I've seen more battles lost than I've seen battles won

I do like a good female singer-songwriter – Tracy Chapman, Kate Bush, Tori Amos, Regina Spektor, Aimee Mann, KT Tunstall, Sheryl Crow, Beth Orton, Gillian Welch, Kirsty MacColl - the list could just go on and on.  So, who to call out and grant a place in my Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?!? (interestingly, the actual RRHoF is located in Cleveland, Ohio and when I was sent there for a week with work, it was the main tourist attraction that people talked about.  Unfortunately (and the same people were very apologetic about this), it was still several years away from being built at the time).  

Two choices this time around – firstly, the woman who I believe started it all off for me back in 1985 when I first heard Small Blue Thing on the radio.  Not my usual sort of thing at the time, but something about Suzanne Vega caught my interest and my interest has stayed caught ever since.  She’s not been entirely prolific over the years, but is always good to catch up with when you get a chance – I’ve seen her live twice and she’s talented, engaging and warm.  Just a lovely person really (or she’s a very good actor).  Her debut album is probably my favourite and showcases her talent with crisply delivered songs – I’m not entirely sure they spent a lot of money designing the record sleeve though.  “Small Blue Thing” and “Straight Lines” are amongst my favourites, but for me the standout track is “The Queen and The Soldier”.  This introduced me to the idea of songs telling a story and remains one of the finest examples I’m aware of – over the course of 4:48, we’re introduced to two characters (can you guess who?), given some backstory, listen to them engage and develop and then finally have all our hopes and dreams for their future dashed in a truly heartbreaking fashion.  What’s not to love about that?!?

As a technical aside, if you haven’t read about the role of “Tom’s Diner” (from Solitude Standing, her second album) in the development of MP3, it’s a fascinating story.  I’d recommend a great book that I read that goes into it in great detail, but I’ve totally forgotten what it’s called (and unsurprisingly Googling “MP3 book” does not help!)  And no, I REALLY don’t like the remixed version of “Tom’s Diner”.

I’ve included the second album as a bit of an oddity – it’s probably not as well-known as most of the others I might have chosen.  I’d never even heard of Nerina Pallot when I saw the album and I’m not even entirely sure why I bought it, but sometimes you just do these things (or at least, I did before I had children).  The first track is an interesting choice of opener given that it’s different (in style and quality) from the rest of the album, but once you’ve got beyond that you’ve got a set of well crafted, sing-along-able songs (“Idaho”, “Geek Love” and “Sophia” would probably be my top choices, but it’s hard to pick).  And, of course, the first track is the one that was most successful commercially – but what do people know, eh?!? 

Great, you think – I must go and check out her other stuff!  Well, obviously you should – but don’t be surprised if you find yourself somewhat disappointed.  I guess sometimes the stars align and things just click for people on one occasion (although as someone who’s lived his life working at unsurpassed levels of perfection, I find this hard to understand) but, if that’s the case, than just appreciate it and make sure you remember and revisit that gem.  And every time I revisit it, I take myself back to that first listen – mild initial disappointment followed by an increasing sense of “Wow, this is good!”.  And who doesn’t love a bit of unfulfilled disappointment??

One final shout out to Regina Spektor, who nearly made it in with either Begin to Hope or Far – both fine albums worthy of your time.  She also holds a special place in my heart from the time I saw her live where she sang one song whilst playing a piano with one hand and a chair with the other – which shows a level of dexterity to be greatly admired by someone who sometimes struggles to merely stand up.