Sarah Mclachlan - Afterglow Live (CD/DVD)
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Free Music Notes for Afterglow Live (CD/DVD)
Free Music Review: The baby is fine and Sarah is back doing concerts
Hit: 5 Stars
It might just be news to me, but I was rather impressed that both of the concert DVDs we got for Christmas this year came with a CD as well. The bad news is that with Sarah McLachlan finally back on tour a couple of years after the birth of her daughter (which gives the title "Afterglow" a pretty specific meaning) she is obviously committed to giving her fans their money's worth which results in the problem that of the 23 songs that appear on the DVD on "Afterglow Live," only 15 of them make their way to the accompanying CD. Every fan will be able to look at the omissions and wish that several of them had been included on the CD (I would have liked to have had "Ice," "Fear," and "Blackbird," but those are just my thoughts tonight; ask me again tomorrow). This is not a significant point for me because given a choice between the DVD and the CD of a concert, I am usually going to go with the former, even when I just want to listen to the concert more than watch it.
The concert was filmed at Molson Amphitheater in Toronto, Canada and directed by Russell Thomas ("Placebo: Soulmates Never Die - Live in Paris 2003"). I certainly liked the look of this concert film more than "Mirrorball," but part of that was the sense of familiarity since I had seen Sarah when she did that tour, so I was familiar with the way certain songs were being performed and the look of the set. But one thing about Sarah that we have loved from the beginning is that she keeps finding new ways to do some of her songs, and while we will have our favorites (e.g., I like the hard rock version of "Hold On" from her first concert video), she is always presenting us with new approaches. So even when many of the songs remain the same, the singing of them is different, which is why I really liked the intimate arrangement of "Ice."
It was interesting to see who was still around from the old band. You knew that Ashwin Sood would still be on drums, one of the advantages of being married to the lead singer, and is Brian Minato was not on bass it would just be too strange. Luke Doucet is still playing guitars, but Kathryne Rose is the new backing vocalist providing the harmonies, and the big change seems to be having a pair of keyboard players (Vincent Jones and David Kershaw). Included in the bonus features on the DVD are a Photo Gallery, Lyrics for all of the songs perfomed, an interviw with Sarah, and the three music videos from the "Afterglow" album, "Fallen," "Stupid," and "World On Fire" with its pointed political message about the things in this world that you could spend $150,000 that would be more worthwhile than a music video.
Overall the mix of songs from Sarah's albums in the concert is pretty good, although long time fans would wish her to go back before "Fumbling Towards Ecstasy." But that is the first album where she really felt her lyrics made any sense and I think that is why she tends not to go back to the first two. In the end, the fans who want to quibble about such things will be the ones that will most appreciate seeing Sarah McLachlan in another concert video. Ironically, those are the same people who will notice that her voice has changed since the last time around: it is a bit richer and fuller, which results in some different nuances on familiar songs.
Free Music Review: A Stellar Performance
Hit: 5 Stars
Sarah McLachlan has been with us for over fifteen years now, and nothing seems to stop her. Even becoming a mother and losing her own mother has not kept this beyond talented artist from her music. True, she did take a five-year break, but with her return she proves what her faithful fans have known all along: McLachlan will give us her all every time.
"Afterglow Live" includes a CD and DVD of McLachlan's '04 tour in Toronto, Canada. Her performance both musically and on-stage is stellar. Not only is she a resplendent singer, McLachlan shines as an entertainer as well. She always manages a very personal connection with exceedingly large audiences, and this is well-demonstrated in the DVD.
The live CD opens with the brilliant single, "Fallen." McLachlan has said before that she likes to put her live songs into a different area than her studio releases, and "Fallen" shows that well. Second comes "World on Fire," another single, in which McLachlan muses on the fact that the world is in the hands of a few rich men. Following are the two classics "Adia" and "Hold On." McLachlan adds to the latter a "You Are My Sunshine" intro. Fans will then see the originally hushed, comforting "Perfect Girl" in a completely different light on "Afterglow Live." It becomes harsher and angrier, but is once again set off by the soft, whispered, piano-dominated tones of the love song "Push." The famous "I Will Remember You" follows, and fans will be pleased to learn that every verse is present. "Surfacing"'s out-and-out spectacular "Witness" comes next in a burst of beautiful electricity. The two tear-jerkers, "Answer" and "Angel" carry the CD to the hard-rock songs "Train Wreck," "Building a Mystery," "Sweet Surrender," and "Stupid." The crowning glory of this fantastic concert is "Dirty Little Secret," the impassioned closing piece.
The DVD includes all the latter songs as well as the seductive "Drifting," the chilling "Ice," the ever-wonderful "Wait," ethereal "Fear," the beautiful "Possession," "Blackbird," "Ice Cream," and "Fumbling Towards Ecstasy." It is this show that really demonstrates McLachlan's amazing ability to drawn in an audience. The editing is a bit slinky in places, and some of the shots (blur in, blur out) might be a little dizzying, but all-in-all, the performance is great. McLachlan carries the show on her shoulders the whole way through and makes one feel blessed to look upon her.
"Afterglow Live" showcases McLachlan's amazing talents and helps preserve the memories people all over the continent have of her 2004 tour. Truly a gem.
Free Music Review: Sarah hasn't lost a step
Hit: 5 Stars
I'm a huge fan of Sarah's, and have been since 2000 (I was deprived for years, yes, I know). I had a chance to see her in concert earlier this year in Las Vegas, and she was simply incredible. Her voice live was even better than how it is on CD, showing that it's not smoke and mirrors - she is that damned good.
So anyway, I went out the day this was released and purchased it, and the first thing I did was watch the DVD. It's over 2 hours long, and basically she does all of her best songs (or, as she says, her most favorite songs to sing). Then, after watching the DVD, I checked out the CD, and I've got to say, even though she took a long break from her career, she's just as good as she's ever been. She's got the kind of voice that you can't ever imagine cracking or missing a note.
I would only have a couple of complaints about this release, though (no, it's not *perfect*). First, I kind of wish all the songs weren't taken from the same venue (Toronto) - I think it would have been more cool to take 1 song from 23 different cities rather than 23 songs from 1 city. I suppose that's being kind of nitpicking, but I think it would have been nice.
Second - and this is an obvious one - she didn't do a couple of songs that I like a lot. She didn't do "Plenty" from Fumbling Towards Ecstasy, nor did she do anything from Solace (I think "Into the Fire" would have been a nice addition to the setlist). I could have done without a couple of songs from Afterglow and replaced them with some of her older stuff, but hey, I know she's got to plug the new album, so I understand.
I also think the selections of songs that they put on the CD could have been a tad better. How could "Possession" not be on the CD? I also would have loved to had "Ice", "Fear", and "Fumbling Towards Ecstasy" on the CD. But eh, I guess I'll survive.
Anyway, in my opinion, this live DVD is better than the Mirrorball DVD. The CD is probably slightly below the Mirrorball CD, though. Overall, it's still 5 star. Sarah's awesome.
Free Music Review: Sarah Outshines The Rest On Afterglow Live.
Hit: 5 Stars
Being resident in the Caribbean, the possibility that Sarah would come here to do a show are very slim and as such this release was eagerly anticipated by this Sarah fan, and I was not disappointed in the least!!
DVD: This DVD is spectacular, the video and audio quality are both stunning which proves to shocase both Sarah's beauty and great vocals. Here Sarah performs all of her popular hits to the delight of her packed audienece. Even though some of the material is quite old, Sarah and her band give an awesome performace, some songs being re-vamped of sorts. Sarah chats with the audience between songs which fuhers the air of intimacy that one feels while viewing this. She seems quite at ease and her voice has never been batter. Overall a fantastic display of talent by this Canadian songstress and her band.
Some reviewers complained about the constant switching of camera angles, and while this is true, I was so captivated by the perfomance that it did not bother me at all, and it seems that this style of editing is a trend these days. My favourite performaces were, Fallen, Ice, Witness, Fear, Train Wreck and above all a perfomance that has to be seen to be believed,Possession.
Bonus Features include; Photo Gallery,Lyrics for all songs perfomed, a lovely interviw with Sarah and all three hit video's from Afterglow, "Fallen, Stupid and World On Fire" which show Sarah in different perspectives.
CD: The CD is an audio selection from the DVD and is also quite enjoyable. However, they should have included some more tracks from the DVD as such tracks as Fear and Possession are missed. Nevertheless a beautiful live cut.
This package will be enjoyable for diehard Sarah fans and newbies alike. True, Sarah does not perform any tracks before the FTE era, but one should not let something as trivial as this influence on buying this awesome release. Well done Sarah and THANK YOU!!!
Free Music Review: Great music (and yes, you can get it on your iPod)
Hit: 5 Stars
Let's focus on the music alone: it is amazingly good, as many others have pointed out. My favorite McLachlan album. Fresh live interpretations of her best hits. Enough said.
Now the copy protection issue and the solution to this problem. Yes, this CD is crippled, and I was wondering, like many of you, how to get this onto my iPod and media center PC. Here is the solution: get the tracks from Sarah's official website! She sells this album (and a couple of others) in lossless audio format for less than the price of a new CD. No DRM, copy restriction, no other BS. And she offers you all 23 songs for download, more than there are on the CD (same as what's on the DVD). This is what I ended up doing, and I am happy that all the money I spent directly supported a favorite artist of mine.
If you decide to get this off her official site, here are some technical hints. One: you can buy the songs directly in MP3 format, ready for any player you may have. However, MP3 is the lowest sound quality of all available options, less than that of the CD, and the price is nearly identical to the better options. Two: buy this in a lossless format like FLAC. You can use dbPowerAmp or some other software to convert the songs to whatever other format you want (e.g. Apple Lossless, Windows Media, etc); lossless means that the quality is identical to the CD and you can convert, burn and rip this without ever losing any of the fidelity of the original. Three: do not be tempted to buy the CD - you cannot rip it since it is copy protected; you are better off buying the lossless tracks and burning your own CD.
I hope that was useful :)