards. In addition, a small notebook with a soft cover called Book Of Dreams, for use as a personal dream log, was released as a promotional item.
Recent changes to this document are indicated by green type.
Abbreviations and Definitions
num. numbered ltd. limited ed. edition
p/s picture sleeve std. standard s/s stock sleeve
s/l slimline j/b jewel box promo promotional
c/n catalog number g/f gatefold p/d picture disc
b/i back insert p/b paperboard w/s widescreen
Album: full album release, in one or more of the formats below:
LP 12" vinyl long-player (33 1/3 RPM)
CD Compact (digital) disc (std. j/b unless otherwise indicated)
CT (Mini-) Cassette tape
8T 8-track tape (obsolete)
RT Reel-to-reel tape
DC Digital Compact Cassette tape
MD MiniDisc (digital magneto-optical)
CR CD-R (CD Recordable or Read-Write)
SA Super Audio Compact Disc (SACD)
DA DVD Audio
DR DVD-R (DVD Recordable or Read-Write)
DD Digital Download (see Other Formats below)
Single: single or EP release, in one or more of the formats below:
7" 45 RPM vinyl
10" 45 RPM vinyl
12" 45 RPM vinyl
C3 CD-3, 3" (8 cm) CD single
C5 5" (12 cm) CD single (s/l j/b unless otherwise indicated)
CS (Mini-) Cassette single (p/b p/s unless otherwise indicated)
EP Extended play single or mini-album (vinyl, usually 33 1/3 RPM)
F7 7" flexi-disc, flexible vinyl single (usually one-sided)
Video: video release, in one or more of the formats below:
VHS VHS-format video tape
Beta Beta-format video tape
BRD Blu-ray Disc
HDD High-Definition DVD
DVD Digital Versatile (Video) Disc (including DVD-ROM)
VCD Video CD, popular in Asia (MPEG1)
CLV Video disc in Constant Linear Velocity format (8" or 12")
CAV Video disc in Constant Angular Velocity format (8" or 12")
LDS Laser Disc single (Japan)
VHD Video High Density, obsolete laser disc format (Japan)
NTSC Video format for U.S.A. and Japan
PAL Video format for the E.C. (except France) and Scandinavia
SECAM Video format for France
Other Formats:
ROM CD-ROM, computer-readable disc
MP3 Layer 3 MPEG encoded audio
WMA Windows Media Audio
Pub A publication: a book, songbook, pamphlet, magazine, etc.
Definitions:
Q1/Q2/Q3/Q4 Calendar quarters: Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall.
Radio Show A release specially recorded for radio airplay.
Interview An interview transcription disc.
Collection A collection of tracks by this artist, usually previously
released on various albums and singles.
Compilation A compilation of tracks by various artists.
Soundtrack Soundtrack to a film or play released in Album format.
Box Set Box set of previously released and/or unreleased material.
Songbook Book of words and music.
Bootleg Unauthorized release of previously unreleased material
consisting of concert recordings, studio outtakes, and
radio or television broadcasts.
Pirate Unauthorized release of previously released material
without attempting to make the album look like an original.
Counterfeit Unauthorized copy of an officially released album.
Country codes are InterNIC domain names, except for the following:
AA Australasia AS Asia BX BeNeLux
EU Europe (EC/EEC) SC Scandinavia SO South America
WG West Germany (prior to August 1990) WW Worldwide
The Fine Print
Please do not ask me where to find rare recordings, bootlegs, videos, or other releases listed in this discography. Please do not ask me where you can get scans of artwork for these releases. This discography is a list of releases that have been made available over time, not a list of my personal collection. Just because any given release is listed in this discography does not mean that I own that release, nor does it indicate that I am willing to trade, sell, or make tape copies of that or any other release. If you are looking for such recordings, try attending record shows, reading collector magazines, and hunting in used record shoppes.
While the existence of unauthorized recordings may be documented herein, I cannot advise on the legality of such recordings, nor can I advise where such recordings can be obtained.
All singles and EPs have a picture sleeve (p/s) unless otherwise noted. Unless otherwise noted, CDs come in a standard jewel-box and CD-singles come in a slim-line jewel-box. An “obi” is the paper strip (literally, the “sash”) that comes wrapped around most Japanese LPs and CDs.
Song authorship is denoted by names enclosed in braces, e.g., “{Blegvad/Moore}”. Where possible, the name of the lyricist appears first.
Information flagged with a question mark has not been verified (a guess, a rumour). If you have further information about these or other related releases or if you can supply missing artwork, please write me.
Many CD track times were found using my compact disc player and the time indicated on your CD player may vary slightly (± 1-3 seconds), due to the way different machines calculate track times.
Address all correspondence to:
John Relph <relph
at tmbg dot org>
This list was compiled and formatted by John Relph.
While information about particular releases is not copyright and may be used without permission, the compilation of this information in this discography in this format is copyright and may not be published in any form whatsoever without the permission of the author. Just ask.
This discography may be distributed electronically and otherwise if and only if the entire copyright notice and attributions are included.
