JUNE 25, 2017
“SAVE ME” (WRITER: k.d. lang—BEN MINK)
ARTIST: k.d. lang
RELEASED 1992 ON INGENUE
CD
k.d lang had pretty well established herself as a rogue
country artist, a Big Boned Gal from Southern Alberta, by the late 1980s. With
her group, the Reclines—named for lang’s obsession with Patsy Cline—she had shown
a feel for hillbilly music, western swing, and ballads.
After three albums with the band, and one solo effort in
which she worked with legendary country producer Owen Bradley, lang was ready to
stretch out. Absolute Torch and Twang, her last project with the Reclines, came
out in 1989. Her next album, Ingenue, came
nearly three years later.
It was a stylistic departure if nothing else. This was an
album of art songs arranged in a strange Chex Mix of 60s pop, exotica, and show
music. Elements of torch and twang remained, but this time piano, vibraphone, woodwinds,
interesting percussion instruments, and ambitious string arrangements pushed their way among the fiddles and steel
guitars.
“Constant Craving” and “Miss Chatelaine” got a lot of play
as singles, and every track was its own universe—a little Greek exotica here,
some MOR country there.
lang and Ben Mink, who collaborated on Torch and Twang, wrote nearly every song on Ingenue. With adventure in mind, they co-produced the album with
drummer/engineer Greg Penny. In content and title, Ingenue wanted to be heard as a new thing, and the gamble paid off.
Most of her core audience stayed, and by diversifying she picked up new
followers. She had wandered from the trail and found her own way.
Ingenue featured
several classic tracks. Opening the album is “Save Me,” a generous pour of
languid lounge with touches of shimmery guitars and tanpura. Gary
Burton’s vibraphone creates hazy clouds, and a woozy steel guitar floats
through the sky. The tempo is slow-slow-slow, allowing lang to caress some complex lyrics through a rangy melody and still leave a ton of space. Her harmonies are stratospheric, too.
I’ll stop talking about it now!
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