European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 7, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Reunion with father opens new worlds for Suzanne by David Bauder the associated press. When a father she had never known sent dozens of family photographs to her it opened up a stunning new world for Suzanne. Vega. Similarly meeting a producer with a taste for the bizarre took Vega s music in directions she had never thought possible. A both experiences shape the songs and sounds of 99.9 it an album. That shows Vega s music going far beyond the new York City Folk scene that nurtured her in the Early 1980s. Quot it described the stance of the album which is slightly feverish and enough to make you hear and see things in a different Way Quot Vega said of the title. Quot it s not wild and crazy exactly. It s just slightly off the  Vega and producer Mitchell froom created an. Intriguing sound that mixes Folk Rock v Roll and some Industrial music sounds popular in dance clubs. The music challenges but does t alienate the traditional Folk audience that helped Vega build her career. She s a storyteller and her own life gives her plenty of stories to Tell. About five years ago Vega met her father for the first time. During the get acquainted stage her dad sent. Photos. Vega was surprised to discover she had a grandmother who was a drummer in an All woman vaudeville band during the 1930s, the woman met a trumpet player on the Road and they had four children but split up and put the children up for adoption. Quot i had no idea of any of this Quot the 32-year-old Vega said. Quot it has been f lot to reckon with in the last few years. I thought i was being very Independent in choosing this lifestyle for myself Only to fired out 15 years later that my grandmother had done the same  she sings about her grandmother s experiences on the new album s fat Man and dancing girl like any skilled songwriter Vega has the ability to let her imagination run wild and the instincts to know How. Much to reveal in her music. It one of her most melodic new songs in Liverpool resulted from a lost Nap on a sunday afternoon in that City. A Quot Bells were ringing in the Cathedral across the Street from the hotel so i started to think about who was ringing the Bells because they were ringing for about an hour Quot she said. Quot then i started to think about this old Boyfriend i had who was from Liverpool and i was feeling sort of nostalgic for that time and sort of homesick Quot i started to think about the Hunchback from notre Dame and. The idea of lost love or unrequited  you get the idea. One s mind wanders on a sunday afternoon. The woman a whose 1987 hit song about child abuse Luka began a wave of introspective Singer songwriters a again sings about a form of abuse on her new album. Suzanne Vega s new album shows her music is going far beyond the new York City Folk scene. _ bad Wisdom is purposely unspecific. It s a song about a Young girl with a dark secret but the verse that reveals the secret was left off the album. Quot i took out the verse that explained very specifically what the problem was because i Felt it was too heavy handed and i just did t like it Quot she said. Quot but it s been fascinating to hear what everyone thinks the problem is like incest or abuse. I think everyone has their own form of bad . True to its subject matter bad Wisdom sounds like a stately Folk song. But much of 99.9 f sounds like it was programmed by a mad professor. When Vega recorded demo tapes of the material that would make up the new album she sent it to three producers. One said he really liked the tape and did t think much could be done to improve on it. Another suggested Vega make a rap album. The third producer froom said he liked the songs but not the production. He said it could be More interesting. That appealed to Vega who was looking to break free from a stale recording environment. Quot there was a feeling that everything had to be clean smooth and Pristine that everything had to be technically Correct that i had to sing on time and in tune and if there were any strange noises around we had to get rid of them Quot she said Vega wanted no More of that. So when froom suggested for example that an Anvil sound replace Drums on blood makes noise she laughed and said go  slim Pickens by Jim Patterson the associated press a a 1. _ a a Guy Clark has respect verging on Awe from some of his Peers a few critically acclaimed albums and a fistful of songs taken to the top of the country charts by various stars. A the 51 year old texan said in an interview that he feels Quot you have to be totally vulnerable Quot to write songs adding Quot they re not written in Stone. That s one of the Nice things about it. They have a life of their own. Quot the last gunfighter Ballad a hit for Johnny Cash when i first wrote and recorded it and for several years after i tried to do it in Tempo. It finally snapped to me a one night it s almost like free verse just read it like a poem it s the song like theater not like a  Clark also prefers a dramatic Reading of perhaps his most famous song desperadoes waiting for the train. Quot remember slim Pickens the Cowboy actor he read it As a poem with the music underneath on an album and it is spine tingling. It s very  the song is better known in More musical versions by Jerry Jeff Walker and others. Other songs by Clark that have become country standards Are heartbroken she Ain f Goin nowhere Texas a 1947 and old friends. Emmylou Harris has appeared on almost every Clark album. She sings duets with him on / Don t love you. Much do i a standout song on Clark s new Effort boats to build. Former Harris ban member Rodney Crowell produced two albums for Clark in the 1980s. Quot i hold Guy in the iame esteem that i do Bob Dylan Leonard Cohen Tom Waits Townes Van Zandt arid Mickey Newbury Quot Crowell said. Released on Asylum records boats to build is the first album Clark describes As satisfactory to him in terms of production and sound Quality. It retains the sparse instrumentation of his earliest efforts because Clark says Quot i like the Way it  some of the recordings on the album were years even decades in the making. Clark s painstaking creative process sometimes finds verses of the same song written years apart songs left on the shelf until deemed Quot ready Quot and Long Waits Between albums. This latest album is just Clark s seventh of new material in 16 years. Quot a Don t really have any reason to make a record unless i have ten Good songs Quot Clark said. Quot i mean Why make a record with two Good songs and eight Halfway ones. That kind of writing just does t happen on a schedule. Clark Hopes his persistence can raise his work to another level a plateau he says his Friend Van Zandt has already achieved. Quot he does t do Craft songwriting it s literature. It \ approaches that to me it think we should All aspire to  pop a singles 1.1 will always love you from thu bodyguard a Whitney Houston. 2. Rump Shaker wreck a elect 3. If 1 Ever fall in love a Shal 4. In the still of the Nite i la remember Boyz ii men 1 i d die without you from Boomerang a . Dawn1 a. Rhythm is a dancer snap 7 saving forever for you Shan Lea 8. Good enough Bobby Brown 8. What about your friends tic 10. Real love Mary j. Bliga top a albums i. Soundtrack to to 0oovoima0 various artists a 2 unplugged Eric clapton3. Breathless Kenny q. 4. Timeless the classics Michael Bolton 5. The Chase Garth Brook 6. Ten Pearl Jam 7. Some gave All Brily Ray Cyan 8. Automatic for the people Rem 9. Home for Christmas Amy Grant 10. Hard or smooth wreck a effect. Country a singles 1. Don t let our love Start slipp1n away Vinc Agil a 2. Somewhere other than tie night Liberty r 3. Sure love Hal Ketchum 4. Walkaway Joe Trisha Yea Wood 5. Look heart no hands Randy Travis 8. She a got the rhythm and i got the blues a Alan Jackson 7. Life s a dance a John Michael Montgomery a. Love without mercy Lee Roy Parnell 8, too Busy being in love Doug Stone 10. Anywhere but Here Sammy Kershaw ramp a singles 1 Wii always love you from Tho bodyguard a Whitney Houston a. 2. If i Ever fall in love Shai 3. Hump Shaker wreck a effect 4. In the still of the Nite i la remember Boyz if men 5 Good enough Bobby Brown 6 Here we go again portrait 7 slow Ano sexy Shabba Ranke 8 what about your friends tic 9. Love should brought you Home from Boomerang a Toni Braxton 10. Flex mad cobra jazz a albums 1. T heard you twice the first time Branford Marsalis 2. Perfectly Frank Tony Bennett 3. 25 a Harry Connick or. 4. Haunted hear a Charlie Marian quartet weal 5. Portraits by Ellington the Lincoln Center jazz orchestra 0. You must be eve in Spring Frank Morgan 7. It s not about the Melody Booty Carter 8. Letter to Evan David Benoit 8. More than a mood Stanley Turrentine 10. Fantasia Eliane Elias a a compiled by billboard january 7, 1993 stripes Magazine 13