k. d. lang – Angel With A Lariat (1987)

Karen Dawn Lang is another Canadian singer (have I been subconsciously collecting them) born in ’61 but she only really broke through in the mid 80s.  She was in a band called the Reclines and this album is the first under her own name – though the band play on all the tracks.  I don’t really know much more about her except that she has the voice of an angel and seems to inhabit her songs with a sadness and yearning.  She started with quite a country twang but later drifted into torch songs.  This album is quite country really; best songs are ‘Watch Your Step Polka’, ‘Rose Garden’ and the fabulous ‘Three Cigarettes In An Ashtray’.