RETROSPECTIVE: Eric Olsen reviews the

RETROSPECTIVE: Eric Olsen reviews the new best of Suzanne Vega CD:

I forgot how much I love the dry, talcum powder balm that is Suzanne Vega’s voice – Mariah Carey, Christina Aguilera and the other junior divas could learn a thing or three about the value of underplayed expression from Vega, who conveys more meaning and feeling in an inhalation than do many over-emoters in entire careers. Vega has a new career retrospective out and it does the job very well.

I’ll second that emotion, although my favorite neo-folkie moment (I think it qualifies) was Sarah McLachlan’s Fumbling Towards Ecstasy, one of the best produced CDs of the 1990s.