k.d. lang and the Siss Boom Bang: Sing It Loud

I am an old fan from way back. In fact one of my uncle's lived in Concert. I have been a big fan of KD since her early days and have all her recordings. Meet her in Calgary for a Thanksgiving Day concert in 2007. She has the most beautiful voice in music. Tony Bennett called it when he worked with her. In my opinion this is the best release of her career. Perhaps it's the JP influence on guitar which is just real cool. Wonderful songs selected and displayed. Heaven amazing tune, I Confess brings back the fond memories of Roy O, perhaps that was her intent. Brilliant, Go Girl.

Sing It Loud
Kathy has outdone herself with this new recording. Sing It Loud is an incredible Harmonic Convergence for her with the talented Joe Pisapia and The Siss Boom Bang members.I feel as if I am listening to a new style of music done proud by the greatest singer in the world.
The creative use of Banjo, Mellotron, Pedal Steel and piano makes for great listening and Kathy's stylized singing of the clearly meaningful lyrics creates a sense of sincere welcome into her world.
You can tell the group had creative control in the recording and the fact Kathy and Joe mixed the tracks gives a continuity and a deep,clear intention to each song. Masterful.

This reviewer fondly remembers k d when she tooled around the Strathcona hood of Vancouver, Canada in her 1963 powder blue Mercury with the slanted rear window that lowered. Wide as a whale, this living room on wheels announced her presence in between world tours. In her early days during gigs at the Commodore Ballroom, she was fond of having a go go dancer on stage with her. Pure kitschy art! Sadly, kathy dawn left the hood years ago for the far flung metropolis of Los Angeles. In the intervening years she delved into pop standards, and melodramatic orchestrated nods to fellow Canadian songwriters. Lang's expanded musical directions broadened her commercial appeal for sure, but after her Invincible Summer recording, her previously prolific song writing seemed to run dry.

I confess wondering if k d would ever return to her roots and what made her so exciting and relevant in the first place. In the opening track of her new recording, "I Confess" with her new kicking band, Siss Boom Bang, lang muses, "now I know the letting go was my mistake."

While touring to promote her last album, "Watershed" lang found herself gravitating toward country songs during sound check. After a chance backstage meeting in Nashville with guitarist and songwriter Joe Pisapia, she knew she had met a kindred spirit to co-write the return to the musical territory that kick started her career.

In "Habit of Mind," lang reflects, "I've lost my edge, It's left the building like Elvis, I guess." Judging by k d's spirited appearance on The Tonite Show when she performed "Sugar Buzz", she appears to be channelling Elvis during his '68 comeback with slicked up hair, black suit and red shirt, more than making up for the edginess and sassy energy diehard fans found missing in her recorded output during the past decade.

lang and Siss Boom Bang have found a creative place to stretch out in this offering of nine new original compositions and a cover of Talking Heads "Heaven." lang was determined to write a record perfect for folk festivals and laughingly told a reporter during a recent interview, "I Swear, on Buddha's lap I wrote this record for the Canadian folk festivals." One of k d's gifts is continually tweaking her material live, and one can only look forward to her stretching out with this new material while touring to promote Sing It Loud. Word has it that lang and her band have been reworking her older material as well, giving her back catalogue a whole new life in the process. Musing to a reporter, lang quipped, "there's a lot more engine under the pedal there." It's a treat hearing our favorite torch and twanger firmly back and sitting high in the saddle again!