Nice compilation of her earlier songs. I also purchased "Live by Request" which I think I like a little better. Includes a wider range of songs by K.D. Lang.

K.D. Lang suffered the indignity of being totally snubbed by the Nashville establishment. She made three brilliant albums for Sire records that got buried at radio because of a homophobic whisper campaign. Even when the legendary Owen Bradley produced the beautiful "Shadowland," the same mentality that would ban artists in 2006 (we won't name those Chicks' names) throttled her highest charting single, "Down to My Last Cigarette," from a major breakthrough.

So for the most part, those three initial Sire offerings (and two independent releases) were big among critics and alternative radio crowds (go figure!). "Reintarnation" gets to the best of the retro-KD, from its Elvis Presley/Clash cover homage to finally including the rare "Friday Night Promenade" single for the first time on CD. There are also a couple of underheard treats here, particularly "Cowgirl Pride" from the soundtrack to "Even Cowgirls Get The Blues."

At twenty songs, it is hard to quibble with the song choices (although I might have argued for a couple more from "Shadowland"). There's also a good essay from Gil Kaufman detailing those early years. My advice is to go back for both "Shadowland" and "Absolute Torch and Twang," which showcased lang's incredible talents before she opted to become a troubadour for "Ingenue." I am certain we'll eventually see her catalogue remasterd, as well as a best of covering the pop years. Till then, "ReIntarnation" will suffice.

The driving sound never lets up! This album is an energetic showcase for KD Lang's fabulous voice (she could sing the telephone book and make it interesting) and song-writing talents. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

I'm always happy to review anything of kd lang's. Her voice is one for the generations. She is truly gifted and would appeal to anyone who appreciates a great voice. If you don't already own it, run - don't walk - and get her recent album "Hymns of the 49th Parallel". This effort was Grammy worthy in my opinion. Yes, I am a fan but I also know a great voice when I hear it.

Since the release of her wildly successful INGENUE in 1989, k. d. lang has largely moved away from the kind of uptempo rockabilly-tinged country twang that marked her early albums, and for many lang fans (such as myself) this has been a tremedous shame. As pleasant as her crooning has been in the last 15+ years, there's nothing to get the heart going faster than those early albums. Now, at last, as her first compilation, lang has reissued these great songs from her early days in collaboration with her gifted longtime collaborator Ben Mink: they've greatly cleaned up the reverberation from many of the reocrdings so you hear them much differently than in the past. And the selection is terrific: though lang re-releases here some of her more beautiful early ballads (including "Pine and Stew" and my favorite of all her songs, "Diet of Strange Places," and songs from ABSOLUTE TORCH AND TWANG that showed the torchy direction her music would take in future albums, like "Pulling Back the Reins"), most of the songs are her quick tempoed dance numbers from the days when she'd spin around on stage like a dervish: "Pay Dirt," "Tune into My Wave," "It's Me," "Big, Big Love," and so on. These songs are wickedly fun to listen to, and remind us that lang used to have an absolutely killer sense of humor.