k.d. lang's "Ingénue" Finally Gets An AAA Release—and as a "One-Step"
the sonic results are "insane-other worldly great" says me!
A musical and sonic spectacular, k.d. lang's free-flowing, daring explorations of unrequited love/lust and liberation sound today as daringly personal, sometimes painful and always fresh as they did in 1992 when Ingénue was originally released to enthusiastic reviews, commercial success and multiple Grammy nominations and the well-deserved award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.
Freed from her "country roots" on earlier records, Ingénue was a mix of sophisticated cabaret, torch, jazz and pop (as it was defined more than thirty years ago), superbly arranged and performed by a cast of musicians that included Greg Leisz on pedal steel guitar, Gary Burton on vibes and David Piltch on bass—all often taking new and unusual turns to deliver the sometimes excruciating luxury of lang's lines. Sometimes the music seems to be hanging from chandeliers.
Though it was an all-analog production, and though Chris Bellman originally mastered it, there wasn't an American vinyl release in 1992 and the European edition pressed at the WEA Allsdorf, Germany plant was cut from a digital source. It sounded pretty good but you could hear what greatness must be flowing above, below and along side the 0s and 1s (calm down Jamie Howarth!).
In 2017 Nonesuch issued a 25th anniversary edition also mastered by Bellman, but again from a digital source. It was a double LP set that also included eight of the album's tunes played live during lang's "MTV Unplugged" appearance—a nice bonus.
However if you want to really hear this record, and luxuriate in its sonic and musical greatness, you ought to get this limited to 3000 copy Because Sound Matters produced "One-Step". Yes, it will set you back $99.98 but for both music and sound—and packaging—it's an 11. Hearing it for the first time cut from tape and produced this way after listening for decades "the other way" was an unforgettable experience.
I've played for decades the Allsdorf pressing, for less time the newer and improved Bellman cut from digital and enjoyed both, but this new all-analog edition will draw you into the music as never before—at least it did me. The sonic picture is rich, well-textured, harmonically saturated, spatially deep and all the rest of the audiophile buzzwords that no doubt the producers (who include lang) intended to give listeners but until now couldn't fully deliver. The musical flow will have you swooning in your seat. Before the opener "Save Me" concludes you may already feel overwhelmed and in need of lifting the stylus to catch your emotional breath.
Lacquers plated by Dorin Saurbeir at RTI, pressed on Neotech VR900-D2 180g vinyl. Limited to 3000 copies. What a treat! (Release date March 21st).
