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The Battajlion • Page 3
McLachlan’s latest album gives old songs new Freedom
Sarah McLachlan
By Erin Hill
The Battalion
Sarah McLachlan
The Freedom Sessions
Nettwerk Records
(out of five)
“I love the Fumbling Towards Ecstasy
recording and wouldn’t change a thing, but I
love these versions as reminders of where the
songs started and of the various paths we wan
dered down to discover their identities. It was a
joy watching them grow” — Sarah McLachlan
Sarah McLachlan’s breakthrough eight-
song EP The Freedom Sessions is just that — a
breakthrough. It contains a multi-media track
featuring over 30 minutes of music, video, pho
tographs and information.
Those eight recordings are variations on
some of the tracks from her platinum 1993 al
bum Fumbling Towards Ecstasy. Many of the
selections began as acoustic pieces, and were
only later changed into the versions that were
released with the album.
McLachlan and company toyed from the be
ginning of the entire album with the idea of
putting out two records — one of the original
acoustic songs and another with more finely-
produced or layered songs from the beginning
of the recording process. That notion has come
true in The Freedom Sessions.
The collection is a nice mix of experimenta
tions. Some songs became more complex, while
others are simplified. McLachlan tosses in
some concert versions, a jam session recorded
after “an evening of an immeasurable quantity
of red wine” and an early demo version.
The live, fun version of “Ice Cream,” one of
the lighter tracks on the album, sounds just
the way she performs it in concert, with her
keyboardist playing bass, her drummer by her
side and a heavy dose of vocal improvisation.
“Ol’ 55,” the only song not found on Fum
bling, was released on the Boys On The Side
soundtrack, and is a mellow, soulful cover of
Tom Waits’ traveling tune.
As a real treat, McLachlan includes two new
versions of her current MTV offering “Hold On.”
The song as released on Fumbling, is a dri
ving, rhythmic ode to a dying lover. But one of
the versions, probably the best track on the al
bum, is a fragile piano version, with only
Sarah and her keyboard.
The other version is just acoustic guitar and
vocals, and has a much more folksy feel than the
album’s rock version.
This impressive display of McLachlan’s ver
satility — taking one song and come up with
three songs — is found repeatedly throughout
the album.
She’s been known to say that if a song can’t
stand alone with just one vocal and guitar, then
it probably isn’t a very good song. Well, nearly
every track on this album passes that test with
flying colors. No matter how she records them,
changes them or experiments with them, they
are a pleasure to listen to.
But it is through the addition of the multi-
media track that McLachlan proves that she is
ahead of her time — truly an artist who uses
“breakthrough technology” in innovative ways.
The 30-minute long track is visually breath
taking, and technologically impressive. The as
sortment of video, audio and interview seg
ments provides a wealth of interesting and
pertinent information about McLachlan and
her music.
She uses the medium to spread her message
in am effective way, and sets an example that is
sure to be followed by other artists in the future.
She rises above the constraints of a typical
album, and finds a better way to showcase her
talents, while still using the CD format.
The listener will just sit back, open-
mouthed, and enjoy.
Freedom Sessions opens doors for interactive-CD technology
«T T 1
I 1 I there.
JL J-This is
Sarah McLach
lan. Welcome to
The Freedom
Sessions. Click
on any icon to be
gin. Have fun ...”
That’s all you
hear after you open up the multi-me
dia portion of Sarah McLachlan’s new
album The Freedom Sessions.
The collage in front of you is cer
tainly eye-catching, from the iguana in
the right-hand comer, to the dangling
compass hanging from the middle, to
the plants bordering the yellow rectan
gle.
The word “Sarah” is written across
the middle of this work of art, and a
hand-drawn sun sits beneath the
name.
The soprano voice fades, and an ar
row appears on the computer screen.
You are now ready to experience
multi-media portion of Sarah McLach
lan’s new album. The Freedom Ses
sions.
The CD, which boasts over 30 min
utes of QuickTime movies, videos,
songs, concert footage, interviews with
McLachlan and numerous photo col
lages of her and her band in cities
across the United States and Canada.
It is like a photo album extraordi
naire, and so much more, compatible
with both Mac and Windows, to boot.
The word slick jumps to
mind.
Click first on the passport
icon and a photo of McLachlan
doing a benefit concert in Thai
land comes to the stage. Her
voice starts in again, and she
explains about a 1992 trip to
Thailand and Cambodia, with
an organization called “World
Vision.”
Click on the next icon, and a screen
with information about World Vision
appears. All the while, McLachlan’s
music plays in the background.
A different icon brings a screen with
the covers of her albums. Further
searching leads you to a song list. A
highlighted song leads to the actual
playing of the song and the screening
of the video.
They are the same videos that MTV
plays, except on your computer screen,
instead of the TV.
Exploring the tour portion of the
multi-media track takes you to differ
ent cities across the country where
McLachlan has toured. When the pho
tos of that particular concert appear,
McLachlan tells a little about that
community.
“I could talk about Minneapolis.
Minneapolis is great,” she says. And on
the screen you see a picture of the
State Theater, the Minneapolis hall
she performed in.
Austin, which McLachlan describes
as “amazing,” is also shown through a
photo collage, and McLachlan reveals
that Texas is one of her favorite places
to play.
It’s almost like chatting on the tele
phone with her, except that you are
staring at vivid photographs and lis
tening to her music while she talks.
When you click on “Vancouver,
British Columbia,” McLachlan tells
about her homecoming there — the de
light she feels in playing with a home-
court advantage.
A photo collage appears, and a smil
ing Sarah is in the middle of the stage,
in front of thousands of delirious fans.
It’s unlike anything you’ve seen. It’s
unlike anything you’ve heard. And it
won’t be a secret much longer.
The package that McLachlan has
put together wows even the most skep
tical, bowls over even the least enthu
siastic about McLachlan’s music. Her
multi-media track is truly visionary,
and rewarding for the fan.
McLachlan will not be alone in al
bums like this in the future, that’s for
sure.
Once the word gets out to the gener
al public that technology like this ex
ists, and can be used in a music album,
the general public won’t settle for any
thing else.
Already, the artist formerly known
as Prince has released an interactive
CD-ROM program that includes snip
pets of performances, photos, Quick
Time movies and all of the other jazz.
Others can’t be far behind. The CD-
ROM mul
ti-media
track is a
fan’s
dream, for
it allows
the listener
to interact
with the
artist.
That
seems to be
a big push
in today’s
world. More
and more
artists are
using tech
nology to
connect
with their
fans.
Through
computers
they become accessible, be it Michael
Stipe participating in America Online,
or Aerosmith broadcasting a concert
over the Internet.
Some musicians have home pages
on the World Wide Web, with graphics,
photos and sounds available to those
who are willing to download.
The web has also become a cyber
market of sorts, with merchandise dis
plays and catalogs available for the
asking. The possibilities for sales are
endless as well.
The various Internet news groups
services offer bulletin boards on every
kind of performer out there, with cate
gories like alt.music.Canadian.alterna
tive. or alt.music.progressive.
There is something for everyone,
and everyone seems to be trying to get
in on the action.
Something’s brewing. Things are
changing.
Just as they promised, the Internet
and advancements in computer tech
nology are changing the face of our so
ciety, from government to business to
education.
And now to entertainment.
White
Heart brings unique mix of
music and message to Rudder Auditorium tonight
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By Shelly Hall
The Battauon
W ith a message of hope and love.
White Heart, a Christian rock
band, will perform tonight at 7
p.m. in Rudder Auditorium.
Rick Florien, White Heart's lead vocal
ist, said the band’s music is similar to oth
er classic rock bands with a message
about life.
“We’re musicians like everybody else,”
Florien said. “Char music is about life and
struggles and putting into practice the
love that God calls us to.”
Florien said that faith forms the foun
dation of their music.
‘The foundation is our relationship
with God through his son Jesus Christ,”
Florien said.
An example of that foundation is in
White Heart's song “70 Times Seven”.
“It’s all about forgiveness,” Florien
said. “If you let go and forgive, the free
dom you feel inside is well worth the sac
rifice.”
Florien, who started out driving a
truck for Christian singer Michael W.
Smith, said he joined White Heart in
1985.
Florien said White Heart members be
lieve in their songs because of the forgive
ness they have experienced in their own
lives.
“Some used drugs and alcohol and
some were involved in abusive situa
tions,” Florien said. “Therefore, a lot of
our songs are about the change that
needs to come in our lives daily.”
Because of that change, Florien said
White Heart performs tonight at Rudder Auditorium.
White Heart gears its songs to people who
may not know the message of hope.
“We try to write our songs for people
who don’t have a relationship with God,”
Florien said. “Our message is — it’s OK to
be at a place where you don’t care about
God — so let’s talk about it.”
White Heart recently signed with Curb
Records, a mainstream label, and Florien
said it will give more people an opportuni
ty to hear the band’s message.
“Signing with Curb Records excites me
because our music will reach more peo
ple,” Florien said. “They haven’t asked us
to change a thing.”
Florien said signing on with Curb will
allow larger audiences to hear the joy in
their lives.
“People will hear our music and the
words,” Florien said. “I love where I am. I
want others to experience the joy
I have because of Christ.”
The Highlands, the name of
White Heart's latest CD, ex
presses the joy about living a dif
ferent life, Florien said.
“We’re on the tale end of The
Highlands Tour,” Florien said.
“The Highlands album is about
seeing the world with different
eyes. Change can be perma
nent.”
Florien said the main mes
sage White Heart hopes to get
across is the joy in love and for
giveness.
“It’s OK to question why you
even exist and its OK for people to
go through a lot of different questions to
answer those questions,” Florien said.
“We hope to be a catalyst for love and giv
ing so that they may live life to the
fullest.”
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