KD Lang : Torch or Twang

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I think her vocals are incredible. Her drag album is one of the most sultry torch songs i have heard. It is clever as well as smoldering. Her Summer album is pure sophisto sun fun . What do we think.

― anthony, Friday, 3 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Her VOICE. Seemingly infinite reserves of it. She takes chances and tries new things on every album. Classic, classic, classic.

― Tracer Hand, Friday, 3 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I know annd for once it is an alto.

― anthony, Friday, 3 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

i remember listening to "3 cigarettes in an ashtray" in the car, getting to where i was, and just sitting there with the engine running, waiting for her to finish the last sustain.

― Tracer Hand, Friday, 3 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

her country stuff is way funny, but i've been put off by the dinnerparty wankers who like her in the background

― Geoff, Friday, 3 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Music at Dinner Parties is always bad.

― anthony, Friday, 3 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Dinner Parties=DUD

― JC, Friday, 3 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

No not really . It has food, it has freinds.

― anthony, Friday, 3 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

kd = incredible voice, wit, style, intelligence, etc., but I'm STILL put off by that "Reincarnation of Patsy Cline" thing, 15 years later. The Frank Marino of C&W?

― dave q, Friday, 3 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Karen Carpenter was an alto.

― Sean, Friday, 3 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

and i love Karen Carpenter .

― anthony, Friday, 3 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I never understood the Patsy Cline comparisons; some dubious parallel between Patsy's tough upbringing and k.d.'s lesbianism. Always seemed kind of simplistic and condescending to me so I ignored it. Their voices, while both astonishing, sound nothing alike. And k.d. has leapt into a genre all her own, something Patsy never accomplished.

― Tracer Hand, Friday, 3 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Karen Carpenter=CLASSIC

― JC, Friday, 3 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Like Karen Carpenter, she does indeed have a stunning voice. But either she should learn to write better songs or do more classic covers (a la "Drag). It'd be nice to see a change in her ultrasmooth production values, too. And I still think she's sexier than most men I know.

― X. Y. Zedd, Friday, 3 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Invincible summer is the great luurrve album. Her swoops and sighs and little hiccups in her voice are pure joy and prob closer to that rushing feeling of love than any sentimental Celine Dion shite.

― Billy Dods, Friday, 3 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

one year passes...

i'm surprised this thread didn't go further.

noted avantgarde womenswear designers viktor & rolf recently named her "the most stylish man ever".

yes, she is classic.

― vahid (vahid), Friday, 23 May 2003 02:41 (twenty-three years ago)

i like her, especially the torch and twang album. but i don't think any more that her voice, while very good, is that special.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Friday, 23 May 2003 03:26 (twenty-three years ago)

seven months pass...

Man, in the last couple weeks, I've heard both "Constant Craving" and "If I Were You" -- both for the first time in several years -- and these songs are GREAT. Incredible voice, unusual melodies (that highlight her range, natch), interesting instrumentation (the accordion on "Constant Craving"!!). What's she up to these days, anyway?

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 6 January 2004 06:10 (twenty-two years ago)

Ingénue is one of my favourite albums ever - that smoky husky voice, those brilliant arrangements, the strings on "The Mind Of Love"! All You Can Eat is not bad either, but the latest - can't remember when, a couple of years old now? - was not so great. But then I did only listen to it once.

― The Lex (The Lex), Tuesday, 6 January 2004 12:56 (twenty-two years ago)

I never understood the Patsy Cline comparisons; some dubious parallel between Patsy's tough upbringing and k.d.'s lesbianism.

Those comparisons started long before she as outed. Though she had a huge hardon for Patsy Cline from the start, naming her backing band the Reclines, working with the same producer start on I believe Shadowland (Owen Bradley is his name, thanks to AMG).

― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Wednesday, 7 January 2004 02:53 (twenty-two years ago)

Owen Bradley is so much of a legend they put his name on the cover to sell the album to trad country fans:

http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drd600/d686/d68651877ec.jpg

I prefer Absolute Torch and Twang, personally, though both of those "country" albums are very good. And Ingenue is genius.

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Wednesday, 7 January 2004 04:08 (twenty-two years ago)

Actually, you know what? Take those quotes from around the word 'country.' They don't belong there.

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Wednesday, 7 January 2004 04:11 (twenty-two years ago)

http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drf100/f128/f128103h3u3.jpg
Note that picture in the barn along with a little "say hi to Patsy" comment on the back cover.
Im glad she lost the glasses.

― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Wednesday, 7 January 2004 04:16 (twenty-two years ago)

five years pass...

Some thoughts on Ingénue, which I'm revisiting today.

"Save Me" is a lush opener, with the lovely verse "Watch over me with a mother's eyes / Judging my worth only to glorify" and glorious high notes from Lang. But after "The Mind of Love" I think her voice generally undersells the deep longing of the lyrics. She sounds too detached to be feeling so strongly, as if maybe she's ashamed of feeling that strongly. Instead, the music realizes those emotions, and with neither irony nor (much) camp (as would be easy to resort to in country aimed at a pop audience). For instance, the massive chorus on the wonderfully titled "Season of Hollow Soul" gives body to the vocal's hollow soul; and in "Constant Craving" the accordion and marimba (very "Under My Thumb"---maybe setting up Brian Jones' revenge with the "Anybody Seen My Baby?" debacle?) do the same. But she knows when to pull her punches too: the build-up of (also wonderfully titled) "Tears of Love's Recall" is tremendous, but instead of release, it fizzles out into the "blood and chocolate" line.

― wide swing juggalo (Euler), Monday, 3 August 2009 12:53 (sixteen years ago)

eleven years pass...

"Constant Craving" is one of those time capsule songs that brings me back to when I was 12, and adored this song. i'm playing it now, the harmonies, the way they are call and response to the lead vocal is such a nice touch. and the bridge harmonies bring back the country touch.

that vibrato is so controlled too

― Lover of Nixon (or LON for short) (Neanderthal), Friday, 11 December 2020 06:04 (five years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLqwmOgG5c8

Here she is with a gorgeous cover of King Crimson's "Matte Kudasai," which she says was a big influence on Ingenue.

She's got incredible mic technique, perfectly controlling the dynamics of her voice and volume.

― Hideous Lump, Friday, 11 December 2020 07:02 (five years ago)

Oh shit, love that KC song.

― Lover of Nixon (or LON for short) (Neanderthal), Friday, 11 December 2020 08:40 (five years ago)

Love Shadowland

― brimstead, Friday, 11 December 2020 15:23 (five years ago)

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