When K.D. Lang boldly tried to update her sound on her last album, 1995's All You Can Eat, the result was a clumsy, middle-of-the-road embarrassment. Change was in order. The first obvious one on Drag is that long-time collaborator Ben Mink is gone, underlining this album as the beginning of Stage 2 in Lang's career. And though she co-produced the record with Craig Street, Lang didn't write any of the songs – at a time when you have to do it all to somehow prove your worth, she has the gumption to affirm herself solely as an interpreter. The material on Drag runs the gamut from the '40s pop tune "Smoke Dreams" to Jane Siberry's "H'Aint It Funny" to the theme from the Ubercamp cult movie Valley of the Dolls. What brings it all together, beyond the loose cigarette 'n' smoke theme, are the gorgeous arrangements and Lang's flawless renderings.

Where Lang used to indulge in showy histrionics, the singer has finally learned to keep her pipes in check. She's happy now just to wrap herself around every syllable with clockwork timing. The chorus of "Puff ... puff ... puff ... your cares away" in "Smoke Rings" is exhaled with a languor that only can be described as post-coital, and Steve Miller's "The Joker" is transmogrified from cheesy nugget to modern cabaret standard – the song becomes a purring Cadillac, and Lang is driving with two fingers casually resting on the wheel. Considering that classic interpreters tend only to get better – think of 70-year-old Rosemary Clooney – one can only look forward to the next 40 years of k.d. Lang's career. (RS 763)

ELISABETH VINCENTELLI