Sarah McLachlan - Video Collection 1989-1998

This updated compilation appends three of Sarah McLachlan's biggest Surfacing hits along with fan favorite "I Will Remember You" (from the Brothers McMullen soundtrack) to the 1994 video retrospective issued by Canadian label Nettwerk. It follows the Nova Scotian songstress from her days as a sentimental, round-faced youth through her breakthrough success on Fumbling Towards Ecstasy to the explosion of fame, thanks to Lilith Fair and the multiplatinum sales of Surfacing. The earliest of the collection clearly displays hints of great things to come, although viewing the pre-glory-days videos, half of which are alternating takes on Canadian and U.S. versions, is akin to checking out your coolest friend's high-school yearbook. Expecting the brilliance to which you are accustomed ("Building a Mystery," "Adia"), you instead learn that McLachlan herself struggled through some decidedly uncool artistic pretensions prior to connecting her vision to her work. A song from her 1988 album Touch, "Vox," is rendered post-new-wave cheesy (Canadian version) and aimless (U.S. version), and Solace's "The Path of Thorns (Terms)" features a nude McLachlan crooning in the shared space of a modern ballet couple. Despite a misguided turn at "Possession" (a nefarious mess of religious imagery), it is McLachlan who successfully guides the straight-ahead black and white performance of "Ben's Song" and also that of the Celtic-inspired "Drawn to the Rhythm," evoking Loreena McKennitt's smash hit "The Mummer's Dance." Yet it is the U.S. version of "Possession" on which we begin to see McLachlan as we have come to know her--dressed down, picking hard, and singing with eyes wide open. Fully connected to each other and the material, McLachlan and her band are filmed home-movie style in an otherwise empty theater space. As proven by McLachlan's magical turn on the Surfacing videos, those seats wouldn't stay vacant for long. --Paige La Grone