Sarah+mclachlan

Dedicated fans of Sarah McLachlan had a lot to buy in 2008, when the Canadian songwriter issued three retrospective albums. Rarities, B-Sides & Other Stuff, Vol. 2 led the pack in April, followed by a deluxe edition of Fumbling Toward Ecstasy several months later. Closer: The Best of Sarah McLachlan brought up the rear, arriving in October and compiling McLachlan's greatest hits along with two new songs…

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…

This video companion to the Canadian singer-songwriter's triumphant live album confirms in sight what that recording advanced in sound–Sarah McLachlan and her fine, flexible stage band have evolved into a superb live performing unit, breathing added fire and nuance into McLachlan songs that were already stunning in their original studio versions…

The relative intimacy of the Storytellers stage is appropriate for an artist like Sarah McLachlan, who in the course of this 10-song, 55-minute performance establishes an easy and close rapport with her audience. In truth, empires will neither rise nor fall, and few lives are likely to be changed, on account of McLachlan's music…

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…

Because no artist's career is truly complete without a holiday album, Sarah McLachlan took yet another step toward establishing her place in sentimental adult contemporary radio history with Wintersong…

Listening to Sarah McLachlan perform live is a lot like listening to her records. Like 1999's multi-platinum-selling Mirrorball, Afterglow Live relies on the breathy Canadian's fluid and faultless vocals and performances – by McLachlan and band alike – that are so spot-on that they may well have been cut in the studio…

Shine On captures Sarah McLachlan at a period of transition, switching labels (she's signed with Verve after decades at Arista) and experiencing the death of her father and divorce from her husband…

Released at the front end of 1999's Lilith Fair, Mirrorball is a take-home sampler of the live performances that catapulted Sarah McLachlan into the modern rock stratosphere. Over half of the album's 14 songs are radio hits (including four of the first five), proving McLachlan's worth as a pop songstress bar none, but also hinting at an underlying stagnation in her recent musical output…

Certainly not the style of music McLachlan is known for, but Remixed is an album that will reach a new audience demographic that can at the very least appreciate her gorgeous voice, while serving as a continuing showcase for popular remixers and DJs now playing at a club near you…