99.9 F°

Is that a rock in our pockets or are we just pleased as punch to greet the arrival of a new Suzanne Vega album? For in 1992 it is not only exemplary that you know how to dance to a Suzanne Vega record, it is also advisable to have some street wise cracks about sex and death at the ready to do away with any librarian tendencies people might expect you to have as a Suzanne Vega fan.

99.9 F° was recorded with producer Mitchell Froom, famous for his work with Los Lobos and Crowded House. He brought along Tchad Blake, who has been the engineer on all his productions. Blake also plays guitar on a number of tracks, as does Richard Pleas- ance, a member of Australian band Boom Crash Opera. But the main guitarist on this album is David Hidalgo from the wonderful Los Lobos, whose own Kiko album was one of our summer favourites. Richard Thompson plays the guitar solo on As Girls Go, but probably the most important musician on the album, apart from Vega herself whose singing is better than ever, is Jerry Marotta. A brilliant drummer and percussionist, he is best known for his work with Peter Gabriel. Marotta's influence is felt throughout the album. In fact, only two members of her touring band contribute to one song: Michael Viseglia and Marc Shulman play fretless bass and bouzouki respectively on Blood Sings, a song about a relative of Suzanne Vega who had a very short and tragic life.

99.9 F° is the most surprising album Suzanne Vega has made since her debut album. Perhaps it is even more surprising. With the first one she had the advantage of being un- known. But after three albums you tend to feel you know how the artist works. Both Sol- itude Standing and Days Of Open Hand were very good albums, but especially the last one missed that certain element of surprise. The main difference here lies in the ryhthms. 99.9 F° is the most percussive album Vega has made so far. That doesn't mean to say that this is an album full of Tom's Diner's. It is not her "hardcore U know the score" - tech- no album. Nor is it a full blast industrial album. The influences are there, sure enough, but if that was all there is to it, it could have easily sounded as a desperate attempt to cling on to new trends as if she'd been afraid her own sound was becoming old fashioned. It is the natural way Vega has integrated these elements from "modern dance" into her music and made them her own that is what makes this album so stunning. It still sounds like Suzanne Vega, but at the same time she has reinvented herself to astonishing effect. The second reason why 99.9 F° is a classic album lies in the lyrics. This, I'm afraid to say, comes as no suprise. Vega has always been, still is, and probably will b for a very long time, one of the greatest lyricists in pop music. Whereas the songs on the first two al- bums were mostly concerned with observing others, on Days Of Open Hand she turned inwards. It is her most spiritual album, but that sense of serenity is definitely missing from 99.9 F°. Here, the writer takes a long hard look at reality and doesn't like what it sees. Starting off with the gentle industrial kling-klang of Rock In This Pocket, this Song of David is a modern day version of the David versus Goliath story, with the speaker in the role of David. In contrast, the European single In Liverpool is a romantic fantasy about the hunchback from Notre Dame and an old boyfriend who was from Liverpool. It has a beautiful, lilting melody and a rousing chorus. As ever, most of the songs operate on dif- ferent levels and can be interpreted in various ways. The title track with its theme of heat could be about sex but it could also be about fever. It is probably about both. The chorus: "Something cool against the skin is what you could be needing" would seem to suggest the first option, while lines like "Pale as a candle and your face is hot/And if I touch you I might get what you've got" could refer to the danger of "touching" someone in the AIDS age. Likewise the American single Blood Makes Noise could be about the same feared disease. The most "alternative" song on the album, it sounds like it was recorded in a windtunnel where a patient is trying to explain to a doctor what's wrong with him. "I think that you might want to know the details and the facts/But there's something in my blood denies the memory of the acts." Spooky and sinister.

Still, even though 99.9 F° is a dark album, it is not a depressing one. Fat Man And Danc- ing Girl is as weird and danceable as its title suggests. And there are some lighter touches too in the second half. If You Were In My Movie is, as Suzanne said last year, "a very straightforward song and it's a sort of flirting song with someone. If you were in my movie: these are the parts you would play and the parts are: a detective, a gangster, a priest, and a doctor." As A Child is a rather playful song about growing up and learning to "have a life". And even the more serious songs are musically more upbeat. When Heroes Go Down breezes past in under two minutes, its bouncy tune offset by the bitter lyrics: "When heroes go down/they go down fast/So don't expect any time/To equivocate the past." It may be about an intimate relationship that has turned sour or the flop of Days Of Open Hand or, who knows,...AS Girls Go spins on the opening lines "You make a really good girl/As girls go/Still kind of look like a guy." Sex changes, transvestism, what is she on about? It doesn't matter. It is a perfect popsong and would make a pretty good single. The closing song on the American version, Song Of Sand seems easier to understand. The combination of the words "sand" and "war" makes one immediately think of the Gulf War. Blessed with a beautiful arrangement of violin, viola, cello and acoustic bass it serves as an afterthought on the impossibility of waging and winning a "clean" war. On the Euro- pean version an extra song is included: Private Goes Public. It is even sparser than Song Of Sand and is only made up of vocal, acoustic guitar, bass and keyboard. If we can as- sume that this song isn't simply included for commercial reasons (one extra song won't make this go platinum in Europe, you know) than it must be because the lyric seems to deal with the recent turmoil in Eastern Europe.

99.9 F° is the best album of the year by a long stretch. It is Suzanne Vega's second clas- sic album. The first one was made in 1985. That one was important then, but this one is important now. To put it in her own words: "If you didn't know me then/You'll know me now". She makes a really good girl, Suzanne Vega.

As girls go.