Sarah McLachlan - Fumbling Towards Ecstasy

180g Audiophile Vinyl Includes Bonus Track -- Cover Of Joni Mitchell's Classic Song "Blue!"
Also Features "Possession," "Hold On" & "Ice Cream!"

Fumbling Towards Ecstasy is the third album by Canadian singer-songwriter and Grammy Award Winner Sarah McLachlan and proved to be her worldwide breakthrough album. The album reached the Top 5 In Canada in no time and went certified platinum within a few weeks, eventually selling over 4 million copies worldwide.

As a bonus track, the album also includes a wonderful cover of the classic Joni Mitchell song "Blue".

"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 on this record, 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, 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." - Andrew Leahey - allmusic.com

Features:

• • 180g Audiophile Vinyl
• • 4-page booklet / soft-touch outer sleeve
• • Includes bonus track - cover of Joni Mitchell classic "Blue"

Selections:
Side 1:
1. Possession
2. Wait
3. Plenty
4. Good Enough
5. Mary
6. Elsewhere
Side 2:
7. Circle
8. Ice
9. Hold On
10. Ice Cream
11. Fear
12. Fumbling Towards Ecstasy
Bonus Track:
13. Blue