Sarah Mclachlan Touch

A largely forgotten album in the wake of Sarah McLachlan's mainstream success, Touch was the first album anyone heard from the singer. Only 19 at the time, McLachlan had years to go before she would become the seductive songstress of Fumbling Towards Ecstacy or the sensitive balladeer of Surfacing. Instead, she has more of an ethereal sound, enhanced by keyboards and a lush production that gives it a polished feel. Bringing to mind the '80s incarnations of both Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush, the songs here are moody pop tracks that showcase her incredible range more than anything else.

Bloom begins with Junkie XL's terrific remix of the Afterglow track "World on Fire." He trashes the hopeful chording of the original nearly completely, instead floating Sarah McLachlan's vocals over a taut guitar line for an addictive mixture of tension and atmosphere…

During the mid-'90s, Sarah McLachlan was a near-ubiquitous presence in pop music, establishing adult alternative pop radio with 1994's Fumbling Toward Ecstasy and 1997's Surfacing and spearheading the popular Lilith Fair touring festival, but once the last Lilith wound up in 1999, she retreated from the spotlight, had a baby, and seemingly retired from music. Four years later, she made a typically subdued return with Afterglow, her first album in six years. Not much has changed in the time she was away. Afterglow is firmly within the McLachlan signature sound – a softly tuneful, mildly atmospheric blend of classic singer/songwriterism and a touch of vaguely dreamy alternative pop, all shined and immaculately produced by Pierre Marchand.

Sarah McLachlan's 1999 Mirrorball, her first ever live album, showed off the singer in the prime of career, when her popularity both as an artist and as the organizer of Lilith Fair had made her a star. And while that record was good, and exposed the talents of McLachlan's powerful, clear voice and the strength of her band, it generally stuck to her most famous songs, especially those off her then most recent album, Surfacing.

Oh What a Feeling: A Vital Collection of Canadian Music is a 4-CD box set released in 1996 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Juno Awards. A second box set, Oh What a Feeling 2, was released in 2001 to mark the awards' 30th anniversary, and a third set, Oh What a Feeling 3, was released in 2006 for the 35th anniversary. All of the sets feature popular Canadian songs from the 1960s onward. The sets were titled for the song "Oh What a Feeling" by rock band Crowbar. The original 25th anniversary box set peaked at #3 on the Canadian Albums Chart and was certified Diamond in Canada.

2012 has been quite a year for Heart's Ann and Nancy Wilson. In June, the multi-disc box set retrospective Strange Euphoria was released. It was followed in September by the publication of their memoir, Kicking & Dreaming: A Story of Heart, Soul and Rock and Roll. And in October comes Fanatic, a brand new studio offering…