Live by Request

1	Summerfling 4:03
2	Big Boned Gal 2:55
3	Black Coffee 3:44
4	Trail Of Broken Hearts 3:19
5	Crying 4:32
6	Don't Smoke In Bed 3:44
7	The Consequences of Falling 3:55
8	Miss Chatelaine 3:25
9	Three Cigarettes In An Ashtray 2:52
10	Barefoot 4:20
11	Constant Craving 4:32
12	Wash Me Clean 3:50
13	Pullin' Back The Reins 4:41
14	Simple 3:29

Barnes & Noble

When it comes to performing in concert, k. d. lang is what you'd call a natural. Sure, her records are great, but there's nothing like hearing her voice soar from the stage. This live album, recorded in New York in December 2000, captures the full force of lang's extraordinary talent, as well as her versatility. "Three Cigarettes in an Ashtray" -- the Patsy Cline classic that also appeared on Lang's early effort Angel with a Lariat -- has an almost operatic intensity, the final notes held so long that one can almost sense the audience gasping for breath. "Big Boned Gal" (from Absolute Torch and Twang), on the other hand, swaggers and struts, proving that the singer hasn't forgotten her country and western roots. And then there's the sultry "Don't Smoke in Bed" (from Drag), in which lang plays the suave sophisticate, her voice dripping with innuendo. Those who have had the pleasure of seeing k. d. in concert will find Live by Request a fairly true replica of the real thing. Like most of her concerts, this one includes her signature tunes -- "Miss Chatelaine," "Constant Craving," and Roy Orbison's "Crying" -- as well as selections from her latest album (in this case, 2000's Invincible Summer). The only thing missing here is lang's witty repartee and endearingly goofy dancing. For that, I guess you need to get the simultaneously released DVD. Andrew Farach-Colton

All Music Guide

Live by Request is a series of occasional television specials broadcast on the A&E cable network, conceived by Tony Bennett's son and manager Danny Bennett. It works well for musical artists with loyal followings and established catalogs who may no longer be at the forefront of the record industry but are anxious to promote new albums. Viewers and fellow celebrities call in carefully screened requests that allow the performers to revisit their old favorites and mix in some new ones. k.d. Lang was a good choice for such a show, and here she becomes the first artist to use the Live by Request rubric for a corresponding album. lang usually makes concept albums with distinctive themes that can be quite different from each other stylistically and, of course, she moved toward an adult contemporary pop sound after beginning her career as a country singer, so her discography sometimes seems to be all over the map. By mixing songs from her different albums here, she is able to demonstrate the similarities in them, suggesting that the apparent diversity in her music is not as extreme as it might have seemed. Also, never having released a compilation, she compresses her catalog into an excellent introduction here. All that's missing is another important aspect of the Live by Request shows -- the spontaneous personal interaction they tend to provide between artist and audience. lang just goes from one song to another on the disc, never saying anything more elaborate than "Thank you so much" in between. No requests from fans are heard, no comments by the singer. In that sense, the album is just a straightforward (and somewhat cut and dried) live album, with none of the special flavor of the TV show. William Ruhlmann