Search - Sarah Mclachlan :: Remixed

Undermining the voice

Mr. Richard K. Weems | Fair Lawn, NJ USA | 06/08/2007

(2 out of 5 stars)

"I am not one to instantly disdain music revisions and curse them for not being clones of the original stuff I know and love. Hell, I still think that Un-Led-Ed by Dread Zeppelin is one of the best albums ever while I remain a solid fan of the Led (in case you don't know: Dread does reggae versions of Led Zeppelin songs while being fronted by an Elvis impersonator). So I do think that music can be revised and reheard.



And here it is: the But...



But I think this remix disc seriously undermines the core strength of Sarah McLachlan's music--her voice.



Odd to say, because for almost all of these tracks, the voice is all that remains of the original song. This disc is just another exhibit of a belief I have held for a long time, which is that electronic music is ultimately a very limited medium, and that the richness and variety of tones of media as ancient as percussion and the human voice will always outweigh electronics in spades...unless the electronics are so intrusive and underdeveloped that even a voice as rich and multi-layered as McLachlan's is put off-kilter by it.



One track that stood out to me as a good example of the limits of electronic music is the Dusted remix of "Angel." The rigid, limited rhythms of the electronic beats just can't come near addressing the more complex rhythms of McLachlan's voice, and as a result, both of them sound out of place and a little silly (one more than the other, obviously).



It's good to know that Sarah McLachlan isn't a purist or a separatist and doesn't want to express in one area of music alone (although, let's face it, would L7 have been SUCH a bad choice for Lilith?), but this particular effort set her voice back too much.

"