Suzanne Vega - Days Of Open Hand (1990)

Days of Open Hand

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Days of Open Hand
Studio album by Suzanne Vega
Released	April 10, 1990
Recorded	1990
Studio	Skyline Studios, RPM Studios
Genre	Folk rock, pop
Length	45:51
Label	A&M
Producer	Anton Sanko, Suzanne Vega
Suzanne Vega chronology
Solitude Standing (1987) Days of Open Hand (1990) 99.9F° (1992)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
Entertainment Weekly	B−[2]
Q	[3]
Robert Christgau	B−[4]
Rolling Stone	[5]

Days of Open Hand is the third studio album by American singer-songwriter Suzanne Vega, released in April 1990 by A&M Records. Anton Sanko and Vega produced the album. It won the Grammy Award for Best Recording Package in 1991.

By her third album, Days of Open Hand, released in 1990, she felt trapped by industry expectation.

“We worked for a whole year on that album. In the end I wasn’t really happy with it and there was this palpable sense of disappointment that we’d only sold a million copies. Now that seems really ridiculous. It felt like a crime that we didn’t sell three million!” ^[6]

Contents

  [show] 

Track listing[edit]

All tracks written by Suzanne Vega except where noted.

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Tired of Sleeping"	4:22
2.	"Men in a War"	4:47
3.	"Rusted Pipe" (Vega/Sanko)	4:16
4.	"Book of Dreams" (Vega/Sanko)	3:22
5.	"Institution Green" (Vega/Sanko)	6:15
6.	"Those Whole Girls (Run in Grace)"	3:09
7.	"Room off the Street" (Vega/Sanko)	3:00
8.	"Big Space" (Vega/Sanko)	3:46
9.	"Predictions"	4:59
10.	"Fifty-Fifty Chance"	2:36
11.	"Pilgrimage" (Vega/Sanko)	5:10

Personnel[edit]

• Suzanne Vega – vocals, guitar, keyboards
• Anton Sanko – guitar, keyboards, tiple, programming
• Shawn Colvin – background vocals
• Marc Shulman – E-bow, electric guitar, tiple
• Michael Visceglia – five-string bass, fretless bass
• Erik Sanko – fretless bass
• Percy Jones – fretless bass
• John Linnell – accordion
• Richard Horowitz – ney
• Hearn Gadbois – dumbek
• Michael Blair – drums, marimba, percussion
• Glen Velez – drums
• Frank Vilardi – drums, percussion
• Philip Glass – string arrangements^[7]

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^[7]

Charts[edit]

Chart (1990)	Peak position
Australia (ARIA)[8]	74
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[9]	9
Dutch Albums (MegaCharts)[10]	29
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[11]	16
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[12]	24
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[13]	16
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[14]	19
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[15]	19
UK Albums (OCC)[16]	7
US Billboard 200[17]	50

Certifications[edit]

Region	Certification	Certified units/Sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[18]	Gold	100,000^
Worldwide (IFPI)	N/A	1,000,000[19]
^shipments figures based on certification alone

Singles[edit]

Year	Single	Chart	Peak position
1990	"Book of Dreams"	Billboard Modern Rock Tracks	8
		UK Singles Chart	66[20]