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Shadowland
by Sire / London/Rhino
| List Price: |
$11.98 |
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$10.99 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. |
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$0.99 (8%) |
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Audio CD
Publisher: Sire / London/Rhino
Pulling out all the Nashville stops, k.d. lang's 1988 album is a meticulously crafted work, her bid for mainstream country acceptance, and an homage to her idol Patsy Cline. Surrounded by the brilliance of Owen Bradley's string-laced production and a host of legendary pickers (Buddy Emmons and Pete Wade) and singers (Kitty Wells, Brenda Lee, Loretta Lynn), lang's voice soars and moans like a dove. After the lush Chris Isaak-penned opener "Western Stars," lang follows with more-familiar country writers, from Roger Miller ("Lock, Stock and Teardrops") to Harlan Howard ("I'm Down to My Last Cigarette"). Both a commercial (the album went gold) and artistic success, Shadowland ranks as one of the best country records of the 1980s. --Roy Francis Kasten
| Customer Reviews: |
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| LANG At the Top of Her Game. I'd Give "Shadowlands" 10 Stars If I Could ! |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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I am not a Country music listener per se, but since stumbling upon "Shadowland", it has become one of my all-time favorite CD's to listen. A GORGEOUS piece of work from start to finish. Lang is blessed with one of the most beautiful, powerful, clear voices not just in Country music, but in ANY field -- period. She easily ranks among the BEST female vocalists to emerge in the last 50 years. She's right up there with Aretha Franklin, Barbra Streisand, and Karen Carpenter.
While I agree with everyone about Lang's gifts and talents as a vocalist, not all of her CD's have always turned out to be winners, but "Shadowlands" is perfection. It is so well produced, written and sung, in my book it ranks as her BEST. Her voice has rarely sounded more powerful or emotional than it does here. Owen Bradley was in retirement before this CD was recorded, but his magic touch is still evident in not OVER-Producing this recording. He lends just enough arrangements to frame that gorgeous voice.
One of my two favorite songs is the title track. It always easily gets at least 10 repeat listens every time I load the CD into my player. Lang does not over-sing this beautifully-written song, providing just enough sentiment and vulnerability to bring out the song's sadness. "I Wish I Didn't Love You So" is another one. It's actually a torch song written for Broadway from the 1940's by the famous songwriter Frank Loesser. Lang's powerful version blows all other versions and covers out of the water, including Aretha and Sinatra. Again, that voice just blasts thru the stratosphere adding so much emotional anguish and depth to this torch song. All others just PALE in comparison.
"Black Coffee" is another torch song in the same vein as "I Wish I Didn't.." that was made famous by Peggy Lee, but here Lang's version stumbles a bit compared to Lee's. I would say it's the only one weak track on the entire CD. Actually I'm not too crazy about the "Country Trio" of Kitty Wells, Brenda Lee and Loretta Lynn either. Lang came close to matching "Shadowland" with "Ingenue", but that CD was really a downer in my opinion. Lang really sounds bogged down by the material on that one. She never quite captured the vocal magic in her subsequent releases after "Ingenue", which perhaps brought her greater fame (mostly b/c of "Constant Craving"), but in my opinion "Shadowlands" stands as her crowning achievement.
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| I will gladly take this... |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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as one of the few things I am allowed to take to an isolated island.
I never get tired of this CD. Owen Bradley is brilliant and kd lang is blessed.
Thank the music gods of Nashville this combination was brought to fruition.
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| Shadowland, "2nd hand",via Amazon |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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Got just what I expected - a new (wrapped) old disc I couldn't find elsewhere, cheap, with all the songs I knew were there, and wanted. Only annoyance is that the shipping to Canada (from, I think, Florida) was more than twice the cost of the disc.
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| Unexpected Fan! |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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I purchased this CD when it was first released and recently came across it in my collection. Listening to it again after many years reminded me of the incredible talent of k.d. lang. While traveling in my van, I told my husband, "You have to hear this!" He loved it! He is a diehard classic country music fan and I am more into Blues, R&B and Pop, but we found ourselves fighting over the CD. I bought it again as a birthday gift for him because he kept stealing mine! It's well worth the investment!
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| Classic album with Owen Bradley as producer |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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For about two decades after it's release, this remained the only k d lang album that I was familiar with. It features plenty of covers although I was only really familiar with one of them (Don't let the stars get in your eyes) at the time I originally bought the vinyl album. By the time I bought a copy on CD, I knew much more about these songs and while most of them are covers, they are generally of fairly obscure songs.
In selecting the opening song (Western skies) k d (or whoever found the song for her) must have been among the first to discover Chris Isaak, because he hadn't made his mark at that stage. The next song (Lock, stock and teardrops) is by the late, great Roger Miller, but it's certainly not among his most famous songs. Sugar moon (a Bob Wills song) is better know, though again it's not Bob's most famous song.
Following that comes a Frank Loesser song (I wish I didn't love you so) that became a huge American hit for several singers in 1947. Vaughn Monroe and Dinah Shore each took it to number two, while Betty Hutton had a top five hit and Dick Haymes had a top ten hit. Jazz fans and those who like the music of the forties are probably familiar with this song, but they are likely to be in a minority among the people who buy this album. I didn't get seriously into such music until the early years of the new millennium, although I've become very interested since then.
Next comes a song (Waltz once around the dance floor) that I don't recognize from anywhere else, but it might also be a cover for all I know. It is followed by a cover of Black coffee, a song made famous by Peggy Lee though her version was itself a cover of a Sarah Vaughn top twenty hit from 1947. Petula Clark also included an excellent cover on one of her sixties albums. Perhaps I should have been familiar with this song in 1987, but I wasn't. I hadn't discovered the brilliance of Peggy Lee or Sarah Vaughn at that stage, while I only knew about Petula`s own hits at that time. How things have changed since then.
The title track follows and I'm assuming (perhaps wrongly) that this is an original song. Following that comes one of the most recognizable songs on the album (Don't let the stars get in your eyes), which provided Perry Como with one of his biggest hits although legend has it that he was reluctant to record it because he didn't like it. I wonder if he liked it better after it became such a huge hit. In any event, k d did a great job with her version. I think the next track (Tears don't care who cries them) could be an original, though it might not be. Next is an old country song (I'm down to my last cigarette) by Harlan Howard and Billy Walker, but it's a rarely heard song so I'm glad that k d included it here. Following that is another song (Busy being blue) that I haven't heard elsewhere and could be an original.
The album concludes with a medley of three oldies, the most famous of the three being Blues stay away from me, a Delmore brothers song that provided Owen Bradley with an American hit in 1949. Owen wasn't a huge success as a singer, but became much more successful as a record producer. The medley features Brenda Lee, Loretta Lynn and Kitty Wells as guests.
This album is a masterpiece. I eventually got round to buying and reviewing 49th parallel (another brilliant album, though less so than this one), and maybe I'll buy more of k d lang's music eventually. Yet somehow, I get the impression from various sources that this remains her best album. If there is a better one, it's clearly a must-have based on the quality of this album.
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Western Stars
Lock, Stock and Teardrops
Sugar Moon
I Wish I Didn't Love You So
(Waltz Me) Once Again Around the Dance Floor
Black Coffee
Shadowland
Don't Let the Stars Get in Your Eyes
Tears Don't Care Who Cries Them
I'm Down to My Last Cigarette
Busy Being Blue
Honky Tonk Angels' Medley
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