Tales from the Realm of the Queen of Pentacles

Tales from the Realm of the Queen of Pentacles is the eighth studio album by the American singer-songwriter Suzanne Vega.

Tales from the Realm of the Queen of Pentacles
Studio album by Suzanne Vega
Released	February 18, 2014
Studio	Clubhouse Studios (NY), Kyserike Station (NY), One East Studios, (NY), Studio Disk Barrandov (Prague)
Genre	Pop, rock, folk
Length	36:40
Label	Amanuensis Productions Cooking Vinyl (Europe)
Producer	Gerry Leonard
Suzanne Vega chronology
Close-Up Vol. 4, Songs of Family (2012) Tales from the Realm of the Queen of Pentacles (2014) Close-Up Series (2014)

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	76/100[1]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
American Songwriter	[3]
MusicOMH	[4]

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 for 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" including interpolations from 50 Cent's 2005 song "Candy Shop".[5]

The album entered the UK Album 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.[6]

The album appeared under Vega's own label, Amanuensis Productions, and was distributed in Europe by Cooking Vinyl and in North America by Aimee Mann's label Superego.

Recording

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.[7] 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 (NY). Leonard also oversaw the arrangement of the string section and the trumpet contribution made by Alison Balsom.[8] "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.[9]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Suzanne Vega and Gerry Leonard except where noted[10][11].

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Crack in the Wall"	Vega	4:23
2.	"Fool's Complaint"	Vega	2:39
3.	"I Never Wear White"		3:08
4.	"Portrait of the Knight of Wands"		4:18
5.	"Don't Uncork What You Can't Contain"		3:31
6.	"Jacob and the Angel"		4:05
7.	"Silver Bridge"		3:47
8.	"Song of the Stoic"		4:05
9.	"Laying on of Hands/Stoic 2"		3:52
10.	"Horizon (There is a Road)"		2:50

Personnel

• Suzanne Vega – vocals, guitar
• Gerry Leonard – acoustic and electric guitars, harmonium
• Larry Campbell – banjo, mandolin, cimbalom on tracks 1, 2, 8, 10
• Gail Ann Dorsey – bass on tracks 1, 2, 6 and 8
• Tony Levin – bass on tracks 3 and 5
• Mike Visceglia – bass on tracks 9 and 10
• Zachary Alford  – drums and percussion on tracks 1, 2, 6 and 8
• Jay Bellerose – drums on track 3
• Sterling Campbell – drums on tracks 5 and 9
• Doug Yowell – drums on tracks 1, 4, 7, 9 and 10
• Joji Hirota  – Taiko Drums and shakuhachi on tracks 5 and 6
• Alison Balsom – trumpet on track 10
• Catherine Russell – backing vocals on tracks 1, 2, 8, 9
• Smichov Chamber Orchestra, Prague (conducted by Josef Vondracek) – strings on tracks 5, 6, 8

Technical personnel

• Michael Tudor, assisted by Andy Gilchrist  – engineering except; Strings recorded at Studio Disk Barrandov, Prague by Lukas Vacek and Karel Holas; Trumpet recorded at Angel Recording Studios, London by Gary Thomas; additional recording at Kyserike Station, N.Y. by Gerry Leonard
• Kevin Killen – mixing

Charts

Chart (2014)	Peak position
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[12]	66
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[13]	19
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[14]	51
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[15]	47
French Albums (SNEP)[16]	124
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[17]	38
UK Albums (OCC)[18]	37
US Billboard 200[19]	173
US Folk Albums (Billboard)[20]	5
US Independent Albums (Billboard)[21]	36

In 2014 it was awarded a silver certification from the Independent Music Companies Association,[22] which indicated sales of at least 20,000 copies throughout Europe.[23]

References

1. "Tales from the Realm of the Queen of Pentacles". Metacritic.com. Retrieved 2014-02-24.
2. Jurek, Thom. "Tales from the Realm of the Queen of Pentacles". Allmusic.com. Retrieved 2014-02-24.
3. Rosen, Steven (2014-02-17). "Suzanne Vega: Tales from the Realm of the Queen of Pentacles". americansongwriter.com. Retrieved 2014-02-24.
4. Murphy, John (2014-01-30). "Album Review". Musicomh.com. Retrieved 2014-02-24.
5. "Rolling Stone Interview" David Browne, 'Suzanne Vega on Her Return, Lou Reed's Puppy and Loving Macklemore' Rolling Stone January 16, 2014
6. "Metacritic" Metacritic entry accessed February 2014
7. Ishtar Music Press release for the Festival Antigel in Geneva, February 15, 2014. Accessed March 1, 2014.
8. Good Seed PR press-release in conjunction with the 2014 Dublin show, posted December 3, 2013.
9. "Mastertapes - Suzanne Vega (the B-Side)". BBC Radio 4. 12 November 2012. Retrieved 26 July 2017.
10. "Booklet PDF" Liner notes
11. "Tales from the Realm of the Queen of Pentacles". AllMusic. Retrieved 17 October 2017.
12. "Austriancharts.at – Suzanne Vega – Tales from the Realm of the Queen of Pentacles" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved June 8, 2014.
13. "Ultratop.be – Suzanne Vega – Tales from the Realm of the Queen of Pentacles" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved June 8, 2014.
14. "Ultratop.be – Suzanne Vega – Tales from the Realm of the Queen of Pentacles" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved June 8, 2014.
15. "Dutchcharts.nl – Suzanne Vega – Tales from the Realm of the Queen of Pentacles" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved June 8, 2014.
16. "Lescharts.com – Suzanne Vega – Tales from the Realm of the Queen of Pentacles". Hung Medien. Retrieved June 8, 2014.
17. "Officialcharts.de – Suzanne Vega – Tales from the Realm of the Queen of Pentacles". GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved June 8, 2014.
18. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved June 8, 2014.
19. "Suzanne Vega Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved June 8, 2014.
20. "Suzanne Vega Chart History (Top Americana/Folk Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved June 8, 2014.
21. "Suzanne Vega Chart History (Independent Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
22. http://www.impalamusic.org/sites/default/files/pictures/Awards5.png
23. http://www.impalamusic.org/node/340