k.d. lang – Ingénue (2xLP, 25th Anniversary Edition)

New, 2LP set celebrating the double platinum-selling, Grammy Award-winning album's silver anniversary. Includes remastered versions of the album's original 10 tracks, including its huge hit, "Constant Craving," along with eight previously unreleased performances from lang's 1993 MTV Unplugged episode, recorded in New York City's famed Ed Sullivan Theater.

"Back in 1992, singer k.d. lang released a record unlike any other," says NPR's Robin Hilton, co-host of All Songs Considered. "Ingénue slithered against the popular music grain with songs that drew slow, deep breaths and sighed seductively. It had an alluringly divergent sound that landed somewhere in a blurry nexus of pop, country and global folk, with accordions, clarinets and Eastern European flourishes. And lang's monumental voice, both powerful and restrained, was simply unforgettable as she sang languorous songs of love and desire."

Ingénue was k.d. lang's fifth album, following a quartet of records that pushed the boundaries of country music. Released in 1992, the album was the first of entirely new material. lang wrote most of the songs with her longtime collaborator Ben Mink; Greg Penny co-wrote "So It Shall Be," and all three produced the album. The U.K.'s NME named it one of the year's best albums and said, "You will fall in love with Ingénue. In fact, you will want to have its children." The New York Times, in reviewing the album, praised its "extravagantly torchy romanticism," adding that lang's "genre-bending is a musicianly accomplishment, but her ability to tug heartstrings is a hard-won gift."

Reviews

"Ingénue is a lush, torchy masterpiece. k.d. lang reinvents herself as a sultry chanteuse, delivering songs of longing with heartbreaking grace." Rolling Stone:

"With Ingénue, lang has made a record of beauty and emotional depth, full of subtle passion and maturity beyond her years." The New York Times

"A beautiful and sophisticated album that showcases lang's voice at its most expressive… Ingénue is a career-defining work." AllMusic (Stephen Thomas Erlewine):

"Lang's smoky contralto floats through Ingénue like a dream… a bold and stunning departure into adult pop." — Rated A, Entertainment Weekly:

"Thirty years on, Ingénue remains a landmark — delicate, artful, and timeless." The Guardian: