Beauty & Crime
2007 studio album by Suzanne Vega
Beauty & Crime is the seventh studio album by American singer-songwriter Suzanne Vega. It is her first album of new material since 2001's Songs in Red and Gray and her first for Blue Note Records. It was released on July 17, 2007. Beauty & Crime won the Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical, on February 11, 2008. It was dedicated to Tim Vega, Suzanne's younger half-brother who had died in 2002.
Development
After lukewarm commercial success for her last two albums, Nine Objects of Desire (1996) and Songs in Red and Gray (2001) A&M Records ended their contract with Vega with the release of the more commercially successful hits package Retrospective in 2003.
Vega embarked on an extensive tour and performed songs from Beauty & Crime in their early forms, including "Unbound", "Edith Wharton's Figurines", and "New York Is a Woman".
The album was recorded in New York City from November 10–27, 2006, with additional recording in England in January 2007.
Track listing
All tracks written by Suzanne Vega.
"Zephyr & I" – 3:10
"Ludlow Street" – 3:16
"New York Is a Woman" – 2:54
"Pornographer's Dream" – 3:23
"Frank & Ava" – 2:38
"Edith Wharton's Figurines" – 2:23
"Bound" – 4:43
"Unbound" – 3:34
"As You Are Now" – 2:20
"Angel's Doorway" – 2:55
"Anniversary" – 2:57
Bonus track (Japanese edition)
"Obvious Question" – 1:50
Personnel
Suzanne Vega – acoustic guitar, vocals (all tracks)
Gerry Leonard – electric guitar (1, 2, 5 to 11), acoustic guitar (4, 5, 10)
Lee Ranaldo – electric guitar (1, 2, 10)
Martin Slattery – piano (3, 4, 7, 10), flute (9), brass (3), reeds (3)
Samuel Dixon – bass (2, 3, 6, 11) live bass (8)
Tony Shanahan – bass (1, 5, 9, 10)
Mike Visceglia – bass (4)
Graham Hawthorne – drums (1, 3, 5, 6, 9 to 11), live drums (2, 7, 8)
Jimmy Hogarth – percussion (1 to 5, 10, 11) electric guitar (1), acoustic guitar (11)
Doug Yowell – drums (4, 6), percussion (4, 6)
KT Tunstall – background vocals, vocal arrangements (1, 5)
Ruby Froom – background vocals (2, 8)
Beccy Byrne – background vocals (8)
Emily Singer – background vocals (8)
Anthony Genn – background vocals (11)
Philip Sheppard – cello (1, 6, 7)
Matthew Ward – violin (1, 7)
London Studio Orchestra – strings (2, 4, 7, 9) led by Perry Montague–Mason
Pete Davis – programming (2, 4, 7, 8, 10)
Production
Jimmy Hogarth – producer
Cameron Craig – engineer
Emery Dobyns – engineer
Tchad Blake – mixing engineer
Bob Ludwig – mastering engineer
See also
List of songs about the September 11 attacks
Notes
Vega wrote following comments on the album's songs:
"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": New York personified as a woman who has had a hard time but is still beautiful
"Pornographer's Dream": what would he really desire?
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