Wednesday, November 26, 2008

ENIGMA - The Cross Of Changes (1994)



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General Information
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Artist...............: Enigma
Album................: The Cross Of Changes
Release Date.........: Feb 8, 1994
Genre................: New Age, Ambient
Number of Songs......: 9
Duration.............: 00:44:10 min

Audio Format.........: MP3
Bitrate..............: CBR 192 HQ
Channels.............: Joint Stereo / 44,100 hz
Tags.................: ID3 v1.1, ID3 v2.3
Included.............: M3U, Covers

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Release Notes
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Track Listing:
01. "Second Chapter" (Curly M.C.) - 2:16
02. "The Eyes of Truth" (Curly) - 7:12
03. "Return to Innocence" (Curly, Kuo Ying-nan, Kuo Hsiu-chu) - 4:17
04. "I Love You ... I'll Kill You" (Curly, David Fairstein) - 8:51
05. "Silent Warrior" (Curly) - 6:10
06. "The Dream of the Dolphin" (Fairstein) - 2:45
07. "Age of Loneliness (Carly's Song)" (Curly) - 5:21
08. "Out from the Deep" (Curly) - 4:53
09. "The Cross of Changes" (Curly) - 2:25

Album Review:
Cretu being no fool, he figured if it worked the first time, no need to change things
much for the second. But he also knew not to simply go ahead and just rehash his debut
for Cross of Changes, resulting in a just different enough effort along the same overall
lines. The usual air of tasteful middle-of-the-road spirituality takes precedence, right
down to the cover art and appropriately pantheistic quote from Persian mystic poet Rumi
in the CD booklet. Needless to say, the music attempts to match the same throughout,
and often succeeds. Things kick off with more of the synth-whale song noises and atmospherics
from MCMXC, however there aren't any monks to be found this time around, but what sounds
like the same whispering woman talking about "clearing the debts of many hundred years"
and the like. From there, Cretu merrily takes the same plunge - some of his sample choices
this time around show he's got a decent record collection, including parts from Songs From
the Victorious City, the striking fusion of Egyptian and Western musics from Anne Dudley
and Jaz Coleman. His work with beats and loops noticeably shows a more developed edge -
while hardly an innovator, there's a bit more grime and loud in his rhythms, which in
combination with extra electric guitar make a reasonable contrast to the smoother elements.
Consider the rampaging conclusion to "I Love You...I'll Kill You," which while sharing some
cheese with the title itself still works surprisingly well, right down to a clever Robert
Plant vocal sample at the end. "Return to Innocence" was the big single from this one, not
quite up there with "Sadeness" in the popular culture in the U.S. but almost inescapable
elsewhere. There's another Led Zeppelin sample (this time John Bonham) and a haunting male
vocal providing oomph under the fuzzy-headed greeting card philosophy of the main lyrics.
It's an impressive effort, showing Cretu had a definite something in his own way.
Ned Raggett, All Music Guide.

http://rapidshare.com/files/167395372/1041994.rar