Mi sorprende molto non trovare alcuna recensione di Sarah McLachlan in DeBaser, se non altro per il fatto che la sua "Angel" (contenuta in Surfacing del 1997) è stata propinata in tutte le salse, fra svariate colonne sonore e versioni con ospitate. Addirittura esiste una rilettura della nostra Syria (!). Ad ogni modo la mia scelta è caduta su questo Fumbling Towards Ecstasy, disco del 1994 che rappresenta per molti, me compreso, la vetta ancora insuperata di una carriera abbastanza altalenante. Ma ora un po' di biografia: Sarah McLachlan è stella del firmamento canadese già a 18 anni quando incide il primo e complesso Touch (1989). Polistrumentista, scrive e accompagna al piano e chitarra tutte le sue canzoni sotto l'egida produzione di Pierre Marchand. Del 1991 è Solace, decisamente un passo avanti per ispirazione e lirismo ( da studiare il brano "Terms"). Si arriva al 1994 ed in airplay c'è "Good Enough": appassionata guitar-ballad corredata di discreto video. Ci si accorge che Sarah è anche parecchio graziosa! Che fare? Approfondire? Decido di sì. Il disco si apre con "Possession" e scopro che la ragazza non disprezza un po' di synth. Tuttavia la versione nascosta solo piano e voce, piazzata a fine disco, è decisamente superiore all'intro. "Wait" e "Plenty" sono curate ma, a ragione di ciò che seguirà, meno impegnative. La strada verso l'estasi, infatti, si inerpica in "Mary" e "Elsewhere": passaggi armonici molto emozionanti sposati a testi veramente poetici. Con "Circle" la tensione emotiva cala un po' grazie ad un inizio veramente simpatico con risatina.. Nella seconda parte del disco Sarah, però, non scherza più. Lo si capisce dall'intensità del suono e delle parole di "Ice" e nella meravigliosa canzone di morte "Hold on". Anche "Ice Cream" smentisce un titolo fin troppo esplicito nelle intenzioni e ben si lega ai due pezzi finali "Fear" e la title track: due mantra ipnotici fra drum machine, archi e delicati vocalizzi. In chiusura oltre alla già citata Possession acustic il cd comprende una bellissima rivisitazione di Blue di Joni Mitchell.
Fumbling Towards Ecstasy (letteralmente: brancolando verso l'estasi) è un disco da avere poiché, sebbene sia meno immediato e privo di quelle affascinanti fioriture di voce che hanno dato più immediatezza ai dischi successivi facendole guadagnare molti favori e ben 2 grammies, rappresenta un lavoro molto pensato, lontano da qualsiasi logica di mercato e volutamente ostico.
Elenco tracce testi samples e video
01 Possession (04:37)
Listen as the wind blows from across the great divide
Voices trapped in yearning, memories trapped in time
The night is my companion, and solitude my guide
Would I spend forever here and not be satisfied?
And I would be the one
To hold you down
Kiss you so hard
I'll take your breath away
And after, I'd wipe away the tears
Just close your eyes dear
Through this world I've stumbled
So many times betrayed
Trying to find an honest word to find
The truth enslaved
Oh you speak to me in riddles
And you speak to me in rhymes
My body aches to breathe your breath
Your words keep me alive
And I would be the one
To hold you down
Kiss you so hard
I'll take your breath away
And after, I'd wipe away the tears
Just close your eyes dear
Into this night I wander
It's morning that I dread
Another day of knowing of
The path I fear to tread
Oh into the sea of waking dreams
I follow without pride
Cause nothing stands between us here
And I won't be denied
And I would be the one
To hold you down
Kiss you so hard
I'll take your breath away
And after, I'd wipe away the tears
Just close your eyes...
02 Wait (04:12)
Under a blackened sky
far beyond the glaring streetlights
sleeping on empty dreams
the vultures lie in wait
You lay down beside me then
you were with me every waking hour
so close I could feel your breath
When all we wanted was the dream
to have and to hold that precious little thing
like every generation yields
the new born hope unjaded by their years
Pressed up against the glass
I found myself wanting sympathy
but to be consumed again
oh I know would be the death of me
and there is a love that's inherently given
a kind of blindness offered to appease
and in that light of forbidden joy
oh I know I won't receive it
When all we wanted was the dream
to have and to hold that precious little thing
like every generation yields
the newborn hope unjaded by their years
You know if I leave you now
it doesn't mean that I love you any less
it's just the state I'm in
I can't be good to anyone else like this
When all we wanted was the dream
to have and to hold that precious little thing
like every generation yields
the new born hope unjaded by their years...
03 Plenty (04:04)
I looked into your eyes
they told me plenty
I already knew
you never felt a thing
so soon forgotten all that you do
in more than words I
tried to tell you
the more I tried I failed
I would not let myself believe
that you might stray
and I would stand by you
no matter what they'd say, I would have thought I'd be with you
until my dying day
until my dying day
I used to think my life
was often empty
a lonely space to fill
you hurt me more than
I ever would have imagined
you made my world stand still
and in that stillness
there was a freedom
I never felt before
I would not let myself believe
that you might stray
and I would stand by you
no matter what they'd say, I would have thought I'd be with you
until my dying day
until my dying day
04 Good Enough (05:04)
Hey your glass is empty
It's a hell of a long way home
Why don't you let me take you
It's no good to go alone
I never would have opened up
But you seemed so real to me
And after all the bullshit I've heard
It's refreshing not to see
I don't have to pretend
She doesn't expect it from me
So don't tell me I haven't been good to you
Don't tell me I have never been there for you
And just tell me why nothing is good enough
Hey little girl would you like some candy
Your momma said that it's okay
The door is open come on outside
No I can't come out today
It's not the wind that cracked your shoulder
And threw you to the ground
Who's there that makes you so afraid
You're shaken to the bone
And no I don't understand
You deserve so much more than this
So don't tell me why he's never been good to you
Don't tell me why he's never been there for you
Don't you know that why is simply not good enough
So just let me try and I will be good to you
Just let me try and I will be there for you
I'll show you why you're so much more than good enough
05 Mary (03:54)
Mary walks
down to the water's edge
and there she hangs her head
to find herself faded
a shadow of what she once was
She said "How long have I been sleeping
and why do I feel so old
why do I feel so cold
my heart is saying one thing but my body won't let go"
With trembling hands she reaches up
a stranger's flesh is offered
and I would be the last to know
I would be the last the let it show
I would be the last to go
Take her hand
she will lead you through the fire
give you back hope
and hope that you won't take too much
respecting what is left
she cradled us
she held us in her arms
unselfish in her suffering she could not understand
that no one seemed to have the time
to cherish what was given
and I would be the last to know
and I would be the last to let it show
I would be the last to go...
Mary walks...
06 Elsewhere (04:46)
I love the time and in between
the calm inside me
in the space where I can breathe
I believe there is a
distance I have wandered
to touch upon the years of
reaching out and reaching in
holding out holding in
I believe
this is heaven to no one else but me
and I'll defend it as long as I can be
left here to linger in silence
if I choose to
would you try to understand
I know this love is passing time
passing through like liquid
I am drunk in my desire...
but I love the way you smile at me
I love the way your hands reach out and hold me near...
I believe...
I believe
this is heaven to no one else but me
and I'll defend it as long as
I can be left here to linger in silence
if I choose to
would you try to understand
Oh the quiet child awaits the day when she can break free
the mold that clings like desperation
Mother can't you see I've got
to live my life the way I feel is right for me
might not be right for you but it's right for me...
I believe...
I believe
this is heaven to no one else but me
and I'll defend it as long as
I can be left here to linger in silence
if I choose to
would you try to understand it
I would like to linger here in silence
if I choose to
would you understand it
would you try to understand...
07 Circle (03:43)
There are two of us talking in circles
and one of us who wants to leave
in a world created for only us
an empty cage that has no key
don't you know we're working with flesh and blood
carving out of jealousy
Crawling into each other it's smothering
every little part of me
What kind of love is this that keeps me
hanging on
despite everything it's doing to me
what is this love that keeps me coming
back for more
when it will only end in misery
I know too many people unhappy
in a life from which they'd love to flee
watching others get everything offered
they're wanton for discovery
Oh my brother my sister my mother
you're loosing your identity
can't you see that it's you in the window
shining with intensity
What kind of love is this that keeps me
hanging on
despite everything it's doing to me
what is this love that keeps me coming
back for more
when it will only end in misery...
09 Hold On (04:10)
Hold on
Hold on to yourself
for this is gonna hurt like hell.
Hold on
Hold on to yourself.
You know that only time will tell
What is it in me that refuses to believe
this isn't easier than the real thing.
My love
you know that you're my best friend.
You know that I'd do anything for you
and my love
let nothing come between us
my love for you is strong and true.
Am I in heaven here or
am I...
At the crossroads I am standing.
So now you're sleeping peaceful
I lie awake and pray
that you'll be strong tomorrow
and will see another day
and we will praise it
and love the light that brings a smile
across your face.
Oh god
if you're out there won't you hear me.
I know we're never talked before
and oh god
the man I love is leaving
won't you take him when he comes to your door.
Am I in heaven here or
am I in hell
at the crossroads I am standing.
So now you're sleeping peaceful
I lie awake and pray
that you'll be strong tomorrow
and we will see another day
and we will praise it
and love the light that brings a smile
So now you're sleeping peaceful
I lie awake and pray
that you'll be strong tomorrow
and we will see another day
and we will praise it
and love the light that brings a smile
across your face
Hold on
hold on to yourself
for this is gonna hurt like hell.
10 Ice Cream (02:44)
Your love is better than ice cream
Better than anything else that I've tried
And your love is better than ice cream
Everyone here knows how to cry
And it's a long way down
It's a long way down
It's a long way down to the place
Where we started from
Your love is better than chocolate
Better than anything else that I've tried
And oh, your love is better than chocolate
Everyone here knows how to fight
It's a long way down
It's a long way down
It's a long way down to the place
Where we started from...
11 Fear (03:57)
Morning smiles
like the face of a newborn child
innocent unknowing
Winter's end
promises of a long lost friend
speaks to me of comfort
but I fear
I have nothing to give
I have so much to lose
here in this lonely place
tangled up in our embrace
there's nothing I'd like
better than to fall
but I fear I have nothing to give
Wind in time
rapes the flower trembling on the vine
nothing yields to shelter it
from above
they say temptation will destroy our love
The neverending hunger
but I fear
I have nothing to give
I have so much to lose
here in this lonely place
tangled up in our embrace
there's nothing I'd like
better than to fall
but I fear
I have nothing to give
I have so much to lose
I have nothing to give
We have so much to lose...
12 Fumbling Towards Ecstasy (04:52)
All the fear has left me now
I'm not frightened anymore
It's my heart that pounds beneath my flesh
it's my mouth that pushes out this breath
and if I shed a tear I won't cage it
I won't fear love
and if I feel a rage I won't deny it
I won't fear love
Companion to our demons
they will dance, and we will play
With chairs, candles, and cloth
making darkness in the day
It will be easy to look in or out
upstream or down without a thought
and if I shed a tear I won't cage it
I won't fear love
and if I feel a rage I won't deny it
I won't fear love
Peace in the struggle
to find peace
comfort on the way
to comfort
and if I shed a tear I won't cage it
I won't fear love
and if I feel a rage I won't deny it
I won't fear love
I won't fear love
I won't fear love...
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