Customer Reviews

Even Cowgirls Get The Blues: Music From The Motion Picture Soundtrack

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

My socially instilled biases kept me from ever giving K.D. Lang's music a listen. Then I watched the video; Who wrote that music?! Who sang that music?! It was K.D. Lang. Now I understand. She wrote some incredibly beautiful music for this movie. The quality of the album is consistent from track to track. It's a clear 5 stars. I can't really understand anyone giving it less.

Although this album was released one year after K.D.'s commercial breakthrough "Ingenue", it functions as a sort of link between the country-pop of "Shadowland" and the fragile singer/songwriter material of her latter-day work. K.D.'s emotive and uplifting music has always seemed to be tailor-made for road movies, love stories and stuff where young people discover 'the red side of life', and so this album was commissioned as a soundtrack to the seldom-seen movie of the same name. I haven't seen the film, but according to other people it must be a total disappointment with a poor story and nothing really going on. It also caused this soundtrack to sell very poorly, so there's also a cheap cut-out edition of this album available at amazon.com. "Even cowgirls.." is quite a bit different to K.D.'s other albums because it's constructed as a series of short instrumentals and incidental mood music which are held together by more carefully formed and composed tracks like "Lifted by love" and "In perfect dreams". Generally, there's nothing here which is as brilliant as singles like "Constant craving", but this albums seems to be considerably more experimental and multi-dimensional than much of K.D.'s other work. K.D. and her long-time musical collaborator Ben Mink (he has recently worked with Rush singer/bass player Geddy Lee for the album "My favorite headache") haven't abandoned the stylish late-night pop of "Ingenue" and the smoky atmosphere, they've just built around it and come up with a variety of interesting instrumental touches which further enhace the sonic palette. Mink also plays guitars and strings on nearly all tracks. "Just keep me.." opens the album, and while K.D.'s voice sets the tone of the vocal things to come, the jaunty bass line and the funky organ breaks keep everything danceable in unexpected ways. The 1-minute "Much finer place" is completely different; a distant, introverted piece with dark guitar chords and mono audio quality! Several other tracks feature a fine interplay between guitars/violins/pianos, such as "Or was I", "Overture", and "Myth". After two forgettable snippets ("Apogee", "Virtual vortex", which are the two shortest pieces) in the middle of the disc, "Lifted by love" offers another surprisingly pop-oriented melody with pumping bass line and one of K.D.'s best vocal performances. The swinging, romantic "In perfect dreams" can be compared with "Miss Chatelaine" (off "Ingenue"), and "Ride of.." is another piece with quite strong guitar playing by Mink. The last three songs feel more like leftovers from K.D.'s '80s work, with their funny, country-esque arrangements and upbeat rhythms. All in all, the vocal-oriented material like "Just keep..", "Lifted..", or "In perfect.." offers quite some sparks and would have deserved some radio airplay, while the shorter pieces mostly do little to inspire. But mind you - any soundtrack album with only a few mediocre tracks and an amazing variety of approaches must be regarded as a success. This was an interesting stopgap project for K.D. - often overlooked and underrated - and perhaps worth checking out for people who have only listened to her recent albums.

I pull this out every year or so and give it a good play. Her voice is as beautiful as ever but the soundtrack has the added attraction of variety. I just feel like I'm riding over the plains on horseback through the whole thing. Very relaxing and beautiful. I think if you like kd lang at all, you will appreciate this very much.

My appreciation for EVEN COWGIRLS GET THE BLUES is based mainly on the novel by Tom Robbins. The first song, `Just Keep Me Moving' is based on the theme of hitchhiking. Sissy Hankshaw, played by Uma Thurman in the movie with extended thumbs, is a champion hitchhiker. "Moving" and "freedom" form the theme and the feeling of the music. It was easy to be a fan of the book, and the CD might be easier to appreciate if it included the words of the songs instead of its brief description of events at the Countess's Rubber Rose Ranch without mentioning the whooping cranes who fail to finish their migration after the cowgirls hook them on psychedelics. The movie was a failure because the attempt to build creative tension for a climax based on a shootout between cowgirls and federal agents did not live up to the low standards of credibility usually expected for a Hollywood western. But allowing a romantic team like k.d. lang and Ben Mink to compose the music for the film was brilliant.

The CD gets to track 8, `Lifted By Love,' before the line "I long to be lifted" combines all the "lifted high, carried by ..." images of the film into a musical statement. Then track 9 is an `Overture.' Violin coming out of nowhere leads into orchestration of all the themes used in previous track titles like `Myth,' `Apogee,' (only 37 seconds) and `Virtual Vortex' (44 seconds). Then a minute waltz precedes track eleven, "In Perfect Dreams."

In perfect dreams, you can fly, it seems.

Next, `Curious Soul Astray' pictures life as a child would, wanting it all.

Loving and laughing and longing to fall
A curious soul astray.

I ran for the wisdom and glory
Away, away, I ran

`Ride of Bonanza Jellybean' is a bit rocky. It stops, starts again, but no words. `Don't Be A Lemming Polka' sounds like a barn dance.

I'm gonna run high as can be
I looked behind to see them following me

Lemmings, head for the cliff
Round 'em up.

Banjo dominates `Cowgirl Pride' at the end of the CD. I personally believe that this CD shows how well musicians can do when they have a particular story to tell, and these tunes are much more to my liking than the introspective set of songs lang and Mink wrote for `Ingénue' in 1992. I wouldn't even know what to say about `all you can eat' from 1995, which I have not listened to in 2006.

"Hush Sweet Lover" is k.d. lang at her seductive, sultry best. If the song didn't even had words, you could still feel her vulnerability. But alas, it does, which makes it all the sweeter. Another gem would be the opening track, which is just a fun way to get the whole thing started. Within the rest of it, there are moments ("Lifted By Love" and "In Perfect Dreams"), but bear in mind this is a soundtrack CD, so not every song is meant to leave you in mesmerized a la "Get Some", "Constant Craving" or "Trail of Broken Hearts."

As a kd fan, I enjoy the fact that this collection offers a variety of sounds for ms.lang to use. Country twangs, danceable tracks, polka, luxurious torch numbers and howling women are featured on this recording. However this feels more incomplete than a standard kd lang album, sort of like ordering creme brulee, eating it and somehow wanting more. Enjoy the oh-so-groovey "Just Keep Me Moving" and the train-like feel of "Lifted By Love".

I am a new kd lang fan and am trying to assemble a collection. I am very pleased

It encompasses every variation of sound and writing. I have "fields of disobey" in my mind all the time. Both upbeat and sensitive (like k.d.) - a beautiful CD.

I purchased the CD before seeing the movie, on the strength of KD's previous talent, alone. I was expecting more in the vein of "Absolute Torch and Twang" and was disappointed. I might've listened to it a total of twice since the purchase. Oh well.

We all know the movie was a bit of a dog, but I love the soundtrack. It is true to the feeling of the novel. After many years of owning this CD I still really enjoy listening.