Wore this CD out when I quit smoking! Found myself back in the habit recently so I am back to download this masterpiece.

I am a huge fan of lang, but this recording barely survives the test of time in that it now seems more endless the more you listen to it. She's got a lovely voice and few can touch it, but for this ode to smoking, lang shoulders some of the blandest material out there. Her recording of "The Joker" is uninspired and tedious, but the real cuts that seem to go off kilter are "Hain't it Funny" and " My Old Addiction." That voice deserves better material; this collection seems more self-indulgent than anything she's done. Sometimes you need a good producer to step in and say when your dream concept album sounds like the musical equivalent to paint drying. That did not happen here.

beautiful as always."the air that I breathe" is fuel for the soul

K.D Lang has long been considered one of the best vocalists in ALL music - regardless of genre. Her voice is pristine and yet full. Quite unique. Her technique and delivery are reminiscent of another era, when singers had to have a real voice. This record is quite different from her other efforts. It features mostly gorgeous, jazzy ballads, beautifully arranged and orchestrated. It sounds like a soundtrack to a film-noir: LUSH. The album is virtually a masterclass not only from Lang, as a performer, but also from the producer Craig Street, engineer Danny Kopelson, mixing engineer Patrick McCarthy and orchestrator Jimmie Haskell. A masterpiece!

This is one of the most mournful and yet beautiful collection of songs ever recorded. Ms. Lang does a beautiful job at recording these smoky standards with such passion and heart that one just gets lost in all the smoke rings. The only throw away track is the one meant for obvious radio play, Steve Miller's "The Joker". It's pop, mainstream appeal just seems out of place in this collection of dark beauties.

This has to be one of the best arranged and performed CDs of all time. Her voice - the arrangements - the composition growing and growing until you just wanna have a big scotch and cigarette in your hand with a huge view out of a giant lounge chair over a city! THAT is this album!

It always surprises me that some people (i.e., music reviewers) do not understand irony. Whoosh! Right over their heads. This album is close to perfection. The song choices matched with k.d.'s incomparable voice are divine. But don't overlook her tongue-in-cheek nuance. Dig one more layer down and you realize that these songs fit seamlessly with our present culture. We're all about addictions. The longing, heartbreak, shame, and cynicism are all poignantly captured in "Drag." Oh . . . and I've loved "Theme from the Valley of the Dolls" since I was five years old. Now I love it all over again.

One would be mistaken to overlook k.d. lang's smoking-themed cover album as gimmicky. It is nothing short of a masterpiece. Yes, her covers of the well known songs The Joker and The Air That I Breath are great, but give a listen to what she does with My Old Addiction (a cover of David Wilcox's song, Chet Baker's Unsung Swan Song) or Till The Heart Caves In (a cover of T-Bone Bennet's song originally titled Kill Zone and co-written with Roy Orbison and Bob Neuwirth). These song showcase why k.d. lang is considered by many to be one of the greatest voices of our time.

To take a song like "The Air That I Breathe" and make it her own and then give it to us only adds to the mystic that is k d lang. Look beyond the obvious! This is not a group of songs about smoking - it is about our .........!! (Fill in your own blank)