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…

In the time it took her to release her first three proper albums, Sarah McLachlan put out nearly as much music as B-sides, singles, or stray tracks for compilations and soundtracks, leaving no easy job for fans wanting her entire output…

In 1996, before she had blown up into the AAA luminary she later became, Sarah McLachlan issued the first volume of Rarities, B-Sides & Other Stuff, which was a nice, albeit remix-heavy, collection of some of the Canadian chanteuse's harder to find material…

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…

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…

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…

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…

A stronger release than Taylor's previous EP, this hook-laden record shows much in the way of maturity and growth as an artist. It's still very political, but this time leaning a bit further to the left, discussing such issues as racism in the church ("We Don't Need No Colour Code") and human rights violations worldwide ("Over My Dead Body"). The songwriting is killer overall…

Live Acoustic (Nettwerk) is an EP by Sarah McLachlan. It was released on 31 May 2004 in Canada only. Four of the tracks were recorded live at a "Live from the Lounge" event with Ryan Seacrest for radio station Star 98.7 on 7 October 2003…

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…