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"Famous Blue Raincoat"..

...what's all the praise about?

I have a mint US Cypress copy, (I'm trying to remember if this one or the Canadian issue was praised the most). I listened to some of it today. While it is "clean & clear", it has that digital, uninvolving edge that kind of turns me off.

Being Thanksgiving and all, and since I always pull out Suzanne Vega's "Solitude Standing" this time of year, ("Fancy Poultry Parts"), I thought I'd make a comparison. They are both from the digital recording age. (SV from 87' - JW from 86').

Playing the JW, I was thinking, very critically, not really enjoying the listen, the experience, the music.

SV, now, this is a totally different listening experience! It sounds great! Nothing edgy, nothing sterile, nothing out of the ordinary. It is in fact an lp I hold in the highest regard, still.

The SV should really be the lp commanding the high prices. Thankfully it is available to us, the ones who love music, for a reasonable price.
128x128slaw
sfar's avatar
sfar
1,756 posts
 
Regardless of whether you like 'Famous Blue Raincoat,' and you probably won't if you're not fond of Leonard Cohen, it's worth having for the Stevie Ray Vaughan intro to 'First We Take Manhattan.'
rja's avatar
rja
2,357 posts
 
Suggest a starting point for Suzanne Vega.
frogman
7,386 posts
 
I agree with Martykl word for word. Beyond that, I don't quite understand what is being discussed here. While we can disagree about wether FBR is the best sounding record ever or not, or wether it sounds better than SS or not, I can't for the life of me understand how, using any reasonable standard, it's SOUND quality can get in the way of the enjoyment of the music; if one likes the music. Wether one likes the music is an entirely different matter and a very personal one. This distinction sometimes gets lost in these discussions.

As far as the music goes, I find Leonard Cohen's songs to be much better crafted; his lyrics can stand on their own as poetry. In the case of FBR, we have a singer singing someone else's songs while Vega sings her own compositions. So, from that standpoint, her renditions can come across as more personal. However, I find Warnes to be an infinitely better singer with a much wider technical and artistic scope; IMO.

Now, if only we could keep Cohen from singing :-)
onhwy61's avatar
onhwy61
5,152 posts
 
"Famous Blue Raincoat" is a wonderful album -- good singer, good musicians, tasteful arrangements and good sound.

Some trivia, "Tom's Diner" is the diner on the UWS that's featured in "Seinfield". The song was also the music used to develop the MP3 algorithm. The dead actor is William Holden.

Personally, I really like the DNA remix.
dayglow
1,772 posts
 
Jennifer Warnes voice and style of music is much more comparable to Linda Ronstadt then Suzanne Vega. As for the sound quality of "FBR" it has to be in the top 5% of the close to 1000 recordings I own. It's not a warm hazy/lazy analog type of recording but even with it's slight "sharpness" the content of the music is not diminished.
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