''Days of Open Hand'' is the third studio album by

Suzanne Vega Suzanne Nadine Vega ( Peck; born July 11, 1959) is an American singer-songwriter best known for her folk-inspired music. Vega's music career spans almost 40 years. She came to prominence in the mid-1980s, releasing four singles that entered the ...

. It was released on April 10, 1990 through

A&M Records A&M Records was an American record label founded as an independent company by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss in 1962. Due to the success of the discography A&M released, the label garnered interest and was acquired by PolyGram in 1989 and began distr ...

. The follow-up to the successful ''

Solitude Standing ''Solitude Standing'' is the second studio album by American singer-songwriter Suzanne Vega, released on April 1, 1987, by A&M Records. It is the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed album of Vega's, being certified Platinum in t ...

'' (1987), ''Days of Open Hand'' combines Vega's established folk-rock style with more varied instrumentation such as the

ney The ''ney'' ( fa, Ney/نی, ar, Al-Nāy/الناي), is an end-blown flute that figures prominently in Persian music and Arabic music. In some of these musical traditions, it is the only wind instrument used. The ney has been played continually ...

and

dumbek The goblet drum (also chalice drum, tarabuka, tarabaki, darbuka, darabuka, derbake, debuka, doumbek, dumbec, dumbeg, dumbelek, toumperleki, tumbak, or zerbaghali; arz, دربوكة / Romanized: ) is a single-head membranophone with a goblet- ...

and experimental arrangements. The album was produced by Vega and

Anton Sanko Anton Sanko is a composer, orchestrator and producer born in New York City. He has been writing music for films since 1991. He scored ''Ouija'' for Blumhouse/Universal, ''Jessabelle'' for Blumhouse/Lionsgate, and ''Visions'', also for Blumhouse/Un ...

, who also co-wrote many of the album's tracks. High-profile contributors to the album include

Philip Glass Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimal music, minimalism, being built up fr ...

Shawn Colvin Shawn Colvin (born Shawna Lee Colvin, January 10, 1956) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. While Colvin has been a solo recording artist for decades, she is best known for her 1998 Grammy Award-winning song "Sunny Came Home". Early ...

, and

John Linnell John Sidney Linnell ( ; born June 12, 1959) is an American musician, known primarily as one half of the Brooklyn-based alternative rock band They Might Be Giants with John Flansburgh, which was formed in 1982. In addition to singing and songwri ...

(of

They Might Be Giants They Might Be Giants (often abbreviated as TMBG) is an American alternative rock band formed in 1982 by John Flansburgh and John Linnell. During TMBG's early years, Flansburgh and Linnell frequently performed as a duo, often accompanied by a d ...

). The album saw greater use of synthesizers and samplers than Vega's previous albums; these included the

Fairlight CMI The Fairlight CMI (short for Computer Musical Instrument) is a digital synthesizer, sampler, and digital audio workstation introduced in 1979 by Fairlight. — with links to some Fairlight history and photos It was based on a commercial lic ...

and

Voyetra-8 The Voyetra-8 (Voyetra-Eight) is an eight voice polyphonic analog synthesizer. Released in 1982 by Octave-Plateau Electronics (later renamed Voyetra and still later merged with Turtle Beach Systems to become Voyetra Turtle Beach, Inc.), it was one o ...

. ''Days of Open Hand'' failed to 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 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 Grammy Awards.

Background

Vega's previous album ''Solitude Standing'' was a major success worldwide, spawning the hit song "

Luka Luka may refer to: People * Luka (given name), a South Slavic masculine given name cognate of Luke, and a Japanese given name * Luka (singer), stage name of Brazilian singer and songwriter Luciana Karina Santos de Lima (born 1979) * Luka Keʻelik ...

" and placing within the top 10 of the album charts in twelve countries (alongside a number 11 peak in the US). The album also contained "

Tom's Diner "Tom's Diner" is a song written in 1982 by American singer and songwriter Suzanne Vega. It was first released as a track on the January 1984 issue of '' Fast Folk Musical Magazine''. Originally featured on her second studio album, '' Solitude S ...

" which would achieve further success after being remixed by DNA in 1990. With the followup 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

. Six of the album's eleven songs feature music written by Sanko while all lyrics were written solely by Vega.

Commercial performance

''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, it was a top 10 hit in the UK, peaking at number 7. 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 Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks (1988–2009) and Alternative Songs (2009–2020)) is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in ''Billboard'' magazine since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-played ...

chart. However, the album's second and third singles, "Tired of Sleeping" and "Men in a War" failed to see any chart success.

Critical response

''Days of Open Hand'' received generally positive reviews from critics. In a review for ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'', 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 Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886) was an American poet. Little-known during her life, she has since been regarded as one of the most important figures in American poetry. Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massach ...

Sylvia Plath Sylvia Plath (; October 27, 1932 – February 11, 1963) was an American poet, novelist, and short story writer. She is credited with advancing the genre of confessional poetry and is best known for two of her published collections, ''The ...

and

Stevie Smith Florence Margaret Smith, known as Stevie Smith (20 September 1902 – 7 March 1971), was an English poet and novelist. She won the Cholmondeley Award and was awarded the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry. A play, '' Stevie'' by Hugh Whitemore, bas ...

. In a retrospective review for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

, Alex Henderson praised the album's "subtlety", praising her vocals for being "expressive" without "need ngto shout or preach to get her points across".

Track listing

Personnel

* Suzanne Vega – vocals, acoustic guitar backing vocals , Fairlight synthesizer *

– guitar, Hammond C3 organ,

tiple A tiple (, literally treble or soprano), is a plucked typically 12-string chordophone of the guitar family. A tiple player is called a ''tiplista''. The first mention of the tiple comes from musicologist Pablo Minguet e Irol in 1752. Although ma ...

, Sequential V.s., Dx711,

, Fairlight synthesizers, Akai S-1000 sampler, programming, string arrangement *

– backing vocals * Marc Shulman –

E-bow The EBow, short for electronic bow or energy bow, is an electronic device used for playing string instruments, most often the electric guitar. It is manufactured by Heet Sound Products, of Los Angeles, California. It was invented by Greg Heet i ...

, electric guitar , tiple guitar , 12-string electric guitar , bouzouki * Michael Visceglia – five-string bass , fretless bass *

Erik Sanko Erik Sanko (born 27 September 1963) is a bass player from New York who has played in The Lounge Lizards and currently active in Skeleton Key. Biography In the past he also worked with notable musicians including Marc Ribot, John Cale, Yoko Ono, Su ...

– fretless bass * Percy Jones – fretless bass *

– accordion * Richard Horowitz –

* Hearn Gadbois –

* Michael Blair –

marimba The marimba () is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars that are struck by mallets. Below each bar is a resonator pipe that amplifies particular harmonics of its sound. Compared to the xylophone, the timbre ...

, metal percussion , tambourine percussion , shaker , hand drum *

Glen Velez Glen Velez (born 1949) is a four-time Grammy winning American percussionist, vocalist, and composer, specializing in frame drums from around the world. He is largely responsible for the increasing popularity of frame drums in the United States an ...

– drums * Frank Vilardi – drums , percussion , rims and brushes , Akai S-1000 sampler , percussion , shaker , snare and tom tom drums , blastics *

– string arrangement *Maria Kitsopoulos - cello *Fred Zlotkin - cello *Sandra Park - first violin *Barry Finclair - violin solo *Hae Young Ham - violin *Timothy Baker - violin *Rebecca Young - viola *Alfred Brown - viola Production *

Bob Ludwig Robert C. Ludwig (born c. 1945) is an American mastering engineer. He has mastered recordings on all the major recording formats for all the major record labels, and on projects by more than 1,300 artists including Led Zeppelin, Lou Reed, Qu ...

– mastering *

Hugh Padgham Hugh Charles Padgham (born 15 February 1955) is an English record producer and audio engineer. He has won four Grammy Awards, for Producer of the Year and Album of the Year for 1985, Record of the Year for 1990, and Engineer of the Year for 1 ...

– mixing * Pat McCarthy – engineer *

Pat Dillett Patrick “Pat” Dillett is a 4 x Grammy winning New York based record producer, mixer & sound engineer. He is known for his working relationships with David Byrne, Nile Rodgers, and Thomas Bartlett a/k/a Doveman. He has worked with notabl ...

– assistant engineer * Geoff Keehn – engineer * Jeff Lippay – assistant engineer * Jon Goldberger – assistant engineer * Kurt Munkasci – string engineer

Charts

Certifications

Singles

References

External links

The Album Pages fansite: ''Days of Open Hand'' link

{{DEFAULTSORT:Days Of Open Hand Suzanne Vega albums 1990 albums A&M Records albums