Reintarnation is a 'best of' collection trawled from the first 10 years of kd's career spanning her self released 1983 single Friday Dance Promenade to 1993's Even Cowgirls Get The Blues original soundtrack album. In between it passes through the albums A Truly Western Experience, Angel With a Lariut, Shadowland, and Absolute Torch and Twang, with her first single and an unreleased track thrown in for good measure.

The 20 tracks featured here (great value for money) appear in the order selected by kd and producer Ben Mink, as opposed to chronologically. But if there's a particular reason it's not apparent.

The trouble is they all stem from a period before country music regained its credibility i.e. before the Alison Krauss bluegrass revolution, which led to the reinvention of so many great artists and widespread commercial appeal of the genre through the likes of the O Brother soundtrack. They also stem from a period before kd went 'mainstream' with Ingenue and Constant Craving.

So what you get here is frankly, in hindsight, a bit cheesy. Yes it's beautifully played and produced and you can't fault kd's wonderful crooning. But it's all a bit 'yesterday'. Country music as was when it was firmly affixed with the words 'and Western' and before it returned to its roots.

That said, Trail Of Broken Hearts is a magnificent track and almost worth the admission price alone. Elsewhere, hoedowns and ballads abound, but rock 'n' roll it aint. It's certainly not going to appeal to 'new' country fans and I suspect most long term Lang fans will already have most of the content of this cd in their collection.

***

Review by Pete Whalley

***** Out of this world | **** Pretty damn fine |
*** OK, approach with caution unless you are a fan |
** Instant bargain bin fodder | * Ugly. Just ugly