99.9 F°  -   Suzanne Vega

YEAR:  1992
LABEL:  A&M
TRACK LISTING:  Rock In This Pocket (Song of David),  Blood Makes Noise,  In Liverpool,  99.9 F°,  Blood Sings,  Fat Man & Dancing Girl,  (If You Were) In My Movie,  As A Child,  Bad Wisdom,  When Heroes Go Down,  As Girls Go,  Song of Sand
IMPRESSIONS:  This album was a Christmas present (requested by me from Santa Claus) and the only Suzanne Vega album I own (with the exception of a greatest hits compilation, that is).  Produced by Crowded House producer Mitchell Froom (whom Vega would later marry), this album marks a dramatic sonic change from Vega's folky "My Name Is Luka" past which is defiantly declared in the album's first single/music video "Blood Makes Noise".  The single (which reached #1 on the UK charts) is frenetic and breathless (literally as Vega allows herself practically no room to breathe between lyrics) as well as the metallic clanking percussion which marks this as something of an industrial-sounding album.  Small bits (on "Fat Man & Dancing Girl", f'rinstance) remind me somewhat of the sound Butch Vig later got with Garbage; hmmm . . . if Shirley Manson hadn't been available Suzanne Vega may have been a good fall-back choice for lead vocals in that band.  While this percussive sound appears spotlighted, there are still quieter, folky ballads like "Blood Sings" or the exquisitely gloomy "In Liverpool" (which Vega performed live in 1993 on the first "PAVAROTTI & FRIENDS" concert cd). 
MY FAVOURITE TRACKS:  Rock In This Pocket (Song of David),  Blood Makes Noise,  In Liverpool,  99.9 F°,  Blood Sings,  (If You Were) In My Movie,  As A Child,  Song of Sand
GUEST ARTISTS:  Mitchell Froom (keyboards, string arrangements (on "Song of Sand"), producer,  Richard Thompson (guitar solo on "As Girls Go")
FACT SHEET:  99.9 F° is Suzanne Vega's fourth album.  The album was nominated for a Penguin Award for "Album of the Year"as well as two nominations for "Song of the Year" for "Blood Makes Noise" and "In Liverpool".