k.d. lang Albums (11)
What The Critics Say
It seems very strange that Watershed is the first album of new -- as in self-penned -- material by kd lang in nearly seven years. Her last full-length, Hymns of the 49th Parallel, was a collection covers by fellow Canadians in 2004, and a compilation assembled from her country albums. Watershed also lists lang as producer, another first for the singer and songwriter. There are 11 songs here, including the beautiful single "Dream of Spring," that was released in December of 2007 and kicks off the set. There is a core band here that revolves around old friends Teddy Borowiecki (who not only plays organ, guitar, arranges strings, and does some programming, but also provides additional production in places), steel guitarist Greg Leisz, drummer Danny Frankel, bassist David Piltch (who also does some additional production), and some guests who include Ben Mink, trumpeter Jon Hassel, and Lynne Earls, who is also the recording engineer here. Lang plays guitars, banjo, piano, and assorted keyboards. There are bits and pieces of all of lang's best albums here. There is the elegance of Ingenue, the lush, restrained drama of Drag, and the earthiness of Shadowland with the contentment and joy of Invincible Summer. The songs are assembled as a sort of narrative. "Dream of Spring" opens with bluesy guitar, bass, and a drum loop that becomes a shimmering torch song with pedal steel guitar on its refrain. Lang's voice glides into a near swoon of longing from a reportorial, almost philosophical observation of places she'd inhabited before allowing herself to enter love openly and freely. The strings add a lushness that's in stark contrast with the steel, but it all works. While the song is sexy as all get out, there is a spiritual quotient in it; it's not enmeshed or entrenched. It's not desperate -- unlike some of the more blessed-out dream anthems on Ingenue. "Comin Home" opens with a sparse, slightly jaunty pluck of strings, and lang simply croons right into them: "Oh, sweet sorrow/Let's write the book tomorrow/For I caught a glimpse/Been obsessed with it ever since/My eyes no longer weak amongst the clarity that you pronounce in me..." This is an homage, and perhaps even a love song, but it's a platonic one that is spiritual in nature, whose tenets are very close to the eight worldly dharmas in Tibetan Buddhism. Noam Pikelny's banjo adds a nice dimension to this track, adding itself to the growing presence of strings, simple percussion, Leisz's pedal steel, and a dreaminess that is rooted in the everyday life of what illumination looks like when it is as apparent as the blue of the sky. "Once in a While" is among the most straightforward and ultimately sane love songs to ever come from the tip of lang's pen. The wonderful chorus of backing vocals (all hers), with a simple drum loop, an array of guitars, and an underpinning bassline that glides rather than weights the tune through its changes. "Thread" certainly touches on the feel of the best material from Ingenue, and strangely enough, though it is basically a spiritual song, it's sparser than almost anything here -- and certainly more so than on her former album. There is a small problem with Watershed (though on close reflection it reveals itself to be one of initial perception more than an actual flaw). Despite its wonderfully relaxed feel, an expert use of dynamics in individual songs, and the expert way of slotting different instrumental and stylistic elements next to one another and erasing the seams; it's that by about track six, "Close Your Eyes," the album seems to bleed into a whole, where the mood is so laid-back it makes one song more or less indistinguishable from another -- unless you are listening very closely. At under 39 minutes, it can simply go by you in a slow, dissolving blur. One reason is that lang doesn't stretch vocally the way she has in the past; there is a restraint in her vocalizing that is refreshing because nowhere does she over-emote and allow her natural mode of expression to handle the words, and she inflects enough heart (and only enough) to get the song across: she's not selling it, she's presenting it to the listener. That's new. She has a more disciplined approach to singing that's very attractive, but it is very different; one may mistake it for a kind of laziness on her part. On closer inspection, however, one can hear all the exceptions in these songs that prove this initial notion false. There's the single, of course, and the utterly steamy, jazzy, "Sunday," that feels like an afternoon of lovemaking; Borowiecki's vibraphone resembles Cal Tjader's light touch on the instrument, and the lithe, sinewy keyboard lines that intertwine and even embrace Piltch's basslines (acoustic and electric) are wan and hungry at once. "Flame of the Uninspired" is one place where lang allows her voice to go into its more readily expressive mode, and it's because the tune warrants it. "Shadow and the Frame" is a string heavy ballad where arrangement, and lang's harp (the classical one), bring that notion of travel, distance, reflection, and loneliness to the fore, but the words reveal something very different. Ultimately, it's simply that the sound on Watershed is defined, elemental to its songs. It carries itself with dignity and sensuality, and a sense of balance that none of her previous records have been able to achieve. It's a fine return for the artist, an album she will most likely be proud of years from now. Many of her fans will no doubt be delighted with this artful yet accessible return, and hopefully, those who embraced the younger, wackier, campy aspect of lang's persona will allow for the fact that there isn't anything close to that here. The overachiever has left the building; the seasoned artist remains. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
'Hymns of the 49th Parallel'
Release Date 7/27/2004
Tracks 11
Label Nonesuch
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
In 1988, Stompin' Tom Connors, the most fiercely patriotic Canadian musician to ever take the stage in the land of the Maple Leaf, wrote a song in tribute to fellow Canadian k.d. lang for continuing to hang her hat in Alberta after enjoying a commercial breakthrough in the United States. It's hard to say what Stompin' Tom thinks about lang these days, now that she's an out-of-the-closet lesbian, an animal rights activist, and (gulp) spending most of her time in America, but it's a good bet he approves of Hymns of the 49th Parallel, in which lang turns her attention exclusively to the work of Canadian tunesmiths. Anchored by classic songs from Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, and Leonard Cohen (all of whom rate two songs each), Hymns of the 49th Parallel is not so much a flag-waving celebration of Canada as an appreciation of the often spare and evocative style of its best-known lyricists (or at least that's the case with the material on board), and lang and frequent collaborator Ben Mink have matched the selections with production and arrangements that are simple and to the point, with only a piano/bass/drums trio for accompaniment (though a string section pops in every once in a while). With her phrasing subdued and her projection scaled back from the big-as-all-outdoors sound of her early days, lang seems to have kept her own instrument in check as well, though her best moments still inspire a very real awe. Though lang has chosen some superb songs (and written a fine one herself in the album's only original, "Simple") and performed them with obvious love and affection, Hymns of the 49th Parallel seems oddly lacking in passion; perhaps in deference to the frozen North, this album has a cool and frosty undertow that seems designed to hold the listener at arm's length, despite the inarguable beauty of its craft. Perhaps for the follow-up, she should bring in Stompin' Tom for a duet on "The Hockey Song" to liven things up. ~ Mark Deming, All Music Guide
'Live by Request'
Release Date 8/14/2001
Tracks 14
Label Warner Bros.
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Live by Request is a series of occasional television specials broadcast on the A&E cable network, conceived by Tony Bennett's son and manager Danny Bennett. It works well for musical artists with loyal followings and established catalogs who may no longer be at the forefront of the record industry but are anxious to promote new albums. Viewers and fellow celebrities call in carefully screened requests that allow the performers to revisit their old favorites and mix in some new ones. k.d. lang was a good choice for such a show, and here she becomes the first artist to use the Live by Request rubric for a corresponding album. lang usually makes concept albums with distinctive themes that can be quite different from each other stylistically and, of course, she moved toward an adult contemporary pop sound after beginning her career as a country singer, so her discography sometimes seems to be all over the map. By mixing songs from her different albums here, she is able to demonstrate the similarities in them, suggesting that the apparent diversity in her music is not as extreme as it might have seemed. Also, never having released a compilation, she compresses her catalog into an excellent introduction here. All that's missing is another important aspect of the Live by Request shows -- the spontaneous personal interaction they tend to provide between artist and audience. lang just goes from one song to another on the disc, never saying anything more elaborate than "Thank you so much" in between. No requests from fans are heard, no comments by the singer. In that sense, the album is just a straightforward (and somewhat cut and dried) live album, with none of the special flavor of the TV show. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
'Invincible Summer'
Release Date 6/20/2000
Tracks 11
Label Warner Bros.
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
The k.d. lang who played tribute to Patsy Cline seems a millennium away from the smooth, pop-infused chanteuse on this album. Glowing with happiness and lovey bliss, this lush album is dripping with the kind of bright, slick production that hasn't seen much light since the Brill Building's heyday. Swelling strings, electronic bubbles and warbles, and the occasional mandolin combine to create a sound that manages to evoke a warm feeling of nostalgia without sounding retro. Topping it all off is lang's smooth-as-maple-syrup voice, which shows even greater range than before, occasionally issuing the bell-like tones more often heard from fellow Canadians Jane Siberry and Sarah McLachlan. If there is a fault to this album, it's that it's too smooth; while the listener is surfing these waves of happiness and cushiony pop, an occasional desire for edges and bones surfaces. While "The Consequences of Falling," "Love's Great Ocean," and "Simple" are all fine songs, this recording also lacks the kind of hooky, knockout singles that have been featured on her best albums. ~ Stacia Proefrock, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Returning, however tentatively, to the torch stylings that made Ingénue her most successful album, k.d. lang crafted an odd commercial comeback with Drag. A collection of covers that are somehow related to smoking, Drag is far more ambitious than the average cover record. She recasts Steve Miller's "The Joker" and the Hollies' "The Air That I Breathe" as slow, bluesy cabaret numbers, while traditional '50s pop like "Don't Smoke in Bed" and "Smoke Rings" act as seductive counterpoints. lang's rich voice and the measured arrangements make Drag a ringer for Ingénue in places, but the tone is considerably lighter and more humorous, which certainly makes it an enjoyable listen. Nevertheless, the very presence of a tongue-in-cheek, all-covers tribute to smoking is a little disheartening in the wake of the wonderful, if severely underappreciated, All You Can Eat, which found lang pushing herself forward. Drag, in comparison, can't help but sound like a retreat. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
'A Truly Western Experience'
Release Date 7/24/1996
Tracks 9
Label Bumstead
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
k.d. lang's first independent album is an uneven but exciting revamp of '50s country. She alternates between rocking honky tonk numbers and Patsy Cline-influenced weepers, sometimes assuming an ironic distance. It may be flawed, but A Truly Western Experience has an almost punky kick and illustrates why lang would soon be considered as the freshest female vocalist in country music in the late '80s. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
k.d. lang followed through on the promise of her adult contemporary changeover Ingénue with All You Can Eat. A more experimental and realized record than its predecessor, there are more daring production touches on All You Can Eat -- it's clear that she has been listening to contemporary pop, not just torch songs. It isn't immediately accessible -- the production is low-key, the melodies are gentle and subtle (although her cutesy, tongue-in-cheek song titles suggest otherwise), and lang gives a nuanced, sophisticated performance. Though it lacks a standout song like the aching "Constant Craving," All You Can Eat has a more consistent set of songs and, given time, is a more rewarding listen. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
On her early albums, k.d. lang was a country traditionalist with a difference -- while she had a glorious voice and could evoke the risen ghost of Patsy Cline when she was of a mind, there was an intelligence and sly humor in her work that occasionally betrayed her history as a performance artist who entered the musical mainstream through the side door. And while the three years between Absolute Torch and Twang and Ingénue were full of controversy for lang that may have encouraged her to seek out new creative directions (among other things, she came out as a lesbian and her outspoken animal rights activism alienated many fans in the C&W mainstream), the former album suggested lang had already taken her interest in country music as far as it was likely to go. Ingénue presented lang as an adult contemporary artist for the first time, and if she felt any trepidation at all about her stylistic shift, you'd never guess after listening to the record; lang's vocal style is noticeably more subtle on Ingénue than her previous albums, but her command of her instrument is still complete, and the cooler surroundings allowed her to emotionally accomplish more with less. lang's songwriting moved into a more impressionistic direction with Ingénue, and while the literal meanings of many of her tunes became less clear, she also brought a more personal stamp to her music, and the emotional core of "Save Me," "Constant Craving," and "So It Shall Be" was obvious even when their surfaces were evasive. And the production and arrangements by lang and her longtime collaborators Ben Mink and Greg Penny were at once simple and ambitious, creating a musical space that was different in form and effect than her previous albums but one where she sounded right at home. Ingénue disappoints slightly because while lang was a masterful and thoroughly enjoyable country singer, she was a far more introspective adult contemporary singer/songwriter who seemingly demanded the audience accept her "as is" or not at all. However, the craft of the album is impressive indeed, and few artists have reinvented themselves with as much poise and panache as lang did on Ingénue. ~ Mark Deming, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
On her first two albums, k.d. lang took a witty and playful approach to the sounds and traditions of classic country music, and while it was obvious she truly loved the music, she also seemed to be having a bit of fun at its expense at the same time. But in 1988, lang proved beyond a doubt that she was serious about country (as well as her own talent) with Shadowland, an homage to the polished countrypolitan sounds of the 1950s and '60s that was produced by Owen Bradley, the iconic Nashville producer who was behind the controls for many of Patsy Cline's most memorable recordings. lang herself sought out Bradley to work on the album, and luring him out of retirement proved to be a masterstroke; rather than try to re-create the lush textures and deep atmosphere of Bradley's sides for Cline or Brenda Lee herself, lang went to the source, and Bradley gave her studio settings that referenced his work during Nashville's golden era while adding an ever-so-slight contemporary sheen. Bradley also brought aboard an all-star crew of legendary Nashville studio hands and invited Loretta Lynn, Brenda Lee, and Kitty Wells to sing with lang on the closing "Honky Tonk Angels' Medley." In the hands of many artists, this sort of project might have been an exercise in misplaced, nostalgic fandom, but on Shadowland, lang taps into the sound and style of her most vital musical influences while at the same time putting her stamp on the music -- this isn't k.d. lang trying to be Patsy Cline, but rather lang demonstrating what she learned from Cline and where those lessons took her. lang's lush, expressive voice has rarely sounded better or more emotionally powerful than it does on Shadowland, and it presents her meeting the cream of Nashville's greatest era not as a wide-eyed acolyte, but as a gifted artist collaborating on equal terms. It's a magnificent achievement. ~ Mark Deming, All Music Guide
'Absolute Torch and Twang'
Release Date 1/1/1988
Tracks 12
Label Sire
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Absolute Torch and Twang was the last bona fide country album of k.d. lang's career, and while external circumstances may have forced her hand in exploring other musical avenues, this set suggests she may have already been headed that way. Absolute Torch and Twang is the definitive statement of lang's country period; by this time, she'd moved past the slightly kitschy Patsy Cline homages of her earliest work and developed a strong musical personality of her own, using her rich and supple voice to approach material both witty and heartfelt. lang's collaboration with producer and songwriter Ben Mink was reaching its peak as well, with the performances and arrangements hitting a superb grace note between polish and passion. lang's songwriting had matured, most notably on "Nowhere to Stand," a powerful number about child abuse, and she'd developed a knack for writing about misfits, both defiant and otherwise; as a Canadian lesbian vegetarian performance artist trying to work within mainstream country music, you have to know her heart was with the heroines of "Big Boned Gal" and "Wallflower Waltz." And while lang had embraced vintage countrypolitan sounds on Shadowland, Absolute Torch and Twang found her bridging a gap between Cline-style balladry and polished lounge styles on "Trail of Broken Hearts" and "Pullin' Back the Reins," and finding a comfortable home in the middle ground. While some fans were disappointed when lang retreated from country music on her next album, Ingénue, it's hard to imagine her (or anyone else) topping an album quite as strong as Absolute Torch and Twang. ~ Mark Deming, All Music Guide
