Retrospective: The Best of Suzanne Vega

Retrospective: The Best of Suzanne Vega is a greatest hits album by the American singer/songwriter Suzanne Vega, released in 2003.[2] This album is an updated version of her previous greatest hits album Tried & True: The Best of Suzanne Vega, with a few more songs ("Tired of Sleeping", "Calypso", "Solitude Standing", "(I'll Never Be) Your Maggie May", and "Woman on the Tier (I'll See You Through)") but without "Book & a Cover".[1] Bonus CD from UK release includes live performance with another not published earlier song, "Anniversary".[3]

Retrospective: The Best of Suzanne Vega
Greatest hits album by Suzanne Vega
Released	2003
Genre	Folk rock acoustic rock
Length	77:50
Label	A&M
Suzanne Vega chronology
Songs in Red and Gray (2001) Retrospective: The Best of Suzanne Vega (2003) Beauty & Crime (2007)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]

Reception

John Murphy from MusicOMH considered the album to have a "much more representative track listing" than Tried & True and had a positive view on it, writing: "With material this good it's hard to level any criticisms at Retrospective." The only problems he saw were "pretentious sleeve notes" not written by Vega herself and "the lack of a chronological order", but for him these were just "minor quibbles".[3]

Gregory McIntosh from AllMusic thought that "the overall collection feels a little bit more hearty with a total of 21 tracks instead of 17" compared to Tried & True and gave it a 4.5/5 stars.[1]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Suzanne Vega, except where specified.

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Luka"		3:52
2.	"Tom's Diner" (remix by DNA)		3:49
3.	"Marlene on the Wall"		3:41
4.	"Caramel"		2:54
5.	"99.9F°"		3:15
6.	"Tired of Sleeping"		4:25
7.	"Small Blue Thing"		3:56
8.	"Blood Makes Noise"		2:29
9.	"Left of Center" (from Pretty In Pink soundtrack)	Vega, Steve Addabbo	3:30
10.	"(I'll Never Be) Your Maggie May"		3:48
11.	"In Liverpool"		4:44
12.	"Gypsy"		4:03
13.	"Book of Dreams"	Vega, Anton Sanko	3:24
14.	"No Cheap Thrill"		3:10
15.	"Calypso"		4:13
16.	"World Before Columbus"		3:27
17.	"Solitude Standing"	Vega, Sanko, Michael Visceglia, Marc Shulman, Stephen Ferrera	4:39
18.	"Penitent"		4:18
19.	"Rosemary (Remember Me)"		2:44
20.	"The Queen and the Soldier" (live, July 26, 1991, Nyon, Switzerland)		5:02
21.	"Woman On the Tier (I'll See You Through)" (from Dead Man Walking soundtrack)		2:27
Total length:			77:50

Charts

Chart performance for Retrospective: The Best of Suzanne Vega

Chart (2003)	Peak position
UK Albums (OCC)[4]	27

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[5]	Gold	100,000
Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References

1. McIntosh, Gregory. "Retrospective: The Best of Suzanne Vega - Suzanne Vega". AllMusic. Retrieved August 1, 2016.
2. "Suzanne Vega – Retrospective: The Best Of Suzanne Vega". Discogs. Retrieved August 1, 2016.
3. Murphy, John (July 7, 2003). "Suzanne Vega – Retrospective". MusicOMH. Retrieved August 1, 2016.
4. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved October 22, 2020.
5. "British album certifications – Suzanne Vega – Retrospective: The Best of Suzanne Vega". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved July 5, 2019. Select albums in the Format field. Select Gold in the Certification field. Type Retrospective: The Best of Suzanne Vega in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.