Released on May 1, 1985, it was Suzanne Vega's debut album primarily recorded at Celestial Sound in New York City and was produced by Steve Addabbo and Lenny Kaye.The album spawned three singles "Marlene On The Wall", "Small Blue Thing", & "Knight Moves".
The album's folk-style and stripped-back arrangements deviated from the prevailing trends of the time, and helped to usher in a new era of singer-songwriters. Suzanne Vega was a critical success and helped Vega's rise to popularity. The singles "Marlene on the Wall", become a top 30 in the UK and the album itself reached the top 20 on the UK Albums Chart.
Due Vega's style, earned her early comparisons were made to Joni Mitchell, Salthough Suzanne Vega's true antecedents were Janis Ian and Leonard Cohen. For critics the key track is "Small Blue Thing," in which the singer pictures herself as an object "Like a marble/or an eye," "made of china/made of glass," "lost inside your pocket," and "turning in your hand." The sharply picked acoustic guitar and other isolated musical elements echo the closely observed scenes everything seems to be in tight close-up and sharp focus.
Often, the singer seems to be using the songs to measure an emotional distance; sometimes, as in the brilliant "Marlene on the Wall," she observes her own actions from a remove. In "Freeze Tag," she tells a companion, "I will be Dietrich/and you can be Dean". The ten songs on Suzanne Vega constitute the self-analysis of a young woman who desires possession without offering commitment. Another highlights of the album are "Some Journey" and "The Queen and the Soldier." Like many of her songs, they are simultaneously passionate and dispassionate, they’re true works of art.
Vega’s 1985 debut was the foot-in-the-door for all of the folk-flavored artists who followed. It helped shift the established musical paradigm. Her lyrics are true poems set to song, forever eschewing generalities for specifics, and her melodies mesmerize.
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