Sarah McLachlan

listen

0 comments

News
Bio
Music (12)
Videos (22)
Photos (24)

Fumbling Towards Ecstasy (Legacy Edition)

Release Date:

UPC Code: 828768728529

Label:

Number of Discs: 3

BUY IT:

Post Your Review

Description

Although 1991's Solace made Sarah McLachlan a star in Canada, her international breakthrough arrived two years later with Fumbling Towards Ecstasy, a softly assured album that combined the atmospheric production of Pierre Marchand (a former ... more Although 1991's Solace made Sarah McLachlan a star in Canada, her international breakthrough arrived two years later with Fumbling Towards Ecstasy, a softly assured album that combined the atmospheric production of Pierre Marchand (a former apprentice -- and evident disciple -- of Daniel Lanois) with some of McLachlan's strongest songwriting to date. At the center of everything was her voice, an ethereal, lilting soprano that helped pave the way for Paula Cole, Lillith Fair, and a decade's worth of successful female songwriters. McLachlan utilized the crack between her chest and head voice, emphasizing the changing tones as her melodies climbed into the vocal stratosphere. She was also comparatively young at the time of Ecstasy's release, and her combination of vocal hooks and commercial appeal wouldn't be fully mastered until 1997's Surfacing. Even so, McLachlan's work was rarely as raw or honest as it is here, where tales of sin, lust, and love are delivered alongside piano arpeggios and electronic flourishes. "Possession," the album's lead-off single, is a jarring love ballad with lyrics inspired by a stalker's correspondence. There's a double-edged quality to the song's eerie lines -- "I'll take your breath away," "I won't be denied," "Just close your eyes, dear" -- and Marchand underscores that tension by setting McLachlan's melodies to a nocturnal trip-hop beat. Elsewhere, the two lighten up with "Ice Cream," which likens love's sweetness to decadent deserts, yet Fumbling Towards Ecstasy takes most of its strength from the lush, rhythmic dreamscapes that dominate the album. Alternately dark and shimmering, intimate and ornate, soothing and slyly unsettling, Fumbling Towards Ecstasy launched McLachlan's international star power while setting a high bar for her future albums, many of which approached -- but not never quite eclipsed -- this career highlight. [An extended "legacy edition" of Fumbling Towards Ecstasy was released in 2008, commemorating the album's 15-year anniversary with a three-disc package comprising the original album, the gold-certified Freedom Sessions, and a live DVD filmed in 1994.] ~ Andrew Leahey, All Music Guide

Tracks

Track	Duration
1	Possession	4:39
2	Wait	4:10
3	Plenty	4:05
4	Good Enough	5:01
5	Mary	3:55
6	Elsewhere	4:42
7	Circle	3:42
8	Ice	3:58
9	Hold On	4:08
10	Ice Cream	2:45
11	Fear	3:56
12	Fumbling Towards Ecstasy	4:50
13	Possession	3:59
1	Elsewhere	4:33
2	Plenty	3:20
3	Mary	3:55
4	Good Enough	3:20
5	Hold On	6:43
6	Ice Cream	2:30
7	Ice	3:58
8	Ol'55	4:11
9	Hold On	4:40
1	Program Start	0:56
2	Plenty	4:07
3	Collaborators	2:10
4	Good Enough	5:18
5	Color	1:11
6	Wait	4:20
7	Influences	1:25
8	Home	5:46
9	Travel	0:57
10	Ice	4:05
11	Ben's Song	4:26
12	Interlude	0:34
13	Out Of The Shadows	3:14
14	I Will Not Forget You	5:41
15	Meet The Band	2:43
16	The Path Of Thorns (Terms)	5:29
17	Writing And Recording	2:45
18	Hold On	3:59
19	Drums	0:49
20	Possession	5:09
21	Videos	1:32
22	Mary	5:09
23	Ice Cream	2:53
24	Friends	0:21
25	Fumbling Towards Ecstacy	6:32
26	Ol' 55 Jam	1:36
27	Ol' 55	4:12
28	Credits	2:43
29	Slide Show	2:16
30	Fumbling Towards Ecstacy - An Inside Look	6:19
31	Possession (US Version)	4:41
32	Possession (Canadian Version)	4:41
33	Hold On (Music Video)	4:21
34	Good Enough (Music Video)	4:23