Shadowland

REALLY not my thing. Could not even make it through the whole album. No doubt there is some talent here. Almost nothing I can listen to. Only exception: Busy Being Blue. Enjoyed this one song. D+

country calmo quase jazz.

Really not my style but I can't fault her voice! 2.5/5 stars

Too show-tuney for me, but not bad

Country-folk suavecito con una voz un tanto demasiada pausada y melancólica. No aporta nada a pesar de que la voz es buena, pero lo noto falto de intensidad y de variedad

A little bit uninspired, but not entirely unpleasant. Definitely one of the most impressive voices of the albums we've had so far, badly let down by the backing tracks. I do think the album delivered what little it had to offer early, then tailed off towards the end, with even a strong cover of Down To My Last Cigarette unable to rescue it.

Levyn nimen ja artistin perusteella odotin joko gangstarappia tai trancea. Ei ihan osunut. Toisaalta ei kyllä levyn sisältö muutenkaan osunut omaan makuhermoon. Todella tylsää countryrallattelua, jota edes mukatarttuvat melodiat ei pelasta. 2-

Sure she has a nice voice, but it's like she made a decision to cover all the most hackneyed, schmaltzy songs she could find. I'm sure my grandma would have liked this.

5/10

Really confused by this albums inclusion on the list. Made in 1988, could be mistaken for much older. There is a mixture of country/blues/lounge/jazzy melodies which are nice and K.D.Lang obviously has real vocal talent but the songs she is singing are nothing ground breaking for its time. Rocky start, the initial song 'Western Stars' sounded very uncomfortable, more like a wailing cat than anything else but the album became more enjoyable at the introduction of 'Black Coffee' and the title song 'Shadowlands' where her smooth tones showed through. 'Busy Being Blue' also very notable.

6/10

Inoffensive, but that’s about it

There's only three songs on Spotify for this album, so I can't really give it a fair shake. From the three songs there are, it sounds like a mix of country lounge. If you like the image of someone singing a mix of this in a diner then this is for you. The music's as bland and watered down as the coffee in those places. Probably. I've never been, but that's what I imagine and this album has made me imagine it. Bland, watered down coffee. Best Tracks: Western Stars; Black Coffee; Honky Tonk Angels' Medley: In the Evening (When the Sun Goes Down)/You Nearly Lose Your Mind/Blues Stay Away from Me

Lots of country twang. This is a real throw-back record. Lots of ballads... apparently all covers written by others. This record could have easily been made 20 or 30 years earlier I think. I'm no expert on this, but I'm guessing this is inspired by the famed "Nashville Sound". The production and session musicians are very clean and professional sounding. It's maybe a bit too clean and polished sounding for me. I have to say, she has a cool voice - it's kinda smoky sounding and lower than you typically hear in female vocals. Still, this doesn't seem like a landmark album to me. Just some average or above average examples of this genre and not innovating in any perceptible way. More just paying homage to a classic style. If you like this genre you'll probably like this. If not, I'd skip it - seems like there are probably more important/canonical recordings of this genre out there.

Nothing like what I was expecting. It was alright but I don't think I'd listen again.

Lovely voice, very controlled. Not won over by the country, calypso, old fashioned style although the bluesy jazzy songs are good. Not my thing hence the lowish score, but a worthy album to include as a variation on popular country music.

I expected to like this album more than I did in the end. The vocals are great, but the songs are all covers and the k.d. lang versions don't really stand out. The instrumentation and production are somewhere between bland and boring.

Not my kind of music. Little too much twang for my liking. But, sounds really nice. Maybe I can get used to it. 2/5 first listen.

Not really my jam. Too old school 50/60s stuff.

This was a tricky one for me to rate, her voice is incredible, I just don't like the style of music it's applied too. Although busy being blue is a great trac

Liked her voice a lot but slow country ballads isn’t really my favorite type of music. Western Stars, I Wish I Didn’t Love You So, (Waltz Me)..., and Black Coffee were my favorite songs.

meh

4

“Shadowland” by k.d. lang (1988) Here we have a collection of better than average but unrelated love songs (written by others), well covered and produced, but I suspect most of them were bettered covered by others. lang’s voice is the focus, and it’s very good. Good range and control, with some very ambitious stylings in the higher mezzo-soprano reaches. Patsy Cline redivivus. A couple of country-clever lyrical flourishes (“Tears Don’t Care Who Cries Them”). Excellent backing instrumentals and vocals, if you’re into commercial country, pop, and a pathetic smack of blues. Arrangements are exactly what you’d expect from a production team trying to fuse country and jazz. Most of these songs would be good selections for the juke box on a 3:00am visit to an Oklahoma truck stop. But her forays into jazz (“Black Coffee”, “Shadowland” “Busy Being Blue”) fall flat. There seems to be a disconnect between her singing and what’s really on her mind. Too programmed to be considered a really good album. And the cheesy flaunting of Loretta Lynn’s collaboration at the very end makes one cringe. There really is such a thing as too much steel guitar. 2/5

Definitively, country is not my style....I like very few songs from this style, so this album was very boring to me. I'll dive it 2 stars for one or two songs that were comfortable for listen.

Couldn't locate but cuaght a few songs

this wasn’t even that bad i just did not like it got sick of it

Nah

Old timey country album. Not really a huge fan. But is pretty calming music and not unlistenable.

Don’t like crooning and don’t like country and western so this album was a bit of a non-starter! One extra mark for being at least listenable!

Not for me

Retro is fine in the present, but the trouble is, time keeps passing and you’re just left with an old pastiche project. I think Chris Isaak was around the same time? I tried not to hate this but failed. I have a big problem when it seems like an artist is asserting, ‘All you have to do is [blank]’

Terrible

No I think this is not my thing

Just not my bag nor my preferred pair of Birkenstocks either. I substituted this with Kruder & Dorfmeister K&D Sessions for a much better ‘kd session’.

Could t really get in to this

Oh generator, how you love to waste my time. I specifically exclude country music and you serve me up this platter full of steel guitars and banjos. So be it. The singing and playing here is top-notch but the music itself is so backwards-looking that the whole thing feels like it's coated in a thick layer of dust. Too bad that the "alt" in "alt country" didn't mean being innovative enough to abandon all of the corny things that make C&W so regressive to start out with.

No thanks.

I really tried, but it was fucking garbage and I turned it off halfway through. There was nothing significant about it at all. Every song appeared to be a cover of a really old track, except for one relatively newer track, and I can only imagine there are dozens (if not hundredsor thousands) of versions of these same tracks recorded by other artists - and I doubt the versions on this album were any better or worse.

I was even more bored listening to this than she sounded singing it.

Nah

not my type of music

This makes for grim listening. Three tracks was all I could take. Heard before ❌️ Listened this time ✅️ in part Revisit ❌️ ★☆☆☆☆ (2/10) Total reviewed : 249 Already owned : 57 Purchased : 13 To buy list : 3 Nope : 176

don't like her voice at all annoying. and breathy.

On my 2nd k.d. Lang album recently, my opinion has changed little. She’s a great singer, but the style and music just aren’t something I enjoy.

I went in fearing the worst after reading a handful of reviews, and for a moment I thought they might’ve been overly harsh — the opening track actually had me thinking, hang on, maybe this won’t be so bad. Unfortunately, it’s downhill from there. Track by track, the album slips deeper into well‑worn country clichés — the syrupy arrangements, the predictable lyrical turns, the melodramatic twang that feels more like pastiche than reinvention.

Yeah no thanks. Lounge and country music fusion. Just because you can doesn’t mean you should

I agree with the folks who said this sounds like music you expect to be playing in a hotel. K.D. has a fantastic voice, no question about it, but this style does nothing for me. Hate to give out a one but I literally didn’t like any song on the album.

INPUT = {"artist": "k.d. lang", "album": "Shadowland"} LINEUP = {"men": 0, "women": 1} FEATURED_ARTISTS = {"men": 0, "women": 0} TOTAL_MEN = 0 TOTAL_WOMEN = 1 WOMEN_PERCENTAGE = 100 OUTPUT = "Minimum score awarded. 1/5"

Third shitty country album *in a row*. Third 1-star album in a row... Please give me a break, album generator!

Likte da ganske dårlig, egentlig

Oof... I can handle and enjoy one of the three if there are redeeming qualities to be had. But country, crooning, and karaoke? Chances are it's going to be a solid hell no. And yeah. No. And damn, kd. Those vocals can't swim in reverb any deeper.

It might be Alternative Country, but it's still Country music at it's core and I'm not a fan of Country music.

Terrible.

It's a slow country record and I wanted to skip most of the songs.

Porco dio che merda

not my flavor!

Great voice but boring songs. 1.25/5

Well this seems a nicely made record, and lang's vocals are nice, but this is such a retro facing album that I really cannot see it as a 'great album'. Plus I dislike country music.

2 boring country pop albums back to back is not for the weak.

Not for me

i really dislike country music

Honky Tonk is definitely not my thing, only made it 3 songs in before I had to put an end to it…

Dreadful country shite, nothing remarkable about it at all, has no place being on this list.

What in the name of christ almighty os this pop country crap

Ammen jeg var så træt af det her bras at jeg skulle have det mere på afstand inden jeg kunne overskue at vende tilbage til den for at rate.... Det her pis er dansktop i forklædning. Stemmen er ok i meget få momenter, men musikken er en skandale!

Honky Tonk Chamber-Pop 😵‍💫

Best Song: Black Coffee There are no words that can describe how much I disliked this. Maybe I would give it another listen if paid, otherwise - never again. 1/5.

I found this to be horrendous. At times I thought I was listening to sappy Christmas music.

Different voice. Unique. Some good songs.

I might be biased because I don’t like country music, but I did not like this album. It was very boring to listen to. I felt like I was about to fall asleep, not in a good way. I felt like I had been too nice with my critiques. So, I am going to make this my first one-star album.

Her voice is fine but it is completely wasted on this subpar effort. Way too twangy for my tastes and the combination of twang and torch song does not mesh well. Add to the fact that these are all covers sinks this to the bottom.

Dreadful

irritating

awful

I did not enjoy a single moment of this album. I’m not saying this for comedic effect — it is easily the worst album on the list so far.

Hated it. Every second was like torture to my ears. When I thought it couldn't get any worse, it hit "Honky Tonky Angels" or whatever and this went from a -1 to a -2 Would rather endure physical violence than listen to this again.

Trash

I wanted to like this for the country aspect but no.... this shit SUCKED

I know pj harvey and kd lang have nothiig to do with one another ane sound nothing alike. But for the rest of the life, thanks to this exercise's insistence on their importance, ill lump them both into one single category: 'Chicks I hate'

2/10 - a middle class hotel lobby which is acting more expensive than it is

Lesbian Country Music is still Country Music at the end of the day. At least it was a short album. Favorite Track: "Western Stars".

k.d. has a great voice, but it's too cheesy/torchy for me.

KD is very talented, but I just don't like the style of music.

k d lang can sing. I think she's a great person and I admire her for her activism. Now onto the album. This got seriously on my nerves, I found if god awful. The huuuuge slides (not just guitars but vocals too), the pace - if this was vinyl I'd swear this was a 45 rpm album played at 33 rpm. Sooooo sloooooow! The album sounds like a parody on Country, rather than Country, all the clichés are thrown in and then magnified. It's not consistent either, sometimes a bit of cabaret or "love boat" style sax is thrown in too. But the lack of consistency is not surprising given that the songs are all written by different people, and none is even co-written by k d lang. I'd give it a one, plus one because she can sing, minus one because she hasn't written any of the songs.

This is so boring. I wouldn’t recommend listening to this at all, but especially not first thing in the morning before your coffee kicks in.

Not my favorite, don't like country music

Is this a joke album? What a waste of a great voice.

In a period when music was getting edgier, and bands who would redefine genres were being formed, Tipper Gore and the PMRC were losing their minds and trying to control what people could listen to. This is the milquetoast kinda stuff they had in mind

Truly horrendous.

Not for me. Cliche ridden country pop.

I had to grit my teeth to get through this. I'm not a fan of country music, so this was nails down a blackboard for me. Hated it.

walked past a music store and got upset because I knew everything in there sounds better than what I was forced to listen to

Jeg havde godt hørt om kd lang, anede ikke hendes musik lød sådan her. Overhovedet ikke for mig

Jeg har før hørt noget k.d. lang som jeg synes var cool nok, men det her sys jeg bare var kedeligt. Not for me.

Very boring. I didn't even like her voice.

Finding it hard to finish this one. I simply hate it.

Shite

k.d. lame

Don't like country music

That place must be a nightmare.

Canta bem, mas som muito chato. Country de restaurante

I hate slide guitars. The sound to me is like nails down a chalk board. Could only manage two tracks before giving up.

this one ain't it.

Really boring

Unbearably smooth country flavored wallpaper.

Good voice is all to say

4 seconds in and I think this is country music - fuck that shit. Apple Music says it's pop. Ok, fine, skip to next song. 2 seconds in, slide guitar. This is country music and can, therefore, go fuck itself.

Would have skipped the songs if I heard it on my own....but I did finish the album.

Sowas von bieder. Weiss nicht, wieso diese Platte auf der Liste ist.

Not for me 1/5

Not my thing. Didn't realize country was the style. Can't say I didn't like it, but not something I am particularly interested in right now.

I hated this with a passion. I don’t know why but I did

Artiste inconnue. Quel ennui ! Même ses 35 mn paraissent interminables, je ne suis pas allé au bout. =>1/5

Holy crap. A collection of some of the most mediocre songs ever recorded in the most mediocre of ways. I strongly suspect this album was created to appeal to accountants

K. D. Lang was about 30 years too late with her sound. This is like when archaeologists find an artifact and are confused by the date. No, you didn't make a mistake with your carbon dating, the person who made that vase was just trying some sort of revivalist technique, but ended up confusing everyone.

Glossy kitsch. It almost got me, it's very well made kitsch, maybe even outstanding in its way, but any course of three songs on this album makes me conjure up images of US themed family restaurants here in Europe, where the walls are plastered with Bogarts and Monroes and James Deans and Harley Davidson logos. This music may have come from an honest place, appreciated, but it being from 1988 and sounding the slick part makes it come across almost like a Thomas Kinkade painting. And then I'm wondering; if this whole list wasn't so anglocentric, what would be the equivalent to this but from other countries? What if we had to listen to albums that conjured mental images of, say, Germany themed family restaurants, decorated with Lederhosen, papier-mâché Alps, 99 Luftballons and portraits of Helmut Kohl? Yeah. That would fucking suck. Exactly.

wow. bad

1.5 weird new wave that became honky tonk

I'm sorry but this is generic and devoid of originality. Patsy Cline C&W wannabe (even used Patsy's producer). I prefer her later stuff.

Not a fan. Appreciate that it was popular in its day and time, but not my style. Forget if I finished it. Listened to a lot then skipped around to ensure. I think i may have liked a couple seconds of one or two songs. Would rather listen to tv on the radio album lol

included koska? Mitätöntä country albumia taas..

Garbage

Might actually be the most boring album on here… k.d. Lang isn’t really that great of a singer and her band sound like they are on autopilot. It’s not offensively bad - it’s just boring.

Ah now. How on earth did this qualify for the list

Apparently I need to hear smug, commercial, over-produced middle of the road country shopping mall music before I die. What the hell is she looking so pleased with on the cover? Who the fuck is Owen Bradley? Sorry, didn't make it to the end of the first song. This list is reminding me that I dislike and dismiss a lot of stuff with good reason. Shat-o-land more like.

Gorgeous voice, but I felt like the album was all over the place and unfortunately none of the songs really got me.

yuck torture

I absolutely loathed this album it seems so trite and boring and meaningless and derivative. I just absolutely hate c&w too

Objectively it's not bad. Pretty decent vocals, and...uh... well, I'm not sure what else I can recommend about this album. It bored the hell out of me, honestly. I want to give this a 2 as I can see how some people would find this beautiful and relaxing, but there's just nothing interesting to me about the composition/instrumentation here. 1.4

I tried, it was a non-starter

Oh no, inaudible shallow crooning

Just not my kind of music

Not a fan. Still not a fan after this.

Country isn’t a genre I really enjoy and this album of covers is a mixed bag. There’s a couple of decent tunes but most of them just feel forced. Another one ticked off the list but I can’t say it’s made me a country fan or any more inclined to listen to KD Lang.

Ten seconds in and "whiney" guitars, I knew I was going to hate this. I lasted 3 songs. Nothing personal, I just really dislike this style of music.

Seichtestes LaLa. Gar nicht meins.

Not for me. 1/5

Sorry, but that's my first 1/5 after 40 albums. Too much country for me! 1/5

DNF. Triggered my allergy to steel guitars

Ich war noch nie in den USA. Aber sollte mich mal ein Unglück nach Tennessee verschlagen, dann stelle ich mir vor, dass ich dort in ein Hotel gehe, und in der Lobby dudelt genau so eine Musik im Hintergrund. Und ich würde denken: das ist ja noch schlimmer als ich es mir vorgestellt habe. Bloß weg hier!

I’m sure lots of people like this music. Thankfully, I’m not one of them

Great voice but little else of interest here.

Fine for k.d. lang fans. For me, welcome to yawnville! 🥱

I know this is one I probably should put more thought into and appreciate more, but I just don’t have any desire, and all out of beer to cry in.

Crooning country and western cabaret. I feel this is the music that would be playing at the end of the night in a country and western bar full of middle aged short haired women.

я не хочу сказать, что это плохой альбом, но я не знаю, зачем я его послушал

I just hate this so, so much. Ruined my day.

No thank you...

I could see this being the soundtrack to a Quentin Tarantino western 1

Country.

Ooof, female pop slooooooooooowww country. No thank you.

Not my sort of music. Painfully bland and boring. Perhaps some Grandmas out there liked this - but I'm afraid I didn't. It's a 1 star

When KD Lang slows down on songs like I Wish I Didn't Love You So and Black Coffee - ripped straight from the 50's - the album becomes bearable. But the terrible country twang was already outdated when this came out. Looking past her amazing voice, I now know for certain I'm not a KD Lang fan.

NO

Well that was a hard listen. It feels like 70s country music without the fun. Jump in any elevator in the US and you will hear something similar. 1 stars

I don't doubt the musical quality of the record. I'm just not the biggest fan of this country lounge blues karaoke folk genre. Sorry.

Zzz

Too american eww

This is so boring. Definitely not a fan. My first one star.

Not for me

Not my thing at all.

This anachronistic covers album has no place on the list.

Dull

haha what? literally starts of with a twang of a guitar then so slow and tortured cowboy music, with lyrics that are beyond cliche.

Kut!

Het is dat ik toch niks beters te doen had, anders had ik het afgezet. Wat een vreselijke muzak.

Nope

I had a constant craving for this to end.

half of track one is all I managed. no thanks

This album is not my thing. It just has a very cheesy feeling to the whole thing. It doesn't seem that she wrote any of the songs or played instruments either, so I don't understand how she has her own album. Her voice is decent but nothing truly unique, so that wouldn't seem to justify it. This is some weird combo between smooth jazz and country that couldn't be less cool to me. Standout Tracks: N/A

ik heb hier geen geduld voor…

Not my cup

I gave it a go but it turns out I'm severely allergic to country music ballads like this.

Should be played in 2x speed to be at least a little bit interesting.

I think I slept during all the album...

There are some big well done arrangements on this album. And that's the only quality I can find in it. Other else, it's generic, boring, over produced and overheard bullshit.

A festival of shit

"Some people say I'm a pussy. I say, you are what you eat." K.D. Lang, 1988* *Probably. Or not. Probably not.

It’s just sum country

Blues meshed with country saloon vibes. Feel like I just traveled on my horse for a couple of days on the great frontier and stumbled up to a barren town with nothing but a bar and I’m eating my grits and drinking beer. Glad it was short though because it’s once again not my type of music.

Really not good. 1/5

A little to country and smooth jazz for my liking.

Not for me.

Country music...no thank you!

Horrible shit hurt my ears

The album was mostly country which I did not care for at all. There were a couple of songs that were not country and were alright. I would not listen to this album again and I would not recommend it to anyone.

I'm sure this is lovely if you like country music. Which I do not. Could not get through it.

Gonna be a no from me dawg.

Not my style

Wow. This was a hard listen. I was incredibly bored. Her voice is amazing but that's one of the only two redeeming factors of this album. The other being that it's only 35 minutes long. When black coffee came on halfway through the album I thought she was gonna pull it back up but then it went back to generic country music. Coolest thing about her is that she's a popular gay country singer in what doesn't seem to be a LGBT friendly community. So kudos to her. Sadly, I'm not rating her as a person but this specific album. Yawn. Strangely I've also seen that this is not listed anywhere as her best album. 10/10 would not listen again.

Dreadful. Hated it. Obvious lyrics, annoying voice. Ugh.

I have an irrational hatred for country music; I listened to Jason Aldean once and never recovered.

Very old school country.

No.

Kd Lang :(