Welcome to the third week of my experiment. It's becoming a good habit for me to do and a good exercise to do every day. I'm not the sort of person who is regular in my routine and as I grow older I want to be. Writing the silly blog about my album collection is an exercise in seeing if I can do something, anything once a day. And if I can, could I do one thing more, like make my bed or write my lovely wife and children a love note to put in their lunchboxes and brief cases? It's a good question. So I started with something I love to do, write about music, and soon I will branch out and see what else is possible.
But about the music...I fell in love with my wife for the same reason millions of folks bought Sarah McLachlan records in the 90's and 00's. They fell in love with that voice.
Sarah's voice could calm a pack of ravenous wolves (so could my wife's). Add to that a knack for hitting the exact sweet spot for that voice with her songwriting and you have a recipe' for sales. "Building A Mystery" has the spookiness of a Halloween ghost story and the beauty of a mother singing to her child. This haunting song opens this album and conveys a mood that hypnotizes. "I Will Remember You" is now a graduation ceremony staple, but is still a wonderful pop song about friendship. "Angel" is a breathtaking coda to end the album and send the crowd swooning away. It still has power all these years later, and can sum up the feeling of longing and loneliness of a "dark hotel room and the endlessness that you feel". Humanity is "born from the wreckage of this silent revelry" a seeming nod to the biblical story of the Garden Of Eden and the fall of man.
Sarah's sense of humor is present in "Ice Cream" where she celebrates chocolate and everything sweet, and endears herself to females everywhere.
I love to write songs for my wife's smoky voice to wrap itself around, mostly because I love to hear it go to work. It's the same with Sarah McLachlan, that voice could stop a train in it's tracks.
4 1/2 stars
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