• Send us Mail
  • Follow us on Twitter
  • Join our Facebook Group
  • Subscribe to our RSS Feed
  • Search Site

Polari Magazine

  • Home
  • Up Front
    • Editorial
    • Clementine: The Living Fashion Doll
    • Polari Safari
    • WTF? Friday
    • Bulletin Board
    • Polari Facts
  • Features
    • Interviews
    • Features
    • Gallery
    • Opinion
    • Heroes & Villains
  • Community
    • Oral Histories
    • Coming Out Stories
    • Relationships
    • IDAHO
    • LGBT History Month
    • Blogs
  • Reviews
    • Books
    • Film and Television
    • Music
    • Stage
    • Visual Arts
    • Classics: Books
    • Classics: Film and Television
    • Classics: Music
  • About
    • About Polari Magazine
    • Contributors
    • Contact

You are here: Polari Magazine / Music / Dreamchaser • Sarah Brightman

Dreamchaser • Sarah Brightman

08 Feb 2013 / Comments Off / in Music/by Little Bastard

Dreamchaser ★★★★★
Sarah Brightman
48:29 min • 429 Records • January 29, 2013
………………………………………………………………………………………….

At 52, you’d expect Sarah Brightman to have retired to a cottage somewhere in Cornwall, baking and living off the royalties from Phantom Of The Opera and her 10 studio albums. This is if you hadn’t already realised that Sarah Brightman is the classical music version of Madonna … a workaholic with her finger firmly on the pulse of the music industry, who is constantly changing and evolving. She’s also utterly bonkers, and not only announced last year she has plans to be the first person to ever sing from space (!!!) she is also about to release her 11th studio album, Dreamchaser, to accompany her bizarre space mission … and it’s possibly the best P’Opera crossover album ever made.

I had reservations about Dreamchaser, as I find Sarah’s albums hit and miss. Over the years, she has flirted with disco, produced some amazing ambient neo-classical music, some awesome rock music, and even had her songs remixed into dancefloor thumpers … but I thought she may have lost her edge. Nothing she’d done in recent years had grabbed me in the way that her constant regeneration over the past 30 years had, and the only reason I gave this album a whirl was after the news of her space mission had reignited my enthusiasm for her.

Sarah Brightman, Dreamchaser review

Yes, it’s an album of covers, but the material is impeccably chosen. Opening with the stunning ‘Angel’, originally recorded by Jerry Burns and co-written with Sally Herbert (violinist with ’90s band Banderas), this sets the tone of the album perfectly. Lifting the song above its original angst and emotion, Sarah’s voice soars above the gorgeously full classical backing, whilst ambient beats envelop us. It’s text book Brightman, but also a simply stunning opening, and made me concerned how the rest of the album would match up, especially when the second track was a huge undertaking.

As the strings melt into electronic blips and distortion and the songs shift from one to the other, and as Sarah begins to sing

Drinking in the morning sun
Blinking in the morning sun
Shaking off the heavy one
Oh heavy like the loaded gun…

There’s the first “holy shit” moment … and as the song builds, with strings wrapping themselves around synths and Sarah’s voice bounding over it all, you realise she’s covering ‘One Day Like This’ by Elbow. On the surface, this sounds like a terrible idea. To be honest, it’s not my favourite Elbow song (as great a song as it is, its quite commercial, and could have easily been mistaken for a Take That song by the uninitiated) but this version really is beautiful. Production-wise, if I can geek out for a moment, the song uses no percussion at all for the first half, which means that when the drums finally hit you during the last section of repeated choruses, you explode with euphoria. Well, I did anyway – dancing around in my seat on the tube like a loon, mouthing the chorus like I was in a youtube video that could go viral. I wasn’t however, so I just looked like I was on day release. Oh well.

As ‘One Day Like This’ finishes we hear the distant thump of feet … possibly an army heading towards us … and as Sarah begins to sing over the top of these footsteps, what do we get?  We get a beautiful and sensitive cover of ‘Glosoli’ by Icelandic soundscape band Sigur Ros. Sarah Fucking Brightman covering Sigur Ros. Did this woman just raid my iTunes to try and decide what to cover?!  With stunning English lyrics written by Chris Difford, this cover takes the song to a whole new level. As beautiful as Sigur Ros are, their long ambient soundscapes carry an emotion all of their own, and I honestly never thought I would hear someone successfully cover a Sigur Ros song … It’s an almost impossible task that Sarah grabs with both hands and sings at us violently until you’re left asking “Sigur Who?”

Following Icelandic electronica is Polish neoclassical, with Sarah expertly tackling Henryk Gorecki’s ‘Lento E Largo’, from Holocaust memorial Symphony Of Sorrowful Songs. It’s a welcome break in the pop-ambient soundscape this album creates, and rather than being overwhelming and grand, Sarah’s version of this dramatic piece is simple and haunting, offering the listener beautiful respite before being drawn into B12, what can only be described as a Prog Rock aria, and is a cover of Japanese producer Sasakure-P. With not a single word sung, Brightmans voice la’s and hums over a stunning Pink Floyd-do-opera backing, that leads us beautifully into the big surprise of the album.

‘Breath Me’ by Australian singer songwriter Sia is already typical of what I love about Sarah Brightman’s music. In its original form, it’s a lusciously produced ambient pop ballad, and I was fully expecting a blow by blow copy of the original but with Sarah’s Soprano vocals. What we actually get is a broken down, almost acoustic version (for the most part). Only strings and distorted sounds are the base for the majority of Sarah’s vocal and the first thing that strikes me is the lyrics. As much as I adore Sia – and I really do – her vocal delivery is never about annunciation, so hearing the heart breaking opening lines

Help I have done it again,
I have been here many times before
Hurt myself again today
And the worst part is there’s no one else to blame,
Be my friend….

was almost like hearing them for the first time. Listening to Sarah Brightman sing about self harm is something I don’t think I ever expected, and as the song builds into its full ambient and symphonic climax, the music manages to add high drama and beauty to an otherwise tragic and introverted song, without destroying the lyrics’ intent.

Flying us headlong into ‘Ave Maria’, written by Sally Herbert and the album’s producer Mike Hedges, we’re once again treated to a serious of beautiful strings, with distorted synth and bass noises, and Sarah’s voice floating above it all. These simple moments, which help to give the album its light and shade, act not so much as standalone songs but almost as long interludes, knitting the songs together to form one long journey for the listener. This time, the seamless sonic transportation is to a cover of ‘Eperdu’ by the Cocteau Twins. As you can imagine Liz Fraser’s melody suits Sarah’s voice perfectly, and the prog ambient envelope is pushed even further.

The stunning ‘A Song Of India’ by Russian composer Nikolaj Rimsky-Korsakov transports us through heady Soprano heaven, till we are met at the other end by a cover of the Wings classic ‘Venus And Mars’, and this time the electronica and synths are in overdrive. It sounds like a lost song from a Prog Rock Opera, and Sarah’s decision to use the reprise of ‘Venus And Mars’ rather than the shorter original version from the Wings album of the same name, is integral in conveying her artistic vision.

There is no doubt that the end to this stunning album will be the soundtrack to her impending space travel. The Japanese edition (and, it would seem, the only one commercially available until April) includes a cover of the stunning ‘Kaze No Torimichi’ from the Japanese animation of the same name, which Sarah sings entirely in Japanese.

The selection of covers on this album is flawless, and how much of that down to Sarah herself and how much is down to producer Mike Hedges I don’t know. And, as much as I’d like to think that Sarah chose all of these songs from her vast collection of music, I’m pretty sure she was guided towards the more obscure sections of this album, but it’s the perfect combination of music snobbery and ambient pop perfection and I wouldn’t change this album for the world. Instead of playing it safe and releasing yet another Mother ‘s Day Opera By Numbers album, like most classical singers, Sarah’s general lunacy helps her to take risks most artists in her genre wouldn’t take. Whether your average Classic FM listener will be as excited by this as I am I have no idea, but this album has barely been off my iPhone since I got it, and I can’t imagine I will tire of it anytime soon.

At the age of 52, Sarah Brightman is at the top of her game and, more so than she has ever been, is one of the most relevant women in music. All hail the queen of the P’Opera!

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Tumblr
  • Pinterest
Tags: breathe me, cocteau twins, dreamchaser, elbow, henryk gorecki, sarah brightman, sia

Related Posts

Did you like this entry?
Here are a few more posts that might be interesting for you.
Related Posts
Detail from the cover art of Beyoncé Knowles new self-titled album. The image is simply a black background, at the centre is the title "Beyoncé" in a pale pink in a sans serif font. Beyoncé • Beyoncé
Wish Bone • Oh Land
1000 Forms Of Fear • Sia
A cropped image taken from Kylie Minogue Into The Blue • Kylie
Kiss Me Once • Kylie
Detail from the cover art of Angel Haze Dirty Gold (Deluxe Edition) • Angel Haze

Search Polari

Latest Posts

  • Polari Magazine 2008-2014December 3, 2014 - 6:16 pm
  • Tearing Up Their Map: An Interview with LambDecember 2, 2014 - 2:45 pm
  • Future Islands • GigDecember 2, 2014 - 1:41 pm
  • Puppets with Attitude (at Christmas)December 1, 2014 - 6:30 pm
  • The Aesthetic of Voyeurism: Interview with Antonio Da SilvaDecember 1, 2014 - 1:25 pm
  • Broke With Expensive Taste • Azealia BanksNovember 28, 2014 - 3:59 pm
  • Royalty Strutting on an American College Stage: Miss and Mr. Gay ISU 2014November 27, 2014 - 2:59 pm
  • Bright Light Bright Light: Everything I Ever WantedNovember 26, 2014 - 11:15 am
  • Jaime Nanci And The Blueboys: ‘Toy’ TalkNovember 25, 2014 - 4:09 pm

About Polari Magazine

Polari Magazine is an LGBT arts and culture magazine that explores the subculture by looking at what is important to the people who are in it. It’s about the lives we lead, not the lifestyles we’re supposed to lead.

Its content is informed & insightful, and features a diverse range of writers from every section of the community. Its intent is to help LGBT readers learn about their own heritage and to sustain a link between the present and the past.

Polari is designed to nurture the idea of community, whether that be social and political, or artistic and creative. It is your magazine, whether you want to read it, or whether you want to get involved in it, if you're gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans, or queer.

Polari Magazine is all these: it's a gay online magazine; it's a gay and lesbian online magazine; it's an LGBT arts and culture magazine. Ultimately, it is a queer magazine.

Latest Posts

  • Polari Magazine 2008-2014December 3, 2014 - 6:16 pm
  • Tearing Up Their Map: An Interview with LambDecember 2, 2014 - 2:45 pm
  • Future Islands • GigDecember 2, 2014 - 1:41 pm
  • Puppets with Attitude (at Christmas)December 1, 2014 - 6:30 pm
  • The Aesthetic of Voyeurism: Interview with Antonio Da SilvaDecember 1, 2014 - 1:25 pm
  • Broke With Expensive Taste • Azealia BanksNovember 28, 2014 - 3:59 pm
  • Royalty Strutting on an American College Stage: Miss and Mr. Gay ISU 2014November 27, 2014 - 2:59 pm
  • Bright Light Bright Light: Everything I Ever WantedNovember 26, 2014 - 11:15 am
  • Jaime Nanci And The Blueboys: ‘Toy’ TalkNovember 25, 2014 - 4:09 pm

Twitter

Tweets by @PolariMagazine

Archive

  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • July 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • May 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
© Copyright - Polari Magazine - Wordpress Theme by Kriesi.at
  • scroll to top
  • Send us Mail
  • Follow us on Twitter
  • Join our Facebook Group
  • Subscribe to our RSS Feed
Website Privacy & Cookies