k.d. lang

k.d. lang’s is the kind of voice that comes along once in a generation — at most. Thankfully, she’s been generous with it, having wandered for the last quarter-century wherever her muse has moved her. Early on, she was the head-turning heroine of “new country,” coming off like a combination of Patsy Cline and Peggy Lee, with late-’80s hits like “Full Moon Full of Love” and “I’m Down to My Last Cigarette.” But before long, her restless vision led her beyond twang territory to the Continental cabaret-pop of “Miss Chatelaine” and the haunting cry of desire “Constant Craving,” making the former cult figure a full-fledged pop star in the process.

In Next Steps, k.d. reinvents rock, pop, and country classics before your very ears.

A singer on the level of k.d. lang can take the kind of liberties that others might never dare, bravely bending the shapes of classic songs whose original versions are burned into our memories. Even in her country days, she was singing outside the box, with a rocked-up reinvention of Lynn Anderson’s 1970 country smash “Rose Garden.” A decade later, she turned the Steve Miller Band’s classic-rock jukebox jam “The Joker” into a dreamy delicacy on Drag. And when she covers fellow Canuck Joni Mitchell’s jazz-pop pearl “Help Me,” you can follow the thread that led from Joni’s lush-sounding ’74 smash to the cool, classy feel of k.d.’s own canon.

In Deep Cuts, k.d. lends her larger-than-life instrument to everything from straight-up standards to spooky nocturnes.

k.d. lang has spent decades leaping fearlessly into an awe-inspiring array of musical adventures. One moment you might find the Canadian crooner teaming up with Tony Bennett for an intimate stroll through the jazz standard “Moonglow.” The next, she’s soaring atop the elegant orchestral pop of “Extraordinary Thing.” Even on her 2011 outing, Sing It Loud, she was still exploring fresh terrain, seemingly answering the question “What would it sound like if David Lynch wrote lullabies?” on “A Sleep With No Dreaming.”

There’s never been anything about k.d. lang that you could call conventional. How many other Canadian crooners with Western swing moves made it onto the U.S. Country charts in the ’80s? How many other singers have nabbed GRAMMY® Awards for duets with both Roy Orbison and Tony Bennett? And who else can you name who’s ventured victoriously into everything from the Great American Songbook (“Love for Sale”) to the classic country canon (“Big Big Love”) and the Leonard Cohen catalog (“Hallelujah”)? Take all the time you want to think about it, but you’ll come up empty-handed, and thirsting for more of lang’s luminous legacy. Fortunately, we just happen to have rounded up a regal batch of the Alberta angel’s Essential cuts right here.