Sarah McLachlan - Mirrorball
Performance
Production
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Sarah McLachlan - Mirrorball
Performance
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The queen of Lilith Fair in her first concert DVD since being crowned the new idol of pop balladry. I happen to much prefer the "pre-royalty" version of Sarah McLachlan, and in this performance I find her to be growing in the wrong direction, much like on her last two albums Surfacing and Afterglow. I fell in love with Sarah's enchanting voice, musicianship, and songwriting talents after first hearing her amazing Fumbling Towards Ecstasy album. I think I listened to that album every day in 1994, when it first came out, and it is still one of my favorites to this day. Unfortunately, I have been gradually falling out of love with Sarah thanks to her mediocre Surfacing, and even more mediocre Afterglow albums. What was most disturbing to me about this concert, is that she has transformed from a unpretentious, down-to-earth musician into, basically, Celine Dion! What is with the stupid feather boa, cutesy short hairdo, sparkling blue mascara, and bright prom dress she wore for this concert? Damn I hate cabaret! As much as I am disappointed with the new style and direction she has taken for this particular tour, there are still enough redeeming qualities in this DVD that make it worth watching. The most redeeming quality of this DVD is that almost every song from Fumbling Towards Ecstasy is played - the only exception being "Circles". This was a welcome surprise, as I had figured she would stick primarily to her latter two releases. I may be being slightly harsher in this review than it deserves, probably because I also own the Fumbling Towards Ecstasy concert video, which, unfortunately, is only out on VHS tape. This is a far superior performance than Mirrorball, and with any luck it will soon have a proper transfer to DVD. The thing that just couldn't escape me while watching Mirrorball is that I preferred the studio versions of many of the songs over these particular live performances. This was definitely not the case with the Fumbling video. Here she often plays a more subdued, mellower performance of some of the songs. Concerts are supposed to make the studio versions come alive more. Sure, some of the tranquil ballads should maintain their same arrangement, but the more up-tempo songs like "Plenty" and "Mary" should be more loose and vibrant. Check out the incredible, rockin' version of "Mary" she does on the Freedom Sessions album, and the Fumbling video. That is how she should perform some of these songs live. She finally loosened up more towards the end on "Into the Fire" and "Possession", and they sounded great. Her band also seemed rather bored, and rarely infused any excitement into the show. Sarah had very little interaction with them, and they were more behind the scenes than they should have been. Background vocalist Camille Henderson performed great, and she continues to be an integral part of Sarah's sound. Sarah and she melded some of the more complex and layered vocals, such as on "Elsewhere", beautifully. The audio mix could have been better. It sounded like the band were all mixed together in the background, and then there was Sarah's vocals way up front. You could not really hear the guitarists and bassist as distinctly as they should have been. It wasn't bad, it just didn't take full advantage of the 5.1 surround mix capabilities. The video quality was decent, as it was recorded on film instead of videotape. This provided for some graininess and lack of clarity, especially during the low lit shots. The camera work was very good. There were not too many quick changes, and they perfectly captured the intimate mood of the show. There are enough good things about this concert to deserve it a decent rating. Firstly, Sarah's singing is still magnificent. She is truly one of the best female vocalists in the business, and her strength and range are awesome. Just listen to her performances of "Fear" and you will be blown away. She is a multitalented, singer, songwriter, guitarist, and pianist who I don't want to see turn into Celine Dion. With all due respect to Celine, she has a great voice, but just look at what she is doing now in Las Vegas. My standards are justifiably higher for Sarah McLachlan, and I know she has a much better performance than Mirrorball within her. Reviewed by Paul M. Roy - May 2004 |
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Running Time: 114 Minutes |
DVD Release Date - October 1999 |