Sarah McLachlan's High Point

Posted : 2 weeks, 1 day ago on 23 July 2008 03:43 (A review of Mirrorball: The Complete Concert (2 CD's))

This concert captures Sarah McLachlan at her best, after the massive success of 'Surfacing'. She was at a commercial high point though creatively she might have arguably passed her peak. The material is almost exclusively from her three best albums, the aforementioned 'Surfacing' along with 'Solace' and 'Fumbling Towards Ecstasy'. The sheer number of songs ensures that almost all her best songs find a place here. The only obvious exclusion is 'Drawn to the Rhythm' from 'Solace', which is one of my favourite Sarah McLachlan songs.

Sarah is always a great live performer, based on the handful of live recordings I have heard (I wish she would tour again, I'm dying to see her live). She sounds great here and is well backed by an excellent band. Some of the songs really shine in a full band setting. One that comes to mind is 'I Will Not Forget You' from 'Solace'. It has a sparse arrangement on the album and the full band arrangement really brings out a new dimension to the song.

This really is the full concert and contains all the banter in-between the songs. Sarah has a understated but charming personality, much like the character of her music. I enjoyed listening to the whole concert, the songs and everything between the songs too. Any fan of Sarah's would definitely enjoy it too.

This album (not the single CD release) should be in the library of every Sarah McLachlan fan. It showcases Sarah in the best light and her fans will enjoy it without hesitation.

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Solace review

Posted : 2 weeks, 1 day ago on 22 July 2008 11:06 (A review of Solace)

This album is the first in a trilogy of great albums Sarah McLachlan's produced in 90s. It starts with a 1-2-3-4 knockout combo with 'Drawn to the Rhythm', 'Into the Fire', 'The Path of Thorns (Terms)' and 'I Will Not Forget You'. The rest isn't so bad either.

Sarah McLachlan's second album has both her beautiful voice and versatile songwriting on display. To back it up, the music is fresh and varied. From the folk influenced opening track to the beautifully constructed ballad 'I Will Not Forget You', the album is full of great arrangements. All of these elements would be on full display in her next album ('Fumbling Towards Ecstasy') as well. That may be her best album so far, but this album is very close. The only thing that is falls behind on is consistency as it has one or two weak moments.

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Surfacing review

Posted : 2 weeks, 2 days ago on 22 July 2008 11:18 (A review of Surfacing)

'Angel' was the first song I heard by Sarah McLachlan. It wasn't even from a CD of this album, but from the soundtrack for 'City of Angels' and that song will always have a special place among all her songs for me. Sarah McLachlan was reaching the heights of her popularity with the release of this album. At just ten tracks long, it's a short album compared to her earlier releases and not nearly as consistent an album as 'Fumbling Towards Ecstasy'. It does contain some of her best songs to date.

The highlight, both lyrically and musically, is the opening song, 'Building a Mystery'. Brilliant lyrics and alt rock inspired music that complements her voice make this a winner. She follows it up with 'I Love You', a lovely slow ballad with an atmospheric musical arrangement. The album has several more good songs, including the aforementioned 'Angel' almost at the very end.

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Not her best album, but pretty good.

Posted : 2 weeks, 3 days ago on 21 July 2008 01:07 (A review of Afterglow)

Sarah McLachlan's best work came in the mid 90s with 'Fumbling Towards Ecstasy' and 'Surfacing'. She wrote great songs and she still does. There are some excellent songs on this album, most notably 'Fallen', 'Train Wreck' and 'World on Fire'. Her angst is still intact and her vocals are beautiful and emotional.

Her music, however, seems to have slipped into a comfortable rut in this album. There's very little (or absolutely nothing) of the folk rock influences or atmospheric arrangements of her earlier work. She had started down this path in 'Surfacing', but that album had enough highlights to balance. I read somewhere that she composed all the songs on a piano for the first time, instead of her guitar. Maybe she should go back to the guitar and regain some her rock groove rather than slide further into this comfortable rut, which will eventually lead to a completely boring album.



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Fumbling Towards Ecstasy review

Posted : 2 weeks, 4 days ago on 19 July 2008 11:30 (A review of Fumbling Towards Ecstasy)

Sarah McLachlan produced her finest, most consistent album very early on in her career. She has a well developed sound that allows her lovely vocals to shine on every sound. She has rarely deviated from this formula in the rest of her career, only added some studio magic to the mix.

The songs on this album are gems, starting with the instantly attention grabbing 'Possession'. The album keeps sailing along on good songs, right to the very end. 'Fear', the second to last track in the original US release, is one of the best songs on the album. Such consistency, with both more up-tempo songs as well as her sparse ballads, was not to be found in any subsequent album she produced.

No review is complete without a glowing tribute to her beautiful voice, delicate and expressive as it is. She's not prone to diva-esque flourishes but rather imbues each song with the perfect range of emotion it needs.

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One of the best pop albums ever made

Posted : 1 month ago on 4 July 2008 10:38 (A review of Faith)

George Michael's first solo album is not only his best, but it's also one of the best pop albums ever made. He mixes rock, soul and funk to produce his signature sound. Starting off with the funky and rocking title track, the album grabs you instantly. Michael is a gifted songwriter and can go from playful funky fun to thoughtful ballads in the space of two songs, and he shifts gears instantly with the second song, 'Father Figure'. He finishes up the one-two-three opening combo with 'I want your sex', easily the most controversial song he's ever written and catchy as hell. There's barely a weak song on the rest of album and his songwriting is superb throughout.

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Dull

Posted : 1 month, 3 weeks ago on 17 June 2008 11:28 (A review of Viva La Vida)

Coldplay have largely abandoned the guitar led approach of their first three albums. It might have been a good move to acquire a more diverse sound if only large stretches of the resulting album weren't so dull. There's still a handful of decent songs and a couple of really good ones but the whole album doesn't hang together.

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Excellent songwriting and songcraft

Posted : 2 months ago on 3 June 2008 01:07 (A review of Narrow Stairs)

This is the first 'Death Cab for Cutie' album I've heard even though they've been popular for many years now. I heard 'I will possess your heart' on the Radio and decided to take the plunge, and I'm glad I did. The radio version of the song is actually edited to about half it's length and removes the awesome bass dominated instrumental intro to the song. It's the undisputed highlight of the album. The rest isn't shabby either. The album starts off strong and the first four songs are varied and brilliant. These guys have amazing song craft for an indie band. I guess they're not indie anymore since they're signed to a major label now.

The song writing is uniformly excellent. The slightly obsessive love song 'I will possess your heart' reminds me of the Police classic, 'Every breath you take'. 'No sunshine' is dark and bitter but set to peppy, swinging music. There's also the Springsteen style story-telling of 'Your New Twin Sized Bed'. The music is varied as well, highlighted by the use of Indian percussion instrument 'tabla' in 'Pity and fear'. It ends with the beautifully written 'The Ice Is Getting Thinner', an excellent song to round the album off.

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Already time for a 90s revival?

Posted : 2 months, 3 weeks ago on 14 May 2008 02:12 (A review of Carnavas)

I can't believe this album was released mid 2006. It took over a year for this to gather some momentum. The feature of their music that grabs you from the first song is the buzzing guitars circa 1994. Just that would be enough to make them my new favourite band of the week/month/year. They also throw in Billy Corgan style vocal delivery - disinterested one moment, high pitched screaming the next along with a healthy dose of angst and irony. That's enough to make them my favourite new band of 2007 (even though they released this album in 2006).

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Initiation into Jazz

Posted : 3 months ago on 3 May 2008 11:25 (A review of Call Me Irresponsible)

I discovered Michael Bublé when I heard one of his songs playing in my co-worker's office a few days ago. That's all it took to get me hooked.

This is Michael Bublé's third album and his best so far. The bulk of his material is covers of classic Jazz and Pop songs. He picks his material extremely well and the album gels very well. His singing is outstanding throughout. Somehow, he manages to impart a healthy dose of emotion into every song, regardless of the mood.

It's hard to pick any highlights from this set of songs but I'll take a stab at it anyway. My picks are 'Lost' and 'Always On My Mind'. Both about lost love but with very different emotional tones, both pulled off beautifully by Bublé.

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