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Days of Open Hand

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Days of Open Hand
Studio album by
Suzanne Vega
ReleasedApril 10, 1990 (1990-04-10)
RecordedSeptember 1989 – January 1990
Studio
  • Skyline (New York City)
  • RPM (New York City)
  • The Living Room (New York City)
Genre
Length45:51
LabelA&M
Producer
Suzanne Vega chronology
Solitude Standing
(1987) 		Days of Open Hand
(1990) 		99.9F°
(1992)
Singles from Days of Open Hand
  1. "Book of Dreams"
    Released: 1990
  2. "Tired of Sleeping"
    Released: 1990
  3. "Men in a War"
    Released: 1990

Days of Open Hand is the third studio album by Suzanne Vega. It was released on April 10, 1990, through A&M Records. The album was the follow-up to the successful Solitude Standing (1987). It was produced by Vega and Anton Sanko, who also co-wrote six of the album's eleven tracks. Recording took place across multiple studios throughout New York from late 1989 to early 1990.

Days of Open Hand combines Vega's established folk-rock style with more varied instrumentation such as the ney and dumbek and experimental arrangements. High-profile contributors to the album include Philip Glass, Shawn Colvin, and John Linnell (of They Might Be Giants). The album saw greater use of synthesizers and samplers than Vega's previous studio albums; these included the Fairlight CMI and Voyetra-8.

Days of Open Hand did not match the success of its predecessor, stalling at number 50 in the US and failing to spawn a hit single. It was more successful in the UK, where it reached the top 10. Despite this, the album did surpass sales of a million copies[1] and reviews were generally positive. Days of Open Hand was nominated for Best Contemporary Folk Recording and won the award for Best Recording Package at the 33rd Annual Grammy Awards.[2]

Background

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Vega's previous studio album Solitude Standing was a major success worldwide, spawning the hit song "Luka" and placing within the top 10 of the album charts in twelve countries (alongside a number 11 peak in the US).[3] The album also contained "Tom's Diner" which would achieve further success after being remixed by DNA in 1990.

With the followup studio album, Vega went in a more experimental direction, featuring elements of various genres and many high-profile collaborators. Songs such as "Institution Green" and "Fifty-Fifty Chance" place heavy emphasis on atmosphere; the latter features string arrangements done by Philip Glass. Six of the album's eleven songs feature music written by Sanko while all lyrics were written solely by Vega.

Commercial performance

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Days of Open Hand did not achieve the sales of its predecessor upon release, but was still successful in many territories. While the album stalled at number 50 in the US,[3] it was a top 10 hit in the UK, peaking at number 7.[4] Additionally, it reached the top 20 in five other countries throughout Europe. "Book of Dreams", the album's first single, peaked at number 66 in the UK and number 8 on the US Modern Rock Tracks chart.[4][3] However, the album's second and third singles, "Tired of Sleeping" and "Men in a War" failed to see any chart success.

Critical response

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Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[5]
Robert ChristgauB−[6]
Entertainment WeeklyB−[7]
New Musical Express7/10[8]
Q[9]
Record Mirror[10]
Rolling Stone[11]
The Vancouver Sun[12]
The Windsor StarB+[13]

Days of Open Hand received generally positive reviews from critics. In a review for Rolling Stone, Paul Evans awarded the album four out of five stars, stating it consists of "her hardest and loveliest music yet". He went on to refer to the trio of "Men in a War", "Institution Green" and "Fifty-Fity Chance" as a "suite of songs astonishing for their cleareyed gaze at pain", comparing Vega to poets Emily Dickinson, Sylvia Plath and Stevie Smith.[11] In a retrospective review for AllMusic, Alex Henderson commended the album's "subtlety", praising her vocals for being "expressive" without "need[ing] to shout or preach to get her points across".[5]

Track listing

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All lyrics are written by Suzanne Vega.

No.TitleMusicLength
1."Tired of Sleeping"Vega4:22
2."Men in a War"Vega4:47
3."Rusted Pipe"Anton Sanko4:16
4."Book of Dreams"Sanko3:22
5."Institution Green"Sanko6:15
6."Those Whole Girls (Run in Grace)"Vega3:09
7."Room off the Street"Sanko3:00
8."Big Space"Sanko3:46
9."Predictions"Vega4:59
10."Fifty-Fifty Chance"Vega2:36
11."Pilgrimage"Sanko5:10
Total length:45:51

Personnel

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  • Suzanne Vega – vocals, acoustic guitar (1, 2, 4, 6, 9) backing vocals (1, 2, 4, 7, 11), Fairlight synthesizer (3, 8)
  • Anton Sanko – guitar, Hammond C3 organ, tiple, Sequential V.s., Dx711, Voyetra-8, Fairlight synthesizers, Akai S-1000 sampler, programming, string arrangement (5)
  • Shawn Colvin – backing vocals (2-4)
  • Marc Shulman – E-bow (5, 9), electric guitar (1-5, 9, 11), tiple guitar (1, 6, 8, 11), 12-string electric guitar (4), bouzouki (8)
  • Michael Visceglia – five-string bass (1-4, 6), fretless bass (5, 9, 11)
  • Erik Sanko – fretless bass (7)
  • Percy Jones – fretless bass (9)
  • John Linnell – accordion (1)
  • Richard Horowitz – ney (7)
  • Hearn Gadbois – dumbek
  • Michael Blair – marimba (3), metal percussion (2, 3), tambourine (2, 3) percussion (5), shaker (7, 11), hand drum (11)
  • Glen Velez – drums
  • Frank Vilardi – drums (1-5, 11), percussion (1-5, 11), rims and brushes (5), Akai S-1000 sampler (6), percussion (8), shaker (8), snare and tom tom drums (9), blastics (11)
  • Philip Glass – string arrangement (10)[14]
  • Maria Kitsopoulos - cello (5)
  • Fred Zlotkin - cello (10)
  • Sandra Park - first violin (5)
  • Barry Finclair - violin solo (10)
  • Hae Young Ham - violin (5)
  • Timothy Baker - violin (10)
  • Rebecca Young - viola (5)
  • Alfred Brown - viola (10)

Production

  • Bob Ludwig – mastering
  • Hugh Padgham – mixing
  • Pat McCarthy – engineer
  • Pat Dillett – assistant engineer
  • Geoff Keehn – engineer
  • Jeff Lippay – assistant engineer
  • Jon Goldberger – assistant engineer
  • Kurt Munkasci – string engineer[14]

Charts

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Weekly chart performance for Days of Open Hand
Chart (1990) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[15] 74
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[16] 9
Canada Top Albums/CDs (RPM)[17] 33
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[18] 29
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[19] 16
Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ)[20] 32
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[21] 24
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[22] 16
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[23] 19
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[24] 19
UK Albums (OCC)[25] 7
US Billboard 200[26] 50
Finnish Albums (The Official Finnish Charts)[27] 2
Year-end chart performance for Days of Open Hand
Chart (1990) Position
European Albums (Music & Media)[28] 87

Certifications

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Region Certification Certified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[29] Gold 100,000^
Summaries
Worldwide — 1,000,000[1]

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

Singles

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Year Single Chart Peak position
1990 "Book of Dreams" Billboard Modern Rock Tracks 8
Canada 30[30]
UK Singles Chart 66[31]

References

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  1. ^ a b Anthony, Andrew (9 October 2016). "Suzanne Vega: 'It's taken me a while to say, You are what you are, it's fine'". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 July 2019.
  2. ^ "All Grammy Awards and Nominations for Suzanne Vega". Grammys. Retrieved 12 March 2023.
  3. ^ a b c "Suzanne Vega Chart History". Billboard. Retrieved 12 March 2023.
  4. ^ a b "Suzanne Vega Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 12 March 2023.
  5. ^ a b AllMusic review
  6. ^ "Robert Christgau: CG: suzanne vega". Retrieved 3 June 2016.
  7. ^ "Days of Open Hand - EW.com". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 23 June 2013. Retrieved 3 June 2016.
  8. ^ Quantick, David (21 April 1990). "Long Play: Palm Treat". New Musical Express. p. 33.
  9. ^ "Suzanne Vega - Days Of Open Hand CD Album". Retrieved 3 June 2016.
  10. ^ George, Iestyn (21 April 1990). "Albums". Record Mirror. p. 18. ISSN 0144-5804.
  11. ^ a b "Days Of Open Hand : Suzanne Vega : Review : Rolling Stone". Rolling Stone. 23 November 2007. Archived from the original on November 23, 2007. Retrieved 3 June 2016.
  12. ^ Riches, Hester (7 June 1990). "Passionate lyrics from a whispery voice". The Vancouver Sun.
  13. ^ Shaw, Ted (28 April 1990). "Record Review". The Windsor Star.
  14. ^ a b "Days of Open Hand - Suzanne Vega | Credits | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 17 October 2017.
  15. ^ Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010 (PDF ed.). Mt Martha, Victoria, Australia: Moonlight Publishing. p. 294.
  16. ^ "Austriancharts.at – Suzanne Vega – Days of Open Hand" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved June 8, 2014.
  17. ^ "Top RPM Albums: Issue 9141". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
  18. ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Suzanne Vega – Days of Open Hand" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved June 8, 2014.
  19. ^ "Officialcharts.de – Suzanne Vega – Days of Open Hand". GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved June 8, 2014.
  20. ^ "Album Top 40 slágerlista – 1991. 4. hét" (in Hungarian). MAHASZ. Retrieved February 29, 2024.
  21. ^ "Charts.nz – Suzanne Vega – Days of Open Hand". Hung Medien. Retrieved June 8, 2014.
  22. ^ "Norwegiancharts.com – Suzanne Vega – Days of Open Hand". Hung Medien. Retrieved June 8, 2014.
  23. ^ "Swedishcharts.com – Suzanne Vega – Days of Open Hand". Hung Medien. Retrieved June 8, 2014.
  24. ^ "Swisscharts.com – Suzanne Vega – Days of Open Hand". Hung Medien. Retrieved June 8, 2014.
  25. ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved June 8, 2014.
  26. ^ "Suzanne Vega Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved June 8, 2014.
  27. ^ https://musiikkiarkisto.fi/oa/_tiedostot/julkaisut/sisaltaa-hitin.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  28. ^ Bakker, Machgiel (22 December 1990). "1990 REVIEW: Music & Media Year -End Awards . European Top 100 Albums 1990" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 7, no. 51. pp. 29, 38. Retrieved 20 May 2021.
  29. ^ "British album certifications – Suzanne Vega – Days of Open Hand". British Phonographic Industry.
  30. ^ "RPM Top 100 Singles - June 9, 1990" (PDF).
  31. ^ "officialcharts.com/search-results-album/_/Book%20Of%20Dreams#single". OfficialCharts.com. Retrieved 3 June 2016.
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