K D Lang Drag CD

DRAG is one more inspired nail in the coffin of Lang's image as a neo-country singer. On the heels of 1995's electronic/dance-oriented ALL YOU CAN EAT, DRAG purports to be a concept album, with all the songs thematically linked by the common subject of cigarettes and smoking. While this link is tenous, uniting such tunes as the Hollies' "The Air That I Breathe" and an otherwise-inexplicable cover of Steve Miller's "The Joker," what really matters here is not the concept, but the music.

With production aid from jazz-pop ace Craig Street (Cassandra Wilson, Jimmy Scott), Lang offers up a sumptuous collections of ballads, gorgeously arranged and beautifully sung. Despite her reputation as a belter, she approaches the songs on DRAG with grace and subtlety, making this lush collection a stirring, understated pleasure.

Live Recording

Audio Mixer: Patrick McCarthy.

Recording information: Sunset Sound Studio 3.

Photographer: Albert Sanchez.

Unknown Contributor Roles: David Torn ; Jimmie Haskell.

Personnel includes: K.D. Lang; Jimmie Haskell (conductor); Wendy Melvoin (guitar); Kevin Breit (guitar, banjo, mandolin); Greg Leisz (steel guitar); Larry Corbett (cello); Teddy Borowiecki (accordion, keyboards); Joe Lovano (saxophone); Jon Hassell (trumpet); Connie Grauer (piano); Lisa Coleman (keyboards); David Piltch (bass); Abraham Laboriel, Jr., Kim Zick (drums); David Torn (loops); Marva King, Kimberly Brewer, Portia Griffin (background vocals).

Personnel: Kevin Breit (guitar, banjo); David Torn , Wendy Melvoin (guitar); Gayle Levant (harp); Ron Folsom, Pat Johnson , Benji Gavabedian, Joy Lyle, Henry Ferber, Karen Jones, Jay Rosen, Sid Page, Bruce Dukov (violin); Jerry Kessler, Barbara Porter, Dennis Karmazyn, Anthony Cooke, Suzi Datayama, Ray Kelley, Larry Corbett (cello); Teddy Borowieckl (accordion, piano, keyboards); Joe Lovano (saxophone); Jon Hassell (trumpet); Connie Grauer (piano); Lisa Coleman (keyboards); Kim Zick, Abe Laboriel, Jr. (drums); Kimberly Brewer, Marva King, Portia Griffin (background vocals).

Rolling Stone (6/26/97, pp.56-57) - 3.5 Stars (out of 5) - "...What brings it all together...are the gorgeous arrangements and lang's flawless renderings. Wherer lang used to indulge in showy histrionics, the singer has finally learned to keep her pipes in check..."
Entertainment Weekly (6/13/97, pp.64-65) - "...Rather than use the stuffy supper-club orchestrations heard on standard ablums by the like of Natalie Cole, Lang and producer Craig Street have fashioned spare, cushiony settings that...inhabit a lost world--here, between smoky cabaret, brush-drum jazz, and honky-tonk..." - Rating: B+
NME (Magazine) (6/28/97, p.58) - "...she's even smarter than we already thought and even more sophisticated in a nattily-attired, emotional'n'tired Jazz Club kind of way than ever before..."