Finally the waiting is over! The singer Ruth-Ann is digitally releasing her debut album “What About Us”, which is produced by Michael Cretu in Ibiza. About 10 years ago Ruth had a No.1 hit in UK and across Europe as the singer of the group OLIVE with the title "You're not alone", before Cretu invited her to sing on recent ENIGMA albums. (Ruth Ann previously performed on hit Enigma songs like ''Gravity of Love'', ''Boum Boum'', ''Following The Sun'')
From the 4th of June on, Ruth Ann's brand new album can be exclusively downloaded in every iTunes shop worldwide. "What About Us" will be available in the following countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Switzerland, Germany, Denmark, Spain, Finland, France, UK, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Portugal, Sweden and the USA.
Tracklisting of the ''What About Us?'' album follows as;
01 No Surrender -
02 Go -
03 Drive -
04 What About Us? -
05 You Talk Too Much
06 Beautiful -
07 Dancing Into Hell -
08 More Than Ordinary -
09 Letter to Heaven
10 I’d Die for You -
11 The Woman I Could Be -
12 Believe In Me
Click Here to visit the Official Ruth Ann Web Site, listen to the samples and more!
Friday, June 29, 2007
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
The Ultimate List of Enigma-Like Artists
In my Endless Quest to find Enigma-like artists/albums, I've come to some seriously good results I thought I'd share with you. Because I know a lot of fans out there are looking for such albums. Maybe, you will be kind enough to present a few albums you've come across as well. You may have heard about them, but I doubt anyone has given you enough description about their connections with the Enigmatic genre. First, let me introduce a few less known ones.
1. B-Tribe: Produced by Klaus Zundel (aka the Brave) who maintained Divine Works, Sacred Spirit, Indigo Spirit, Moroccan Spirit and Classical Spirit as well as his main project, B-Tribe. He started off with “Fiesta Fatal!”, combining flamenco and Spanish guitars with dance beats and ambient atmospheres. There are a couple of good tracks on the first album. “Fiesta Fatal” with the famous Sadeness beat, “Lo Siento” with Callas Went Away atmospheres and a great chorus, and “Love, Tears, Heart Aches And Devotion” with great a electronic melody. It fits pretty well in the Enigmatic genre.On the second album “Suave Suave” songs seem to be more mature and have a better production than the first album. Also, there are vocals on a few tracks like the single “Nanita”The third album "Sensual Sensual" utilizes ambient atmospheres along with the tribal chants and the guitars to make the album complete. The melodies are quite sad and Enigmatic here. So take this album seriously.In “Spiritual Spiritual” he removes the beats and takes you on a more spiritual journey with his guitars and choral chants.I have the fifth album called “5” but I haven’t been in the mood to check it out. But from what I’ve heard, it’s pretty good.
2. Conjure One: Solo project of Rhys Fulber of the Delerium duo. His first album "Conjure One" is an absolute masterpiece. It takes the ideas from Delerium project and mixes them with Mid-Eastern elements and fantastic orchestral Violins at some points. There are a few good covers and original “enigmatic” pop songs as well. If you liked Delerium's Karma and Poem, you are sure to love this one.Their next album, “Extraordinary Ways” is no good. Don’t even go near it because it doesn’t have the qualities of the first album at all.
3. Mike Oldfield: This artist doesn’t particularly work around the Enigmatic genre. But his 1996 album "The Songs of Distant Earth" is fantastic. He obviously tried to make an Enigmatic album. The album is an ambient mix of electric guitars and tribal and in one song Gregorian choirs. The album has some Vangelis flavor mixed with Enigma. It includes 17 magnificent tracks so that I can't skip any of them. In "Let There Be Light" he uses "Jens Gad-like" guitars and choral chants. “Supernova” features Enigma flutes and has a nice ethnic synth. In "Hibernaculum" a choir melody is used that seems like something Vangelis would come up with. "Prayer For The Earth" has a very deep tribal chant and great background melody and "Magellan" strangely sounds like Vangelis' "Eric's Theme" in Chariots of Fire. Anyways, this album is greatly recommended for Enigma fans.
4. Gregorian: A project of Frank Peterson, the co-producer of MCMXC a.D. He basically tries to do what was done in MCMXC a.D. But with no sample chants. He has his own chanting crew. Many of the songs he produces for Gregorian albums are covers. For example, In “Masters of Chant Chapter V” he took Green Day’s “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” and put Gregorian chants in place of the vocals. But let’s not get into that. “Masters Of Chant” is the only Enigma-like album I see from the group. There are some classics in the album. “Brothers In Arms” is a beautiful track the puts the electric guitars with Gregorian Chants. “Still I’m Sad” uses the Sadeness beat. And “Sound of Silence” combines Harpsichords with chants you can’t miss. Overall, it’s a great album.
5. Dao Dezi: A project of Eric Mouquet of Deep Forest. Only one album was released under this project title. The album is known as “Dao Dezi” or “World Mix Album”. The songs here are a combination of medieval chants, bagpipes and beats. I used to hate the album in the beginning, but it quickly grew on me. The single “Ti Eliz Iza” is a really Enigmatic track. Matter of fact, I would buy the album just because of that one single song. “Hebribes”, ”An Tri Breur” and “La Jument De Mishao” are songs Enigma fans should hear. There are 2 really good orchestral songs in the album. My only skip tracks would be the techno-dance tracks (Track #5 & #6). And finally “Digor” is an emotional outro. I recommend this album to Enigma fans with a wider choice of music.
6. Sacred Spirit: Another project from the producer of B-Tribe. This time, he puts the guitars away and mixes electronic rhythms with North American tribal chants and violins. I’ve heard 2 albums from this artist and they sound really good.The first album is called “Chants and Dances of The Native Americans” and features a list of fantastic tracks. “How the West Was Lost” is a great intro. “The Counterclockwise Dance” is my favorite, with Shakuhachi flute and native American chants.The second album “More Chants and Dances of The Native Americans” is an instant favorite. It doesn’t need to grow on you because you’ll like it in the first listen.
7. Dead Can Dance: I’ve recently started listening to this group so I don’t really know a lot about the creators. All I know is that the project is formed by Brandon Perry (Producer) and Lisa Gerrard (Vocalist). There is basically no genre to put this group in. It comes close to Enigma in mysticism and cultural mix but differs in terms of production and vocals. Both of the creators have vocals on the albums. The English lyrics are poetic, There is some choral chanting in some songs. In “Aion”, they fuse newage/enigmatic music with elements of the middle age. And in “Into the Labyrinth”, they make songs in a more poetic and mystical way.Anyways, I can’t describe this group very well, so you better give it a listen yourself.
8. Vangelis: The father of Newage music. A Legend. One of the first producers of Newage music and still the best in the genre. The fans of Newage/Electronic should be familiar with him already, so I’ll just cut to the chase and introduce his most Enigmatic albums.“Voices”, His best album in my opinion, is a more quiet, newage-influenced version of Enigma. The title song, mixes tribal voices with choral voices and well-produced music to start the album. “Echoes” the reprise of voices and the second track, takes the title tracks and gives you exactly what you need to hear as an echo. “Come to me” and “Losing Sleep” are the vocal tracks of the album you just need to hear to fall in love with. Overall, all of the songs are masterpieces and this album qualifies as top 5 best Enigma-like albums of all times.“Oceanic” is another masterpiece with the orchestral “Bon Voyage”, dreamy “Dreams of Surf”, beautiful upbeat “Spanish Harbour”, electronic “Islands of the Orient” and the ambient “Fields of Coral”.You might also like the award-winning movie soundtracks “1492 – Conquest of Paradise” and “Alexander”. Although all of his albums are great newage achievements, I only named a few that satisfy Enigma fans.
9. Chicane: I find his “Behind the Sun” album quite similar to Enigma’s Voyageur. Except that it has a little techno/trance flavor in some songs. It creates Enigmatic atmospheres with complex rhythms and good lyrics and vocals. I started listening to this artist last week, and therefore, I can’t give you a very good description of it. I like almost all of the songs on the album. Some of you may not agree with me on Chicane being enigmatic, but I believe that the album has a Cretu-like touch. I seriously recommend this to Voyageur fans.
10. Synaesthesia: One of the many side projects of Bill Leeb and Rhys Fulber. This time, they take you on a more ambient journey. The project started in 1995 with “Embody”, continued with the double CD “Desideratum” in 1996 and ended with “Ephemeral” in 1997 (exactly in Delerium’s “Semantic Spaces”-“Karma” period) and no album has been released since.Synaesthesia combines tribal and Karma-style beats with ambient sounds and lush electronic rhythms and melodies. All the songs are instrumental with chanting at some points.I have their last album, “Ephemeral” and it’s surely a must-have for Delerium and Enigma fans.
11. Schiller: A more trance influenced version of Enigma. I have his “Leben” (Life) and it’s a great electronic and enigmatic album. “Summer Rain” is a track with a good electronic melody and a nice beat. “The Smile”, the best track of the album has a good beat with Iranian ”Daf” and “Tombak” and fantastic vocals by Sarah Brightman.Schiller's 2006 album "Tag and Nacht" is also worth listening, but in that album, he's taken a more cheesy pop way, and therefore it's less Enigmatic.
13. Jens Gad: I’m sure we all know about him. The co-producer of Enigma and the greatest artist in the genre next to Enigma. He released albums under project titles “Achillea”, “Enigmatic Obsession” and “Jens Gad Presents”.
14. Delerium: The main project of Leeb and Fulber. It started in 1988 with dark melodies on “Faces, Forms and Illusions”. They released a couple of albums in the period between 88 and 93. In 1994, they released “Spheres II” which is known to be their turning point toward the enigmatic genre. “Spheres II” has quite a few good songs itself, with great electronic melodies and a newer Jean Michel Jarre feel.“Semantic Spaces” is absolutely a must have for any newage\electronic\enigma fan. It has tribal and Gregorian chants with great electronic elements. “Karma” is their best and most enigmatic album with many vocal tracks with great poetic lyrics as well as rich instrumental ones with flutes, Gregorian chants and tribal sounds.“Poem” is another good album with another change of style in the project. Almost all of the tracks on this album are vocal. This album has a more “live” feeling to it. The choirs and most of the instruments (strings, drums, etc.) are played live rather than sampled. Their style may have changed, but it still has that Delerium sound."Chimera" is an alright pop album with a mixture of different genres (Chillout, Enigmatic, Trance, etc.)Their latest album "Nuages Du Monde" is my least favorite Delerium album since "Karma".
15. Deep Forest: The famous project of Eric Mouquet and Michael Sanchez. Combining elements and chants from different cultures. In “Deep Forest” they take you to Africa with “Sweet Lullaby” and “Nightbird”. Deep Forest's second album “Boheme” is a masterpiece. Deep forest doesn't just sample the chants and mix them with drums and synths. It emphasizes instrumental support from different parts of the globe, and that's why it's unique.Their 2003 album “Music Detected” is one of the greatest achievements of the Enigmatic genre and their best album so far in my opinion. In this album the duo fits a lot of musical genres (Including Enigmatic, Rock, Industrial, etc.) into one.“Pacifique” seems to be another good album to hear, but I don’t have it yet.For hearing what Deep Forest sounds like, I recommend their Best of album, “Essence of the Forest”.
16. Jean Michel Jarre: One of the first artists of the electronic genre. He’s famous for his “Oxygene” and “Equinoxe”, also boasting great electronic albums such as “Chronologie” and “Rendez-Vous”. I love his “Odyssey Thru O2” remix album. It’s not very Enigmatic but it’s still great electronic\trance.
17. Michael Cretu: The creator of Enigma himself. Check out his collaboration with Peter Cornelius under the title “Cornelius & Cretu”. The Cretu vocal tracks look like they could have belonged in an Enigma albums and a couple of Cornelius tracks are good.Also, you might like his 1985 album “Invisible Man”. It’s Cretu at his turning point toward Enigma. The songs are very 80’s, so it’s not that good. But there are a few enjoyable tracks.
18. Sandra: I’m sure we are all familiar her too. I only suggest “Fading Shades” and “Wheel of Time” (Both produced by Cretu and Gad). I’m sure you will find a lot of Enigma material in these albums specially in Wheel of Time.
19. Trance Atlantic Air Waves: A project from Michael Cretu and Jens Gad. "Energy of Sound" contains with a lot of covers and some original songs. You might also find some Enigma material here.
1. B-Tribe: Produced by Klaus Zundel (aka the Brave) who maintained Divine Works, Sacred Spirit, Indigo Spirit, Moroccan Spirit and Classical Spirit as well as his main project, B-Tribe. He started off with “Fiesta Fatal!”, combining flamenco and Spanish guitars with dance beats and ambient atmospheres. There are a couple of good tracks on the first album. “Fiesta Fatal” with the famous Sadeness beat, “Lo Siento” with Callas Went Away atmospheres and a great chorus, and “Love, Tears, Heart Aches And Devotion” with great a electronic melody. It fits pretty well in the Enigmatic genre.On the second album “Suave Suave” songs seem to be more mature and have a better production than the first album. Also, there are vocals on a few tracks like the single “Nanita”The third album "Sensual Sensual" utilizes ambient atmospheres along with the tribal chants and the guitars to make the album complete. The melodies are quite sad and Enigmatic here. So take this album seriously.In “Spiritual Spiritual” he removes the beats and takes you on a more spiritual journey with his guitars and choral chants.I have the fifth album called “5” but I haven’t been in the mood to check it out. But from what I’ve heard, it’s pretty good.
2. Conjure One: Solo project of Rhys Fulber of the Delerium duo. His first album "Conjure One" is an absolute masterpiece. It takes the ideas from Delerium project and mixes them with Mid-Eastern elements and fantastic orchestral Violins at some points. There are a few good covers and original “enigmatic” pop songs as well. If you liked Delerium's Karma and Poem, you are sure to love this one.Their next album, “Extraordinary Ways” is no good. Don’t even go near it because it doesn’t have the qualities of the first album at all.
3. Mike Oldfield: This artist doesn’t particularly work around the Enigmatic genre. But his 1996 album "The Songs of Distant Earth" is fantastic. He obviously tried to make an Enigmatic album. The album is an ambient mix of electric guitars and tribal and in one song Gregorian choirs. The album has some Vangelis flavor mixed with Enigma. It includes 17 magnificent tracks so that I can't skip any of them. In "Let There Be Light" he uses "Jens Gad-like" guitars and choral chants. “Supernova” features Enigma flutes and has a nice ethnic synth. In "Hibernaculum" a choir melody is used that seems like something Vangelis would come up with. "Prayer For The Earth" has a very deep tribal chant and great background melody and "Magellan" strangely sounds like Vangelis' "Eric's Theme" in Chariots of Fire. Anyways, this album is greatly recommended for Enigma fans.
4. Gregorian: A project of Frank Peterson, the co-producer of MCMXC a.D. He basically tries to do what was done in MCMXC a.D. But with no sample chants. He has his own chanting crew. Many of the songs he produces for Gregorian albums are covers. For example, In “Masters of Chant Chapter V” he took Green Day’s “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” and put Gregorian chants in place of the vocals. But let’s not get into that. “Masters Of Chant” is the only Enigma-like album I see from the group. There are some classics in the album. “Brothers In Arms” is a beautiful track the puts the electric guitars with Gregorian Chants. “Still I’m Sad” uses the Sadeness beat. And “Sound of Silence” combines Harpsichords with chants you can’t miss. Overall, it’s a great album.
5. Dao Dezi: A project of Eric Mouquet of Deep Forest. Only one album was released under this project title. The album is known as “Dao Dezi” or “World Mix Album”. The songs here are a combination of medieval chants, bagpipes and beats. I used to hate the album in the beginning, but it quickly grew on me. The single “Ti Eliz Iza” is a really Enigmatic track. Matter of fact, I would buy the album just because of that one single song. “Hebribes”, ”An Tri Breur” and “La Jument De Mishao” are songs Enigma fans should hear. There are 2 really good orchestral songs in the album. My only skip tracks would be the techno-dance tracks (Track #5 & #6). And finally “Digor” is an emotional outro. I recommend this album to Enigma fans with a wider choice of music.
6. Sacred Spirit: Another project from the producer of B-Tribe. This time, he puts the guitars away and mixes electronic rhythms with North American tribal chants and violins. I’ve heard 2 albums from this artist and they sound really good.The first album is called “Chants and Dances of The Native Americans” and features a list of fantastic tracks. “How the West Was Lost” is a great intro. “The Counterclockwise Dance” is my favorite, with Shakuhachi flute and native American chants.The second album “More Chants and Dances of The Native Americans” is an instant favorite. It doesn’t need to grow on you because you’ll like it in the first listen.
7. Dead Can Dance: I’ve recently started listening to this group so I don’t really know a lot about the creators. All I know is that the project is formed by Brandon Perry (Producer) and Lisa Gerrard (Vocalist). There is basically no genre to put this group in. It comes close to Enigma in mysticism and cultural mix but differs in terms of production and vocals. Both of the creators have vocals on the albums. The English lyrics are poetic, There is some choral chanting in some songs. In “Aion”, they fuse newage/enigmatic music with elements of the middle age. And in “Into the Labyrinth”, they make songs in a more poetic and mystical way.Anyways, I can’t describe this group very well, so you better give it a listen yourself.
8. Vangelis: The father of Newage music. A Legend. One of the first producers of Newage music and still the best in the genre. The fans of Newage/Electronic should be familiar with him already, so I’ll just cut to the chase and introduce his most Enigmatic albums.“Voices”, His best album in my opinion, is a more quiet, newage-influenced version of Enigma. The title song, mixes tribal voices with choral voices and well-produced music to start the album. “Echoes” the reprise of voices and the second track, takes the title tracks and gives you exactly what you need to hear as an echo. “Come to me” and “Losing Sleep” are the vocal tracks of the album you just need to hear to fall in love with. Overall, all of the songs are masterpieces and this album qualifies as top 5 best Enigma-like albums of all times.“Oceanic” is another masterpiece with the orchestral “Bon Voyage”, dreamy “Dreams of Surf”, beautiful upbeat “Spanish Harbour”, electronic “Islands of the Orient” and the ambient “Fields of Coral”.You might also like the award-winning movie soundtracks “1492 – Conquest of Paradise” and “Alexander”. Although all of his albums are great newage achievements, I only named a few that satisfy Enigma fans.
9. Chicane: I find his “Behind the Sun” album quite similar to Enigma’s Voyageur. Except that it has a little techno/trance flavor in some songs. It creates Enigmatic atmospheres with complex rhythms and good lyrics and vocals. I started listening to this artist last week, and therefore, I can’t give you a very good description of it. I like almost all of the songs on the album. Some of you may not agree with me on Chicane being enigmatic, but I believe that the album has a Cretu-like touch. I seriously recommend this to Voyageur fans.
10. Synaesthesia: One of the many side projects of Bill Leeb and Rhys Fulber. This time, they take you on a more ambient journey. The project started in 1995 with “Embody”, continued with the double CD “Desideratum” in 1996 and ended with “Ephemeral” in 1997 (exactly in Delerium’s “Semantic Spaces”-“Karma” period) and no album has been released since.Synaesthesia combines tribal and Karma-style beats with ambient sounds and lush electronic rhythms and melodies. All the songs are instrumental with chanting at some points.I have their last album, “Ephemeral” and it’s surely a must-have for Delerium and Enigma fans.
11. Schiller: A more trance influenced version of Enigma. I have his “Leben” (Life) and it’s a great electronic and enigmatic album. “Summer Rain” is a track with a good electronic melody and a nice beat. “The Smile”, the best track of the album has a good beat with Iranian ”Daf” and “Tombak” and fantastic vocals by Sarah Brightman.Schiller's 2006 album "Tag and Nacht" is also worth listening, but in that album, he's taken a more cheesy pop way, and therefore it's less Enigmatic.
13. Jens Gad: I’m sure we all know about him. The co-producer of Enigma and the greatest artist in the genre next to Enigma. He released albums under project titles “Achillea”, “Enigmatic Obsession” and “Jens Gad Presents”.
14. Delerium: The main project of Leeb and Fulber. It started in 1988 with dark melodies on “Faces, Forms and Illusions”. They released a couple of albums in the period between 88 and 93. In 1994, they released “Spheres II” which is known to be their turning point toward the enigmatic genre. “Spheres II” has quite a few good songs itself, with great electronic melodies and a newer Jean Michel Jarre feel.“Semantic Spaces” is absolutely a must have for any newage\electronic\enigma fan. It has tribal and Gregorian chants with great electronic elements. “Karma” is their best and most enigmatic album with many vocal tracks with great poetic lyrics as well as rich instrumental ones with flutes, Gregorian chants and tribal sounds.“Poem” is another good album with another change of style in the project. Almost all of the tracks on this album are vocal. This album has a more “live” feeling to it. The choirs and most of the instruments (strings, drums, etc.) are played live rather than sampled. Their style may have changed, but it still has that Delerium sound."Chimera" is an alright pop album with a mixture of different genres (Chillout, Enigmatic, Trance, etc.)Their latest album "Nuages Du Monde" is my least favorite Delerium album since "Karma".
15. Deep Forest: The famous project of Eric Mouquet and Michael Sanchez. Combining elements and chants from different cultures. In “Deep Forest” they take you to Africa with “Sweet Lullaby” and “Nightbird”. Deep Forest's second album “Boheme” is a masterpiece. Deep forest doesn't just sample the chants and mix them with drums and synths. It emphasizes instrumental support from different parts of the globe, and that's why it's unique.Their 2003 album “Music Detected” is one of the greatest achievements of the Enigmatic genre and their best album so far in my opinion. In this album the duo fits a lot of musical genres (Including Enigmatic, Rock, Industrial, etc.) into one.“Pacifique” seems to be another good album to hear, but I don’t have it yet.For hearing what Deep Forest sounds like, I recommend their Best of album, “Essence of the Forest”.
16. Jean Michel Jarre: One of the first artists of the electronic genre. He’s famous for his “Oxygene” and “Equinoxe”, also boasting great electronic albums such as “Chronologie” and “Rendez-Vous”. I love his “Odyssey Thru O2” remix album. It’s not very Enigmatic but it’s still great electronic\trance.
17. Michael Cretu: The creator of Enigma himself. Check out his collaboration with Peter Cornelius under the title “Cornelius & Cretu”. The Cretu vocal tracks look like they could have belonged in an Enigma albums and a couple of Cornelius tracks are good.Also, you might like his 1985 album “Invisible Man”. It’s Cretu at his turning point toward Enigma. The songs are very 80’s, so it’s not that good. But there are a few enjoyable tracks.
18. Sandra: I’m sure we are all familiar her too. I only suggest “Fading Shades” and “Wheel of Time” (Both produced by Cretu and Gad). I’m sure you will find a lot of Enigma material in these albums specially in Wheel of Time.
19. Trance Atlantic Air Waves: A project from Michael Cretu and Jens Gad. "Energy of Sound" contains with a lot of covers and some original songs. You might also find some Enigma material here.
More artists to try:
- E Nomine: Listened to some samples from the album “Die Prophezeiung” and it left me amazed. It’s a mixture of Orchestra and Choir with dance techno beats Well, I don’t like the techno part. But the tracks sound fantastic. Gotta check this one a little more.
-Divine Works: Project of Klaus Zundel. “Ancient Person of My Heart” (which was in the Metamorphosis bootleg) can be found here
.-Thorgal: Side project of Eric Mouquet of Deep Forest in collaboration with Catherine Lara. Judging by the samples it’s one of the MOST ENIGMATIC ALBUMS I’ve ever come across.
-Aral: Another Eric Mouquet side project
-Phobos: Heard a lot about this one. People say his album “Phobos” is one of the best newage albums out there. Also I’ve heard it has killer bass.
-Mysteria: Another project from the producer of Phobos. In the 2005 album “Tempting the Muse”, he mixes Gregorian chants with electronica and airy female vocals. Sounds good.
-Venja: Producer of the tracks: “Sensing the Spheres” (One of the most Enigmatic tracks I’ve heard from a non-Enigma (?) artist.) and “Black Moon Dance” from Enigma bootleg “Metamorphosis”. They were orignially released in his "Dash of Soul".
-Waterbone: Some say it’s similar to deep forest. I don’t completely agree. I have their “Tibet” album and the songs are just too long, repetitive and containing too many melodies and samples. It’s something between a not-so-good Deep Forest and Yanni. Still, some songs are enjoyable.-Michael Sanchez: Released two albums: “Windows” and “Hieroglyphics”. I’ve listened to some samples and they sound Enigmatic.
-Ancient Spirits: Project of Klaus Zundel
-World Spirit: Project of Klaus Zundel Also known as One Little Creature supposed to consist of a mixture of chants from all over the globe.
-Classical Spirit: Project of Klaus Zundel with covers from Bach and Beethoven, I think.
-Moroccan Spirit: Project of Klaus Zundel. The title explains it all-Indigo Spirit: Project of Klaus Zundel. His record label announced that it’s the third Sacred Spirit album. It’s not that good. But still contains a few good songs.
-Amethystium: O.K. I don’t like this one that much. But I decided to include it since a lot of people like it. In my opinion, the beats are too weak and the melodies are overused. There are a few good songs in his different albums for example “Autumn Interlude” or “Into the Twilight” but I wouldn’t normally listen to the whole album.
'
-Sleepthief: If you are a fan of Delerium’s vocal songs, this artist might please you. In “Dawnseeker” The producers took the singers from Delerium, Balligomingo and other groups and had them do the vocals in one song each. It’s a pretty good album, maybe not so enigmatic but still deleriumic.-Balligomingo: Again, if you like Delerium’s electronic/pop songs, you will like his album "Beneath the Surface".
Sunday, May 20, 2007
THE MUSIC OF ENIGMA
A POSTERIORI BY ENIGMA
After six albums, Michael Cretu has yet to run out of ideas for how to twist and morph his pulsating dreamscapes into new concoctions. Compared with his previous albums, A POSTERIORI is easily his most ambient album to date, losing the dance pop and verse-chorus-verse vocals of VOYAGEUR's fare and distancing itself from the gothic trance of THE SCREEN BEHIND THE MIRROR. A Galileo-era astronomy theme runs through the album and is reflected in the music, with songs that are spacious, mysterious and a bit meditative. Being an Enigma album, vocals and chant are used freely thoughout the album, although more in the form of snippets and samples than full vocals. "Goodbye Milky Way", the album's first single release, feels like a cosmic redux of Cretu's classic "Return to Innocence"; while "The Alchemist," "Dreaming of Andromeda" and "Hello and Welcome" display Cretu's gift with lush, immersive sonics.
CD PRICE $25.00 MP3 clip
( If by any chance you want it you can order it any time ,writing a comment here)
ENIGMA I
Released in December 1990, ENIGMA 1 immediately captivated fans and critics worldwide with its innovative sound collage. The breakthrough single "Sadness Pt. 1" topped the charts in 23 countries, while MCMXC a.D. hit #1 in 41 countries and garnered 57 platinum awards - including triple platinum certification in America, where it has reigned on the Billboard Top 200 album chart for over five years.
CD PRICE $25.00 MP3 clip
( If by any chance you want it you can order it any time ,writing a comment here)
ENIGMA II
ENIGMA 2 continued the worldwide success of its predecessor. Since its release in December 1993, The Cross Of Changes has notched 21 platinum and 24 gold awards worldwide, with double-platinum sales in the U.S. The single "Return To Innocence" hit #1 in eight countries, went top 10 on five different continents, and became a top 5 smash in America.
CD PRICE $29.00 MP3 clip
( If by any chance you want it you can order it any time ,writing a comment here)
ENIGMA III
ENIGMA 3 now joins the ranks of its distinguished predecessors. Spurred by the debut single "Beyond The Invisible" (accompanied by director Julien Temple's evocative video clip), Le Roi Est Mort, Vive Le Roi! was pre-ordered to the tune of four million units.
CD PRICE $26.00 MP3 clip
( If by any chance you want it you can order it any time ,writing a comment here)
VOYAGEUR
Prepare for another surreal journey into the mind of Michael Cretu. Enigma cements their status as one of the more esoteric and artsy groups to fall under the heading of new age music with VOYAGEUR. Tone-wise, the album most closely resembles the group's earlier album THE CROSS OF CHANGES in that the music is more dreamy and trippy rather than dark and gothic, as Cretu's last two outings were. The compositions are a wicked kaleidoscope of heavy basslines, dreamy piano, trippy techno effects and dramatic vocals. Ruth-Ann (from electronica group Olive) provides vocals on two of the album's more interesting, pop-friendly tracks, "Boum Boum" and "Following the Sun." Another highlight is "The Piano," a stunningly ethereal instrumental track that's drenched with atmosphere.
CD PRICE $28.00 MP3 clip
A POSTERIORI BY ENIGMA
After six albums, Michael Cretu has yet to run out of ideas for how to twist and morph his pulsating dreamscapes into new concoctions. Compared with his previous albums, A POSTERIORI is easily his most ambient album to date, losing the dance pop and verse-chorus-verse vocals of VOYAGEUR's fare and distancing itself from the gothic trance of THE SCREEN BEHIND THE MIRROR. A Galileo-era astronomy theme runs through the album and is reflected in the music, with songs that are spacious, mysterious and a bit meditative. Being an Enigma album, vocals and chant are used freely thoughout the album, although more in the form of snippets and samples than full vocals. "Goodbye Milky Way", the album's first single release, feels like a cosmic redux of Cretu's classic "Return to Innocence"; while "The Alchemist," "Dreaming of Andromeda" and "Hello and Welcome" display Cretu's gift with lush, immersive sonics.
CD PRICE $25.00 MP3 clip
( If by any chance you want it you can order it any time ,writing a comment here)
ENIGMA I
Released in December 1990, ENIGMA 1 immediately captivated fans and critics worldwide with its innovative sound collage. The breakthrough single "Sadness Pt. 1" topped the charts in 23 countries, while MCMXC a.D. hit #1 in 41 countries and garnered 57 platinum awards - including triple platinum certification in America, where it has reigned on the Billboard Top 200 album chart for over five years.
CD PRICE $25.00 MP3 clip
( If by any chance you want it you can order it any time ,writing a comment here)
ENIGMA II
ENIGMA 2 continued the worldwide success of its predecessor. Since its release in December 1993, The Cross Of Changes has notched 21 platinum and 24 gold awards worldwide, with double-platinum sales in the U.S. The single "Return To Innocence" hit #1 in eight countries, went top 10 on five different continents, and became a top 5 smash in America.
CD PRICE $29.00 MP3 clip
( If by any chance you want it you can order it any time ,writing a comment here)
ENIGMA III
ENIGMA 3 now joins the ranks of its distinguished predecessors. Spurred by the debut single "Beyond The Invisible" (accompanied by director Julien Temple's evocative video clip), Le Roi Est Mort, Vive Le Roi! was pre-ordered to the tune of four million units.
CD PRICE $26.00 MP3 clip
( If by any chance you want it you can order it any time ,writing a comment here)
VOYAGEUR
Prepare for another surreal journey into the mind of Michael Cretu. Enigma cements their status as one of the more esoteric and artsy groups to fall under the heading of new age music with VOYAGEUR. Tone-wise, the album most closely resembles the group's earlier album THE CROSS OF CHANGES in that the music is more dreamy and trippy rather than dark and gothic, as Cretu's last two outings were. The compositions are a wicked kaleidoscope of heavy basslines, dreamy piano, trippy techno effects and dramatic vocals. Ruth-Ann (from electronica group Olive) provides vocals on two of the album's more interesting, pop-friendly tracks, "Boum Boum" and "Following the Sun." Another highlight is "The Piano," a stunningly ethereal instrumental track that's drenched with atmosphere.
CD PRICE $28.00 MP3 clip
Saturday, May 19, 2007
A Posteriori "Private Lounge Remix" iTunes Release March 27, 2007
After a long silence Virgin Germany released the awaited Enigma 6 Remix album "A Posteriori - Private Lounge Remix" on iTunes. Four of these remixes were officially released on iTunes way back in the autumn and these were also available on the A Posteriori DVD as well... Michael Cretu originally stated in a promotional interview that he had intentions to release a limited edition remix album and it is still unconfirmed if these tracks will also be released physically on a CD. Remix collaborators of Private Lounge Remix album are Tocadisco, Boca Junior (aka Wolfgang Filz who previously remixed Hello and Welcome, Turn Around and many more Sandra remixes), Jean F.Cochois, Christian Geller (who also remixed few Sandra songs on Reflections Remix album as well) and Ralf Hildenbeutel. This digital release features 12 tracks excluding Hello and Welcome unlike the master album release... Currently there's no trace or a statement of this mysterious release on Virgin Germany or Crocodile-Music, as Enigmatic as the title of the project, landing like a UFO as always...
Tracklisting of the album follows as:
1- Eppur Si Muove (Tocadisco Remix 2) 6:11
2- Feel Me Heaven (Boca Junior Remix) 6:24
3-Dreaming of Andromeda (Jean F. Cochois Remix) 7:29
4-Dancing With Mephisto (Boca Junior Remix) 5:28
5-Northern Lights (Boca Junior Remix) 5:41
6-Invisible Love (Boca Junior Remix) 5:45
7- Message from IO (Boca Junior Remix) 5:33
8-The Alchemist (Christian Geller Remix) 6:54
9-20.000 Miles Over the Sea (BocaJunior Remix) 7:08
10-Sitting On the Moon (Boca Junior Remix) 5:31
11-The Alchemist (The Alchemist's Vision By Ralf Hildenbeutel) 7:16
12-Goodbye Milky Way (Boca Junior Remix) 5:10
Tracklisting of the album follows as:
1- Eppur Si Muove (Tocadisco Remix 2) 6:11
2- Feel Me Heaven (Boca Junior Remix) 6:24
3-Dreaming of Andromeda (Jean F. Cochois Remix) 7:29
4-Dancing With Mephisto (Boca Junior Remix) 5:28
5-Northern Lights (Boca Junior Remix) 5:41
6-Invisible Love (Boca Junior Remix) 5:45
7- Message from IO (Boca Junior Remix) 5:33
8-The Alchemist (Christian Geller Remix) 6:54
9-20.000 Miles Over the Sea (BocaJunior Remix) 7:08
10-Sitting On the Moon (Boca Junior Remix) 5:31
11-The Alchemist (The Alchemist's Vision By Ralf Hildenbeutel) 7:16
12-Goodbye Milky Way (Boca Junior Remix) 5:10
Saturday, April 21, 2007
ENIGMA ''A Posteriori'' Review(ENIGMA 5)
ENIGMA
Review by Chaitanya(hey thats me) with Onur inside out!
ENIGMA ''A Posteriori'' released on:22nd & 25th September 2006 by Virgin Records/EMI Music.3699942 // 3730922____________
The end was actually hiding a new beginning in its sphere;darkness became the light, the wind turned into the smell of fear… Endless space has started sending the message; it was the time to decode the signals from the laboratory of the alchemist… We are obscure, we are complex…Feel the routine; see the unfathomable and the esoteric movement of the astrolabe… This is six… This is the sixth…
1.Eppur Si Muove 3.41
...Hundreds of years ahead of him…A welcome from the far future to the darkness of present and past, the orb is obvious for the next installment... We are all about to dive into a new dimension of the astrolabe, the movement will guide us into the epic tale of the endless space…Endless darkness, eternal enigma, the definite riddle…All has the same way…Fear this!… Fear the forthcoming!.. There's no way to hide or run away from the discovery…Cosmic doors are open…and yes, it does move, and yes Enigma goes on the musical journey without any limitation on time, space and any dimension of existence.. The latin chant in vocoder effect from the space introduces the excitement…. Synth effects are all around the channels…. Side to side, up and down… The bass line hypnotizes the self, a progressive start to the chapter, a well thought reference to ''From East to West'' that tastes incredibly good, very clubby, showcasing the essential quality of the alchemist...Like a poetic harmony, traditional roots are meeting the future, the sound fades out to minor C again, to repeat the reality of what we have already started…Chants are in futuristic vocoder effect, deep mystic layers are lying down to…
2.Feel Me Heaven 4.50...the post modern view of this continuum… Fading into a fabulous synthesizer collage, from our current coordinates to space, a 360 degree view of Enigma or the view is actually the space? What is this space behind Enigma? Twisting and turning sounds, waving scary voice line …
Feel me…. Feel me….. Feel me….. Heaven!....
Heaven, feel the cretuism, feel the passengers, surpass the hexagonal experience, flow into this translucent river. This is a track ahead of its time, an electronic anthem of heaven…This is the introducing track of Cretu's electronic symphony…Featuring the progressive touches of mastermind, nothing is sampled from our own past…The song starts to breath after 2:00 in its very own way of breathing, there after kicks the ultimate jungle beat, blended with the synth sound of this electronic heaven…Feel me….Feel me….Feel me Heaven…. These are the repeated lines till the end or till the grand turbulence of sound….There we fade out to ambient environment of space, could this be the lounge of the spaceship? A voice probably announces that it is time to dream...Even it is impossible to decipher the content of this ebb and tide…
3.Dreaming of Andromeda 4.26
… Is it a '' pressured air'' back and forth?...My baby's asleep…Reverberation of genuine effects side to side, with a chilling layer…We are all about to wake in our dream… Excellent beat combination with the effect, great bass line never heard before, the next generation of falling star effect, the kind reflection from our Enigma in zeitgeist... Rolling spheres around 2:17, A female operatic voice is leading the track throughout the song until the next path in our galaxy…A genuine operatic new age track, ethereal and unpredictable…In the end of this unique piece we arrive to an oozing silent scream in an unbreakable silence, the extra terrestrial choir starts in the end of Andromeda, this must be dedicated to the threatening stares of Mephisto…The morphing soul is now frozen with the coldness
4.Dancing with Mephisto 4.25…with a sudden, our dream is over…How scary is that? Layers are in and out like a tide, then we are in this amazing loop..A mid tempo hi-hat dancing with the electronic guitar riffs, very hard edged.. This track is reminiscent of ''Smell of Desire'' and ''Sadeness Part I.'' but in this space fashion..The voice of Enigma, Louisa Stanley whispers ''Follow me, come and feel infinity, eternity..'' and some more obscure French lines .. This is meant to be a déjà vu as Louisa whispers in the Dance with Mephisto. At 2:30 we hear our future, ''Invisible Love'' beat sample is heard in between to taste the forthcoming, before its time…The feeling is heat, the feeling is danger… This track is one of the most breath-taking, outstanding pieces on A Posteriori.. Mind puzzling as we're heading towards the northern...
5.Northern Lights 3.40
…lights of the galaxy, if there's such thing in eternity… A very beautiful beat, a smart variation of Callas Went Away from the debut album MCMXC a.D… But Callas is long gone, we're light years ahead….Still there are distorted voices traveling in our orbit, encountering with depth… This is the best down-tempo instrumental piece so far…This space might be dark for everyone, but Northern Lights is so colorful and enlightening. A perfect track, a top notch…Do you ever wonder what's going on in our spaceship, inside?..
.6.Invisible Love 4.55…Michael is playing a classic guitar for the very first time on Enigma, yeah you've heard that right… Quite surprising…This is actually a hidden prelude on the track, just setting a mood to the following trance beat…'Falling star generation duo' opens this track with the lead vocals from our master…
''Oooh rescue me, ooh rescue me, my invisible love''
Diving into this side of space….''I'll follow you….I'll follow you…Oooh Rescue Me'' This is a deep and dreamy trance track, something never heard before, very fresh and still haunting the listener, so inspirational…Who will rescue the gazer?...A dark haunting atmosphere…Even the reviewer is lost here… Closing my eyes, feeling the bass waves…Stars are all falling down, for this precious invisible love…
7.Message From IO 3.10
…heading to the volcanic moon of Jupiter here, meet the natives, see the shades of the mechanism, something organic breathing there, it is excited to see us, staring us with red eyes…A swirling layer…A mysterious mid album instrumental track with instrumental-like voices or voices like instruments… This is the initial claim of today's Enigma… Voices are twisted to sound like an instrument or the instruments are … The contradiction represents the paradox…Chilling, soothing the audience…Like a lost illusion of all these years…
8.Hello And Welcome 5.09
…into a revisited After The Storm Mix of Hello and Welcome. Not exactly the same but this version is rocking on chill out bases… Being a dub version of the original, this new revisited edit also features some great electronic guitar solo, almost the same one heard on Radio Edit, somehow that fits perfectly well to the main scheme of the album, Andru's voice is distorted, very cool metallic sound, could this be the '''I Love You I'll Kill You'' in space, especially considering the guitar solo part?..
9.20.000 Miles Over The Sea 4.23
…we left IO, we left Jupiter… Every journey has a returning time… Now it's A Posteriori's time to return to the base, we've already reached our moon… We're over these dry seas…We can hear water droplets but, is this an imagination? Could this moon be our earth? The main beat is identical to Jens Gad's Achillea – Ragnarok (Twilight of The Gods), Male Latin chant is back here , but there's no fear hidden, it is almost stroking the notes, spreading supersonic waves all over the wide horizons…This cinematic masterpiece captures all senses, seduces all emotions, it is almost impossible to resist….We are flowing, we are dreaming.…
10.Sitting On The Moon 4.21…of someone left behind.. We left a piece of our heart in our last stop, it is aching deep inside…The beat is a close variation of ''In The Shadow In The Light'' from the album Voyageur. Michael is desperately singing ''Where are you?, where are you? I am Sitting on the Moon'' Very emotional and special track, with loads of senses inside… This is a song not to be heard, a song for just to be felt inside…No words can describe the feeling in this song…Sensual, capturing, mesmerizing layers…
11.The Alchemist 4.41
…Travel into some falling down effects, similar to the ones that can be heard on Rollo's Dusted Variations Mixes on the special box set. This is the second and last hidden prelude into the Alchemist… Another dark edged sudden beginning, beat surfaces side to side with voices or instruments intended to sound like an opera… A Posteriori is Michael's electronic symphony and this song is all about him… He is the alchemist of music… He turns samples and voices into esoteric and hard to understand puzzles with perfect precision… This track features a very unusual pattern, just the typical innovative soul of our mastermind.. Each piece is telling a story, like this one….And we visit the lounge of our spaceship in the end, here again, ambient & jungle like voices thru...
12.Goodbye Milky Way 5.58… this eastern-like girl chant..''Shall I go? Shall I Stay? 107 light years away, many times, so many doubts, but no reason to talk about.'' ''Mission is over, mission is done, I'll miss you children of the sun. But it's time to go away, goodbye , goodbye milky way!'' For a better world, without hate, follow your heart, believe in fate, only visions and the mind will guide you to the light!''... This is the ending anthem in a night dream in which we are all gazing into the dark sky at the glimmering stars…Fading out slowly, very slowly…Louisa Stanley whispers; ''In 5 billion years…The Andromeda galaxy will collide with our Milky Way, a new gigantic COSMIC WORLD will be born..'' The end of the code, the end of the mission until the next one…A Minor C, an M.C, the Michael Cretu way…
best regards
Chatty(chaitanya!)
~~~A Posteriori by ENIGMA:
Review by Chaitanya(hey thats me) with Onur inside out!
ENIGMA ''A Posteriori'' released on:22nd & 25th September 2006 by Virgin Records/EMI Music.3699942 // 3730922____________
The end was actually hiding a new beginning in its sphere;darkness became the light, the wind turned into the smell of fear… Endless space has started sending the message; it was the time to decode the signals from the laboratory of the alchemist… We are obscure, we are complex…Feel the routine; see the unfathomable and the esoteric movement of the astrolabe… This is six… This is the sixth…
1.Eppur Si Muove 3.41
...Hundreds of years ahead of him…A welcome from the far future to the darkness of present and past, the orb is obvious for the next installment... We are all about to dive into a new dimension of the astrolabe, the movement will guide us into the epic tale of the endless space…Endless darkness, eternal enigma, the definite riddle…All has the same way…Fear this!… Fear the forthcoming!.. There's no way to hide or run away from the discovery…Cosmic doors are open…and yes, it does move, and yes Enigma goes on the musical journey without any limitation on time, space and any dimension of existence.. The latin chant in vocoder effect from the space introduces the excitement…. Synth effects are all around the channels…. Side to side, up and down… The bass line hypnotizes the self, a progressive start to the chapter, a well thought reference to ''From East to West'' that tastes incredibly good, very clubby, showcasing the essential quality of the alchemist...Like a poetic harmony, traditional roots are meeting the future, the sound fades out to minor C again, to repeat the reality of what we have already started…Chants are in futuristic vocoder effect, deep mystic layers are lying down to…
2.Feel Me Heaven 4.50...the post modern view of this continuum… Fading into a fabulous synthesizer collage, from our current coordinates to space, a 360 degree view of Enigma or the view is actually the space? What is this space behind Enigma? Twisting and turning sounds, waving scary voice line …
Feel me…. Feel me….. Feel me….. Heaven!....
Heaven, feel the cretuism, feel the passengers, surpass the hexagonal experience, flow into this translucent river. This is a track ahead of its time, an electronic anthem of heaven…This is the introducing track of Cretu's electronic symphony…Featuring the progressive touches of mastermind, nothing is sampled from our own past…The song starts to breath after 2:00 in its very own way of breathing, there after kicks the ultimate jungle beat, blended with the synth sound of this electronic heaven…Feel me….Feel me….Feel me Heaven…. These are the repeated lines till the end or till the grand turbulence of sound….There we fade out to ambient environment of space, could this be the lounge of the spaceship? A voice probably announces that it is time to dream...Even it is impossible to decipher the content of this ebb and tide…
3.Dreaming of Andromeda 4.26
… Is it a '' pressured air'' back and forth?...My baby's asleep…Reverberation of genuine effects side to side, with a chilling layer…We are all about to wake in our dream… Excellent beat combination with the effect, great bass line never heard before, the next generation of falling star effect, the kind reflection from our Enigma in zeitgeist... Rolling spheres around 2:17, A female operatic voice is leading the track throughout the song until the next path in our galaxy…A genuine operatic new age track, ethereal and unpredictable…In the end of this unique piece we arrive to an oozing silent scream in an unbreakable silence, the extra terrestrial choir starts in the end of Andromeda, this must be dedicated to the threatening stares of Mephisto…The morphing soul is now frozen with the coldness
4.Dancing with Mephisto 4.25…with a sudden, our dream is over…How scary is that? Layers are in and out like a tide, then we are in this amazing loop..A mid tempo hi-hat dancing with the electronic guitar riffs, very hard edged.. This track is reminiscent of ''Smell of Desire'' and ''Sadeness Part I.'' but in this space fashion..The voice of Enigma, Louisa Stanley whispers ''Follow me, come and feel infinity, eternity..'' and some more obscure French lines .. This is meant to be a déjà vu as Louisa whispers in the Dance with Mephisto. At 2:30 we hear our future, ''Invisible Love'' beat sample is heard in between to taste the forthcoming, before its time…The feeling is heat, the feeling is danger… This track is one of the most breath-taking, outstanding pieces on A Posteriori.. Mind puzzling as we're heading towards the northern...
5.Northern Lights 3.40
…lights of the galaxy, if there's such thing in eternity… A very beautiful beat, a smart variation of Callas Went Away from the debut album MCMXC a.D… But Callas is long gone, we're light years ahead….Still there are distorted voices traveling in our orbit, encountering with depth… This is the best down-tempo instrumental piece so far…This space might be dark for everyone, but Northern Lights is so colorful and enlightening. A perfect track, a top notch…Do you ever wonder what's going on in our spaceship, inside?..
.6.Invisible Love 4.55…Michael is playing a classic guitar for the very first time on Enigma, yeah you've heard that right… Quite surprising…This is actually a hidden prelude on the track, just setting a mood to the following trance beat…'Falling star generation duo' opens this track with the lead vocals from our master…
''Oooh rescue me, ooh rescue me, my invisible love''
Diving into this side of space….''I'll follow you….I'll follow you…Oooh Rescue Me'' This is a deep and dreamy trance track, something never heard before, very fresh and still haunting the listener, so inspirational…Who will rescue the gazer?...A dark haunting atmosphere…Even the reviewer is lost here… Closing my eyes, feeling the bass waves…Stars are all falling down, for this precious invisible love…
7.Message From IO 3.10
…heading to the volcanic moon of Jupiter here, meet the natives, see the shades of the mechanism, something organic breathing there, it is excited to see us, staring us with red eyes…A swirling layer…A mysterious mid album instrumental track with instrumental-like voices or voices like instruments… This is the initial claim of today's Enigma… Voices are twisted to sound like an instrument or the instruments are … The contradiction represents the paradox…Chilling, soothing the audience…Like a lost illusion of all these years…
8.Hello And Welcome 5.09
…into a revisited After The Storm Mix of Hello and Welcome. Not exactly the same but this version is rocking on chill out bases… Being a dub version of the original, this new revisited edit also features some great electronic guitar solo, almost the same one heard on Radio Edit, somehow that fits perfectly well to the main scheme of the album, Andru's voice is distorted, very cool metallic sound, could this be the '''I Love You I'll Kill You'' in space, especially considering the guitar solo part?..
9.20.000 Miles Over The Sea 4.23
…we left IO, we left Jupiter… Every journey has a returning time… Now it's A Posteriori's time to return to the base, we've already reached our moon… We're over these dry seas…We can hear water droplets but, is this an imagination? Could this moon be our earth? The main beat is identical to Jens Gad's Achillea – Ragnarok (Twilight of The Gods), Male Latin chant is back here , but there's no fear hidden, it is almost stroking the notes, spreading supersonic waves all over the wide horizons…This cinematic masterpiece captures all senses, seduces all emotions, it is almost impossible to resist….We are flowing, we are dreaming.…
10.Sitting On The Moon 4.21…of someone left behind.. We left a piece of our heart in our last stop, it is aching deep inside…The beat is a close variation of ''In The Shadow In The Light'' from the album Voyageur. Michael is desperately singing ''Where are you?, where are you? I am Sitting on the Moon'' Very emotional and special track, with loads of senses inside… This is a song not to be heard, a song for just to be felt inside…No words can describe the feeling in this song…Sensual, capturing, mesmerizing layers…
11.The Alchemist 4.41
…Travel into some falling down effects, similar to the ones that can be heard on Rollo's Dusted Variations Mixes on the special box set. This is the second and last hidden prelude into the Alchemist… Another dark edged sudden beginning, beat surfaces side to side with voices or instruments intended to sound like an opera… A Posteriori is Michael's electronic symphony and this song is all about him… He is the alchemist of music… He turns samples and voices into esoteric and hard to understand puzzles with perfect precision… This track features a very unusual pattern, just the typical innovative soul of our mastermind.. Each piece is telling a story, like this one….And we visit the lounge of our spaceship in the end, here again, ambient & jungle like voices thru...
12.Goodbye Milky Way 5.58… this eastern-like girl chant..''Shall I go? Shall I Stay? 107 light years away, many times, so many doubts, but no reason to talk about.'' ''Mission is over, mission is done, I'll miss you children of the sun. But it's time to go away, goodbye , goodbye milky way!'' For a better world, without hate, follow your heart, believe in fate, only visions and the mind will guide you to the light!''... This is the ending anthem in a night dream in which we are all gazing into the dark sky at the glimmering stars…Fading out slowly, very slowly…Louisa Stanley whispers; ''In 5 billion years…The Andromeda galaxy will collide with our Milky Way, a new gigantic COSMIC WORLD will be born..'' The end of the code, the end of the mission until the next one…A Minor C, an M.C, the Michael Cretu way…
best regards
Chatty(chaitanya!)
~~~A Posteriori by ENIGMA:
ENIGMA 4 REVIEW
After so long of anticipation of the style and direction and obvious thoughts of music ,I am coming up with my Review..... As every Enigma album before, this one offers as much excitement...all my words expressed were written as I heard the album on the second play, and reflect my feelings and emotions as a true Enigma fan."Thanks to the few who made this possible...you know who you are!!!"
and by the way those who Know me very well, Enigma is what they should start thinking
wat ya say!
every second of the diffretiated music has been understood and left into imaginary world.
I would suggest you all to play the Album and then read... you will understand the abyss followed then.
Bless! and happy listning , as you read.
-Chaitanya
The Gate 2:01...swirling intro...Elisabeth Houghton repeats the galaxy information...the familiar intro that has been with us since E1 comes ambling in...and out again...the vocal information keeps telling us about the earth’s rotation...some nice bells tumble down...swirling space sounds...could we be in a space station?? ...just as the sound fades at
1:26 in comes the first Carmina sample looping and fading inwards...
1:36 the vocal is full blast loud, very loud...the sample is the full length and not looped until
1:57 when the ladies voice tells us more about the universe!! ...drums start and go right into...
Push The Limits 6:25...This starts very differently than most Enigma tracks but ends up being a classic piece of music...Oh how I wish every Enigma track is 6:25 long and has all of these elements!!The intro to this song carries over the same words about space being presented...and it has different synth sound than you would not normally assign to Enigma. Drums beat from side to side with a deep bass sound...the voice...and then lead into a snare...at 0:30 sec into the track the main melody kicks in...again a different synth sound is used...great drums are all around...and loud!!!
At 1:18 the melody and strange synth stop...it goes into a very nice ethnic chant...repeated with the now familiar Enigma sound of the past...a really nice high pitched female vocal melody plays in the background...Now 2 chants at the same time!!!At
1:57 in comes the third chant...similar to the one in Light of your Smile!!! at
2:03 the voice says ( Basic Instincts are side by side )...so 4 elements are playing all together for a few brief moments...CHRIST this is brilliant ...At
2:20 the drums drop and in comes the TNT tabulars drums...and the English ladies voice repeats the "words of wisdom"...then at
:40..another captivating/chilling/eerie/ Mongolian sample...this haunting sound will stay with you and you never forget the chilling sound of this Mongolian chant...awesome!!!!...the drums are still low while this chant goes on and on...this is the real Enigma...until
3:34 when the beat goes up and more strange instruments never heard on Enigma before...the voice comes back again at
3:54...it is haunting/scary!!...this plays to the first drums and increases in intensity until 4:33...where the drums cascade into the first synth sound and melody again...this plays until 5:10 when the drums drop again ..and the moans of Sandra together with a sample used in Mea Culpa...drums build up again...and in come the voices chants again...drums are really nice...and strong!!The mea Culpa sample plays over...and the melody comes back in the final seconds...classic Enigma!!! This is the same feel you get from "Eyes of Truth" and "Morphing Thru Time"...great opening track...hallmark of Enigma albums...
Gravity Of Love 4:01...Same version as the single...nothing more to say about this track...(well we all Know Know This Track..wat ya say!
Smell of Desire 4:56...droplets of beats...ambient feel...low synth Enigma feel to start...very heavy bass drum drops in at
0:16...clicking drum noise...could it be native tribe banging wood...or just a new Enigma drum beat...melody of synth come in around
0:25 low and un-assuming...in comes the pan flute...low and winding...at
0:47 and the main drum beats comes in...not as loud and the whole track has a low key feel...pan flute plays a beautiful rift...at
1:25 in comes a quick heavy sigh sample...and into a new higher pitched synth melody...sounds new and just as moody as the pan flute...this wanders it way through silky sounds until a very nice low electric guitar of Jens Gad comes in at
2:01...starts off with a acoustic Spanish feel but quickly goes into a smooth rift...heavy deep breathing surrounds the background...but it is kept back in the mix at just the right level ...oh my...in comes Sandra at
2:23 with the erotic Mea Culpa words... "Je ne dors plus, Je suis folle, Je m’abandone, Je suis a toi" which she repeats through to
:42 when the pan flute comes back in with the melody...rally nice atmosphere surrounds...and in comes another E1 sample from Sadeness trance mix playing backwards at
3:15 all 3 previous Enigma albums come together in this track...how is it possible...wow!!!...electric guitar comes back in with the Sadeness track still playing backwards in the background...now in comes Mea Culpa again...this is truly amazing how he blends all elements together...all the way to the end...you will listening in amazement of the construction of this track...the true beauty of production...Sadeness, Mea Culpa, Principles, Beyond the Invisible, Shadows in Silence, I'll love I'll Kill You all in one!...The Master of erotic!!! This has to be one of the most standout tracks...fades out with Sandra whispers of the "the eternal flame will always burn - feel - understand - and learn" ...fading Pan flute...goes into a...
Modern Crusaders 3:49...ambient feel to start the track until the drum kicks in at
0:08...Andru picks up the vocals at
0:18..(first thought are Cretu singing...but NO it is Andru...Cretu's voice can't get down low to some of the notes...listen carefully) singing through the normalizer to make his voice slightly distorted...very upbeat song...singing about Modern Crusaders...sound like early Cretu solo singing but with a heavy drum beats...not to much happening in the background...the old Enigma synth feel...until his voice breaks at
1:32...and wow...in comes the main chant you will all know from "Carmina Burana - O Fortuna"...mixed here with the heavy drums...pounding...chants stops at
1:58 in come heavy Gad guitar...sounds as hurried as the guitar from E2...breaks at
2:32...drums break and lower feel...in comes the main sample from "Carmina Burana" again...low chorus which builds up to the main part which come in loud at
2:55...drums come in heavy again...and Andru goes back into the chorus at
3:18 Gad comes back with the rift...Andru finishes the vocals and in comes the same organ used at the start of Rivers to finish the song...hurried and a very up beat song after the last track...it is over as quick as it starts. The production of the sample works and he captures the emotion of the Carl Orf theme...More ambient feel and intro...into...
Traces (Light and Weight) This is one of my fav's.. and I like this part like I smell my soul back.
.4:10...heavy droplets of water...are the start of this track...drum beat is different again...but heavy...strange sound that accompanies the drum...almost sounds like a snare...but it is a match being scraped and lit...in comes a chant Mongolian sample at
0:40...swirling around in the background...sound like a instrument church bells ring at 1:02...they chime to the melody to another new synth sound form Cretu...at
1:35...the sound breaks apart form the water droplets...atmosphere surrounds...a very faint Latin sample is heard which fades quickly and is slightly muffled...more Delirium sampled sound...very low...weird sounds surround this section...again sounds like spring noise...could it be dolphins noise...at
2:14 the heavy drums start again...melody still floating in the background in comes the sampled voice again at
2:27...not high in the mix...but enough to make the song chilling...church bells accompany the melody briefly again...weird sound going on and on... the sampled voice becomes louder and more the front of the mix...and then fades as then song does...more ambient feel as the drum stops and the tracks fades out...reverse voice and choir are heard at the end...this starts the next song...
The Screen Behind The Mirror
3:57...This starts with another nice heavy drum intro...going to heavy bass beats at 0:10sec leading into some nice Sandra heavy breathing and atmosphere...at
0:31 a very nice chant that has been distorted in the same fashion as Peter Frampton did...this then goes into a more audible chant...African...he turns this into a melody until
0:51 sec when Sandra starts some very faint singing with the chants very active in the background...harmonica samples...voice samples too...this then breaks into the synth melody at
1:12 which is a high pitch...and again a different type of Enigma melody at
:33 more Andru singing the vocals of Gravity...then in Ruth joins hi mat
1:52...with the a very nice catchy "da da der" chant...The vocals are deliberately distorted to set the mood of dreaming...and confusion in your mind...the heavy drum stays al the way through this...great track...the old Sadeness stutter drum loop thrown in a few time s to diffuse the master beat...at
2:015 Andru sings more lines for the Gravity lyrics...until
2:34 where the high pitched melody comes back in very strong...this then winds it way to the end of track with a lot of atmosphere and Ruth vocals in the background..."da da der" vocal chant to the end...
Endless Quest 3:05...VERY STRONG DRUM beat...great angelic noises...and choir like synth melody...here is the old Enigma...pan flute...at
:30...very nice floating sound...and melody...man this drum beat is awesome and strong...pan flute winds it way with great effect...Beyond and Sadeness all in one...now at 1:20 and it is still going...WOW...angelic voices at
:30...drum breaks at at
:40...with a crescendo of cymbals...then a weaker drum breaks in the background...nice high sound synth again at
1:48...this now plays where the pan...flutes left off...pan flutes still laying in the background at the same time..
.2:17 the drums came back in strong with the electric guitar of JENS GAD...VERY STRONG and "I'll love Ill Kill" you strength...this breaks down at
:49...and winds down...and ends with some very heavy Sandra breathing man this could have gone on for another 2-3 minutes...suddenly it ends and in comes.
..Camera Obscura
1:27...wild vocals break and hard hard drum...vocals are very distorted...and it is hard to make out who is singing...sounds like Andru...but the words sound backwards...could it even be a chant...at
0:33 in comes a strong and bold Carmina chorus...this is the sample you all know...but the drums are very dance beat and strong!...this goes on and ends when the tracks breaks down into to sublime ambient beats...WOW talk about up high and then comes down into a mellow ending...very emotional track...and quick...this floats into...
Between Mind And Heart
4:08...Oh...very nice synth and mellow drum...and ambient beats...slow melody...with another organ sounding synth...Santoor instrument maybe...almost 2 sounds of melody...very calm...at 0:55 in comes some nice light sample of chants...vocal sound angelic and in Latin...heavy breathing as well. at
1:15 in comes a very nice harpsichord pia
no...with Michael vocals...hard to hear what he is singing...but it is calm...at
1:40 in comes a African chant sample...this is repeated and echoing...again you want forget this sample...haunting!!...this then floats with more heavy breathing and distant women...and more sample of chants harp plays in the back ground in comes Sandra who sings "this is the engine of your body" at
2:21...and then she says "that brings the engine of life"...louder choir and the main sample come in loud and floating Sandra voices...and this runs to the end of a beautiful track full of emotion and feeling...the track ends with all of the African samples looping all together and swirling around the room...Sandra ends the track with a whisper.
Silence Must be Heard 5:18...Oh my...so much has been heard upto now...it seems so quick but fulfilling...all the emotions that Enigma bring...come to a end with this beautiful sounding start...some really nice low synth like a organ...like TNT intro...really nice effects that appear like a knocking noise...until this really nice melody snyth starts at
0:30...really nice drum into combines with this super swirling melody...Ruth Ann starts to sing at
0:50...her voice has emotion and sounds like Sandra...low and highs voice...now it starts to get higher and more emotion...at
1:27 it breaks and has the feel of a Sandra song...in comes Michael as the drum breaks and groans in the background... "silence must be heard"...
1:27this distorted like a angels voice...then the Ruth Ann comes in hard with the chorus at 1:47...this sounds like Sandra...with many effects used in old Enigma and Sandra tracks...but then this great melody synth come back in at
2:07...very nice catchy drum pattern and loops...at
2:26 she sings the final words of the song...and this has breaks into another Cretu vocal background break...but the atmosphere is haunting...in comes Ruth loud again at
3:00..."Silence Must Be Heard"...in comes the final melody...Damn this is catchy...and mellow but has the emotion and energy of a the old Cretu...track fades out at
4:10 with whispers of "Silence"...could this be Sandra or Ruth Ann...and into the final outro will all know from previous albums...but clear and a space feel to it!!!This track will stay in your mind as soothing and even though it has energy...it oozes Sandra and maybe some earlier Cretu...even though Ruth Ann is singing...but it could easily be Sandra...maybe it is...but the melody will hook you...as it is addictive...this track could have surely gone longer.
Wrap Up...What can I say...the album is awesome...and it will leave you spellbound in ecstasy!!...the feel and emotion has come back into our lives after 3 long years...and this album blows away Enigma 3 in context and beauty. Not overdone with vocals but pure instrumental charm with outstanding ethnic samples...where does Michael find them.The album feel is very diversified and listening to the Carl Orf samples used it is misleading...these give the album another twist...and it is hard to fully understand how he wanted these to fit...the Enigma feel is always present although the newer and cleaner sound is awesome!!Moody and full of energy...give you the roller coaster effect of emotions...the only negative...the album could have been longer... maybe each track would have done better to be at around 5 - 6min...you want each track to keep going...as beauty should be longer. African/Jungle/Indian feel to many of the songs...but each track takes many twists and turns you really cant get comfortable with any part before it changes into another direction...but the flow is tremendous. It is amazing how many older Enigma sounds are packed in this album...but you really don’t think..."hey this sounds old or outdated"...it is sounds new and fresh and part of the new generation album. The drums make you feel like you are born again...new sounds, new beats, new emotions...Enigma fans I am going to come with a lots of reviews..... more of ENIGMA 1, 2,3 and 5 and 6 too...... but as 4 being my fav... so's started with this..!well that day even is not to far away... but before that beg or borrow the money to buy the album...and you won't be disappointed!!!!Sorry I just love Enigma.
Enigma 3 Review
Group: Enigma
Title: Enigma 3 Le Roi Est Mort, VIVE Le Roi!
Author: Chaitanya
Source: Microsoft Music Review
Expect the usual enigmatic from Enigma's third tour of inner space: shimmering synthesizers, breathy female vocals, low boil beats, and brooding mysticism. Enigma is the mystery-shrouded brainchild of Bucharest native Michael Cretu, better known as Curly M.C. a cloistered studio rat smitten with the electronic sounds of Pink Floyd, Deep Forest, and that Cool Manual no-no, Yes. The Gregorian chants and pan flutes of Enigma's first album MCMXC a.D., blend with the Indonesian flavors of 1994's The Cross Of Changes on Le Roi Est Mort, VIVE Le Roi! ("the king is dead, long live the king"). It's a pleasant rehash with only one notable distinction, Cretu's own vocals. His capable and emotive singing is a mixed blessing. In it's restrained form, Cretu's voice adds another silky layer to the luxurious textures. When he bullies to the forefront the spell shatters. On Beyond The Invisible he sounds like Phil Collins straining for metaphysical euphoria. "Things are changing but nothing changes" is the mantra permeating Le Roi, an ambling philosophical meditation that pivots on the question "Why?" While not exactly a novel mission, the quest for answers can be a worthy aim, except when the search gets under way. Cretu gets so hung up ruminating on the crisis of the unknown that he forgets to open his eyes and get a clue. By the end of Le Roi, even the most pensive sage would holler "Oh, why NOT already!" Not that it matters. In the language of Enigma, words are merely another instrument to caress the sensibilities. The voices of Zulu's and Latvians mix with gentle flutes and strings and other worldly sound effects to create swirling, exotic collage. Cretu ditched crisp disco beats for muted drums that readily blend with the moody sonic. When Le Roi hits it's stride, the result is ethereal and wondrous, as in the feathery "Morphing Thru Time", "T.N.T. For The Brain" and Odyssey Of The Mind", a hunting piece that recalls the creepiness of Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells. But Enigma descends into a new age noodling, it has all the spiritual sustenance of K-Tels ode to the oboe.
Source: Microsoft Music Review
Title: Enigma 3 Le Roi Est Mort, VIVE Le Roi!
Author: Chaitanya
Source: Microsoft Music Review
Expect the usual enigmatic from Enigma's third tour of inner space: shimmering synthesizers, breathy female vocals, low boil beats, and brooding mysticism. Enigma is the mystery-shrouded brainchild of Bucharest native Michael Cretu, better known as Curly M.C. a cloistered studio rat smitten with the electronic sounds of Pink Floyd, Deep Forest, and that Cool Manual no-no, Yes. The Gregorian chants and pan flutes of Enigma's first album MCMXC a.D., blend with the Indonesian flavors of 1994's The Cross Of Changes on Le Roi Est Mort, VIVE Le Roi! ("the king is dead, long live the king"). It's a pleasant rehash with only one notable distinction, Cretu's own vocals. His capable and emotive singing is a mixed blessing. In it's restrained form, Cretu's voice adds another silky layer to the luxurious textures. When he bullies to the forefront the spell shatters. On Beyond The Invisible he sounds like Phil Collins straining for metaphysical euphoria. "Things are changing but nothing changes" is the mantra permeating Le Roi, an ambling philosophical meditation that pivots on the question "Why?" While not exactly a novel mission, the quest for answers can be a worthy aim, except when the search gets under way. Cretu gets so hung up ruminating on the crisis of the unknown that he forgets to open his eyes and get a clue. By the end of Le Roi, even the most pensive sage would holler "Oh, why NOT already!" Not that it matters. In the language of Enigma, words are merely another instrument to caress the sensibilities. The voices of Zulu's and Latvians mix with gentle flutes and strings and other worldly sound effects to create swirling, exotic collage. Cretu ditched crisp disco beats for muted drums that readily blend with the moody sonic. When Le Roi hits it's stride, the result is ethereal and wondrous, as in the feathery "Morphing Thru Time", "T.N.T. For The Brain" and Odyssey Of The Mind", a hunting piece that recalls the creepiness of Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells. But Enigma descends into a new age noodling, it has all the spiritual sustenance of K-Tels ode to the oboe.
Source: Microsoft Music Review
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
A Posteriori "Private Lounge Remix" iTunes Release
After a long silence Virgin Germany released the awaited Enigma 6 Remix album "A Posteriori - Private Lounge Remix" on iTunes। 4 of these remixes were officially released on iTunes way back in the autumn and these were also available on the A Posteriori DVD as well... Michael Cretu originally stated in a promotional interview that he had intentions to release a limited edition remix album and it is still unconfirmed if these tracks will also be released physically on a CD. Remix collaborators of Private Lounge Remix album are Tocadisco, Boca Junior (aka Wolfgang Filz who previously remixed Hello and Welcome, Turn Around and many more Sandra remixes), Jean F.Cochois, Christian Geller (who also remixed few Sandra songs on Reflections Remix album as well) and Ralf Hildenbeutel. This digital release features 12 tracks excluding Hello and Welcome unlike the master album release... Currently there's no trace or a statement of this mysterious release on Virgin Germany or Crocodile-Music, as Enigmatic as the title of the project, landing like a UFO as always...
Tracklisting of the album follows as:
1- Eppur Si Muove (Tocadisco Remix 2) 6:११
2- Feel Me Heaven (Boca Junior Remix) 6:२४
3-Dreaming of Andromeda (Jean F। Cochois Remix) 7:२९
4-Dancing With Mephisto (Boca Junior Remix) 5:२८
5-Northern Lights (Boca Junior Remix) 5:४१
6-Invisible Love (Boca Junior Remix) 5:४५
7- Message from IO (Boca Junior Remix) 5:३३
8-The Alchemist (Christian Geller Remix) 6:54
9-20।000 Miles Over the Sea (BocaJunior Remix) 7:08
1०-Sitting On the Moon (Boca Junior Remix) 5:31
११-The Alchemist (The Alchemist's Vision By Ralf Hildenbeutel) 7:16
12-Goodbye Milky Way (Boca Junior Remix) 5:10
Tracklisting of the album follows as:
1- Eppur Si Muove (Tocadisco Remix 2) 6:११
2- Feel Me Heaven (Boca Junior Remix) 6:२४
3-Dreaming of Andromeda (Jean F। Cochois Remix) 7:२९
4-Dancing With Mephisto (Boca Junior Remix) 5:२८
5-Northern Lights (Boca Junior Remix) 5:४१
6-Invisible Love (Boca Junior Remix) 5:४५
7- Message from IO (Boca Junior Remix) 5:३३
8-The Alchemist (Christian Geller Remix) 6:54
9-20।000 Miles Over the Sea (BocaJunior Remix) 7:08
1०-Sitting On the Moon (Boca Junior Remix) 5:31
११-The Alchemist (The Alchemist's Vision By Ralf Hildenbeutel) 7:16
12-Goodbye Milky Way (Boca Junior Remix) 5:10
Saturday, March 31, 2007
ENIGMA - PAST - REINCARNATION
I was thinking about his the other day. Some Enigma songs suggest that we haved lived past lives and we reincarnate. What are your opinions on this subject. I myself believe that we have lived as someone else in the past, which is why we experience a strong sense of deja vu at times. I think we are all part of a life force, and may reincarnate as different entities. Your thoughts please....
__________________
The present is like a water drop, which makes a mommentary disturbance, and disappears॥
__________________
The present is like a water drop, which makes a mommentary disturbance, and disappears॥
Thursday, March 15, 2007
The many people behind Enigma's music...
The मुसिक
Michael Cretu (a.k.a. Curly M.C.): The man behind Enigma. Does all the music, production, and so forth. Performs many of the vocals, does most of the remixing, and arranges guest vocalists.
Frank Peterson (a.k.a. F. Gregorian): Assisted Cretu on E1, has not worked with Enigma since 1991 due to a falling-out between himself and Cretu.
Jens Gad: Assists Cretu with a lot of the engineering and music production, does most of the electric guitar solos, and remixes most of the club mixes on the singles.
Peter Cornelius: Also did some guitar solos on E2 and E3.
Sven Vath (a.k.a. D.F.F.): Remixed the Omen Mix of Principles of Lust.
Jam El Mar and Mark Spoon (a.k.a. Jam & Spoon)/Allstar Productions: Remixed the Jam & Spoon Remix of Carly's Song.
Orhan Terzi (a.k.a. DJ Quicksilver): Remixed The Roundabout, but this remix never saw the light of day.
Peter Ries: Assisted with the Judgement Day Club Mix of Gravity of Love.
W. Filz/La Danza Production: Remixed the Dark Vocal Club Mix of Gravity of Love.
Andre Tanneberger (a.k.a. ATB): Remixed the ATB Remix and ATB Radio Remix of Push the Limits. Also did a remix for Silence Must Be Heard, but nobody has heard this mix to date.
Enrique Muriel: Did the Radio-FX on E4.
The Voices
Michael Cretu: Does nearly all of the male vocals.
Sandra Cretu: Does most of the whispered female vocals. She is Cretu's wife.
Louisa Stanley: Does the spoken-word parts on the first three albums. Stanley was a radio plugger for Virgin Records.
Elisabeth Houghton: Fills Stanley's role on E4. She is a photographer for Virgin Records.
Andreas Harde (a.k.a. Andy Hard, Angel, Angel X): Sings on Return to Innocence. Cretu produced him.
Ruth-Ann Boyle: Lead singer of the UK group Olive. Sings on Gravity of Love and a few other songs from E4.
Andru Donalds: Jamaican reggae singer that is produced by Cretu. Sings on Modern Crusaders and a few other songs on E4.
The Lyrics
Michael Cretu: Writes most lyrics.
David Fairstein: Assisted Cretu on lyrics for E1, E2, and E3.
Frank Peterson: Worked on lyrics on The Voice & The Snake.
Nikolas Marten: Wrote the narrations for the Remember the Future DVD.
Michael Cretu (a.k.a. Curly M.C.): The man behind Enigma. Does all the music, production, and so forth. Performs many of the vocals, does most of the remixing, and arranges guest vocalists.
Frank Peterson (a.k.a. F. Gregorian): Assisted Cretu on E1, has not worked with Enigma since 1991 due to a falling-out between himself and Cretu.
Jens Gad: Assists Cretu with a lot of the engineering and music production, does most of the electric guitar solos, and remixes most of the club mixes on the singles.
Peter Cornelius: Also did some guitar solos on E2 and E3.
Sven Vath (a.k.a. D.F.F.): Remixed the Omen Mix of Principles of Lust.
Jam El Mar and Mark Spoon (a.k.a. Jam & Spoon)/Allstar Productions: Remixed the Jam & Spoon Remix of Carly's Song.
Orhan Terzi (a.k.a. DJ Quicksilver): Remixed The Roundabout, but this remix never saw the light of day.
Peter Ries: Assisted with the Judgement Day Club Mix of Gravity of Love.
W. Filz/La Danza Production: Remixed the Dark Vocal Club Mix of Gravity of Love.
Andre Tanneberger (a.k.a. ATB): Remixed the ATB Remix and ATB Radio Remix of Push the Limits. Also did a remix for Silence Must Be Heard, but nobody has heard this mix to date.
Enrique Muriel: Did the Radio-FX on E4.
The Voices
Michael Cretu: Does nearly all of the male vocals.
Sandra Cretu: Does most of the whispered female vocals. She is Cretu's wife.
Louisa Stanley: Does the spoken-word parts on the first three albums. Stanley was a radio plugger for Virgin Records.
Elisabeth Houghton: Fills Stanley's role on E4. She is a photographer for Virgin Records.
Andreas Harde (a.k.a. Andy Hard, Angel, Angel X): Sings on Return to Innocence. Cretu produced him.
Ruth-Ann Boyle: Lead singer of the UK group Olive. Sings on Gravity of Love and a few other songs from E4.
Andru Donalds: Jamaican reggae singer that is produced by Cretu. Sings on Modern Crusaders and a few other songs on E4.
The Lyrics
Michael Cretu: Writes most lyrics.
David Fairstein: Assisted Cretu on lyrics for E1, E2, and E3.
Frank Peterson: Worked on lyrics on The Voice & The Snake.
Nikolas Marten: Wrote the narrations for the Remember the Future DVD.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
एनिग्मा के बारें मैं जानिए.
KNOW MORE ABOUT ENIGMA.. A BIOGRAPHY
With their 1991 hit "Sadeness," Enigma brought the new age fascination with Gregorian chants and old-world culture to the clubs; the resulting single was both unique and irresistible। The rest of the album followed that pattern successfully, although without quite matching the stunning success of the hit single। On their second album, 1994's Cross of Changes, some of the old-world elements remained, but the new age angle came to the forefront in a set of slick, radio-friendly dance-pop। Enigma 3: Le Roi Est Mort, Vive le Roi followed in 1996. A side project, Trance Atlantic Airwaves, issued The Energy of Sound in 1998. The fourth Enigma record, The Screen Behind the Mirror, followed in early 2000, and in 2003 Voyageur came out. Three years later, A Posteriori was released. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
Enigma
Screenshot from "Mea Culpa (Part II)"
Background information
Origin
Germany
Genre(s)
AmbientElectronicHouseNew AgeTrance
Years active
1990–present
Label(s)
Virgin Schallplatten (Germany)EMI (International)Charisma (United States)
Associatedacts
Deep Forest Delerium Enya Era Gregorian Mike Oldfield
Website
http://www.enigma.de/
Members
Michael Cretu (1990-present)
Former members
Sandra Cretu (1990-2003)Jens Gad (1997-2003)Peter Cornelius (1990-1994)David Fairstein (1990-1997)Frank Peterson (1990-1991)
Notable instrument(s)
Shakuhachi (synthesized)
Enigma is an electronic musical project started by Michael Cretu, his wife Sandra Cretu, David Fairstein and Frank Peterson in 1990. Michael is both the composer and the producer; Sandra often provides vocals on Enigma tracks. The pair have also worked together under the name Sandra. Six studio albums have been produced under the name of the project.
History
From the late 1970s onwards, Michael Cretu already had his own music career on his hands and apart from several collaboration efforts with several other musicians, he also contributed to his wife's albums. Before Enigma, he released a number of albums under his own name but they all were not particularly successful sales-wise. Cretu revealed in an interview that he believed that his ideas were soon running out at that point.
It was then that Cretu plotted the creation of a "New age-Dance", un-named yet, first single. Ditching his old habits and rules, he headed onto a different direction and in December 1990, he came up with the project's groundbreaking debut album, MCMXC a.D.. The album was Cretu's first commercial success through the single "Sadeness (Part I)", which juxtaposed Gregorian chants and sexual overtones over a dance beat that was highly peculiar to the ears of the public at that time.
Before the album was released, Cretu was cautious of the response towards the upcoming album, decided to forgo mentioning his and most of the personnel's real name and credited himself as Curly M.C., while the album sleeve contained little information about the background of the project, furthering the mystery about the creators of the album and leading to speculation whether Enigma was a band, a person or a group.
In 1993, Cretu was given an offer by producers to compose the full soundtrack of the motion picture Sliver but he was unable to accept the offer. Instead, he came up with "Carly's Song" and "Carly's Loneliness", which was used in the movie and credited in the motion picture soundtrack as well.
In the following year, The Cross of Changes was released and it received about the same, if not an even larger and better response from the public (it sold 6 million copies in a year). However, both of the albums also hitched up lawsuits over the issue of sampling from other music sources.
In 1996, Le Roi Est Mort, Vive Le Roi! (French for "The King is dead, long live the king!") was released. Cretu's idea was that this third album was the child of the previous two albums, and therefore included familiar elements of Gregorian chants and tribal chants in it. Though the album was as meticulously crafted by Cretu as the earlier two albums, it failed to achieve the same level of success that they enjoyed. As a result only two of the three singles originally slated were released, with the third one ("The Roundabout") being silently cancelled in 1998.
The 1999 release of The Screen Behind the Mirror included samples from Carl Orff's Carmina Burana on four tracks on the album. This time the Gregorian chants were toned down a lot, but still Shakuhachi flutes and other traditional Enigma signatures remain. Only "Gravity of Love" and "Push the Limits" were released as singles from the album. Ruth-Ann Boyle from the band Olive and also Andru Donalds mark their first appearance on the Enigma project.
In 2001, Cretu released a new single called "Turn Around" together with Love Sensuality Devotion: The Greatest Hits and Love Sensuality Devotion: The Remix Collection to end what he considers to be the first chapter of Enigma. A light show was held at the Munich Planetarium in conjunction of the release of the compilation albums.
2003's Voyageur was considered by many to be a total makeover for the project. Practically all of the prominent Enigma signature elements (the ethnic and/or Gregorian chants, the famous Shakuhachi flutes) were no longer in use for this album. As a result many fans had difficulty appreciating this new direction and sales were affected. From a statistical point of view, every Enigma studio album to date has sold roughly half of what the previous release did. Of course sales are only one indicator of the success of a musical project and, given some time to sink in, Voyageur proves to be a solid release that hints at new territories Cretu may explore in future projects.
On August 28, 2005, Enigma's management (Crocodile-Music.de) announced the release of the project's latest single, "Hello and Welcome". The single was originally slated to be released in October, however it was since moved to November 25, 2005 and finally saw release in Germany on March 10, 2006. The song will also be the walk-in music for the German boxer, Felix Sturm, and much like Voyageur shows little similarity to earlier Enigma works.
On September 26, 2006, Enigma's sixth album A Posteriori was released worldwide, containing a new version of "Hello and Welcome" and the new song "Goodbye Milky Way", which, despite earlier announcements, was and will not be released as single.
Music
Every Enigma album starts with the signature "Enigma horn" mixed into the introductory music. On the first four albums the first track tends to be a short piece lasting no more than 1-2 minutes, that serves to set the tone for the full length second piece which follows. On the two most recent Enigma albums, the first track has been of full length instead, still with the "Enigma horn" mixed into the beginning. Some Enigma albums also end with the same horn in the last track of the album, with the exception of The Cross Of Changes, Voyageur and A Posteriori.
The project is also notable for bringing Gregorian chants and tribal chants to the limelight, and popularising the usage of the Shakuhachi flute. Peculiar songs such as "The Voice and the Snake" and "Weightless" could be seen as experimental songs while instrumental-focused songs with no or minimal vocals were also found in all of the studio albums.
In all of Cretu's six studio albums, he has experimented on songs with reversed vocals, the most prominent ones being on the Le Roi Est Mort, Vive Le Roi! and The Screen Behind the Mirror albums. (The latter contains a brief experimental track consisting entirely of reversed vocals.) Reversed samples were somewhat hidden in Voyageur.
The content of the project's music differs in album to album, from sexuality in "Principles of Lust", love in "Gravity of Love", and innocence in "Return to Innocence". However, Cretu describes Enigma's music as sensual and not sexual.
Cretu is currently based in Ibiza, Spain. Until recently, he ran the A.R.T. Studios from his mansion in the Ibiza hills. He has now relocated to a purpose built mansion and has recently started installing a state-of-the-art recording studio inside one area of the building.
Cretu is under contract by Virgin Records to release a total of eight albums at a rate of one per three years. At the current rate, the last Enigma album will be released in 2012, with the earliest album being released in 1996.
Members
Michael Cretu and Sandra Cretu have been with the project since the beginning of the project. Other musicians who had previously worked alongside Cretu in the production of Enigma's studio albums are Jens Gad, David Fairstein, Peter Cornelius and Frank Peterson. The lates album A Posteriori was composed, produced and engineered completely by Michael Cretu.
Guest singers who had been influential in Enigma's songs are Angel X who provided vocals in "Return to Innocence", and both Ruth-Ann Boyle and Andru Donalds in The Screen Behind the Mirror and Voyageur. Louisa Stanley and Elisabeth Houghton have also lent their voices in "The Voice of Enigma" and "The Gate". The first one became the only person, not counting Cretu, to be credited on the sixth album, providing voices for Dancing With Mephisto and Goodbye Milky Way.
Influence
Cretu's first two studio albums also led to the creation and popularity of bands and musical groups that follow similar styles as Cretu. Era and Gregorian (led by former Enigma member Frank Peterson) are among some notable groups which capitalised songs which heavily incorporate Gregorian chants in their works. Enigma and Deep Forest are also to be considered by many to have brought the tribal chant genre to the ears of the public.
Critics and fans have noted down the probable influences if not similarities of Enigma and the works of other notable musicians. Some examples include Delerium's Semantic Spaces album, Mike Oldfield's albums, The Songs of Distant Earth and Tubular Bells III, all B-Tribe's albums and Sarah Brightman's cover of Hooverphonic's song, "Eden".
KNOW MORE ABOUT ENIGMA.. A BIOGRAPHY
With their 1991 hit "Sadeness," Enigma brought the new age fascination with Gregorian chants and old-world culture to the clubs; the resulting single was both unique and irresistible। The rest of the album followed that pattern successfully, although without quite matching the stunning success of the hit single। On their second album, 1994's Cross of Changes, some of the old-world elements remained, but the new age angle came to the forefront in a set of slick, radio-friendly dance-pop। Enigma 3: Le Roi Est Mort, Vive le Roi followed in 1996. A side project, Trance Atlantic Airwaves, issued The Energy of Sound in 1998. The fourth Enigma record, The Screen Behind the Mirror, followed in early 2000, and in 2003 Voyageur came out. Three years later, A Posteriori was released. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
Enigma
Screenshot from "Mea Culpa (Part II)"
Background information
Origin
Germany
Genre(s)
AmbientElectronicHouseNew AgeTrance
Years active
1990–present
Label(s)
Virgin Schallplatten (Germany)EMI (International)Charisma (United States)
Associatedacts
Deep Forest Delerium Enya Era Gregorian Mike Oldfield
Website
http://www.enigma.de/
Members
Michael Cretu (1990-present)
Former members
Sandra Cretu (1990-2003)Jens Gad (1997-2003)Peter Cornelius (1990-1994)David Fairstein (1990-1997)Frank Peterson (1990-1991)
Notable instrument(s)
Shakuhachi (synthesized)
Enigma is an electronic musical project started by Michael Cretu, his wife Sandra Cretu, David Fairstein and Frank Peterson in 1990. Michael is both the composer and the producer; Sandra often provides vocals on Enigma tracks. The pair have also worked together under the name Sandra. Six studio albums have been produced under the name of the project.
History
From the late 1970s onwards, Michael Cretu already had his own music career on his hands and apart from several collaboration efforts with several other musicians, he also contributed to his wife's albums. Before Enigma, he released a number of albums under his own name but they all were not particularly successful sales-wise. Cretu revealed in an interview that he believed that his ideas were soon running out at that point.
It was then that Cretu plotted the creation of a "New age-Dance", un-named yet, first single. Ditching his old habits and rules, he headed onto a different direction and in December 1990, he came up with the project's groundbreaking debut album, MCMXC a.D.. The album was Cretu's first commercial success through the single "Sadeness (Part I)", which juxtaposed Gregorian chants and sexual overtones over a dance beat that was highly peculiar to the ears of the public at that time.
Before the album was released, Cretu was cautious of the response towards the upcoming album, decided to forgo mentioning his and most of the personnel's real name and credited himself as Curly M.C., while the album sleeve contained little information about the background of the project, furthering the mystery about the creators of the album and leading to speculation whether Enigma was a band, a person or a group.
In 1993, Cretu was given an offer by producers to compose the full soundtrack of the motion picture Sliver but he was unable to accept the offer. Instead, he came up with "Carly's Song" and "Carly's Loneliness", which was used in the movie and credited in the motion picture soundtrack as well.
In the following year, The Cross of Changes was released and it received about the same, if not an even larger and better response from the public (it sold 6 million copies in a year). However, both of the albums also hitched up lawsuits over the issue of sampling from other music sources.
In 1996, Le Roi Est Mort, Vive Le Roi! (French for "The King is dead, long live the king!") was released. Cretu's idea was that this third album was the child of the previous two albums, and therefore included familiar elements of Gregorian chants and tribal chants in it. Though the album was as meticulously crafted by Cretu as the earlier two albums, it failed to achieve the same level of success that they enjoyed. As a result only two of the three singles originally slated were released, with the third one ("The Roundabout") being silently cancelled in 1998.
The 1999 release of The Screen Behind the Mirror included samples from Carl Orff's Carmina Burana on four tracks on the album. This time the Gregorian chants were toned down a lot, but still Shakuhachi flutes and other traditional Enigma signatures remain. Only "Gravity of Love" and "Push the Limits" were released as singles from the album. Ruth-Ann Boyle from the band Olive and also Andru Donalds mark their first appearance on the Enigma project.
In 2001, Cretu released a new single called "Turn Around" together with Love Sensuality Devotion: The Greatest Hits and Love Sensuality Devotion: The Remix Collection to end what he considers to be the first chapter of Enigma. A light show was held at the Munich Planetarium in conjunction of the release of the compilation albums.
2003's Voyageur was considered by many to be a total makeover for the project. Practically all of the prominent Enigma signature elements (the ethnic and/or Gregorian chants, the famous Shakuhachi flutes) were no longer in use for this album. As a result many fans had difficulty appreciating this new direction and sales were affected. From a statistical point of view, every Enigma studio album to date has sold roughly half of what the previous release did. Of course sales are only one indicator of the success of a musical project and, given some time to sink in, Voyageur proves to be a solid release that hints at new territories Cretu may explore in future projects.
On August 28, 2005, Enigma's management (Crocodile-Music.de) announced the release of the project's latest single, "Hello and Welcome". The single was originally slated to be released in October, however it was since moved to November 25, 2005 and finally saw release in Germany on March 10, 2006. The song will also be the walk-in music for the German boxer, Felix Sturm, and much like Voyageur shows little similarity to earlier Enigma works.
On September 26, 2006, Enigma's sixth album A Posteriori was released worldwide, containing a new version of "Hello and Welcome" and the new song "Goodbye Milky Way", which, despite earlier announcements, was and will not be released as single.
Music
Every Enigma album starts with the signature "Enigma horn" mixed into the introductory music. On the first four albums the first track tends to be a short piece lasting no more than 1-2 minutes, that serves to set the tone for the full length second piece which follows. On the two most recent Enigma albums, the first track has been of full length instead, still with the "Enigma horn" mixed into the beginning. Some Enigma albums also end with the same horn in the last track of the album, with the exception of The Cross Of Changes, Voyageur and A Posteriori.
The project is also notable for bringing Gregorian chants and tribal chants to the limelight, and popularising the usage of the Shakuhachi flute. Peculiar songs such as "The Voice and the Snake" and "Weightless" could be seen as experimental songs while instrumental-focused songs with no or minimal vocals were also found in all of the studio albums.
In all of Cretu's six studio albums, he has experimented on songs with reversed vocals, the most prominent ones being on the Le Roi Est Mort, Vive Le Roi! and The Screen Behind the Mirror albums. (The latter contains a brief experimental track consisting entirely of reversed vocals.) Reversed samples were somewhat hidden in Voyageur.
The content of the project's music differs in album to album, from sexuality in "Principles of Lust", love in "Gravity of Love", and innocence in "Return to Innocence". However, Cretu describes Enigma's music as sensual and not sexual.
Cretu is currently based in Ibiza, Spain. Until recently, he ran the A.R.T. Studios from his mansion in the Ibiza hills. He has now relocated to a purpose built mansion and has recently started installing a state-of-the-art recording studio inside one area of the building.
Cretu is under contract by Virgin Records to release a total of eight albums at a rate of one per three years. At the current rate, the last Enigma album will be released in 2012, with the earliest album being released in 1996.
Members
Michael Cretu and Sandra Cretu have been with the project since the beginning of the project. Other musicians who had previously worked alongside Cretu in the production of Enigma's studio albums are Jens Gad, David Fairstein, Peter Cornelius and Frank Peterson. The lates album A Posteriori was composed, produced and engineered completely by Michael Cretu.
Guest singers who had been influential in Enigma's songs are Angel X who provided vocals in "Return to Innocence", and both Ruth-Ann Boyle and Andru Donalds in The Screen Behind the Mirror and Voyageur. Louisa Stanley and Elisabeth Houghton have also lent their voices in "The Voice of Enigma" and "The Gate". The first one became the only person, not counting Cretu, to be credited on the sixth album, providing voices for Dancing With Mephisto and Goodbye Milky Way.
Influence
Cretu's first two studio albums also led to the creation and popularity of bands and musical groups that follow similar styles as Cretu. Era and Gregorian (led by former Enigma member Frank Peterson) are among some notable groups which capitalised songs which heavily incorporate Gregorian chants in their works. Enigma and Deep Forest are also to be considered by many to have brought the tribal chant genre to the ears of the public.
Critics and fans have noted down the probable influences if not similarities of Enigma and the works of other notable musicians. Some examples include Delerium's Semantic Spaces album, Mike Oldfield's albums, The Songs of Distant Earth and Tubular Bells III, all B-Tribe's albums and Sarah Brightman's cover of Hooverphonic's song, "Eden".
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Enigma-the story behind the series!
Personal Information:
Band consists of Michael Cretu, born May 18, 1957, in Bucharest, Romania; married Sandra Lauer (a singer), 1988.
Education:
Studied classical music at Lyzeum No. 2 in Bucharest, 1965; studied music in Paris, France, 1968; attended Academy of Music in Frankfurt, Germany, 1975-78, and earned a degree in music.
Career:
Producer, composer, and arranger. As Michael Cretu, released first album, Legionare, Virgin, 1983; as Enigma, released debut album, MCMXC a.D., Virgin/Charisma,
1990 (Europe), 1991 (U.S.).Awards:Gold records for producing albums by Michael Oldfield and Sandra in Europe; platinum album for MCMXC a.D. in U.S.,
1991; platinum record for single "Sadeness Part I,"
1991; double-platinum album for MCMXC a.D. ,
1993;platinum album for The CROSS Of Changes,
1994; gold record for single "Return to Innocence," Virgin/Charisma,
1994; gold and/or platinum awards for MCMXC a.D. in 25 countries; Echo Award for most successful German production abroad,
1995, for The CROSS Of Changes.
Addresses:
Record company--Virgin Records, 338 North Foothill Rd., Beverly Hills, CA 90210;
or 1790 Broadway, 20th Floor, New York, NY 10019. Management--Nizzari Artist Management, 410 West 25th St., New York, NY 10001.
Michael Cretu, the man who is Enigma, declared his creative philosophy in a Virgin Records press release: "Old rules and habits have to be rejected and dismissed so that something new can be created." Even though Europeans were hip to Cretu's identity, early U.S. press information billed Enigma as the creation of a German producer who preferred to remain anonymous. "With Enigma," Cretu explained to Larry Flick in Billboard, " I have created a complete piece of music that I wanted to let stand alone. There is a sense of mystery in the music that I wanted to leave untouched by the perceptions and preconceived ideas that come with the past history of a producer or a songwriter." He continued, "Contrary to the usual record company philosophy, people are open-minded and starved for something unique. This is music that is different from any other available at the moment. I think people have responded to that."
Born on May 18, 1957, in Bucharest, Romania, Cretu pursued an early goal of becoming a concert pianist by studying classical music. In 1965 he attended Lyzeum No. 2--a college for young and gifted musical talents--with piano as his main subject, and he also studied for five months in 1968 in Paris, France. From 1975 to 1978 he attended the Academy of Music in Frankfurt, Germany, where he earned a degree in music. Deserting his goal of classical music, he claimed, "I started writing hits the day I sold my piano."
In 1980 Cretu won his first gold record for his production work. The artists with whom he has been associated include Hubert Kah, Peter Cornelius, Moti Special, and Sylvie Vartan. Cretu has also won gold record awards for producing albums by his wife, Euro-dance chanteuse Sandra, and multi-instrumentalist-composer Michael Oldfield. Since 1985 Cretu has produced seven albums for Sandra, including her first international hit single, "Maria Magdalena," which went to Number One in more than 30 countries. Cretu released his first solo album on Virgin, Legionare (which means legionnaires), in 1983, but his solo efforts before taking the name Enigma failed to earn U.S. distribution.
Inspired by such groups as the Art of Noise and Pink Floyd, Cretu assembled Enigma's debut album, MCMXC a.D. (the roman numeral representation of 1990), on an AudioFrame system at his home studio in Spain. MCMXC a.D. was released on December 3, 1990, in Europe through Virgin Germany and on February 12, 1991, in the U.S. through Virgin/Charisma. The LP eventually sold more than 12 million units worldwide, and won gold and/or platinum awards in 25 countries. In the United States MCMXC a.D. went platinum by the first week in May of 1991 and earned double-platinum status by the fall of 1993. Cretu told Alan di Perna of Keyboard, "I conceived of the whole album as a single song. The words and sounds are like flashlight beams. They don't show you everything. You have to look at what's between the lines."
A mixture of sixth-century Gregorian chants, bewitching French whispers--provided by Cretu's wife, Sandra --and hypnotic, ethereal music set to intoxicating dance rhythms, MCMXC a.D. is definitely more a cathartic aural journey than a collection of individual songs. The video import of MCMXC a.D. is a gorgeous swirl of images seamlessly interpreting the entire album. Even so, "Sadeness Part I," a song marked by its inclusion of Gregorian chant, was destined to become the album's runaway single. "The great misconception of people who have only heard 'Sadeness' is that the whole album is filled with chanting. This is a complete piece of work with many different levels and sounds. 'Sadeness' is only one piece of the puzzle," Cretu explained to Billboard's Flick.The French lyrics in "Sadeness Part I" are actually a dark homage to the Marquis de Sade, an eighteenth-century erotic novel writer from France from whose name the word sadism comes. In analyzing this element of the debut Enigma album, Vince Aletti of the Village Voice stated, "Cretu isn't celebrating the notorious Marquis ... but his mere presence in this context is a provocation, surely a deliberate and delicious one. Sade reserved his fiercest contempt and some of his most exquisite literary tortures for the pious and the prim, so even if he remains offstage here, the writer is a devilishly successful device. Cretu uses him to introduce questions of virtue and vice, faith and sacrilege, love and lust."Cretu related to Keyboard's di Perna, "I wanted to use things that there are questions about, that are mysterious. You don't have to go too far to read all kinds of accusations about the Catholic Church--scandals, inquisitions, and wars--and you wonder how you can reconcile this with the idea that the Church is supposed to stand for universal love. But at the same time, I've been told that the Marquis de Sade was a very religious man, that he wrote what he wrote as a revenge against certain pious people who were hypocrites. So again, there are questions, mysteries."
The Marquis was apparently not the only one out for revenge. As Cretu revealed to Michael Azerrad of Rolling Stone, "[MCMXC a.D.] was like revenge against everything I was hearing. I didn't want to write songs, I wanted to write moods." When Azerrad drew a comparison to the way pop icons Madonna and Prince explored sexuality, Cretureplied, "What Madonna and Prince did is pure marketing--it's predicated on causing scandal. It's not a sexual music that I did. It's a sensual music. And there's a big difference."
Some radio stations in Europe with a large Catholic audience could not see that difference. They banned "Sadeness Part I," considering it "pure blasphemy." Dutch national radio network TROS actually received three bomb threats from listeners said to be shocked by what they heard when the record was proclaimed single of the week--prompting Cretu to issue a statement refuting rumors about satanic material in the Gregorian passages and insisting he had no desire to offend "any public religious beliefs." Himself an atheist, Cretu told Azerrad of Rolling Stone, "The institution of the Church doesn't really fit with our times. I believe in destiny, which is a much more powerful belief."
In terms of record sales, Cretu's beliefs were apparently embraced by many listeners. By January of 1991 "Sadeness Part I" had reached Number One in seven European countries: Germany (where it eventually became Germany's biggest-selling single ever), Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, the United Kingdom, and Greece. The record would ultimately attain the Number One position in 15 countries. In the American market, "Sadeness Part I" broke into Billboard's Hot 100 in February of 1991, and by April the record was in the Top Five after 11 weeks at Number One on the combined European charts.
Peaking at Number Two on the U.S. pop charts, "Sadeness Part I" became a certified platinum single.Although Enigma was perhaps singularly responsible for boosting interest in Gregorian chant music worldwide, there was a price to pay--literally. In August of 1991 Munich-based choir Kapelle Antiqua demanded a written apology in addition to financial compensation when the choir, according to Ellie Weinert in Billboard, "recognized its recordings of Gregorian choral works on Enigma tracks. The group sued for damages, claiming Cretu had infringed upon its 'right of personality' by distorting the records sampled on the 'Sadeness Part I' and 'Mea Culpa' album tracks and singles." Cretu and Virgin Germany agreed to pay compensation for samples used on MCMXC a.D. and settled out of court with Polydor and BMG/Ariola, which represented the German choir, for an undisclosed sum.
In the end Virgin acquired authorization for the retrospective use of the Polydor and BMG/Ariola masters.In 1993 film producer Robert Evans asked Cretu to write the title song for the motion picture Sliver. The result was "Carly's Song" and "Carly's Loneliness," both of which appeared as "Age of Loneliness" on Enigma's next album, The CROSS Of Changes. Other Enigma soundtrack credits include songs from MCMXC a.D. used in the films Single White Female and Boxing Helena.
In May of 1991 Cretu told Larry Flick of Billboard, "It is my plan for Enigma to be an outlet for music that boldly strays away from the norm of pop music. I have several ideas for the next album that I think are fascinating. Part of the fun of projects such as these is watching how all of the various elements come together in the studio."
Though it was released in Europe in December of 1993, it was not until February 8, 1994, that Enigma's second album, The CROSS Of Changes, was released in the United States. Cretu's belief that "music is part of my soul--and this ultimately decides everything" perhaps best explains the three years it took him to produce his second album.Reviewing The CROSS Of Changes for Pulse!, Michael Freedberg stated, "Cretu's Wagnerian symphonics [in the manner of composer Richard Wagner], crisscrossed by sleazy beats and train-like machinations, feel enough like midnight to make you dance across the Seine [River in France] with your headset on."Evidently others were dancing with him. The CROSS Of Changes went platinum in the United States just seven weeks after its release, and "Return to Innocence" reached gold status one month later, in July of 1994. In Keyboard Cretu summed up perhaps a major reason for Enigma's success: "Enigma is a vehicle for doing things outside the rules that you normally have to follow when you make a dance record." He went on to say, "Basically, I will keep on doing Enigma records until I run out of new ideas. Then I'll move on to something else."
Selected Discography:
MCMXC a.D., Virgin/Charisma, 1990.
The CROSS Of Changes, Virgin/Charisma, 1993.
Selected Discography:Also contributed songs to soundtrack Sliver, Virgin, 1993, and others.
Sources:
Billboard, January 26, 1991; February 16, 1991; May 18, 1991; September 14, 1991; February 19, 1994.
Entertainment Weekly, October 14, 1994.
Keyboard, September 1991.
Melody Maker, January 12, 1991. Pulse!, June 1994.
Rolling Stone, May 2, 1991; May 16, 1991. Village Voice, April 16, 1991.Additional Sources: Additional information for this profile was obtained from Virgin Records America publicity materials, 1993, and Nizzari Artist Management, 1995.~~ Lazae Laspina
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