[2014-08-12] Suzanne Vega "Close-Up Series" 5CD/1DVD box set (Razor & Tie)

pghmusiclover · **Joined:** 15 Jul 2007 **Posts:** 3360

Product Description
In 1985, singer/songwriter Suzanne Vega released her stunning self-titled debut album. 25 years and 7 million albums sold later, Suzanne is widely regarded as one of the most brilliant songwriters of her generation. Suzanne reinterpreted a majority of her catalogue in a close and personal manner, creating 4 new thematic albums that were released over 2010-2012. Now Suzanne has combined all 4CD's from the Close-Up series in a hardcover book with 68 pages of photos, and lyrics, including photos taken by Suzanne. The book also contains an extra CD with all of the bonus tracks previously only available separately and or digitally. Suzanne has also included a DVD of her Close-Up show at City Winery in New York City, which has live acoustic versions of some of fans favourite songs as well as some songs you have never heard live before. The DVD also features a backstage interview and some behind the scenes footage of rehearsal for the show.

[tracklisting]Disc: 1
1. Small Blue Thing
2. Caramel
3. If You Were In My Movie
4. Gypsy
5. Marlene On the Wall
6. (I'll Never Be) Your Maggie May
7. Harbor Song
8. Headshots
9. Songs In Red and Gray
10. Stockings
11. Some Journey
12. Bound

Disc: 2
1. Luka
2. Zephyr & I
3. New York Is a Woman
4. In Liverpool
5. Calypso
6. Fat Man and Dancing Girl
7. The Queen and the Soldier
8. Rock In This Pocket (Song of David)
9. Angel's Doorway
10. Ironbound/Fancy Poultry
11. Neighborhood Girls
12. Tom's Diner
13. Man Who Played God

Disc: 3
1. Undertow
2. When Heroes Go Down
3. My Favorite Plum
4. Solitude Standing
5. Cracking
6. Last Years Troubles
7. Solitaire
8. Tombstone
9. Blood Makes Noise
10. 50 - 50 Chance
11. Penitent
12. Straight Lines
13. Pornographer's Dream
14. Instant Of The Hour After

Disc: 4
1. Rosemary
2. Honeymoon Suite
3. World Before Columbus
4. As You Are Now
5. Soap And Water
6. Widows Walk
7. Blood Sings
8. Bad Wisdom
9. Ludlow Street
10. Tired Of Sleeping
11. Pilgramage
12. Brother Mine
13. The Silver Lady
14. Daddy Is White

Disc: 5
1. 99.9
2. It Makes Me Wonder
3. Freeze Tag
4. Knight Moves
5. Luka (Spanish)
6. Frank And Ava
7. Wodden Horse (Caspar Hauser's Song)
8. Song Of Sand
9. Room Off The Street
10. Priscilla
11. Anniversary
12. Language

Disc: 6
1. Introduction from Suzanne (DVD)
2. Tom's Diner (DVD)
3. Interview (DVD)
4. Rock In This Pocket (DVD)
5. Interview (DVD)
6. Gypsy (DVD)
7. Interview (DVD)
8. Solitude Standing (DVD)
9. Interview (DVD)
10. Room Off The Street (DVD)
11. Interview (DVD)
12. Silver Lady (DVD)
13. Interview (DVD)
14. Daddy Is White (DVD)
15. Interview (DVD)
16. Penitent (DVD)
17. Interview (DVD)
18. Luka (DVD)[/tracklisting]
Amazon USA
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LGGKMCI/?tag=imwan-20

Amazon Canada
http://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00LGGKMCI/?tag=imwanca-20

Amazon UK
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00J2V51ZM/?tag=imwan-21

pghmusiclover · **Joined:** 15 Jul 2007 **Posts:** 3360

From Billboard.com:

Quote:

Suzanne Vega Finishing Up 'Close-Up' Series, May Explore Kickstarter
by Gary Graff, Detroit | October 08, 2012 12:20 EDT

Suzanne Vega says that recasting a good chunk of her song catalog -- an exercise she finishes with the new "Close-Up Vol. 4, Songs of Family" -- has "really been a success on a few levels."

The New York-based singer-songwriter tells Billboard that the four "Close-Up" sets have been selling well at her shows, to the point where she's "made back the money I've put into it, so whatever I see from here on out is profit."

It's also given her ownership of the songs she re-recorded as part of the project. "The average person on the street doesn't really understand that artists don't own the actual (original) masters," Vega notes. "So there's a little confusion. But if someone liked the original version of 'Luka,' they can buy it for 99 cents on iTunes and that's okay. But that being said, a lot of people love the re-recordings because of the simplicity of the songs and the production and how intimate it is. They really love it."

Vega considers "Songs of Family" to be the "folkiest" of the "Close-Up" sets and, as the title would indicate, the most personal. It also includes the first two songs she ever wrote -- "Brother Mine," when she was 14, and "Sliver Lady" the following year. "I look at them as curiosities, especially 'Brother Man,' which I wrote for my brother, Matthew, who used to get into fights," Vega explains. " 'Silver Lady' has its own story line; it's a real song and I did sing it quite a bit up into my 20s. It's easier to bring them out at this point."

"Songs of Family" will not be the very end of the "Close-Up" series; Vega says that she plans to release a box set during early 2013 compiling all four entries with a fifth disc that will pick up "odds and ends and special versions of some of the songs," including "Marlene On the Wall." Meanwhile, she also has "a batch of songs I've been working on and finishing" for her first studio album since 2007's "Beauty & Crime," which Vega says is "in a nutshell is about a spiritual world."

Without a label deal at the moment, however, Vega is also contemplating how she wants to approach the project. "I'm trying to figure out... am I going to follow Amanda Palmer's lead and see if I can raise $1.2 million on Kickstarter, or do I record on a shoestring and license it out?" says Vega, who's also finishing the latest revision of "Carson McCullers Talks About Love," her stage musical collaboration with Duncan Sheik. "I don't know yet what my options are, so it's a really interesting time. I still love the album/CD format; I know we live in a world that's going back to singles, but I still think about albums, so I'm planning on putting it out probably the old-fashioned way."

Renny · 26 Jun 2006

cowboy junkies did this with their "nomad series" they added a fifth disc and did NOT sell it separately from the box, making those who bought all four of the individual CD's as they came out buy them all again just to get the fifth disc.

Geff R. · 27 Sep 2006

I posted my opinion on the otherwise identical thread here in New releases:

viewtopic.php?f=15&t=81369&p=2245322#p2245322

Why am I not surprised about the box............. Glad I only bought 1 & 2. Don't artists care that they're screwing their fans? We should get a major rebate for trading back in the single releases when we buy a box like this for a few i tunes bonus tracks on a physical cd.

Geff R. · 27 Sep 2006

Renny wrote:

cowboy junkies did this with their "nomad series" they added a fifth disc and did NOT sell it separately from the box, making those who bought all four of the individual CD's as they came out buy them all again just to get the fifth disc.

Iain Matthews did the same with his Orphans series; the good news was at the time I got more on ebay selling the 4 cd's separately than I paid for the box. Not today.............

Glenn S. · 30 Oct 2006

Geff R. wrote:

Renny wrote:

cowboy junkies did this with their "nomad series" they added a fifth disc and did NOT sell it separately from the box, making those who bought all four of the individual CD's as they came out buy them all again just to get the fifth disc.

Iain Matthews did the same with his Orphans series; the good news was at the time I got more on ebay selling the 4 cd's separately than I paid for the box. Not today.............

The boxed set of Verve Remixed albums also had an extra disc that was not available individually. Saint Etienne also did this when they re-released their fan club albums in a set. It seems to be a trend, and I think it stinks.

pghmusiclover · **Joined:** 15 Jul 2007 **Posts:** 3360

Geff R. wrote:

I posted my opinion on the otherwise identical thread here in New releases:

viewtopic.php?f=15&t=81369&p=2245322#p2245322

The thread here is for the "Close-Up" collection; the one under New Releases is for a forthcoming new album.

TSmithPage · **Joined:** 20 Sep 2006 **Posts:** 3671

I'll have to let Ms. Vega know how crappy this is on her facebook page if this last disc is not made separately available. I don't mind giving artists my money via remasters, etc., but this is nothing but a shakedown of her best fans who she presumably knows have already bought the CDs separately.

Renny · 26 Jun 2006

Geff R. wrote:

Renny wrote:

cowboy junkies did this with their "nomad series" they added a fifth disc and did NOT sell it separately from the box, making those who bought all four of the individual CD's as they came out buy them all again just to get the fifth disc.

Iain Matthews did the same with his Orphans series; the good news was at the time I got more on ebay selling the 4 cd's separately than I paid for the box. Not today.............

that's for sure.

i had only the first disc (i think i paid $9 originally) in the cowboy junkies "nomad" series, bought the box for $21, sold the disc for $2

if i had all four i never would have bought the box.

as far as i am concerned it is nothing less than the fleecing of loyal fans.

Geff R. · 27 Sep 2006

Today's email says there is also going to be a dvd in the box.

"We did a couple of shows at the City Winery to celebrate the winding down of the Close-Up
Series, which were pretty great. And we recorded one of the shows for a DVD coming
out as part of the Close-Up Box set at Christmas."

Walter P · 20 Sep 2006

I gave up on this series because of the difference in tracklisting between the crappy MP3 download versions (on her website) and the physical copies. I might consider a box as long as that issue is resolved somehow.

Geff R. · 27 Sep 2006

Yes; if the "bonus trax" are not in the box it would be off my radar for purchase. I feel a bit taken advantage of as a fan on this one already.

pghmusiclover · **Joined:** 15 Jul 2007 **Posts:** 3360

Geff R. wrote:

Yes; if the "bonus trax" are not in the box it would be off my radar for purchase. I feel a bit taken advantage of as a fan on this one already.

Yes, you have made that clear numerous times...

David Baker · 31 Oct 2006

Patrick, you must remember that this is IMWAN, where no horse can possibly be so dead that it can't take just one more beating.

Geff R. · 27 Sep 2006

David Baker wrote:

Patrick, you must remember that this is IMWAN, where no horse can possibly be so dead that it can't take just one more beating.

Linda · **Posted:** Thu Jul 18, 2013 2:38 pm

Geff R. wrote:

Don't artists care that they're screwing their fans?

Not to excuse anything here, but it seems to me that most artists barely have any idea about their products and leave it all up to their management: what the releases cost, where they're available, if a deluxe version comes out two weeks after all the faithful bought the standard edition, etc. When an artist is very hands-on about it and really tries to take care of the fans (John Mellencamp for example), it's a happy exception and not the rule.

Geff R. · 27 Sep 2006

I just read Janis Ian's autobiography. In the last chapter she references 2 articles she wrote years ago, that I had previously read. They are perhaps more relevant in the copyright thread, but their is also some relevancy here:

http://www.janisian.com/reading/internet.php

http://www.janisian.com/reading/fallout.php

David Baker · 31 Oct 2006

Geff R. wrote:

David Baker wrote:

Patrick, you must remember that this is IMWAN, where no horse can possibly be so dead that it can't take just one more beating.

Best smilie ever, Geff!

Geff R. · 27 Sep 2006

David Baker wrote:

Geff R. wrote:

David Baker wrote:

Patrick, you must remember that this is IMWAN, where no horse can possibly be so dead that it can't take just one more beating.

Best smilie ever, Geff!

Geff R. · 27 Sep 2006

Good news, she has decided to sell the bonus material separately "in a wallet". Reading below, I'm unsure if that requires buying the dvd at the same time or not.

Suzanne Vega wrote:

A Message from Suzanne

Notes from the road, October 22, 2013, Helsinki, Finland

Hello! I've been so busy working lately that I haven't written. Gerry Leonard, Phil Sullivan and I are in the middle of a tour through Europe and South Africa, but we are also in the final stages of preparing the new album for release next year.

I did the photo shoot with George Holz who did the cover image for Days of Open Hand! So it was nice to see him again. It went great!

We have mixed six songs so far and have four more to go, when we get off this tour. Kevin Killen is mixing the album and Gerry Leonard is producing it.

I have always named the album at the very end of the process and so I am playing with titles. The Road Beyond This One? Queen of Pentacles? I Never Wear White? The Laying On of Hands? I'm leaning toward Queen of Pentacles - might bring good luck. What do you think?

We finally finished the Close-Up Series Box Set which should be out in time for Christmas! There is a separate CD with all the previous bonus material gathered together, and then a great DVD directed by my friend Jeffrey Madoff - he came and filmed the full band rehearsing for a special show at the City Winery this summer - so it's more than just concert footage. Behind the scenes and a special interview as well! For those people who have the complete set of Close-Up Volumes 1-4, a separate wallet will be manufactured with the bonus material and you can buy that separately.

Gotta run!! Soundcheck awaits -

XXXX

TSmithPage · **Joined:** 20 Sep 2006 **Posts:** 3671

"For those people who have the complete set of Close-Up Volumes 1-4, a separate wallet will be manufactured with the bonus material and you can buy that separately."

Big thumbs up to Suzanne for thinking about her fans! Compared to some shakedowns we get from other artists, this is a refreshing change.

Walter P · 20 Sep 2006

TSmithPage wrote:

"For those people who have the complete set of Close-Up Volumes 1-4, a separate wallet will be manufactured with the bonus material and you can buy that separately."

Big thumbs up to Suzanne for thinking about her fans! Compared to some shakedowns we get from other artists, this is a refreshing change.

It's nice that she's fixing the problem, of course the problem shouldn't have been created in the first place IMHO.

[2014-08-12] Suzanne Vega "Close-Up Series" 5CD/1DVD box set (Razor & Tie)

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