Long before Lilith... (Essential Album Write-Off)

Author's Rating:

Pros: Lots of emotion - Sarah's best album

Cons: none

Author's Review
This review is is my contribution to J3nny3lf's "Essential Album Write-Off". Anyone is welcome to participate in the write-off, simply e-mail Jenn at j3nny3lf@aurdev.com with your epinions name and the URL of your review. Details can be found at http://jenn.aurdev.com/writeoff1.html Enjoy the write-off!

When Jenn invited me to participate in an essential album write-off, I immediately panicked... well ok, not quite panicked, but rather thought that I couldn't possibly pick one out of the several hundred CDs that I own that I could peg as "essential". After all, I've tried several times to weed out CDs that I think I won't listen to anymore, and have never been able to depart with one.

I finally settled on "Fumbling Towards Ecstasy" by Sarah McLachlan. I bought this album back in 1994 totally on the recommendation of a friend, and one I had only met on the internet (so she couldn't play it for me! This was way before MP3s :-) ). She always talked about going to listen to "Sarah", and finally I demanded to know who this was she listened to all the time. I bought it, played it, and fell in love. I played my first copy so much that eventually I had to buy a second copy.

So, what's so great about this album? I can listen to it from end to end and I love all the songs. That's rare in a CD for me, usually I like one or two, maybe three or four, and can't stand the rest. Also, it's before Sarah's Lilith Fair days, so it's less "pop" oriented. And Sarah's voice? I could listen to her sing just about anything. It ranges from low and sultry to pleasingly high pitched. Each song feels like she's putting all of her emotion, almost as if it's from personal experience, into it. But most of all, the songs seem to explore life - typical, everyday life with its hopes, fears, dreams, and loves. I know every song by heart, and there's not one I dislike.

You may recognize a few of the songs even if you've not listened to the album. "Possession" is an upbeat song that gained a lot of radio play in 1995 ("And I will be the one, to hold you down, kiss you so hard, I'll take your breath away...") and while it sounds a bit "possessive", isn't that really the way you feel about the person you love? "Ice Cream" is perhaps my favorite song on the album, and also fairly recognized. My husband and I chose this as our first dance song for our wedding for its jazzy tempo made for an easy song to dance to (we're not great dancers) and because the lyrics so aptly expressed how we felt:


Your love is better than ice cream.
Better than anything else that I've tried
and your love is better than ice cream
everyone here know how to fight

and it's a long way down
it's a long way down
it's a long way
down to the place where we started from

Your love is better than chocolate
better than anything else that I've tried
and oh love is better than chocolate
Everyone here knows how to cry

and it's a long way down
it's a long way down
it's a long way
down to the place where we started from

I can't tell you how many people at the reception said "Wow, what a great first dance song, who was that?!"

Another particular favorite of my on the album is "Elsewhere", a sultry sounding song that's actually a woman's personal declaration of freedom and one I find myself humming quite often, for both the lyrics and the music are strangely haunting..

I could go on and on about the songs on this album, but I think you should just give a listen for yourself! If I had to pick the "One album I couldn't live without" it would be Fumbling Towards Ecstasy.

And now I return to the types of reviews I am more comfortable writing... whew!