Customer Reviews

Afterglow

5 star:		(272)
4 star:		(138)
3 star:		(91)
2 star:		(42)
1 star:		(35)

 

 

I have to admit,,When I first listen to this cd, I felt a bit dissapointed...the songs all seemed soft and slow. Nothing seemed to be easily accessible, with the Fallen being an exception.. But after listening, I discovered more to this whole album. Yes, this is different than her previous, but that is good! Change is good, and these songs show a maturity that some artist never aquire. I hate buying a new cd from an artist I enjoy and it sounds the same. These songs are all beautiful and now I love this album. The title Afterglow is apt, for these songs leave a warm, quiet feeling in your soul. Don't give up on this one just because it takes some time to enjoy. Best songs, in my opinion, World on Fire, Stupid and Time. Though I could find something to love on each song

I tell you what it is. People are judging this record according to their expectations. Such expectations are set up sky high that it becomes really impossible for Sarah or any artist for that matter to attain. People are expecting perfection all the time from her. Well, guess what? She's only human.

For me, I hear Afterglow and what I find is a collection of beautifully crafted songs, as we have come to expect from Sarah. Which brings to mind another problem: the music climate has changed so much that what is considered "good" music now is anything that's really loud ie rock, recycled crap ie rap and karaoke singers seems to be the height of music culture right now. Any female worth much in the industry has to at least take her clothes off in a video and show some skin in order to get attention. Anything else that doesn't fit into these narrowly-focused "rock-n-roll" ideals fall short in people's eyes.

Sarah has chosen to stay true to herself and made a record that is meaningful and emotionally-satisfying. It is quiet and low-key but it has been said that the most powerful moments can be found in silences and quietness is the loudest roar. She has chosen to disregard all music trends and fads and creates music that is relevant enough in current times yet sound timeless in its appeal. Contrary to what some reviewers have posted here, all the songs are very much varied in sound and not "samey" at all.

Open you ears to Fallen and hear the open regret, the fatalistic hopeless feeling that a mistake made can never be corrected brings. Read the lyrics in World on Fire and tell me that that is not one of the best songs ever written about the post 911 world? People say she doesn't rock, well please hear Stupid! Not only does she rock out, she actually sounds mightily pissed.

In Drifting, she gathers you up into the skies into drifting clouds and you understand why there it's so irresistable to escape from life. Then you're brought down to earth again in Trainwreck where Sarah revels in being an impending disaster and you're taken by her vulnerability. Push is Sarah's love poem to her husband and it's a suitably direct and heartfelt declaration of love.

Answer...what can one say about Answer? The most emotionally wrecking song on the album. If there is anyone that you ever truly love and need, you'll relate to this song. The lyrics are simple yet say so much. In Time, Sarah gives us a dark glimpse into a broken relationship that involves her ruminating about "shadows on the walls" keeping her company and being held as a token. The Celtic-like drumming bores into your ears as if Father Time is urgently telling you that it's best to let go of things that ails you.

Perfect Girl is the perfect ode to anyone who has yet to find himself or herself. Listen to her sing "And everything will come around in time" in a high note, as if singing in a high note could bring down the heavens and the Perfect Girl would indeed believe everything will indeed be alright for her. Imagine yourself in a bar or at home and you had too much to drink. You listen to Dirty Little Secret and you're reminded of why you got into that drunken state....much self-loathing and plenty of regret. The pleasantness of the music is deceiving as it hides a broken soul who, as the lyrics go, denied himself a capacity to love. The song ends in resigned acceptance of his lot.

In a way, this resigned acceptance could be similarly ascribed to Sarah. She's no longer the person she was. She's changed by motherhood and by the death of her mother. No one can expect her to make another Fumbling Towards Ecstacy. She's not a music machine who cranks out records every two years or so.

Afterglow is just one part of her journey. A journey which I hope, will take her to greater heights one day and inspire her to write a record that transcends everything she or anyone else has ever done. For me, I'll take Afterglow for what it is: as a slice of Sarah's artistic journey and enjoy it while I can.

Sarah McLachlan's gorgeous, luscious voice is once again the centrepiece in her work. Despite most of the material being written well before life-changing events such as her mother's death and the birth of her daughter, the songs on this album are just about that -- life, death, and all the messy things in-between. Sarah's pacing and style, as always, are acquired tastes... she wraps her voice around you like a warm blanket in "Answer"; at other times, she glides coolly and effortlessly, as a glacier would over tundra, setting up an introspective mood.

Overall, the sound record to me seems to be a combination of her last three albums proper; there are the requisite Surfacing era piano-based ballads in "Answer," and "Dirty Little Secret," the Solace era melodies in "Drifting,' and the verses of 'Stupid', the Fumbling Towards Ecstasy textures and lyrical depth in "World on Fire," (mostly written by her producer Pierre Marchand) "Stupid," and the fantastic "Dirty Little Secret."

I like 9 out of the 10 songs, which, in my books, is no small feat for any artist to accomplish. "Drifing," is the only song that I'm indifferent about, but that might change after time.
Some highlights upon first listen:

"Fallen," the lead single, is about the irrevocable mistakes we make in our lives that force us to wallow within, and then move on. In terms of sound, it's reminiscent of "Building A Mystery," from her last album, Surfacing.

"World on Fire," is a beautiful song about ugliness. Being the only song written after her mother's passing and her daughter's birth, its subject matter is the reconciliation of innocence with chaos in our post 9/11 world. Sarah's voice soars, and the instrumentation is lush, harkening back to Fumbling Towards Ecstasy's layered textures.

"Stupid" is as close to a driving, straight-ahead rock song on the album as Sarah gets, and it is a great payoff. A killer chorus is bookended by Solace-style, melodic verses about being smitten by someone that you know is bad for you. Sarah's voice is raw and close to the edge; it would be amazing to see her just cut loose and let her powerful voice go completely, as it did in her cover of XTC's "Dear God." Another thing to note is that he strings and orchestration for "Stupid" are a brilliant touch.

"Train Wreck" is notable because it offers, for a Sarah McLachlan song, unusual instrumentation. There are ambient electronic sounds and beats, and hopefully this is an avenue she and her producer will further explore on her next album, when she tackles the weighty dramas that have consumed her life in the past few years.

"Answer" is, well, the Answer to "Angel." It's a low-key, very chill track that epitomizes what Sarah McLachlan's recent sound has transformed into -- an extremely soothing, maternal sound that comforts us and slows us down in our sometimes too fast-paced world. Centred around the piano, Sarah's voice is at the forefront, taking all troubles to "wash this from my mind."

"Dirty Little Secret" is a very personal song, and could well be this album's "Do What You Have To Do.' It has the storytelling quality of her work on Fumbling Towards Ecstasy. Confessional lyrics are glazed with a decadent wine sauce; the result is nothing short of epic, as she journeys through a messy relationship from the past.

It's hard to argue that Sarah is an artist that speaks to her audience, and that she is an artist who is getting more and more precise with her composing and deliberate in her writing. She conjures complex, emotional nuance in unpretentious, natural lyrics that can catch a listener offguard in a moment of vulnerability or reflection. This is an album that will surprise you on one of those nights when you're listening with headphones after one too many drinks.

In a bleak musical landscape littered with gangster rappers one-upping each other about guns, cash, and hos, cookie-cutter hip-hop beats and hooks, and manufactured pop tarts that are known best by their first names, Sarah's voice blasts across the skyline like a radiant shaft of light. Sarah McLachlan is so endearingly unphased by trends; instead, she tip-toes gently through the geography of the heart.

I came to this site to check out the "official" reviews of the album, to see if they're consistent with my opinion. But I am alarmed at the "disappointment" of the early fan reviews. Can we get some order in here?

First of all, yes, I am a HUGE Sarah fan, since seeing her on TV in the wee hours of New Year's morn of '98. Since then I have heard all of her full-length releases (I own all but "Freedom.." and "Touch"). Is this as good as her proverbial best, "Fumbling Towards Ecstacy"? Of course not..I got hooked via "Surfacing", which in my opinion is even behind "Solace" in a list of her works. But, after enough listenings to tick off my 11-yr old, I think that "Afterglow" is at the same level as the CD that introduced me to her.

The "diss"appointed fans of the early reviews are revealing something about "Afterglow", and that is the fact that it is more piano-driven. I read somewhere it was the first album for which she penned the songs at the piano as opposed to the guitar, and it comes out. The songs are softer, perhaps a bit somber (it doesn't mean much, but there's no "Sweet Surrender" here). But my worse fears of Sarah becoming Enya were fortunately unfounded, and it's nowhere near a change in direction as evidenced by Jewel (not hating..I like "0304") or Liz Phair. She sat down with a different instrument, and it shows.

So..let's give the CD a few more listenings, we current owners. And as for you on the bubble, go to your nearest record store (not Wal-Mart!), and get it. The standouts do indeed include "Fallen" (I love it more since hearing the CD), and "Stupid", which is deceptively calm until it gets to the chorus. "Train Wreck" is a single waiting to happen, with a guitar line that, though it takes a back seat to the piano, makes the song a favorite of mine. Even though "Push" ruffles my feathers with memories of button-pushing women (will THIS tick you off? What about THAT?), as long as Sarah's pushing the proverbial buttons, I am alright. Sarah continues to write lyrics that make you smile out loud, and her words are expressed via one of the most beautiful voices ever to approach a mic.

So, get "Afterglow." Then find "Fumbling"..and then pick up "Solace"..what the hell, get'em all. And enjoy.

I have been into Sarah since my freshman year in college when Fumbling was owned by ever college kid on my hall. Nine years, a surfacing, a lilith fair, a mirrorball and a long and much deserved rest later, Sarah McLachlan digs back into the past and resurfaces with an album that is both timid and kind of shocking. Many reviews say this album is too mellow or it sounds too much like Surfacing, but what resonates most when I hear this album are the most luxurious moments on her second album Solace combined with some of the haunting elements of Fumbling and Surfacing. I am one Sarah fan who did not obsessively LOVE Surfacing because I jumped on the Sarah boat long before her 8-million selling opus Surfacing was released and thought it was more for the masses and less for the underground Sarah 'word of mouth' fan.

The title Afterglow is perfect because after all the fame and exposure, here is an album that certainly doesn't lack any consistancy nor does it lack the style that longtime Sarah fans have come to expect and BEST OF ALL, it does not feel like a mass marketable album. This album is Sarah going back and revisiting her early recording days and literally resurfacing with an album greater than the sum of it's parts, an album that people who don't know her work will ask 'hey..this is gorgeous and intense, who is it?'

Afterglow is a celebration of everything that began with Touch and climaxed with Surfacing. It sonically attempts to answer what does an artist do when they have a mega-selling release and still maintain integrity as a songwriter and artist.

Fallen is an instant Sarah classic that bleeds into the amazing World on Fire that sounds like the creative child of both Solace and Fumbling. The next track, Stupid is an intense and passionate track that harkens back to B-Side's Dear God. This is aptly followed by the beautiful Drifting and the layered alto-soprano droll we all love that fumbles into Trainwreck, containing one my favourite sarah chorus' written to date and a sonic compliment to Surfacing's Black&White.

Answer is the Answer to Surfacing's Angel. Push is a tender love song that I have no comparison to make. Time, on the other hand, is a complex track filled with more layered vocals that I adore and rhythmically similar to Solace's Shelter. The album closes with Dirty Little Secret that can only be described as a cross between Surfacing's Full of Grace and B-Sides Song for a Winter's Night. If you love Joni Mitchell and Sarah, this song is an absolute delight.

So let the critics balk at this disc and let the die hard surfacing fans be disappointed. This an album for the fans who have appreciated all of Sarah's works, not just one album. After hearing so many elemnets of prior albums on this disc, I really feel it is journey back to take a step forward. The music world and lovers of music have waited long for this album to be released, and it is an absolute pleasure on my ears and my soul....like every single release this amazing artist has produced.

Upon buying and listening to Afterglow as soon as it was released I had a similar reaction to the majority of reviewers on this page: disappointment. It didn't catch me immediately and there didn't seem to be a stand-out track like Possession, Full of Grace or The Path of Thorns. It also seemed like a lot of the same after such a long hiatus during which Sarah lost her mother and gained a husband and child. Now that it's a good long while since I bought the album I couldn't have a more different reaction to it. I find myself playing it at least once a day and loving every single song.

The single Fallen is outstanding, bringing the themes of sin shown in Surfacing's Witness to a more individual perspective. The beauty of Sarah McLachlan is that she speaks of the most depressing, sad and worrying aspects of the world in such a subdued way that make her stand out from much of the female singer/songwriter dross that followed in her wake (notable exceptions being Leona Naess, Nerina Pallot and, surprisingly, Natalie Imbruglia's second album, all of which are brilliant). Whilst Sarah never was one to write songs that grabbed you directly, she has written a set of songs that gently wash over you until you become aware of the intimacy of every lyric and they won't leave your head for days. Saying that, Stupid is her most immediately catchy song to date and might remind some listeners of Sweet Surrender in this respect. This seems to see a return of the angry Sarah evoked so perfectly on her cover of XTC's Dear God. Train Wreck is another favourite and an obvious choice, alongside Stupid, for next single. The seemingly simple lyrics - 'I'm a train wreck waiting to happen, waiting for someone to come lift me off the tracks' - is so true to life of any kind of relationship that you realise is going to end in a painful mess somewhere down the line but can't seem to lift yourself out of it. My biggest problem with the album on initially listening to it was that Time, Push and Answer seemed to blend into each other too much and that perhaps Sarah had taken her efforts to produce a quiet nightime album a bit too far. However, just like her other albums, after a few listenings you can discern the differences and can't imagine why you thought they were alike in the first place. The lyrics are, characteristically, beautiful. A big complant from most people seems to be that Sarah is 'too happy', something which holds a little weight on a song such as Surfacing's I Love You (although this is immediately undercut by some of her most impressive vocals ever recorded) but doesn't really seem to apply much here. Sarah McLachlan's always been about pain and if you listen to World On Fire, Dirty Little Secret or Fallen you can't come away with any idea of happiness. Vocally Sarah is still on top, particularly on Perfect Girl, and can evince heartache without ever raising her voice.

Afterglow was an apparent return to the sound of Fumbling Towards Ecstasy and it's true that it comes across as kind of a crossbreed between that and Surfacing. Whilst it's not as good as the former, Sarah's masterpiece alongside Solace, it's probably better than Surfacing (though there's no one song that's quite as good as Full of Grace on here) and complements it perfectly. For all those who derrided Afterglow immediately, proclaiming they couldn't even listen to it all the way through, give it a chance. This is better than nearly everything else this year.

Dark and beautiful. Those are really the best terms to describe "Afterglow"... ten melancholy pop gems that showcase Sarah McLachlan's bewitching vocals and sad lyrics. It's easy to understand why the album is so downbeat in places; Sarah lost her mother and took a break to avoid burnout, and it shows in tracks like "Fallen","Drifting", "Dirty Little Secret", and the post-September 11 downer "World on Fire". But in spite of all the angst, the songs ring true; there are complicated arrangements and stirring melodic hooks that only begin to reveal themselves after several listens. The overall pace of the album is pretty even, with a pair of shimmering piano ballads ("Answer", "Dirty Little Secret"), a mellow jazz/funk tune "Train Wreck", and the sweeping shadowy pop of "Fallen", "Stupid" and "Drifting". Gone are the trip-hop textures of her earlier work; this album is more mature, sophisticated, and emotionally layered than earlier recordings. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before we hear these tunes on the soundtracks of "Alias" or "Smallville", unfortunately, but until VH-1 and angsty college kids claim them as their own, bathe in the dark beauty that is Sarah McLachlan's music.

- "Fumbling" is still her best work
- "Surfacing" is a runner up
- "Afterglow" is very slow moving, perhaps often boring
- Not her best work, not even comparable
- "Fallen" is the chosen strong song
- Vocal, as always...(perfect)
- Lyrical content: shallow, cliché, underachieved
- Production is top notch
- Performances were top notch
- Worth purchasing if a fan of hers
- Big disappointment for me personally.

<OTHER RECOMMENDED ALBUMS SIMILAR-GENRA WORTH PURCHACING>

* A Rush of Blood to the Head
* Jagged Little Pill
* Fallen From Grace
* The Very Best of Sheryl Crow
* Life for Rent

I was really looking forward to this album. Maybe that was part of the problem. Then again, I was waiting desperately for "Surfacing" to be released, and I got kind of dissapointed by that too. It's very possible that I'm being one of those 'elitist jerks' who whines about how things used to be 'back in the day,' but I have to say that I'm really not enjoying the direction that Sarah McLachlan is taking, musically.

There is something very much missing on this album. Something that's been slowly dissapearing since 1996's "Rarities, B-Sides, and Other Stuff". That missing element? Experimentation. I absolutely *adored* "Solace", "Fumbling Towards Ecstasy", "The Freedom Sessions", "Rarities, B-Sides, and Other Stuff", and various singles and one-offs that she did before 1998. There was such eclecticism and this amazing feeling of atmosphere. There was depth and texture to the backgrounds that totally set off and highlight Sarah's beautiful voice.

No, I didn't love every track on all of those CD's, but I appreciated them because there was variety. "Surfacing" still had a shadow of that, but mostly on the tracks released previously. The real stand-out tracks, for me, on "Surfacing" were "Full of Grace" and "Angel" (before it got played into the ground.) But with "Afterglow", the only track that really grabs me at all is "Fallen", and I'm guessing that's going to get over tired pretty quick, with all its radio play.

Don't get me wrong. The musicianship and vocals on "Afterglow" are really solid. I'm just really sad that both kind of blend into a monotone by the end of the album. I miss the experimentation and the mood that was so wonderfully present in her early to mid-1990's albums. I hope to hear them again one day.

Many reviews of this album have got it right--Sarah sounds downright uninspired. It's as if she doesn't quite believe what she's written. What I love about Sarah's previous work is the feeling that she is telling me private secrets about her life. I feel like "Afterglow" is one big lie--I know she isn't in a suffering relationship, so those types of songs fall flat for me.

"Afterglow" sounds like it could have been amazing had Sarah not experienced such trauma in her life. The first half of the album, I think is MUCH better than the second half. As a matter of fact, "Fallen" was completed in 2001, so that fact alone tells me that the earlier songs were finished in a creative mindset whereas the others were finished out of sheer "let's get this done."

I will say, however, that her voice is probably the most beautiful it has EVER been. But thanks to Mr. Marchand, it is buried beneath so many instruments and background vocals that it gets lost. I love Sarah's use of the cello and background enya-like vocals, but I do think that the effect gets a bit overdone at times.

As for Sarah's lyrics, I hate to admit this (as I am a HUGE, die-hard Sarah fan), but they are definitely juvenile in comparison to her earlier work. It's "Sarah-by-numbers" as a reviewer pointed out before. Add "reverie" and "unraveled," mix with background vocals, and--voila!--instant Sarah.

Although it may sound like I am bashing this album, I really do like it. I have been listening to it every day; it grows on me with each listen. My favorites are "Fallen," "World on Fire," "Stupid," "Drifting," "Answer" and "Time." I cannot stand "Push"--absolutely the worst song on the disc. I actually like all of the songs with the exception of "Push." The best track is "Time" by far. Beautiful melody, catchy chorus, good lyrics for the most part, and good singing. It kind of reminds me of a song that would be on "Solace."

Overall, I think this is worth picking up for the die-hard fan. If this is your first introduction to Sarah, I echo the other reviewers' sentiments--pick up "Fumbling Towards Ecstasy" or, my recommendation, "Rarities, B-sides, and Other Stuff."