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"Live by Request"
k.d. lang has spent her
eccentric career pitching between twin poles of desire--torch
(jazz/blues) and twang (retro country), and artistry and flamboyance.
On Live by Request, she revisits the best of her shimmering repertoire,
from her rough-edged cowpunk days to her current gossamer soundscape.
But at the start of the set, recorded December 2000 at John Jay
College of Criminal Justice at the City University of New York,
she threatens to diminish her own impact with a lumpy, rushed
rendition of "Summerfling" and a cartoonish version
of "Big Boned Gal." Soon, however, she settles down
to do what she does best, which is seduction. While a way-too-melodramatic
arrangement spoils "Don't Smoke in Bed," she goes on
to bring goose-bump intimacy to "The Consequences of Falling"
and "Constant Craving," one of popular music's most
aching songs of longing laid bare. By the time she turns her
exquisite soprano to the howling chorus of "Barefoot,"
the earth doesn't just move, Ernest, it trembles--a prelude to
the staggeringly emotional affect of "Pullin' Back the Reins."
When she gets to that one, don't be surprised if your stereo
starts to smoke. --Alanna Nash |
