RISING POSSIBILITIES

	well, I like you
	and you like him
	and he likes me
	and we all love each other
	we like to sit in the cafe
	and eat and drink and talk all day
	and watch the sun
	we like to read the newspaper
	and talk about him and her
	and who's getting along with who these days
	and when the sun goes down
	we walk along the cobblestone ground.


	from "The Boulevardiers"
	cop. 1981 Suzanne Vega

	When heroes go down
	They go down fast
	So don't expect any time to
	Equivocate the past

	When heroes go down
	They land in flame
	So don't expect any slow and careful
	Settling of blame


	From: "When Heroes Go Down"
	Suzanne Vega - 99.9 F°

"Vega had been a classic example of how A&M could take an offbeat perform- er and through creative marketing and promotion turn her into a commercial success. Through a strong alternative campaign that portrayed Vega as a cool, idionsyncratic singer-songwriter in the tradition of Joni Mitchell, A&M was able to sell 250,000 copies of Vega's debut album. Her second record, "Solitude Standing", contained "Luka", a song about child abuse that featured an infectious melody line. 'All of a sudden they had a hit, and the album went platinum,' says one record executive. 'That was typical A&M.'

"But Vega's third album, 'Days Of Open Hand', released last year, was a commercial dud, selling about 350,000 copies. Though Vega has been working very hard to forge a new relationship with A&M, she feels the label didn't come through for her last year. Two months after 'Days Of Open Hand' was released, Moss himself (Jerry Moss, record promoter A&M,; started A&M records with Herb Alpert) indicated to her over dinner that the company would not be spending any more money to promote it.

'He told me, 'Well Suzanne, you've made a brilliant record and they're just not playing it on radio?' says Vega. 'He said, 'You're the kind of artist who will be making records when you're sixty-five. You should just go ahead and make an- other record.'

'At first it sounded like a compliment,' Vega continues. 'But after the dinner, I realized that had been the final blow. He was basically telling me that was it for that album.'

"Vega believes A&M lost sight of what she is about as an artist. 'Suddenly, I felt like, because of the success of 'Luka', that I had been redefined,' she says. 'Somehow they had forgotten what I represented, what I stood for - that had been lost. I never started making songs in order to get played on the radio - that was just a nice bonus. My intention ws never to be in competition with Top Forty artists.'

(...)

"But to be a truly successful company, A&M will need multiplatinum albums from a handful of major stars each year while breaking at least one or two new artists. 'I'm proud that we sold 2 million copies of the Police's greatest-hits album in Europe', says Levy. 'But I don't devote much of my time to thinking about that. My goal is Suzanne Vega's next album. And what will the next Del Amitri album do? What's impotant is for A&M to break new acts'.

(Rolling Stone, May 16th, 1991)

In 1992 A&M is able to tell us that they are very excited about Vega's new album, and hope to make it Suzanne's most successful yet. They are cooperating in every way.

	As Girls Go

	You make a really good girl
	As girls go
	Still kind of look like a guy
	I never thought to wonder why

	If I could pull this off
	Would I know for certain
	The real situation
	Behind the curtain

	(...)

	What happened to you?
	To make you more girl than girls are
	Would you ever show or tell
	Cause you're so good so far

	You make a really good girl
	As girls go
	As girls go

	From: "As Girls Go"
	Suzanne Vega - 99.9 F°

"There are two singles because different markets/territories offer different op- portunities for promoting music, i.e., different formats of radio airplay, etc. It's a very complex issue, that I could discuss at great length -- however, the following explains the issue in one context. In the U.S., etc. we are going with 'Blood Makes Noise' because we want to appeal to the younger demographic by releas- ing first a more 'radical', 'hipper' track. Here we can promote that track through MTV, music clubs and college and commercial radio stations that specialize in that kind of music. In a territory like the U.K., there simply does not exist that kind of radio diversity. That market is dominated by Radio One (BBC), and the U.K. record company chose 'In Liverpool' because they felt it had a better chance as a single in that environment."

"'Song Of Sand' is truly the last song on the album as it was conveived by Suzanne and Mitchell Froom. 'Private Goes Public' is a 'bonus track' that was specifically requested by the record company for inclusion on the European album only."

Personally I agree with their opinion. "In Liverpool" is a really good choice. MTV Europe snatched it up and recorded an acoustic solo performance that is quite impressive. Not really necessary then the video of this song is the best one since the release of "Luka". Hopefully, the success of this single is surprising too. Suzanne herself about "In Liverpool":

"It comes from one of the days that I was on tour. It was a Sunday and I was in a hotel room and I was across the street from the cathedral and the bells must have rang for about an hour. And I started to imagine who was ringing them. Who was ringing the bells? And I started to imagine that there was some kind of boy in the belfry and he was some lovesick person. And from there I took it in to imagining that I was the girl and there was an old boyfriend of mine who was from Liverpool. And I imagined that he was the one. So it is sort of a romantic fantasy." (MTV-News, August 19th, 1992)

"The difficult thing was that we weren't able to do the video in Liverpool. We ended up shooting in America. But the video is split up right down in the middle. There is one part that I am sitting in a room, singing and playing the guitar which has to be the reality part. And then there is another part where I am the woman from the hunchback of Notre Dame and there is the boy in the belfry and the monk. And it becomes like this sort of wild fantasy. And I am dancing as the gypsy girl which sounds a bit precarious but I am really happy with it." (MTV-Expo, August 23rd, 1992)

I wish "In Liverpool" is successful as REM's "Losing My Religion" but I am not sure of that. The nineties are a difficult period for the original singer-songwriters. Metal, rap and country, especially in America, are very popular. It's not only the problem of pro- moting an album but even the album on its own can be a reason. 99.9 F° is excellent but I am a little bit afraid that press and public don't have enough patience to listen to it really well. Because only then it's possible ot discover the strength, the intentions and the beauty. Personal satisfaction is not dependent of chart success but success hangs on salability.

Suzanne in one of the "first interviews":

"I would leave the whole thing with a free and clear conscience and I would not look back. I don't have anything to prove. I have enough money now to just wander the world if I wanted. I don't need any more and it gives me great satisfaction to know I don't need to plot and plan my career. I feel I have nothing to lose. If I'm gonna continue to make records, I have to make it satisfying."

About the frustration of being misinterpretated:

"I do find it frustrating when people get it wrong, but I guess it's part of my job to get out of bed and make people understand. Perhaps I get misinterpreted because of the way I look. I'm a polite, pale person. And I don't scream and curse much, at least not in front of the tape recorders. I don't use the obvious signs of anger and violence. I don't have a shaved head like Sinead O'Conner and I don't dress up in costumes like Kate Bush. To all intents and purposes I seem innocuous. I have done since I was six years old. It's because I'm reserved. But I'm not timid. People who listen to my records realise there's a whole weight behind my songs that doesn't show in my face. There are a lot of sensitive people in the world but that doesn't mean we should listen to everyone who's bleating." (Time Out, August 19th, 1992)

Of course everybody is waiting. They want to see how the album will be received by press, radio, tv and by the selling public. Maybe it is a good thing that there isn't such a gap in between 99.9 F° and the former album like there was in between Solitude Standing and Days Of Open Hand. And almost everybody knows about "Tom's Diner". Even my postman was humming the tune. Next time I will tell him that 99.9 F° is much more the real Suzanne Vega.

In the forthcoming weeks many people have to write a review about 99.9 F°.

In conclusion some quotations of Suzanne's own opinion:

"I thought, why not write about these really dark, horrible subjects, but with a sense of humour. Why not just fling away everything I've ever done before, why not? I guess a lot of things in my life had changed. some long term relationships had bro- ken up in the last year and I was working without my usual band. That added to the feeling of recklessness. I guess Mitchell had said something about jumping off musical cliffs and that was the spirit with which we entered inot it: Hey, there's a cliff, let's jump. It's been great fun recording this album. I wanted it to be fast and full of vitality. I wanted to make my point and then quit. I don't mean quit the business, I mean the song. That's why the songs are short and sort of in your face. I've always felt, the words had a lot of attitude, but for me the music has been a constant process of trying to be more vivid."

"Before, the rule was to make everything sound clean and nice. The intention would be to sing on time, in time, and to get rid of any humming, buzzing, clanking, whirring, smashing noises. This time it was to use everything we had. To use the garbage as well as the clean stuff. That made a lot more sense to me because that's how I write. I pick up everything from little pieces of children's games to medical text books. We had a really great time. How do yo keep that spirit going instead of getting too old and serious about it?" (Time Out, August 19th, 1992)

Well, Suzanne made her point and hopefully the commercial results are as good as she likes. After listening to 99.9 F° we like to see her live performing the songs. Mr. Fierstein about that:

"We hope to tour the world in 1993, but we have made no firm plans yet. We want to wait to see how the album is received before committing to a tour. However, Suzanne will be doing a promotional tour in Europe during September during which she may do some TV appearances. The markets she's tentatively scheduled to visit are: Sweden, Holland, UK, Italy, Paris and Germany."

	And what's so small to you
	Is so large to me
	If it's the last thing I do
	I'll make you see

	So small to you
	And so large to me
	If its the last thing I do
	I'll make you see
	Make you see

	From: "Rock In This Pocket (Song Of David)"
        Suzanne Vega - 99.9 F°