There are insightful interpretations on Sessions: "Ice Cream" (as in "Your love is better than ...") is appropriately more lighthearted than it is on Ecstasy, and "Hold On" – inspired by a woman whose fiancé has AIDS – is presented in a stark manner, as the original should have been. But aside from these and a couple of interesting jazz-inflected rhythms, the main purpose of the project seems to be self-indulgence. As talented as McLachlan is, she simply hasn't amassed the body of work to justify a repackaging such as this. The release from which she borrows is less than two years old and still sells consistently on its own merit. And considering that the artist is already known for her acoustic creations, to the average listener most of these tracks will sound like Sarah: Further Unplugged, a dubious endeavor.

The EP will have its audience, though, as evidenced by McLachlan's large and loyal fan base on the Internet. People with access to CD-ROM will be delighted by the multimedia goodies put forth here at no extra cost. Track-by-track audio samples from the musician's three full-length albums are available, as are video clips, "home movies" from the studio, photos, original artwork, concert footage and a travelogue of McLachlan's trip to Thailand and Cambodia with the World Vision organization – all accompanied by McLachlan's own narration. With 30 to 40 minutes of exploring on either a Macintosh or a Windows-based system and the inclusion of Quicktime 2.0 (so the videos can be shown), the interactive element isn't a bad deal. Beyond that, an album of new material would have been a greater investment on the artist's part.

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ANDREA ODINTZ

(Posted: May 18, 1995)