Happy Halloween! Halloween is my
favourite holiday of the year – the day when everyone puts on a mask and takes
off another one. Once they are in a costume people are strangely more comfortable
expressing other facets of themselves; like the ritual of the costume gives
them a licence to let their guard down.
I’m not going out this Halloween,
but instead taking it easy after a couple of fairly social nights in a row.
Besides, I’m not sure I trust myself on Halloween – I express myself way too
much already.
Speaking of which, here’s a music
review!
Disc 794 is….Absolute Torch and Twang
Artist: K.D. Lang
Year of Release: 1989
What’s up with the Cover? She’s a little bit country. OK,
she’s a whole lot of country. It looks good on her.
How I Came To Know It: When I met Sheila she was a fan
of K.D. Lang’s lounge album, “Ingenue” (reviewed back at Disc 333). Then
she bought this one even though it had been issued years before. (I think it
might have been in a bargain bin somewhere, which is sad, but fortuitous).
How It Stacks Up: We have 2 K.D. Lang albums. I
thought for sure “Ingenue” would be my favourite, but country-K.D. won me over.
I’m putting “Absolute Torch and Twang” at the top of the list.
Ratings: 5 stars
“Absolute Torch and Twang”
was a revelation for me. I was planning to review it on Wednesday and move on,
but on every listen it just sunk deeper into my blood and bones. I’m not sure I
could’ve quit it even if I wanted to.
Lang reinvented Canadian
country music with this album, blending traditional twang with Patsy Cline
croons, fifties rockabilly and some expansive sound I can only describe as ‘Albertan’.
Lang never seemed 100% committed to just being a country artist (witness her
next album, “Ingenue”, which mostly leaves country behind). This step out of
the country mainstream helps give “Absolute Torch and Twang” a unique understanding
of the genre and what can be done with it.
It all starts with K.D. Lang’s
voice, which is one of the greatest ever. Powerful, with incredible range she
has a natural understanding of phrasing that infuses every word of a song with
meaning.
But “Absolute Torch and
Twang” isn’t just about the voice; the musicianship of her backing band, “The
Reclines” is equally brilliant. The band has a natural country swing,
punctuated with just the right amount of electric guitar or fiddle (or both) as
each song requires. They are the perfect match to Lang’s vocal style.
The production is crisp and
clean, and lets both Lang and the Reclines shine within the context of the
song. It would be easy to overdo it with Lang’s voice, but they seem to
understand that they have something special going on as an ensemble, and to let
each piece of it shine at the right time.
Thematically, the record has
a lot of range, but every song shares the same restless energy. The songs might
make you happy, sad or just excited but they all will make you feel like your
heart is about to burst.
Sometimes that energy is
expressed joyously, like on “Big Boned
Gal” where the title character is a clearly different from the norm, but
never lets it hold her back:
“She was a big boned gal from southern Alberta
You just couldn’t call her small
And you can bet every Saturday night
She’d be heading for the legion hall.”
Ah, so Canadian. I work
beside a legion hall now and I’m looking forward to a drink or two there in the
next few months.
On “Wallflower Waltz,” Lang shows the other side of feeling different,
with a character who leans against the gymnasium wall, isolated and alone in
the same sea of people the big boned gal swam through effortlessly. The final verse
is revealing of Lang’s outlook:
“Held and pushed by unleashed desires
Tethered in self-sacrifice
Reluctantly charmed by being approached
But guarded to one’s own device
There’s no need to criticize
For kind and sure are those eyes.”
Even for the wallflower,
there is a sureness about who they are. These songs recognize that ultimately you
are the captain of our own ship, whether you sail it through a throng of people,
or moor in the quiet back eddies of the room.
Despite my love for these
tracks, there are two songs on the record that I liked even more. The first is “Pullin’ Back the Reins;” a song about
how love can make you feel uncertain and exhilarated at the same time. Lang
evokes the image of a restless horse under you that wants to run. That’s love,
threatening to unbalance you and pull you into a gallop against your better
judgment. Although the song ends with Lang regaining control, it doesn’t feel
fully resolved. This is a song that is about wanting that horse to run, even as
you pull back the reins and try to remain tall in the saddle.
The second is the album’s final
song, “Nowhere to Stand.” It is a
slow country waltz about how family violence is handed down from generation to
generation. After song after song at a breakneck gallop through love, “Nowhere to Stand” slows the pace and
strips down the production. Lang’s voice soars like never before, both
inspirational and accusatory at the same time.
Lang even finds time (in a
restrained 41 minutes) to remake a Willie Nelson song from 1962 (“Three Days”). “Three
Days” shocked me twice, first by not being written by Lang (because she
simply owns it by the time the last
note falls). The second shock was that it was written over fifty years ago,
because it feels so fresh it could have been released yesterday.
In 1989 there was a lot
going wrong with country music, and new country was starting to take over the
airwaves. “Absolute Torch and Twang” is a revelation that you could make songs
that were fun for two-stepping and still make you think.
Best
tracks: All twelve tracks are great, but my favourites
are: Three Days, Trail of Broken Hearts, Big Boned Gal, Wallflower Waltz, Pullin’
Back the Reins, Walkin’ In and Out of Your Arms, Nowhere to Stand
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