Sarah McLachlan – Fumbling Towards Ecstasy

Fumbling Towards Ecstasy is Sarah McLachlan's third album. The album, an immediate hit in Canada, was McLachlan's breakthrough internationally. It went quintuple platinum in Canada (sales of over half a million) and triple platinum in the U.S. (sales over three million). McLachlan received two Juno nominations in 1994.

Fumbling Towards Ecstasy made all three Chart magazine lists (#11 in 1996, #7 in 2000, #19 in 2005), placed #25 in Bob Mersereau's The Top 100 Canadian Albums in 2007, #6 in the 2011 Mar*Star poll, #20 in CBC Radio's list of the 100 Greatest Canadian Albums, and received strong critical reviews:

• AllMusic gave it 4.5 stars out of 5, calling it "a softly assured album"
• Rolling Stone gave it 4 stars out of 5, calling it "lush folk pop with a haunted intelligence and slowburn sensuality"
• Slant gave it a perfect 5 stars, saying "the trouble with the album's title, however, is that she never fumbles ... not even once"

The album spawned four Canadian hits: "Possession" (#26), "Hold On" (#59), the title track (#58) and "Good Enough" (#9).

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Track Listing

1. "Possession" (Sarah McLachlan) – 4:39
2. "Wait" (Sarah McLachlan) – 4:10
3. "Plenty" (Sarah McLachlan) – 4:05
4. "Good Enough" (Sarah McLachlan) – 5:01
5. "Mary" (Sarah McLachlan) – 3:53
6. "Elsewhere" (Sarah McLachlan) – 4:42
7. "Circle" (Sarah McLachlan) – 3:42
8. "Ice" (Sarah McLachlan) – 3:53
9. "Hold On" (Sarah McLachlan) – 4:08
10. "Ice Cream" (Sarah McLachlan) – 2:45
11. "Fear" (Sarah McLachlan) – 3:56
12. "Fumbling Towards Ecstasy" (Sarah McLachlan, Pierre Marchand) – 4:50

Personnel

• Sarah McLachlan – vocals, guitars (on 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12), piano (on 4, 5, 6, 10, 11)
• Pierre Marchand – bass (on 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12), keyboards (on 1, 3, 7, 9, 11, 12), drum machine (on 1, 5, 9), percussion machine (on 4, 8, 11), shaker (on 2), found sound (on 3), fake organ (on 8), 808 (on 12), piano (on 12)
• Bill Dillon – guitars (on 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 12), guitorgan (on 3, 4), piano (on 5), bass (on 7, 9)
• Ashwin Sood – drums (on 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9), percussion (on 8)
• Brian Minato – bass (on 1, 3, 4, 7)
• David Kershaw – organ (on 1, 2, 6, 9)
• Jerry Marotta – drums (on 6, 12), percussion (on 6, 7, 11)
• Lou Shefano – drums (on 1)
• Michel Dubeau – saxophone (on 8)
• Guy Nadon – drums (on 10)
• Jane Scarpantoni – cello (on 11)

• Sarah McLachlan – Surfacing (album)
• Sarah McLachlan – Building a Mystery (song)
• Sarah McLachlan – Ice Cream (song)