new introductory bit here.

This is a reviews page based on my own collection, which just keeps growing despite itself. If it isn't listed here, it's because I don't own it yet, or I haven't gotten around to it yet.

Also, bother your local "new rock" radio station and make sure they are playing "new rock" and not "Rock the Casbah," which is not new.

note: entries in red text indicate my pick for the artist's best available album. A gold numeral indicates the POPocalypse winner of the year's best album; second- and third-place winners are in blue. Green lettering indicates an obviously exploitative record company compilation without apparent artist input.

k.d. lang has remained at the forefront of the "new country" movement since her debut album was released on a Canadian label in 1984. Angel With a Lariat followed on Sire Records in 1987, but the country establishment balked. With "I'll show 'em" gusto, lang drew the legendary Nashville production vet Owen Bradley from retirement for a sizeable genre hit which also crossed over to the pop charts. Shadowland is really not challenging, but it works beautifully and it also got Roy Orbison's attention, and they duetted on a new version of his old hit "Crying" which earned a Grammy.

Absolute Torch and Twang helped cement her growing country reputation and also dented the pop top 70 and earned her a Grammy. Later in 1990, she made an unexpected appearance providing background vocals for Wendy & Lisa's Eroica before surprising nobody whatsoever with a proclamation of her homosexuality and appearing in the indie hit Salmonberries.

In 1992, she made her first proper pop crossover, effortlessly adopting a torch singer style for Ingenue, which went top 20 in America and top 5 in England on the back of the incredible hit single "Constant Craving." This song's impact was so prolonged that the other singles failed at radio in both countries and hardly bothered the charts in 1993. Also that year, she released another country collection with the soundtrack to Gus Van Sant's Even Cowgirls Get the Blues. The album mixes instrumental tracks with mostly downbeat country numbers. The single "Just Keep Me Moving," which was more of a pop track, stalled at #59 in England and k.d. took her first lengthy recording break.

Proving herself very much an album act, All You Can Eat made the top 10 in late 1995, while the singles missed the UK top 40 and the US chart altogether. 1997's Drag was less successful. A pretentious little collection of covers, most of them related to smoking in some way ("Don't Smoke in Bed," "My Last Cigarette" and "My Old Addiction" among others), this divided critics among love/hate lines. The most unexpected crossover from the album was a delightful rendition of Dionne Warwick's "Theme from the Valley of the Dolls," which hit the dance charts thanks to a set of high-energy Junior Vasquez remixes.