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Suzanne Vega - Tales From The Realm Of The Queen Of Pentacles (2014) [US Promo]

Posted By: Designol

Date: 3 Jun 2025 12:55:40

2014 release, the first studio album of new material in seven years from the singer/songwriter. Tales From The Realm… features 10 new songs, each telling a story that has to do with the material world and the world of the spirit and how they intersect. Suzanne spent the past few years writing and recording these new gems on the road, recording portions in Chicago, London, Prague, LA and New York City, and Kyserike Station, an old train station in upstate New York. Tracking for the album took place mostly at the Clubhouse Studios in Rhinebeck, and the album was mixed by Kevin Killen, who has worked with Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush.

The four volumes in Suzanne Vega's Close-Up series revisited her catalog thematically with stripped-down charts. It appealed to her base of fans who patiently waited seven years for new material. The ten songs on Tales from the Realm of the Queen of Pentacles fits that bill. The set was produced by longtime associate and co-writer Gerry Leonard, and played by a weighty studio cast. The album isn't so much a change of musical direction as it is a classy revisioning of Vega's trademark sound. These tracks address many of humanity's big themes through Vega's canny, detailed gaze, sometimes with the added weight of the metaphorical wisdom from the tarot. "Crack in the Wall" is a Buddhist reflection on awareness with the songwriter's signature tight lines and vivid physical descriptions. Its martial snare and painterly electric guitars are countered by Larry Campbell's mandolin and banjo. "I Never Wear White" is a punchy rocker with Leonard's big fuzzy guitars up front, a whomping bassline by Tony Levin, and the loud drums of Jay Bellerose. Its lyric reveals Vega has lost none of her wry sense of humor. "Don't Uncork What You Can't Contain" samples 50 Cent's "Candy Shop" in an allegorical tale about caution, with Pandora as one of its muses. "Song of the Stoic" updates "Luka," in a sense. Written from a drifting, hardworking male's point of view, it uncovers the emotional cost that physical abuse can take on an adult life. Its musical vehicle is angular rockist Americana, with the Smichov Chamber Orchestra Prague providing windswept accompaniment, making the lyric's emotional impression indelible. "Laying on of Hands/Stoic 2" discusses the cost of repression – physical and psychological – with Mother Teresa and Epictetus its referent examples. The rumbling bassline and slippery backbeat feeds Vega's sung cadences as a psych-tinged six-string fills lines and codas; both feature the powerful backing vocals of Catherine Russell. Not everything here works, though. "Portrait of the Knight of Wands," despite its attractive melody, is marred by a very clunky refrain, and "Jacob and the Angel" feels more like a demo than a finished track. Closer "Horizon (There Is a Road)" is dedicated to Václav Havel's memory. It's a gentle acoustic rocker with an elegant trumpet solo in the bridge. It's the one place here where Vega's trademark detachment doesn't reign. Tales from the Realm of the Queen of Pentacles is a welcome return by an artist who has remained stubbornly true to herself and only records when she has something new to say.

Review by Thom Jurek, Allmusic.com

Suzanne Vega at Allmusic
Suzanne Vega at Wiki

Tracklist:

01. Crack in the Wall (04:22)
02. Fool’s Complaint (02:38)
03. I Never Wear White (03:08)
04. Portrait of the Knight of Wands (04:16)
05. Don’t Uncork What You Can’t Contain (03:29)
06. Jacob and the Angel (04:03)
07. Silver Bridge (03:46)
08. Song of the Stoic (04:03)
09. Laying on of Hands / Stoic 2 (03:52)
10. Horizon (There Is a Road) (02:51)

EAC log

Exact Audio Copy V1.1 from 23. June 2015

EAC extraction logfile from 24. December 2015, 16:53

Suzanne Vega / Tales From the Realm of the Queen of Pentacles (AMAN2510PR)

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Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No

Read offset correction : 667
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000
Gap handling : Appended to previous track

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Selected bitrate : 896 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
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Additional command line options : -V -8 -T "Genre=%genre%" -T "Artist=%artist%" -T "Title=%title%" -T "Album=%albumtitle%" -T "Date=%year%" -T "Tracknumber=%tracknr%" -T "Comment=%comment%" %source%

TOC of the extracted CD

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Accurately ripped (confidence 140) [1A881FE8] (AR v2)
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Copy OK

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Track 4

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Track 6

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Track 7

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Track 8

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Track 9

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Accurately ripped (confidence 155) [E1880AF0] (AR v2)
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Track 10

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All tracks accurately ripped

No errors occurred

End of status report

–– CUETools DB Plugin V2.1.6

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Submit result: already submitted
Track | CTDB Status
1 | (178/185) Accurately ripped
2 | (185/185) Accurately ripped
3 | (185/185) Accurately ripped
4 | (184/185) Accurately ripped
5 | (184/185) Accurately ripped
6 | (184/185) Accurately ripped
7 | (184/185) Accurately ripped
8 | (184/185) Accurately ripped
9 | (184/185) Accurately ripped
10 | (183/185) Accurately ripped

==== Log checksum 96F7BE468AAA81CD3FC68295F91EBD4B767B88367F24D082D500D16B8DF1C8FD ====

DR log

foobar2000 1.6.3 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1
log date: 2024-04-07 23:39:32

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Analyzed: Suzanne Vega / Tales From the Realm of the Queen of Pentacles (AMAN2510PR)
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

DR Peak RMS Duration Track
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
DR9 -0.02 dB -11.47 dB 4:24 01-Crack In the Wall
DR8 0.00 dB -9.54 dB 2:40 02-Fool's Complaint
DR7 0.00 dB -8.60 dB 3:08 03-I Never Wear White
DR9 -0.03 dB -13.14 dB 4:19 04-Portrait of the Knight of Wands
DR7 0.00 dB -8.41 dB 3:31 05-Don't Uncork What You Can't Contain
DR6 0.00 dB -8.91 dB 4:05 06-Jacob and the Angel
DR11 0.00 dB -12.72 dB 3:47 07-Silver Bridge
DR7 -0.03 dB -9.15 dB 4:05 08-Song of the Stoic
DR6 0.00 dB -8.59 dB 3:53 09-Laying on of Hands-Stoic 2
DR7 0.00 dB -9.42 dB 2:52 10-Horizon (There Is a Road)
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Number of tracks: 10
Official DR value: DR8

Samplerate: 44100 Hz
Channels: 2
Bits per sample: 16
Bitrate: 898 kbps
Codec: FLAC
================================================================================

All thanks to original releaser

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