There's good news and bad news for fans of folkie Suzanne Vega. The good news is, the New York-born singer has just completed two new songs, "Book & a Cover" and "Rosemary." The bad news is, fans will have to shell out for a best-of collection to hear them -- and pay import prices to boot.

Tried and True -- the Best of Suzanne Vega will hit stores exclusively in Europe on Sept. 28 and include both new songs and fifteen previously released tracks, including her signature song "Luka," "Left of Center" and "99.9F."

In June, Vega entered a New York studio with husband/producer Mitchell Froom (Elvis Costello, Sheryl Crow) and engineer Tchad Blake (Soul Coughing, Pretenders) to record the new songs. Singer/songwriter Ron Sexsmith joined Vega to provide guitar on "Book & a Cover."

The retrospective will be released in the U.S., but A&M Records is holding back until some time next spring so that the release coincides with her entry into the literary world -- a 240-page book of short stories, poetry and lyrics, titled The Passionate Eye, the Collected Writings of Suzanne Vega.

ARI BENDERSKY