Back in 2001, while the pop world patiently awaited Sarah McLachlan’s fifth studio album, Afterglow, Nettwerk Productions released a limited edition import-only remix album of some of the adult-pop artist’s biggest hits. Two years later, the album makes a fashionably late arrival in the U.S. While the disc sadly boasts no new tracks from McLachlan, her recent collaboration with Delerium, “Silence” (featured non-exclusively on several different mix CDs and soundtracks over the last two years), serves as the album’s centerpiece. Hybrid stamps their distinct mix of breakbeats and lush strings onto “Fear,” a stand-out track from McLachlan’s Fumbling Towards Ecstasy, but the remix pales in comparison to the sheer brilliance of the original. The same can be said of Rabbit in the Moon’s now-classic remix of “Possession.” The icy techno of the reconstruction can’t compete with the album version’s warm, bloody honesty. DJ Tiesto builds a sparse arrangement around McLachlan’s vocals on “Sweet Surrender,” lending the track a darker, more somber mood, while “Angel” and “I Love You” are brought to new, nuanced heights by Dusted and BT, respectively, proving that the quieter moments are often McLachlan’s best.
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