Rating: 
Summary: "1989 ~ 1998"
Review: I bought this DVD because I like "Sweet Surrender" a lot. Having watched this video collection, I realized her early songs are not really my taste. Her voice became so mature and beautiful now, it makes a big contrast to her old style. The worst thing is, some of the very old videos are in pretty bad quality, just like VHS or worse. I like her new videos a lot better, they are in pretty decent DVD quality("Building a mistery", "Sweet Surrender", "Adia"). I wish this DVD playing sequence was "1998 ~ 1989", instead of "1989 ~ 1998".
Rating:
Summary: "1989 ~ 1998"
Review: I bought this DVD because I like "Sweet Surrender" a lot. Having watched this video collection, I realized her early songs are not really my taste. Her voice became so mature and beautiful now, it makes a big contrast to her old style. The worst thing is, some of the very old videos are in pretty bad quality, just like VHS or worse. I like her new videos a lot better, they are in pretty decent DVD quality("Building a mistery", "Sweet Surrender", "Adia"). I wish this DVD playing sequence was "1998 ~ 1989", instead of "1989 ~ 1998".
Rating: 
Summary: What is up
Review: I have a toshiba 3108 and could not get my player to read the dvd. Amazon was awesome and sent me another dvd to try. That one did not work either. I got my money back...regards
Rating:
Summary: same as Video Collection 1989-1998?
Review: I ordered this hoping it was something new. However, what I received was "Sarah McLachlan Video Collection 1989-1998".
Rating: 
Summary: Don't hate her because she's beautiful.
Review: I should probably start by saying that I am a relative "newbie" Sarah McLachlan fan. I had never heard of her before I saw The Brothers McMullen on video, but I know a beautiful voice when I hear one. The first CD that I bought was Surfacing, because I couldn't get enough of Building A Mystery and Sweet Surrender on the Radio. Perhaps I'm atypical, but my favorite (studio) album of hers is Touch (the 3rd one I purchased), and I think the videos from that one are pretty good overall. So what if all she does in the first one (Vox) is stand there and look beautiful? That was the late '80s and music video was still a relatively new medium, and it's not like they had TITANIC's budget for that baby. However if you buy this, you should definitely get it on DVD not VHS, since the four additional videos (her most recent) are about the best ones on there. Sweet Surrender is my favorite of all--it's just visually stunning, and it's one of my favorite songs. The only reason I give the DVD 4 stars instead of 5 is it could have had a few more extras, but overall I'm very pleased with it. I like the way the menu allows you to watch each video separately, and then shows you which album the song is from.
Rating:
Summary: Don't hate her because she's beautiful.
Review: I should probably start by saying that I am a relative "newbie" Sarah McLachlan fan. I had never heard of her before I saw The Brothers McMullen on video, but I know a beautiful voice when I hear one. The first CD that I bought was Surfacing, because I couldn't get enough of Building A Mystery and Sweet Surrender on the Radio. Perhaps I'm atypical, but my favorite (studio) album of hers is Touch (the 3rd one I purchased), and I think the videos from that one are pretty good overall. So what if all she does in the first one (Vox) is stand there and look beautiful? That was the late '80s and music video was still a relatively new medium, and it's not like they had TITANIC's budget for that baby. However if you buy this, you should definitely get it on DVD not VHS, since the four additional videos (her most recent) are about the best ones on there. Sweet Surrender is my favorite of all--it's just visually stunning, and it's one of my favorite songs. The only reason I give the DVD 4 stars instead of 5 is it could have had a few more extras, but overall I'm very pleased with it. I like the way the menu allows you to watch each video separately, and then shows you which album the song is from.
Rating: 
Summary: AWESOME!! SARAH McLACHLAN RULZ!!!!!!!!!!
Review: If u love Sarah like me, then you'll love this video. U get all of her music videos from her earlier days from her first CD Touch, to her 1994 phenomenon Fumbling Towards Ecstasy. And videos from Solace as well. Even if you're not a Sarah fan, u will be after seeing this video and seeing how wonderful she really is.
Rating:
Summary: Chronically the musical growth of Sarah McLachlan
Review: It is interesting to me to see how the visual images in the fifteen music videos spanning the career of Sarah McLachlan from 1989-1998 reflect the musical growth of the Canadian singer-songwriter. There was a reason that her career exploded with the "Fumbling Towards Ecstasy" album and McLachlan has often talked about how it was not until that point that she really knew what she was doing with the lyrics of her songs.
The first four videos come from her debut album "Vox" and offer a series of completely different presentations of McLachlan. The Canadian version of "Vox" offers a fountain of water spurting in front of the singer, whose bright red hair and clothing reminds me of "Ah-Ha" for some reason. Contrast this with the American version of "Vox," where the hair is different in both style and color or "Steaming," where McLachlan is all vamped up, wearing long gloves and clutching a microphone in a strange lounge act. The video for "Ben's Song" has the virtue of simplicity, as befits the subject matter (the death of a young child McLachlan knew) shot in black & white with McLachlan on piano and someone on upright bass, but it will remind you of John Lennon's "Imagine" video and again the singer has another look (and too much lipstick).
With the tracks from her second album, "Solace," you can tell McLachlan is striving for a more mature and cohesive image. With "The Path of Thorns (Terms)" she sings the song naked in a golden half-light while a couple of ballet dancers depict the breakup of which she sings in shades of blue. "Into the Fire" specifically continues these elements: McLachlan is again singing in the nude, apparently covered in mud, shot totally in blue light. The other visual thread has images of McLachlan running through the forest, as both an adult and a child. Washing off the mud we return again to the emphasis on golden light (the song talks about walking "into the fire" but substitutes water images instead of flames throughout). You do not often see a pair of videos that are so visually linked in terms of key elements like this.
"Drawn to the Rhythm" is the most artistic of the videos in the entire collection. Short in black & white and letterboxed we again have the juxtaposition of the singer singing and visual images that suggest the meaning of the song, in this case people frolicking by the side of the sea. More than most of her videos, these images are on point with regards to the lyrics being sung, without getting lost in rampant symbolism. At this point McLachlan's hair is long and curly, which is how I think most of us first remember being aware of her as a singer.
Aesthetics continue to play a part in the videos for "Fumbling Towards Ecstasy." The Canadian version of "Possession" again offers bright golden light and the mostly religious imagery will remind you a lot of R.E.M.'s classic video for "Losing My Religion." However, knowing that this song was inspired by a fan's obsession, it is ironic that McLachlan goes in a completely different direction with the video "story."
The video for "Hold On" is the one that best represents the recurring elements of McLachlan's videos: the juxtaposition of the singer and the images, the ballet like movements, the golden light, and the tendency for McLachlan to usually avoid looking at the camera when she sings (but she gets better at that as she goes along). "Good Enough" is in a similar mode but with a more coherent narrative and for the first time images of McLachlan's band. With the American version of Possession the juxtaposition is the singer singing with her band and without (sort of all Sarah, all the time).
"I Will Remember You" stands out by itself for two reasons. The first is McLachlan appears without make up and the second is that it is clearly being used to promote the movie "The Brothers McMullen" (it was actually called "The Theme" for that Ed Burns film).
The final videos come from "Surfacing," and represent the McLachlan of Lilith Fair, which is pretty much to say a major music diva. Her image is rendered more powerful not only because of what she accomplished out there on tour, but because the curls are gone and she now has what would be considered a power haircut. This is a McLachlan who keeps singing to the camera in "Building a Mystery," using more than just the recurring tones of gold and blue to lend emotional shadings to the song and images. "Sweet Surrender" might have some of the more puzzling contrasts of images with the song being sung, but that simply means McLachlan is willing to have to indulge in a little art for art's sake. "Adia" completes the triptych of the mature McLachlan and finishes the journey begun a decade earlier.
What we have here is clearly a walk down memory lane, which will be of high interest to the fans McLachlan has acquired over the years, but of passing interest to others. This collection is really more about the singer than the videos, which is what may well limit its appeal. In other words, most people who pick this DVD up are going to know before they watch it how much they are going to like it.
Note: The directors and producers for each video are mentioned on the DVD, along with the songwriting credits, but they are sort of difficult to find. But if you are watching a video and then click "next" you should get to the page that provides all that information as well as what album and related releases are involved. I did not find this the first time but stumbled across them as I was checking some things out for this review.
Rating:
Summary: Sarah is awesome!
Review: It's a greatest hit's album on DVD for the same price as a CD! Just crank it up, relax, and let Sarah take you on a journey.
Rating:
Summary: Good music, mediocre DVD
Review: It's nice to have the collection of her videos all in one disc, with better than VHS quality video. Unfortunately, the music suffers a bit with the non-PCM tracks on this DVD. Presumably to save space, the music is encoded in non-surround AC-3. In addition, the layout of the disc is a bit strange making it sometimes annoying to navigate, like the multimedia on many of her CDs. All in all, buy it for the videos, but don't expect a top notch DVD.
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