Sarah Brightman

La Luna (EastWest)
by Michael McCarthy

I should confess that I’ve become something of a Sarah Brightman fan recently. It all started when I heard her cover of Hooverphonic’s “Eden,” which she actually named her breakthrough album after. The production wasn’t as intriguing as Hooverphonic’s, but there was something about her voice. It was as though I was hearing the song performed by a ghost and it was precisely that gloominess that made the album a favorite and prompted me to buy other Brightman albums. And since this column is entitled Import Zone, I must tell you about Fly, her 1996 album, which has yet to see release in the States even though many feel it’s her best. With its dark cover and song titles like “Ghost In The Machinery,” “The Fly,” and “Murder In Mairyland Park,” I knew it was going to show the dark side of Brightman I’d grown to love before I’d even listened to it. The surprise was that some of the songs are musically her most upbeat, pop-flavored to date. The highlights are the duets, “How Can Heaven Love Me” with a Bono-sounding Chris Thompson, and “Something In the Air” with Tom Jones (yes, that Tom Jones, who’s shockingly become very hip in Europe again after releasing a CD of duets entitled Reload that has him singing with Portishead, The Cardigans, and other cool cats). Both songs get inside your head and stay there as any effective pop song should, but the production is textured enough to keep you hearing them for the first time upon subsequent listenings. Brightman’s recent album, La Luna, is a haunting gem, but Fly is that and so much more and I can’t recommend it enough.