Sing It Out
by k.d. lang and the Siss Boom Bang
Nonesuch Records
SHE DAZZLED just about everyone when she performed live at the opening ceremony of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Now fifty, Alberta native k.d. lang still has what it takes to bring an audience to its feet. There’s no denying the power of that voice and lang’s unrivaled range. Every bit as bright and bluesy as they were on her 1984 debut, A Truly Western Experience, lang’s vocals can soar to ethereal heights only to sink to Elvis-like sultriness. I can’t think of another singer up to the challenge of that long note in Roy Orbison’s “Crying,” which lang knocks out of the park on 2001’s Live By Request. Her song choice at the Olympics was the Leonard Cohen classic “Hallelujah,” which might explain the immaculate
white suit she wore.
