| Tales from the Realm of the Queen of Pentacles | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | Suzanne Vega |
| Cover: | SuzanneVega-TalesRealmcover.jpg |
| Genre: | |
| Length: | 36:40 |
| Label: | Amanuensis Productions |
| Producer: | Gerry Leonard |
| Prev Title: | Close-Up Vol. 4, Songs of Family |
| Prev Year: | 2012 |
| Next Title: | Close-Up Series |
| Next Year: | 2014 |
Tales from the Realm of the Queen of Pentacles is the eighth studio album by the American singer-songwriter Suzanne Vega.
Released in February 2014, it was Vega's first album of new material in seven years. The album features contributions from Larry Campbell and Tony Levin (bassist from King Crimson and Peter Gabriel). Although Vega's music had been sampled by various artists in the past, the album contains Vega's first own attempt at sampling with the track "Don't Uncork What You Can't Contain" which includes interpolations from 50 Cent's 2005 song "Candy Shop".[1]
The album entered the UK Albums Chart at No. 37, the first time one of Vega's studio albums reached the UK Top 40 since 1992. It received generally favorable reviews.[2]
The album appeared under Vega's own label, Amanuensis Productions, and was distributed by Cooking Vinyl.
In 2014 the album was awarded a silver certification from the Independent Music Companies Association,[3] which indicated sales of at least 20,000 copies throughout Europe.[4]
Over the past number of years, Vega had collected "recordings with melodies, lyrics, notes and pieces of ideas" for songs on her iPhone. Together with long-time collaborator Gerry Leonard she began to 'solidify these ideas' over the course of a year. After road-testing a number of these songs on tour, the duo began the recording of the new material.[5] Leonard gathered a number of musicians and began live-tracking at the Clubhouse Studios in upstate New York. Additional material was recorded at his home-studio, a converted railway station outside Rochester, New York. Leonard also oversaw the arrangement of the string section and the trumpet contribution made by Alison Balsom.[6] "Song of the Stoic" was a follow-up to Vega's 1987 hit single "Luka", and was written from the point of view of the character as he looked back on his life.[7]
Technical personnel
