After an album that took five days to get through, I'm now on a run of 'one and done's. Here's my third straight album done the day I started. Too bad, though - I really like this record.
Disc 249 is...Solace
Artist: Sarah McLachlan
Year of Release: 1991
What’s Up With The Cover?: Extreme close up: Sarah McLachlan edition. I suppose if you are going to make your album cover a giant head, Sarah's is a good one to choose. She's a fetching lady, even when the photographer has made her look like some kind of statue or vampire-girl.
How I Came To Know It: I've had this album since it came out twenty years ago, so the exact nature of my discovery is a bit hazy at this point. I probably heard a couple of the songs and liked them and bought it.
How It Stacks Up: I have five Sarah McLachlan albums - I believe her first five. Of those, "Solace" is at the top of the list. Simply the best; better than all the rest, but without all that creepy Tina Turner stuff usually associated with that expression.
Rating: 4 stars
"Solace" was a pretty big album in Canada in 1991, and had at least three singles. This was before the rest of the world knew Sarah, before Lilith Fair, and before she became the default person to ask questions related to "women in music".
I don't think any of that relates to how good or bad this record is - in point of fact, McLachlan made a great deal of good music after she achieved international fame.
I do think that being early in her career, "Solace" benefits from sparse production, which allows her powerful songwriting to shine through. There are great production decisions on later McLachlan albums as well, but the best moments on "Solace" relate to what isn't done.
As an example, my favourite song on the album (and my favourite Sarah McLachlan song period) is "The Path of Thorns (Terms)". This song is pretty basic. Just a drum and a guitar and Sarah's beautiful voice. The guitar is basically just an Indigo-Girl strum-fest, but I'm always knocked out by the way the guitar strumming rises and falls in intensity - almost adding a whole separate rhythm to the song. Even after twenty years, and hundred of listens, every time I hear it, I can't help but "air strum" along.
Lyrically, "Solace" is very dark in places. It is an album that paints the spaces between people black - and exposes our vulnerabilities in that stark separation. It is introspective, but it is an introspection that is fundamentally about our desire to connect, however fleeting or failing those efforts are.
The lines that haunted me the most when I was 21 years old are still the lines that haunt me today, from the song "Shelter":
"I've seen a part of people that I never
really want to share
I've seen a part of people that I never
knew was there."
Simple lines, that admittedly don't translate their depth when transferred to the page. Sung by McLachlan in a soft, mournful manner they make me think of all the injustices that exist in the world - both the terrible events we read in the news, and the disappointments we encounter in our own lives - maybe even in ourselves. "Shelter" is a song about innocence, and how we all lose it along the way. At the same time, it reminds us that we can never truly lose it - because allowing ourselves to be disappointed reminds us that it can be better than that - and if we're still reminding ourselves, then we're still in the game.
There isn't much to say in the negative about this record. For the most part, McLachlan sticks to her sweet spot, both musically and thematically. There are a couple of songs that I could do without, however. For one, "Mercy", which takes her sad detachment too far - it is overly-sparse, and the lyrics seem strained to the point where she loses her audience into a sort of art-hall experiment.
At the other end, "Into the Fire" is too 'pop music' for my tastes. It is out of her sweet spot in the other direction - trying to hard for a radio-friendly sound, and losing any resonance in the process. Ironically, "Into The Fire" is the biggest hit on the record, which is a real crime, considering how many gems go unnoticed.
"Solace" is a powerful record from a powerful artist, who has left a lasting mark on the Canadian music scene. I almost gave this record five stars, and on another day I might have - but whatever the arbitrary rating, it is a record I don't plan to get tired of any time soon.
Best tracks: Drawn To The Rhythm, The Path of Thorns (Terms), I Will Not Forget You, Back Door Man, Shelter
Disc 249 is...Solace
Artist: Sarah McLachlanYear of Release: 1991
What’s Up With The Cover?: Extreme close up: Sarah McLachlan edition. I suppose if you are going to make your album cover a giant head, Sarah's is a good one to choose. She's a fetching lady, even when the photographer has made her look like some kind of statue or vampire-girl.
How I Came To Know It: I've had this album since it came out twenty years ago, so the exact nature of my discovery is a bit hazy at this point. I probably heard a couple of the songs and liked them and bought it.
How It Stacks Up: I have five Sarah McLachlan albums - I believe her first five. Of those, "Solace" is at the top of the list. Simply the best; better than all the rest, but without all that creepy Tina Turner stuff usually associated with that expression.
Rating: 4 stars
"Solace" was a pretty big album in Canada in 1991, and had at least three singles. This was before the rest of the world knew Sarah, before Lilith Fair, and before she became the default person to ask questions related to "women in music".
I don't think any of that relates to how good or bad this record is - in point of fact, McLachlan made a great deal of good music after she achieved international fame.
I do think that being early in her career, "Solace" benefits from sparse production, which allows her powerful songwriting to shine through. There are great production decisions on later McLachlan albums as well, but the best moments on "Solace" relate to what isn't done.
As an example, my favourite song on the album (and my favourite Sarah McLachlan song period) is "The Path of Thorns (Terms)". This song is pretty basic. Just a drum and a guitar and Sarah's beautiful voice. The guitar is basically just an Indigo-Girl strum-fest, but I'm always knocked out by the way the guitar strumming rises and falls in intensity - almost adding a whole separate rhythm to the song. Even after twenty years, and hundred of listens, every time I hear it, I can't help but "air strum" along.
Lyrically, "Solace" is very dark in places. It is an album that paints the spaces between people black - and exposes our vulnerabilities in that stark separation. It is introspective, but it is an introspection that is fundamentally about our desire to connect, however fleeting or failing those efforts are.
The lines that haunted me the most when I was 21 years old are still the lines that haunt me today, from the song "Shelter":
"I've seen a part of people that I never
really want to share
I've seen a part of people that I never
knew was there."
Simple lines, that admittedly don't translate their depth when transferred to the page. Sung by McLachlan in a soft, mournful manner they make me think of all the injustices that exist in the world - both the terrible events we read in the news, and the disappointments we encounter in our own lives - maybe even in ourselves. "Shelter" is a song about innocence, and how we all lose it along the way. At the same time, it reminds us that we can never truly lose it - because allowing ourselves to be disappointed reminds us that it can be better than that - and if we're still reminding ourselves, then we're still in the game.
There isn't much to say in the negative about this record. For the most part, McLachlan sticks to her sweet spot, both musically and thematically. There are a couple of songs that I could do without, however. For one, "Mercy", which takes her sad detachment too far - it is overly-sparse, and the lyrics seem strained to the point where she loses her audience into a sort of art-hall experiment.
At the other end, "Into the Fire" is too 'pop music' for my tastes. It is out of her sweet spot in the other direction - trying to hard for a radio-friendly sound, and losing any resonance in the process. Ironically, "Into The Fire" is the biggest hit on the record, which is a real crime, considering how many gems go unnoticed.
"Solace" is a powerful record from a powerful artist, who has left a lasting mark on the Canadian music scene. I almost gave this record five stars, and on another day I might have - but whatever the arbitrary rating, it is a record I don't plan to get tired of any time soon.
Best tracks: Drawn To The Rhythm, The Path of Thorns (Terms), I Will Not Forget You, Back Door Man, Shelter
1 comment:
This one still gets a lot of play with me.
I have some photos of Jennifer from 1991, and the similarities are quite striking.
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