Continuing my look at 1994, first by counting down my own top ten albums of that year.
#3 – Fumbling Towards Ecstasy – Sarah McLachlan
I’m embarrassed to have only two albums by women on this top ten, a reflection of both the industry at the time and (more so) my narrow focus as a 22-year-old male music fan.
Despite that narrow focus, I did find room for the undeniably great Fumbling Towards Ecstasy, the third album by Canadian singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan (this album was released in Canada in late ’93, but I’m counting it as a ’94 release because it debuted in the U.S. in February of that year).
McLachlan was the grande dame of the Lilith Fair crowd (she founded the all-female festival tour two years later) and released a trio of multi-platinum albums between ’93 and 2003 that epitomized the romantic, adult contemporary sound of that movement.
This one was my favorite. That’s mostly due to two tracks — ‘Possession’ and ‘Good Enough’ — that number among my most-loved songs from the decade, but everything on Fumbling is lush, intricate and memorable.
They told me plenty
I already knew
You never felt a thing
So soon forgotten
All that you do
In more than words
I tried to tell you
The more I tried I failed
I would not let myself believe that you might stray
And I would stand by you no matter what they’d say
I thought I’d be with you until my dying day
Until my dying day
I used to think my life
Was often empty
A lonely space to fill
You hurt me more than I ever could have imagined
You made my world stand still
And in that stillness
There was a freedom I never felt before
I would not let myself believe that you might stray
And I would stand by you no matter what they’d say
I thought I’d be with you until my dying
Day
Until my dying day
Meet Me In Montauk 
I’ve certainly heard tracks from this album, but I am less certain I’ve heard the entire album. I never got quite as into McLachlan’s music as I did for some of the other Lilith Fair artists like the Indigo Girls.
Just went back to listen to and read our collective commentary on “Good Enough” when the “vampire novel” sound of today’s SOTD wasn’t bringing this album back to me. Such a poignant comment was made in 2015, several years after our original discussion on that post. Made me appreciate that song even more.
Perhaps this was the start of your drift towards melancholy music? Not sure why this album never made my collection, though I did tend to gravitate a bit more to the upbeat.