Before You 'Surface' You Must 'Fumble'

Author's Rating:

Pros: Features one of music's most beautiful voices and songwriters; great make-out album.

Cons: Yeah, right! Um...maybe the fact that it ends?

Author's Review
If upon discovering the ethereal talent of Sarah McLachlan you purchased "Surfacing" (1997) first (or any latter release), you must then be touched by her first album "Touch" (1988), then as you travel onward you should seek "Solace" (1991), before finally stumbling and "Fumbling Towards Ecstasy" (1993; released in the U.S. 2/94), perhaps the most aptly titled album this decade.

Before the barrage of Lilith Fair festivities...before she cropped her lovely, curly locks...before her current and inevitable over-exposure, Nova Scotia's Sarah McLachlan released this quiet little masterpiece. Surely you remember the time period. Alternative/Grunge, or whatever inaccurate trendy buzz word at the time, was in full swing, yet collapsing. Pearl Jam was riding high with their sophomore "VS" LP, bands the likes of Soundgarden and Stone Temple Pilots were also keeping the airwaves awash with harder edged music, and defending pop champions Nirvana was enjoying continued success with its third studio disc, "In Utero".

With the mainstream dominated by this and the ever-prolific, infinitely successful R&B and hip-hop, a musical masterpiece like "Fumbling" by a hardly known Canadian songstress had not a snowflake's chance of gaining, or rather stealing recognition and exposure. So for virtually a year after its release in the States this album was a best kept cult secret to those of us that were fortunate enough to have a friend pass it on to us.

But when finally (though subtly) the single "Possession" broke out in 1995, not to mention her songs appearing on a handful of movie soundtracks, Sarah finally got her due. She was certified gold and eventually platinum for U.S sales. It ultimately took its toll after three years of virtual non-stop touring, which was made possible and necessary by the gradual yet steady selling of the album worldwide, leaving her depleted of self and creativity during the intervening hiatus. Then came "Surfacing" and Lilith Fair, and finally the omni-Sarah as she seems to be everywhere, currently.

But you haven't experienced true 'McLachlanian' ecstasy unless you own this album and have spun it in your CD player for a million rotations, or have played your cassette so many times that it now has its own unique, wobbly effect.

Try to resist swaying to the naughty groove of "Plenty", or resist Sarah's allure on "Ice", or prevent the mind-drift as you drive to "Elsewhere" with her. And of course, there are the two disparate and classic versions of "Possession", one with her band mates, the other just her ethereal, seductive voice and piano [an unlisted, CD bonus track].

The peculiar thing for me is that it wasn't until 1996, when I finally got tired of my old incomplete dubbed tape and got the CD, that I was able to appreciate this album for its true gems. "Fear" with its surreal, eerie falsetto vocals, and the arresting title track "Fumbling Towards Ecstasy" close out the album and leave you in awe of the equal fulfillment and emptiness you feel afterward.

So what do you do? You put it on again...and again...and again.

"Fumbling Towards Ecstasy" is one of the most important recordings of the decade.

Other tracks include: "Wait", "Ice Cream", "Circle", "Mary" and the singles "Good Enough" & "Hold On".

*Bit o' Trivia: "Possession" was released twice as a single, once just prior to the album's release, and later in 1995 when the album finally met commercial success.

Grade: A