Watershed Deluxe Limited Edition [ENHANCED] [LIMITED EDITION]

K. D. Lang

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 5, 2008)
• Original Release Date: February 5, 2008
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Enhanced, Limited Edition
• Label: Nonesuch
• ASIN: B000ZG8VDW
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #70,333 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.co.uk
Watershed is the first major project from celebrated Canadian chanteuse k.d. lang since 2004's Hymns of the 49th Parallel. Where Hymns explored the music of fellow Canadians such as Ron Sexsmith, Neil Young and Joni Mitchell, Watershed represents the first set of original songs from lang in around eight years. Self-produced and arranged by musicians she has worked with a lot in the past, the most striking aspect of the album is its intimate, homely feel. Adding to the cozy ambience is the fact that Watershed brings most of lang's musical passions and influences--jazz, country, folk, bossa nova--under one roof, lending the project a dreamy, mellifluous coherence. But if the musical landscape is mellow and easy to traverse, Lang's lyrics can be less comfortable. Using her laid-back, often ethereal arrangements as sugar-candied coating for thornier topics, the singer serenades with stories of broken love, occasionally harsh self-analysis and the obligatory forays into existential angst. These contrastive elements only serve to make the album stronger, adding emotional weight to the airless arrangements of "Once in a While," and the delicate "Close Your Eyes," and conjuring up images of beauty on the string-laden "I Dream of Spring," and the wonderfully lazy "Sunday". Intelligent, mature and sophisticated, Watershed is the kind of perfect pop album it's difficult not to fall in love with immediately and forever. --Paul Sullivan

Product Description
Deluxe packaging - UniBox with cloth wrap and embossed foil stamp, box contains 3 photo insert cards, 2 babyjacket CD sleeves, and 16-page 4/C booklet. Second cd includes 4 bonus tracks and interview.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Close to perfection. Astonishing,, February 8, 2008

By	write2me (New York) - See all my reviews

"Watershed", her first album of original material since the exceptional pop sheen of 2000's "Invincible Summer", does little to dispel this feeling.
It's languidly smoky late-night laments are at times reminiscent of Leonard Cohen or alternative country, at others almost jazzy.
Although "I Dream Of Spring" opens with a very contemporary African sound, both the song and the album seamlessly move into the lush yet plaintive soundscapes she's been ranging across for the past fifteen years; however beautifully crafted and achingly performed this is, it's unlikely to win over many new converts.
A new k.d. lang album is no small thing, however, and on its own terms, "Watershed " (the title of which perhaps refers as much to the fact that this work is her first self-production as it does any more personal turning point) is an affecting account of endings and the hope for renewal, as much perhaps in the seasons and the land as much as in a relationship, which is to say, this is a good album to put on to cheer up the end of winter, as beguiling and seductive as a dream, of which the subtleties and complexities are only slowly revealed.
"Watershed" is understated enough to let the subtle charms of the material come through.
Teddy Borowiecki's string arrangements plus banjo, steel guitar, ample percussion and other instruments make for an improbable yet smooth blend of adult pop, jazz, bluegrass and country. The track "Upstream" even indulges in gorgeous strains of bossa nova.
Kathryn Dawn usually manages to sound both passionate and natural, a combination few performers muster.
For kd lang's beautiful album is a stunning achievement: her elegant, intelligent voice shines like shafts of sunlight through clear, bright skies of melody and twinkling, shifting rhythms. It's better even than her biggest selling, 1992 album, "Ingénue".
It's difficult to forget that KD Lang has one of the greatest voices of modern times and some pretty great songs.Often considered the finest torch singer of her generation, the 47-year-old Canadian chanteuuse extraordinaire has too long sunk into murky pools of Muzak and covers and contributions that became blurred and boring.
Now she has found the lightness of touch she needed: organs, banjos and cymbals dance over deep rivers of enduring emotion. "The punchline is" - she sings - "I always swim upstream".
Maybe "Watershed" won't change the world, but it's a timeless yet affecting collection, it bubbles with passion, lust, emotions and mystery, and you're enticed by lang's unique, smoky, late night vocals.

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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars K D LANG Watershed - 'She is getting better all the time', February 11, 2008

By	G. Anderson (USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Received this CD and surely I can never be disappointed with K D Lang. Very nice to know that she is still going strong. She was just featured in Feb. 2008 on CBS Sunday Morning Show and what a feature it was - hope she keeps sitting in her think chair for the world awaits (and needs) so much more BEAUTIFUL MUSIC from this BEAUTIFUL VOICE. G.A.- AMAZON regular/happy customer :-)

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth the the wait!, March 9, 2008

By	David A. Kwasigroh "davidk52" (the Great Midwest!) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

KD Lang at her best! It is a wonderful body of work, worth waiting years for the greatt finished product! I love her sensitivity and wonder!