Fumbling Towards Ecstasy
Sarah McLachlan
Engineer: Pierre Marchand
Legacy Recordings, 2008
3 CD
Catalogue #: 82876872852
EAN: 0828768728529
UPC: 828768728529
You save: 25%
Personnel: Sarah McLachlan (vocals, acoustic & electric guitar, piano); Bill Dillon (guitar, Guitorgan, piano, bass); Jane Scarpantoni (cello); Michel Dubeau (saxophone); Pierre Marchand (piano, keyboards, bass, percussion, programming); David Kershaw (Hammond B-3 organ); Brian Minato (bass); Jerry Marotta (drums, percussion); Guy Nadon, Ashwin Sood, Lou Shefano (drums).
FUMBLING TOWARDS ECSTASY was nominated for a 1995 Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Performance.
Issued in celebration of the 15th anniversary of Sarah McLachlan's 1993 breakthrough album, FUMBLING TOWARDS ECSTASY, this three-disc Legacy edition features the entire original album, along with the more stripped-down FREEDOM SESSIONS and a DVD of live performances, videos, and more. For dedicated McLachlan fans, this collection is the ideal version to own.
Personnel: Sarah McLachlan (vocals, guitar, electric guitar, piano); Bill Dillon (guitar, piano); Pierre Marchand (guitars, keyboards, bass guitar, drum machine, percussion); David Sinclair (acoustic guitar); Luke Doucet (slide guitar); Jane Scarpantoni (cello); Michel Dubeau (saxophone); David Kershaw (piano, Hammond b-3 organ); Brian Minato (bass guitar); Ashwin Sood (drums, background vocals); Guy Nadon (drums); Jerry Marotta (percussion); Camille Henderson (background vocals).
Audio Mixer: Pierre Marchand.
Audio Remasterer: Greg Calbi.
Heavily atmospheric, building around intertwined harmonies and lush arrangements, FUMBLING TOWARDS ECSTASY might remind some of early Sinead O'Connor. McLachlan's ethereal vocal style pulls from the same sources as O'Connor, but add a calm that's more akin to contemporary jazz or new age than the pop charts McLachlan has climbed. The lifeblood of her songs are her physical and emotional relationships with people. With lyrics centered around satisfaction and the ways to maintain it, much of FUMBLING TOWARDS ECSTASY doesn't fumble but caresses.
Her lyrics compare love to ice cream, and promise kisses to make her lover breathless. Listening to the album, it's not hard to imagine what McLachlan has on her mind, nor why she's on the charts. FUMBLING TOWARDS ECSTASY shows an artist busily experimenting with the different songwriting textures available. The big drum sound in "Possession" and the chiming U2-like guitar of "Plenty" give McLachlan plenty of room to breathe, but do not suffocate her in one dismissable category.
Tracklist
Sarah McLachlan
The honey-voiced Canadian singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan has ascended from modest success in the U.S. and her native Nova Scotia to international stardom. Her music is accessible enough for the masses, yet serious enough to strike a strong chord with sensitive listeners, especially young women. Partly in acknowledgement of that demographic, McLachlan created the Lilith Fair in 1997, a female-focused concert tour that was an unexpected success and heralded a renaissance of female artists in the world of rock.
