Fridae

Ms Scary worries for Ms Kathryn Dawn Lang should a copy of her latest release ever fall into the hands of fashion critic Mr. Blackwell who will no doubt be tut-tutting with disapproval over Ms Lang's calamity-struck country-fried couture (think frumpy cousin of Madonna during the material mom's rhinestone cowgirl period).

Playfully titled Reintarnation, the lesbian icon's new album covers her country music career in the 1980s and rounds up tracks from A Truly Western Experience, Angel With A Lariat, Absolute Torch and Twang (which won Ms Lang a Grammy for Best Female Country Vocalist), Shadowland and the soundtrack of Even Cowgirls Get The Blues as well as the previously unreleased "Change My Mind."

Once fawned over by Madonna who cooed, "She's gorgeous - I could fall in love with her", the androgynous singer revisits her cowpunk days in Reintarnation and serves up her distinctive brand of "country music with a wink" which fuses her rockabilly roots with high camp - most notably on the lesbian anthem "Big-Boned Gal."

While Reintarnation is filled mostly with barnyard dance ditties such as "Pay Dirt," "Don't Be A Lemming Polka" and "Got The Bull By The Horns," it is on the wear-your-heart-on-your-sleeve country ballads such as "Curious Soul Astray," "Nowhere To Stand" and "Trail Of Broken Hearts" that the Alberta born singer-songwriter's exquisite vocals really shine through.

However, if you, like Ms Scary, became a fan of Canadian crooner only after the release of "Constant Craving" from 1992's Ingenue (or after that lesboerotic and unsurprisingly controversial Vanity Fair photoshoot with supermodel Cindy Crawford), then you may wish to give Ms Lang's Nashville retrospective a miss.

Trust Ms Scary on this - unless you're high on moonshine - Reintarnation is strictly for die-hard fans of Ms Lang, country music aficionados and geriatric line-dancers at the local community centre.

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