Suzanne Vega at Cadogan Hall

We went to see Suzanne Vega tonight at Cadogan Hall in London (Suzanne seems to like that venue, she's played there enough times now). This is part of her short British tour to promote the new album,  'Lover, Beloved' that holds the music for her stage show about Carson McCullers. The new record is released on Friday and Suzanne played six of the songs from it - all well worth investing in. She's already played around Europe and the photos are from one of her shows in Germany (courtesy of Willem Melsson on Facebook).

It was a show of several parts, starting off with a selection of her greatest hits (she has so many that it's always a surprise which she chooses to play) followed by a set showcasing four of the new songs followed by more hits. The encore gave us two more of the new songs.

We had 'Marlene on the Wall' (with the top hat, obviously), 'Luka', 'Tom's Diner', 'The Queen & The Soldier', 'Gypsy', 'I Never Wear White', 'Crack in the Wall', 'Small Blue Thing', 'Caramel' and a host of others. I've said it before and I probably will say it again, but I love Suzanne's voice and it's as strong as ever. It soothes and relaxes, it forces her words into your brain almost effortlessly, usually accompanied by her strumming on her guitar.

And that's something worth considering for the new songs - some of them lead off with piano and it was quite a surprise to hear her singing to a largely piano backing. It created a different tone to the new songs, a new feeling when guitar isn't the lead musical instrument - and I liked it.  The new songs are part of a whole, a show about a specific person, so they do sound a bit different to the rest of the set - they're out of context so they would do - but they're really good and bring another layer to Suzanne's voice.

As ever, it took Suzanne a few songs to start talking, more than a 'thank you' to acknowledge the applause, and I love hearing her talk, her dry wit and obvious humour.  She's been at this game for a long time now and has played all over the world with all sorts of other artists but she's still herself, almost stubbornly so. And I wouldn't have her any other way. She's still creative and gets out there to play her songs. She's written some classics in the past and she's still pushing forward with new songs and projects and the songs from the Carson McCullers show sound excellent - I look forward to hearing them all. Even better, hear them all in the context of the show. It's opening in America next year so here's hoping it's a success and is brought over here at some point.

Thank you for a lovely evening Suzanne - I look forward to the next time!

Suzanne Vega at Cadogan Hall

I went to see Suzanne Vega at Cadogan Hall a few weeks ago - she's played there several times and seems to like it. It was just Suzanne and Gerry Leonard's inventive guitar work, with no band this time. I love seeing Suzanne play live - she has a very calming voice and she replaces the cares of the day with her thoughtful lyrics.

The latest tour seems to focus on her first album release 30 years ago - is it really that long ago? I have vague memories of first hearing 'Marlene' by Suzanne on Ned Sherrin's Saturday afternoon Radio 4 show 'Loose Ends' and thinking, 'that's a voice I want to hear more of...'. And I have.

The Cadogan show was a mix of 'greatest hits' and showcasing songs from her first album, 'Suzanne Vega' as well as songs from the latest album, 'Queen of Pentacles'.

Suzanne Vega on Twitter

Don't you just lurve Twitter? It's an opportunity to engage with people in real time and, sometimes those people are heroes.

Suzanne Vega tweeted a photo of Big Ben today saying she was here (ie, just round the corner from my office) so I tweeted 'what are you doing in London? any surprise shows?'. And, y'know what? Ms Vega answered by saying she was here for a party and there would be gigs in June. And here's the party photo she posted on Facebook.

So, that's Suzanne Vega pencilled in for June. Now, who else?

'UPROAR!' at The Ben Uri Gallery

The 'UPROAR!' exhibition at the Ben Uri Gallery celebrates the first 50 years of the London Group of artists over 1913-1963. The title comes from the furore created by Mark Gertler's 'The Creation Of Eve' (opposite). Looking at the painting today it's difficult to imagine why it created so much outrage but it did. It shows God lifting Eve by her hair out of Adam, surrounded by lush grass and huge flowers. Shocking, I know.

The Ben Uri Gallery is just off Abbey Road (yes, Beatles fans, *that* Abbey Road) in what I assume was once a small shop. It's bijou, with the walls hung with paintings upstairs and downstairs in what was probably the storeroom. It's a small space but it's big enough in ambition to take on this exhibition and produce a heavy, glossy programme with all the paintings in the exhibition reproduced alongside short essays. Each artist represented in the exhibition has one painting or other work on display in chronological order, with the later works downstairs. One of my favourites of the later paintings was 'Kitchen Interior' by John Bratby from 1956 that I really wanted to touch to feel the splurges of paint layered on top of paint, ridges of paint behind the glass.

I really liked Duncan Grant's 'Window, South of France' from 1928 that is just that, an open window looking out on a lush and rolling landscape of fields leading down to the sea in the distance. The wall inside the house is covered in wallpaper with rich roses, bringing the garden inside the house, and a vase of poppies reflected in the open window.

This picture doesn't do it justice. The colours are much more vibrant when you see it in front of you with deep reds of the flowers and the greens of the fields are made up of many shades. It's a lovely painting and I'd love it on my living room wall.

It was nice to have Duncan's painting hung next to a small painting of a still life by Vanessa Bell, a bowl of apples a la Cezanne. Other Bloomsberries are represented in the exhibition, including Roger Fry's 'Portrait of Nina Hamnett' from 1917 (below) that I instantly saw was really Suzanne Vega - the resemblance was instantly noticeable to me, possibly because I was seeing Ms Vega that evening at the Barbican.

Another painting that drew my eyes was 'Rue Fontaine de Caylus, Marseilles' by Edward Wadsworth from 1922. It's quite a simple painting in one sense, with washing hung up to dry between the houses on either side of the street. The street descends as it goes deeper into the painting, with a single woman in the street. Who hung up all the washing?

The colour and shapes are what draw me in - sheets and shirts and pants, all hanging out to dry in the breeze. It must have been wet underneath those lines and lines of washing when they were first hung out. Again, I'd be quite happy to have that painting on my wall.

Another painting to name check is 'Self-Portrait' by Claude Rogers from 1938, a painter I've not heard of before. He's dressed in shirt, tie and jacket, looking out at the viewer and he could do with a shave. The interesting thing about it is that it could have been painted yesterday - the hair-cut, the clothes, the attitude, all could be from a hipster now. The only thing that dates it for me is the glasses. I can't find a copy of it online so you'll just have to go an see it for yourself.

All in all, it's a great little exhibition so you can dip your toe into the London Group. It's a brave move by the Ben Uri Gallery and I look forward to seeing what it does next.

Suzanne Vega at The Barbican

On Friday Ms Suzanne Vega came to town to sing songs old and new and take us into the realm of the Queen of Pentacles (her new album). Suzanne played at the Barbican in London where her live album from 2012 was recorded. It was mainly just her and guitarist, Gerry Leonard, on that wide stage, joined for a few songs by Alison Balsom on trumpet. It was a very stripped back set, even with Gerry's inventive guitar playing.

With a new album to promote for the first time in about seven years we had a 'hits' plus new songs kind of setlist and it worked really well with the new songs blending in unobtrusively with the classics. That, of course, meant that some of the songs I love hearing Suzanne play live had to be dropped to make space for the new ones but that made it quite intriguing trying to guess what she'd keep in the set. It was also good to hear the new songs played live, some of which will undoubtedly stay in Suzanne's repertoire long after this tour to launch them is over.

Suzanne came on, dressed in black and holding a black disc that she hit and it turned into a black top hat which she put on to open with 'Marlene On The Wall', the first song of hers I heard back in the '80s. We were then taken back and forward in time with old favourites and new songs from the latest album. Old favourites included 'Caramel', 'Gypsy', 'The Queen and The Soldier' and 'Left Of Centre'. Her voice is as soothing and powerful as ever and continues to draw me in as she unfolded the lyrics to her songs. We also had two of my personal favourites, 'Solitude Standing' and 'Small Blue Thing'.

From the new album, 'Tales From The Realm Of The Queen Of Tentacles' we were given  'Fools Complaint' (that introduces the Queen of Tentacles), 'Crack In The Wall', 'Jacob and The Angel' (which Suzanne introduced by saying she was brought up as a Buddhist), 'Don't Uncork What You Can't Contain' and 'Song of The Stoic'. This latter song is a sort of follow-up to 'Luka' that tells us what happened later in his life. Alison Balsom came on to add trumpet to 'Horizon' and, while introducing the new favourite 'I Never Wear White', Suzanne explained that a different version of the album had to be released in the Bible belt in America because the song contains the word 'virgin'. It's a dark song with dark riffs and tells us why Suzanne always wears black.

The set ended with the almost mandatory 'Luka' and 'Tom's Diner' with Suzanne once again wearing her top hat as she moved around the stage. The encore was a surprising version of 'Walk On The Wild Side' in memory of Lou Reed followed by 'Some Journey' and 'Rosemary' and then on she came again for a second encore with 'In Liverpool'.

It was a very enjoyable evening with Ms Vega sharing her songs with us. It wasn't just me that enjoyed her either, the gig was sold out and she received standing ovations several times. The new songs work really well mixed into a setlist with the older songs - they're all her creations, afar all, and there was no jarring between old and new. It'll be interesting to see which songs stay in the setlist for future gigs. That means I'll just have to keep going to see Suzanne play live whenever she's in London. And I will.

Thanks for a great evening Suzanne!

Dancers Dance!

I was listening to Suzanne Vega's new album, 'Tales From The Realm Of The Queen of Pentacles' this morning and one line of 'I Never Wear White' really made me think. Suzanne sings that she doesn't wear white because it's the colour of virgins and rides in the park, she wears black because it's the 'colour of secrets, outlaws and dancers...' and that line took me back to seeing 'A Chorus Line' in the summer last year.

In 'A Chorus Line' Cassie (played by Scarlett Strallen in the revival at the London Palladium last year) sings 'The Music and The Mirror' that starts off with 'God, I'm a dancer and dancers dance'. That's what dancers are for, what they do, they dance. It's the same with any artist - writers, artists, actors, dancers, whatever - since the core of their being is to create and to perform.

This is sort of getting back to the 'who are you?' question I've blogged about before and it's a recurring question for me. If dancers are meant to dance and writers are meant to write and painters are meant to paint then what does that leave for the rest of us mere mortals? It chimes with the 'be whoever you are' message and it affects all of us. I am whoever I decide I am. It's my choice, not yours.

Who are you? Who am I?

New Suzanne Vega Album in February 2014

I'm delighted to report that Suzanne Vega will release an album of new songs in February 2014. It's got the interesting name of 'Tales From The Realm Of The Queen of Pentacles' (and I've got no idea what that refers to).

Suzanne's last few, self-released, albums have been in the 'Close Up' series of re-recording some of her classic songs according to different themes. It's been great hearing how Suzanne interprets older music for this century and decade but it's much nicer to have brand new songs to listen to and explore.

Here's a short video of Suzanne talking about the new album:

One World One Voice

Do you remember seeing a television programme back in 1990 called 'One World One Voice', a nearly one hour-long visual album of world music conceived and directed by Kevin Godley? I do and I bought the cassette when it came out on Virgin records.

I distinctly remember watching it on my little portable telly and remember four sections in particular: Robbie Robertson (why not Buffy Sainte-Marie?) quoting Chief Seattle at the start, the 'One Voice' section, the Dave Stewart section in a Hindu temple (nice to see you've all got your shoes off people) and the Kodo Drummers backed by an orchestra at the end. There are many more memorable bits but those are the ones that stick in my memory.

I found my cassette of the music yesterday and, today, I found the actual programme on YouTube. It's 52 minutes long so you'll need to set aside some time to watch it but it's worth it. A lot of it is a continuous loop of music with changing themes and emphases and then, every now and then, a new theme or song is introduced.



It includes great musicians from all around the works, most of whom I don't know. But I do know Peter Gabriel, Sting, Andy Summers, Joe Strummer, Suzanne Vega, Laurie Anderson, Lou Reed, Eddie Grant, The Kodo Drummers, Dave Stewart, Shakespear's Sister, Bob Geldoff and, of course, Kevin Godley. There are lots more in there if you care to look.

I suspect the reason this has never been repeated is due to licensing and other 'biz' issues but it deserves to be seen again. Or for someone to remake it for the 21st Century?