Sarah McLachlan - Afterglow (Merged thread) (1 Viewer)

[Patrick Sun]

Here's a link to the video for "Fallen".

And you can hear the whole album here (provided you have Windows Media Player).

 

[Patrick Sun]

After listening to the new album a few times, here are my favorite songs for now:

Fallen
World on Fire
Trainwreck
Answer
Time

 

[JohnE]

Jeez, maybe it's just me, but this cd feels really blah. I've listened to it twice now, and so far I'm really let down. It just seems to lack any...."vibe"? I'm not sure what to call it, but it feels like it's lacking something. I'm really hoping this is going to be one of those cd's that grows on me.:frowning:

 

[kamyiu]

same here. i wish she'd toss out the formula. dullsville.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Entertainment Weekly gave it a B-, but also thought it was lacking in ways, like the musicians were tiptoeing around her when they were playing their instruments. I guess "Afterglow" has a sedated feel to the album as a whole. But I still like about half of the album's songs.

 

[Greg Black]

To me, the album just doesn't have enough memorable songs. On surfacing, the melodies of songs like 'Adia' and 'Sweet Surrender' were stuck in my head for days. This new album is sorely lacking anything like that.

 

[Marc Colella]

A friend lent me the CD which he got early, and I gave it a few spins.

I agree that most of the songs aren't very memorable.
There aren't any bad songs on here, but the only song that I really like is Fallen. It was smart for them to have it as the first single release of the CD.

With Surfacing, there were such memorable tunes as:

Bulding a Mystery
Sweet Surrender
Adia
Do What You Have To Do
Angel

Surfacing was a very good CD, but I don't think McLachlan will release anything as good as Fumbling Towards Ecstasy. As much as I love Fallen, I have to say that Afterglow is a big dissapointment.

I guess I'll wait for Fiona Apple's next release. Very anxious to hear that one. Other than that, there's not much else I'm looking forward to.

 

[CraigL]

That's really interesting because I've been obsessed with Time...and ESPECIALLY Answer. Radio will kill Answer. It's absolutely stunning.

 

[L. Anton Dencklau]

..

 

[JohnE]

For myself I don't hate it, I just don't think it's her best effort. It just seems to be missing some "zing"!

I think Fallen is the best cut, with Time, Answer & Perfect Girl being my other favorites so far. But overall the best songs on this cd sound like the weakest songs from her other works.

I agree bring on the new Fionna Apple. It seems like I've been waiting for that forever too.

 

[RobBenton]

Not all albums have to have zing.. sometimes it nice to have just a nice mellow album and maybe she wanted to release one like that.

 

[JohnE]

Not all albums have to have zing.. sometimes it nice to have just a nice mellow album and maybe she wanted to release one like that.

I don't really get this argument? I happen to really like nice mellow albums. As a matter of fact I tend to prefer mellow to upbeat. And I would consider all of her albums to be fairly mellow. It's not the fact that it's mellow that I have a problem with but that it's boring, IMO. It feels like she wrote the album on auto-pilot. It just sounds very uninspired to me.

 

[Marc Colella]

I agree with JohnE.

It has nothing to do with "mellow" vs. "zing".

Most songs just don't hit home with me, and (as was mentioned) aren't as inspired.

I've given it another couple spins and Answer is starting to grow on me.

I'll give it a few more spins to ensure I've given it an honest effort - but usually if I don't find much value at this point, the odds are low that I will later on.

 

[Dave Bennett]

Not sure if this one will be a buy or not for me. Fallen is a great single, sounds very much like Solace/Fumbling(my two favorite Sarah albums). I've not had a chance to hear more than the one minute samples of the other songs.Either way, even if I don't buy the album, I'll definiately be purchasing Fallen from the iTunes store. Great song and a cool video. It's good to see Sarah returning to her somber melancholy sound. Not that I didn't enjoy her more up beat songs(Ice Cream, Black and White, or her excellent cover of Ol' 55) but I just thing the darker not as sappy songs are what she does best.
Tonight I popped in Fumbling and listened to Possesion for the first time in a long while. I'd forgotten what an amazing song that is. It was the first time I'd listened to it on my new audio system and it sounded better than I'd remembered.

 

[Tommy G]

I've only heard one song so far on the radio and that's the way I wanted it. I'll pick it up today no matter what because I could listen to Sarah just hum and it would send chills up my spine. Anyway, it must be tough to constantly be putting out good stuff and to continue to be creative especially after getting married and having a kid. Just cutting her some slack. I know, I'm a wimp when it comes to being a Sarah critic.

 

[John Berggren]

I haven't heard if there will be an SACD or DVD-A for this release. You'd think there should be as popular as Sarah is. Anyone know?

 

[Patrick Sun]

I think there is a possibility for a DVD-A release.

 

[AimeeM]

This is probably her best album to date. I didn't like Surfacing as much as Fumbling Towards Ecstasy. I think Afterglow blows them all away. I got my copy yesterday and I can't stop listening to it.

 

[L. Anton Dencklau]

..

 

[CraigL]

Just got back from the Oxygen concert...

Set List:

Avril did 4 songs. I hate her so I don't care to list them. But she covered Knockin' On Heavens Door.

Sarah's Set List:

Building A Mystery (complete with the "fu*ked up")
Fallen
Dirty Little Secret
Push (with Sean Ashby and Ash)
Ice Cream (w/ Sean and Ash)
Angel

Then they had to re-set because they needed to do 2 songs over. During Push a cameraman fell over and made a very loud crash. Dunno why they did Ice Cream over.

In any case, while they were setting up some people stage left yelled for Sarah to do a little Possession. So she played about a quarter of it and Ash played a little along with her. She stopped and then they did Push and Ice Cream over. Actually...she tried to do Push again and screwed it up and had to start yet again.

She was amazingly adorable. I just hope they show the whole concert. Push was absolutely adorable. Sarah and Ash were staring at each other.

Make sure you check it out!