Description
k.d. lang’s first independent album — her second with the reclines, who started as a Patsy Cline tribute band — is a fun and rollicking throwback to 1950s country music. Shifting between upbeat honky tonk numbers and melancholy weepies, the 25th anniversary re-issue of A Truly Western Experience is an album that devout k.d. fans should own, as it suggests some of the singer’s early ironic turns, which would later come to play in releases such as Drag.
This crisp-sounding 15-track reissue, fleshed out with live cuts, a demo, and her debut single, including the first-rate b-side Damned Old Dog, is beautifully packaged and focuses attention on the k.d. lang back-story- before Owen Bradley, Roy Orbison, the Grammys, PETA, Vanity Fair, Tony Bennett and Hallelujah.
Playing at rockabilly with Bopalena and bopping country on Hanky Panky, lang was the poster child for those who embraced faux-vintage antics. Stop, Look, and Listen remains magnetic. Even with its range of tempos and styles, few anticipated Pine and Stew and Busy Being Blue hinted at a future as cosmopolitan crooner.
