Lilith Fair: A Celebration of Women in Music (CD) by Various Artists

Includes liner notes by Sarah McLachlan.

1997 was the year femme-rock broke, and this is the official souvenir. When the year began, Sarah McLachlan was a mildly popular Canadian singer-songwriter who was roundly laughed at when she suggested she tour with a couple of other women; so instead she toured with dozens of women and ended up changing the very face (and body) of the rock-concert industry. The 25 tracks on this two-disc set, recorded live at various stops on McLachlan's inaugural Lilith Fair tour, make it clear why. This is great singer-songwriter rock, performed with verve and passion by a circle of folk, pop and rock acts who seem to know they're on the eve of discovery.

Most of the players are singer-songwriters like McLachlan, but there are wild cards thrown in--lounge-rockers the Cardigans, alterna-rocker Meredith Brooks, new-wave vet Susanna Hoffs (who does her Bangles hit "Eternal Flame" ). Quite a few of these artists had career breakthroughs while the tour was in progress; to hear McLachlan and Jewel joining femme pioneers the Indigo Girls on "The Water Is Wide" is to hear a torch being happily passed on.