Sarah McLachlan – Surfacing

200-gram gatefold double LP cut at 45 RPM

Mastered by Bernie Grundman from the original analog tapes

Award-winning album includes the hits “Angel,” “Adia” and “Building A Mystery”

“Marking the 20th anniversary of this U.S. hit’s release (OK, a year-and-a-bit late…), this 45 RPM double LP shows off why it’s a hi-fi show standard. Canadian McLachlan’s vocals are inviting and intimate, sharing qualities with the likes of Lori Lieberman and Eleanor McEvoy while sounding nothing like them. The recording is sublime too, particularly notable its palpable sense of atmosphere and natural-sounding lower registers. There is a dichotomy in this release, however, which sounds like a pop music version of a Gainsborough Pictures costume drama, but covers much darker topics. That said, if you’re a sucker for distaff singer-songwriters, you’ll love it.” — Sound Quality = 90% — Ken Kessler, HiFi News, January 2019

Three of Sarah McLachlan’s biggest pop hits mark her fourth studio album Surfacing. Released in July 1997, just as the first Lilith Fair tour hit the road, McLachlan benefitted enormously from the timing. Her face was on the cover of magazines across America and Canada; Surfacing reached No. 2 on the U.S. Billboard 200 — a remarkable feat considering that its predecessor, Fumbling Towards Ecstasy, peaked at No. 50.

Now, hear Surfacing on its definitive vinyl version — two 200-gram LPs cut at 45 RPM by legendary mastering engineer Bernie Grundman from the original analog tapes. The premium LPs plated and pressed by Gary Salstrom and the crew at Quality Record Pressings are paired with a deluxe gatefold Stoughton Printing tip-on jacket. The 45 RPM pressing gives you four sides with a reduction in groove curvature and decreased distortion as your cartridge nears the center of the record. That’s a major sonic advantage!