Sarah McLachlan and Arista

[<@EDDIE.MIT.EDU:wonga@ee470.EE.McGill.CA>]

Hi!

In my last post I promised I would say something about what was
happening with Sarah McLachlan and Arista Records. I'll be posting my
impressions of this matter, which are based on interviews of her by
Brent Bambury (of Brave New Waves) and Stu Jeffries (of Good Rockin'
Tonite) on CBC radio and television. All of this is from memory and
could be WRONG!!

She said that when they went into the studio, her producer (Pierre
Marchand) decided to throw out the demos they had so far. When Arista's
deadline for the album came, they only had 1/4 of the album finished,
and it was in worse shape than the demos. After this, Arista kept
pushing her to finish it. She also said that Arista kept asking her to
make more single oriented songs and that the pressure from Arista was
bothering her. She had Nettwerk speaking on her behalf while she was
finishing the album. I think that she was also running out of money to
make the album. Pierre Marchand must have asked his friends to lend him
their home studios. That is why the album is recorded in Morin Heights
(near Montreal) and New Orleans as well as in Vancouver where she lives.
When the album was finished, it was about half a year late, I think. 

IMHO!!!
So I guess Arista was irritated because she was late and didn't listen
to them. I don't know how well _Touch_ did in the states, but I guess it
didn't do very well. Arista might be thinking that _Solace_ is not be
worth releasing. It sounds quite different when compared to _Touch_,
mostly acoustic instruments and a folk influenced sound. Only one or two
of the songs are "pop" enough to do well as singles. Maybe Arista thinks
it would sell worse than _Touch_.

Could anyone tell me how successful she is in the US?
Vickie, you said she had a nine album contract. Could you tell me more
about this?

Anyways, _Solace_ is doing well up here in Canada. Since it was released
in July, it has sold 60000 copies. (I think 'gold' is 50k here) The
second single _Into the Fire_ has been out for about 2 weeks. When
_Solace_ is finally released in the States, this will probably be the
first single. I've forgotten exactly what else is on it but there are
different versions of two other songs: _Black_ from _Solace_ and
_Steaming_ from _Touch_ I think. They were recorded for Brave New Waves
either with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra or in their own studio. I'm
pretty sure that the version of _Black_ was with the VSO.

Vickie, did you say that none of her videos have been released in the
States? She has made 5 videos in all. I'll describe them in the next
post.

Also, Pierre Marchand produces for Kate and Anna McGarrigle. Could this
partially explain the change in style, Vickie?

Berton Wong
temporarily using wonga@ee470.ee.mcgill.ca
Undergraduate UNIX Lab, EE,
McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada