Hymns Of The 49th Parallel

The flu finally hit me early in the week and knocked any and all zip out of me for a while. A trip down to my mother's had been planned for a while though and went ahead anyway. My brother, Martyn, was there too, which gave us a chance to catch up on one another's film and music intake. Among other things he turned me on to this album from last year, which celebrates the best of Canadian singer/songwriters over the last 3 decades. I haven't consciously chosen to listen to K. D. Lang for many years, and so was pleasantly surprised to hear some great versions of some of my favourite songs from Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell and Neil Young, together with a few from Jane Siberry, who until now I have been blissfully unaware of. The latter provides the best song on the album, however, the transcendent Love Is Everything which is the last track on the album - what a song! It breaks my heart every time I listen to the build from halfway and the passion that Ms. Lang puts into it; her own music is not necessarily to my taste, but you cannot deny the power and purity of her astonishing voice. I hope she does more covers albums like it in the future. Kx