Songs in Red and Gray
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}}
{{Infobox album
| name = Songs in Red and Gray
| type = studio
| artist = Suzanne Vega
| cover = Suzanne Vega - Songs in Red and Gray (album).png
| alt =
| released = September 25, 2001
| recorded = November 2000 – May 2001
| studio = Chung King, Sear Sound, Shelter Island Sound, Looking Glass Studio (New York)
| genre =
- Folk rock{{cite web|url=https://tinnitist.com/2021/10/05/classic-album-review-suzanne-vega-songs-in-red-and-gray/|title=Classic Album Review: Suzanne Vega: Songs in Red and Gray|publisher=Tinnitist|accessdate=5 November 2023}}
- folk pop
| length = 45:31
| label = A&M
| producer = Rupert Hine
| prev_title = Tried & True: The Best of Suzanne Vega
| prev_year = 1998
| next_title = Retrospective: The Best of Suzanne Vega
| next_year = 2003
}}
{{Music ratings
| MC = 81/100{{cite web|url=http://www.metacritic.com/music/songs-in-red-and-gray/suzanne-vega/critic-reviews|title=Songs In Red And Gray by Suzanne Vega|publisher=AllMusic|accessdate=3 June 2016}}
| rev1 = AllMusic
| rev1score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{AllMusic|class=album|label=Songs in Red and Gray|id=r552387}}
| rev2 = The A.V. Club
| rev2score = (favorable){{Cite web|url=https://www.avclub.com/suzanne-vega-songs-in-red-and-gray-1798192766|title=Suzanne Vega: Songs In Red And Gray|date=25 September 2001 |author=Phipps, Keith |work=The A.V. Club |access-date=28 June 2016}}
| rev3 = Blender
| rev4 = Robert Christgau
| rev4score = {{Rating-Christgau|dud}}{{cite web|url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=suzanne%20vega|title=Robert Christgau: CG: suzanne vega|publisher=|accessdate=3 June 2016}}
| rev5 = E! Online
| rev6 = Entertainment Weekly
| rev7 = Mojo
| rev7score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}
| rev8 = Q
| rev9 = Rolling Stone
| noprose = yes
}}
Songs in Red and Gray is the sixth studio album by American singer-songwriter Suzanne Vega. It was released on September 25, 2001, by A&M Records.
Music and lyrics
On Songs in Red and Gray, Vega returns to her signature acoustic folk-pop sound, shedding the experiments she had done in the 1990s with her husband, record producer Mitchell Froom. New producer Rupert Hine shows some traces of his past work with '80s new wave bands by employing electronic beats,{{Cite web|url=https://www.avclub.com/suzanne-vega-songs-in-red-and-gray-1798192766|title=Suzanne Vega: Songs In Red And Gray|date=25 September 2001 |author=Phipps, Keith |work=The A.V. Club |access-date=28 June 2016}} but mostly allows Vega's voice and guitar to dominate in a manner reminiscent of her debut album and its 1987 follow-up, Solitude Standing.
Most of the songs, like "Widow's Walk" and "If I Were a Weapon", deal with the dissolution of Vega's marriage with Froom.{{Cite news |last=Katz |first=Larry |date=September 23, 2001 |title=Revelations – Suzanne Vega's personal turmoil fuels intimate 'Red and Gray' |url=https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-78517865.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160911040017/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-78517865.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 11, 2016 |newspaper=The Boston Herald |location=Boston, MA |accessdate=June 28, 2016 |via=HighBeam Research}} Her "calm, hushed, clear singing" belies the album's "mood of heartbroken defiance". The lyrics are "the most personally revealing songs she has written" in her career.
Track listing
{{Track listing
| headline = Songs in Red and Gray track listing
| all_writing = Suzanne Vega except "St. Clare" written by Jack Hardy
| title1 = Penitent
| length1 = 4:16
| title2 = Widow's Walk
| length2 = 3:33
| title3 = (I'll Never Be) Your Maggie May
| length3 = 3:47
| title4 = It Makes Me Wonder
| length4 = 4:00
| title5 = Soap and Water
| length5 = 3:03
| title6 = Songs in Red and Gray
| length6 = 4:18
| title7 = Last Year's Troubles
| length7 = 3:35
| title8 = Priscilla
| length8 = 4:14
| title9 = If I Were a Weapon
| length9 = 2:45
| title10 = Harbor Song
| length10 = 4:18
| title11 = Machine Ballerina
| length11 = 2:57
| title12 = Solitaire
| length12 = 2:10
| title13 = St. Clare
| note13 =
| length13 = 2:30
|total_length = 45:31
}}
{{track listing
|headline = Bonus track {{nobold|(Japanese edition)}}
| title14 = Golden
| note14 =
| length14 = 3:53
|total_length = 49:24
}}
Personnel
- Suzanne Vega – vocals, acoustic guitar
- Gerry Leonard – electric and acoustic guitars, dulcimer, mandolin, zither
- Rupert Hine – keyboards, bass guitar, percussion, drum programming
- Mike Visceglia – bass guitar
- Nik Pugh – drum programming, synth lead
- Jay Bellerose – drums
- Matt Johnson – drums
- Doug Yowell – drums, percussion
- Pamela Sue Man – backing vocals, harmony vocals
- Elizabeth Taubman – harmony vocals
- Stephen W Tayler – recording and mixing engineer
Charts
| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable" style="text-align: center;"
|+ Chart performance for Songs in Red and Gray ! scope="col"| Chart (2001) ! scope="col"| Peak |
| scope=row style="text-align:left;" |Australian Albums (ARIA){{cite web|url=https://i.imgur.com/6ze9XUM.jpg|title=Response from ARIA re: ARIA chart history for Suzanne Vega, received October 31, 2017|publisher=Imgur.com|accessdate=October 31, 2017}} N.B. The High Point number in the NAT column represents the release's peak on the national chart. This history only contains data from the commencement of the ARIA-produced chart in mid-1988.
|187 |
|---|
| {{album chart|France|36|artist=Suzanne Vega|album=Songs in Red and Gray|rowheader=true|accessdate=June 8, 2014}} |
| {{album chart|Germany3|53|artist=Suzanne Vega|album=Songs in Red and Gray|rowheader=true|accessdate=June 8, 2014}} |
| {{album chart|Norway|34|artist=Suzanne Vega|album=Songs in Red and Gray|rowheader=true|accessdate=June 8, 2014}} |
| {{album chart|Poland|31|id=56|rowheader=true|accessdate=June 8, 2014}} |
| {{album chart|Switzerland|47|artist=Suzanne Vega|album=Songs in Red and Gray|rowheader=true|accessdate=June 8, 2014}} |
| scope="row"| UK Albums (Official Charts Company){{cite web|url=http://www.officialcharts.com/artist/22859/suzanne-vega/|title=Official Charts > Suzanne Vega (albums tab)|publisher=The Official Charts Company|accessdate=October 30, 2015}}
|100 |
| {{album chart|Billboard200|178|artist=Suzanne Vega|id=281108|rowheader=true|accessdate=June 8, 2014}} |