The first Sarah McLachlan album that I bought was 'Fumbling towards ecstasy' back in the fall of 1996. So I started with her third studio album and quickly bought two other albums from her it was 'Touch' (her debut) and 'The Freedom sessions'. In 1997 Sarah released her fourth studio album 'Surfacing' this is the next album that I got hold of. Early this year I bought her second album 'Solace'. So at the moment I missing two albums to make my collection of her albums complete - 'Rarities and b-sides and other stuff' and 'Mirrorball'.

Her debut album from 1988 'Touch' I got some 9 years after it was released so it was a bit different to only other thing that I heard of her before 'Fumbling..'. The sound is quite different than 'Fumbling..' and after I also listen to 'Solace' I can guess how she has develop her sound from the first album to the last one. When I first listen to this album I notice how it differed from my only experience her before. Don't get me wrong that I don't like the album I do. If you listen to the song 'Trust' that I think sounds little like the music on her later albums. I have read somewhere that this album has some Celtic influences maybe it is true. If I compare this album with albums that I have with Loreena McKennitt so I can see why.

Her next album that was released in 1991 was the first one that Pierre Marchand produced. He then produced her rest of her studio albums to this date. This album takes some listening before it gets you. On this album I hear Sarah McLachlan has developed her music towards the music that she made on 'Fumbling towards ecstasy'. The album is the connection between her first album and her later albums. My favourite song on the album is 'Into the fire', 'Back door man', 'Shelter' and 'Home'. I think it sometimes when you buy an album from an artist some years after it has been released you miss the freshness of the sound that you normally get when it is new. This I think is the case with both her two first albums that I got from her. This and that I have 'Fumbling towards ecstasy' to compare with. This is like the first thing you heard from The Beatles was 'Sgt Pepper's lonely heats club' and the listen to some of their first albums. It is a big difference between them both is god in their own way.

Now to 'Fumbling towards ecstasy' this is on of the best albums that I have. I remember the first time that I listening to it and my first impression of it was that this is a really good album. It sounded so fresh to me. I got into the music right away. Normally in my experience you don't at the first listening really like I did with this album. For the rest of the fall of 1996 I couldn't get enough of the album. I played it over and over again. It is something with how she sings that really I really like. I know when I hear someone that sings and get me this feeling. I have three example of it. The first one is of course Sarah McLachlan when I heard her song 'Fear'. The second is when I heard Tori Amos 'Silent all this year' I did know directly that Tori was something that I liked and the last example is the German band 'Rainbirds' with their song 'Two faces' that immediately liked. So what is it that then? I am not sure but I think is that is something in how they sing together with the lyrics. So what are my favourite songs on the album? I have to say all of them but if I have to name one song I have to say 'Good enough'.

The Freedom sessions is an album with songs from 'Fumbling towards ecstasy' but in a more low key versions. On my version of this CD I also have a videos from her previous singles. What can I say about this album then? Of course the songs I know from before but it's nice to hear the low-key sound that makes a change to the original version on 'Fumble towards ecstasy'.

Surfacing starts with 'Building a mystery' - a brilliant song that is as good as any of her song on 'fumbling..'. It's now four years (1997) since 'Surfacing' was released and it still sounds fresh. Maybe that it sounds fresh to me is that I have not listened to for a while (some months). The music feels like more produced than her previous albums. Maybe this something that I imagine or maybe it's something else? Still the album has lots of good songs like 'Building a mystery', 'I love you', and many more. 'Full of grace' is my favourite song on this album together with 'Building a mystery'. Many of the songs have been featured in movies the last four years.