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Post by Moe on May 8, 2008 20:44:58 GMT -5
First, there's an interesting story about how I got my copy (ok, it's interesting to me ): My spouse and I were in Sydney, Australia as part of a month long trip Down Under. He wanted to climb the Sydney Bridge - I declined, thinking a root canal might be less frightening. So I ended up walking by the HMV store on my way to ascending a lovely tower that provides a very cool look over the harbour. There, still being unpacked from cardboard boxes, was ADWR. The store had just opened, and I may have been the first person in Sydney to buy that album. Or maybe not.............. I couldn't play it till we got home, which was a bit frustrating, but we I heard it I loved it. The tracks were so strong: A Day without Rain - beautiful intro instrumental Wild Child - lively, fun, a good time song Only Time - what can I say? I adore this song. Tempus Vernum - ah, she included a Latin one, just for me no doubt! Deora ar mo ChroΓ - oh, a Gaelic one, thank heaven it's there Flora's Secret - I think this is a sexy song Fallen Embers - sad, sad, but lovely Silver Inches - powerful, exciting Pilgrim - the lyrics got to me; they may be simple but they are so true One by One - an enigmatic song, but I like mysteries The First of Autumn - the title fit the melody so well Lazy Days - a fun song to end the experience I cannot say that I dislike any of these tracks, though I favour some above others. This was an album worth waiting for
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Post by Treecat on May 8, 2008 21:35:46 GMT -5
I was going to start a thread on ADWR and call it: ADWR: How I learned to Stop Fretting and Love the AlbumI didn't like the album when I first heard it. It wasn't Enya. It was too upbeat, it was <dare I to think it ..> too... pop! I wanted Watermark, I wanted The Celts. I didn't want Enya to be so accessible. So what happened? Why do I like the album now -- I realized that Enya had to grow up. She couldn't always be the Celtic melancholy singer of the Watermark and SM years. It was some time after 9/11, that I realized it it was okay to sit in a garden and be content. Actually, given everything that had happened, it was GREAT to sit undisturbed in a garden. So, when I 'grew up' (so to speak) I understood where Enya was coming from when she recorded ADWR. If all that makes sense....
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Post by Moe on May 9, 2008 12:57:11 GMT -5
I guess you could compare it to "Dylan Going Electric" in a weird way: from what I have read about Dylan, he wanted to speak to a wider audience when he "switched on" his guitar. I'm glad Enya didn't "freeze in time" as some Celtic New Age Mystic. So, yes, TC, it makes sense.
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Post by oregonwinebaby on May 9, 2008 13:01:26 GMT -5
Thank you for your story, Kerry. It was an interesting andneat story to me. Also, did your spouse take pictures while up on this bridge? I also understand where you are coming from, TC. At first I didn't like ADWR as much either, although I adored Only Time, Wild Child and One by One. But, as I get older, I appreciate the other songs more and more. It's funny you mentioned the garden. I was working in the yard this last weekend, and that album came up on the iPod while I was pulling weeds and avoiding the spiders and other ickies which crawl around in the flower bed. It was relaxing to say the least, but it didn't put me to sleep.
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Post by Moe on May 10, 2008 10:16:51 GMT -5
About the bridge, yes, himself did indeed take pictures from it. He was quite delighted to have done the climb, I was quite relieved he came back intact.
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Post by skyscape on May 12, 2008 7:26:11 GMT -5
Just like you TC when I first got my copy of ADWR, everything was wrong. The cover was weird, the title vapid and the songs were all too pop.
And then each of the melodies worked its way into my heart. The energy fizzing from the strings, the buoyant bob of confidence and summer. It was perfect. It's Enya's most accessible album I think and I will always associate it with new love and spring.
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Post by Moe on May 12, 2008 12:16:22 GMT -5
Ah, the cover! At first I simply did not like it - I thought Enya looked way to thin, and the hair was too scraggly. But my husband thought it was the best cover yet because she looked "real" and not like some Elf Queen.
And yes, I think it remains her most accessible album, which is probably why it sold so many millions of copies. And new love and spring are, to my heart, more pleasing than the lost-love and winter that seem to mark Amarantine.
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Post by skyscape on May 13, 2008 3:26:21 GMT -5
Ah, the cover! At first I simply did not like it - I thought Enya looked way to thin, and the hair was too scraggly. But my husband thought it was the best cover yet because she looked "real" and not like some Elf Queen. And yes, I think it remains her most accessible album, which is probably why it sold so many millions of copies. And new love and spring are, to my heart, more pleasing than the lost-love and winter that seem to mark Amarantine. I wonder if these albums are autobiographical for Enya. It would seem odd to write an album about 'lost love' in the throes of a new romance.
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Post by Treecat on May 13, 2008 7:55:32 GMT -5
Comparing ADWR to Amarantine: ADWR is the freshness of a new found love; Amarantine is finding out they want clean blue socks and workshop tools are, God knows why, spread all over the dining room table.
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Post by Treecat on May 13, 2008 9:42:03 GMT -5
Enya was required by her contract to produce a greatest hits album. Since it occurred 10 years after WM, I assume PTSWS came at the end of that contract period. There are a couple of interviews at Book of Days in the PTSWS section that quote her on the contract requirement. If she had had four albums out by '97, PTSWS would have covered those songs as well. PTSWS is a nice compilation, but A Box of Dreams is the better 'best of' Enya collection from that time.
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Post by Moe on May 13, 2008 12:41:37 GMT -5
Comparing ADWR to Amarantine: ADWR is the freshness of a new found love; Amarantine is finding out they want clean blue socks and workshop tools are, God knows why, spread all over the dining room table. Thanks for this, TC - It reduced me to giggles. ;D On the "real" versus "plastic" image of Enya - I hereby get on the Marble Halls soap box: [soapbox] Whenever someone at that other forum makes a post or even a new topic on Enya as an Elf, a Fairie Queen, a New Age guru, Angel from Heaven, etc etc, I inwardly cringe. I want to shout: "Look, guys, she's a late 40ish, Irish woman with an extraordinary musical gift, but she is not some alien from another world, nor some mystic angel descended from Heaven. And STOP writing her love poems in Creativity!!! [/soapbox] Yes, I feel better now.........................
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Post by Treecat on May 13, 2008 12:54:24 GMT -5
Glad you got a laugh, Kerry. Let's see how many of the guys join us in giggling! You can also add: they never go home (because they're already there); once they're married, they forget how to pack a suitcase, any simple home repair project immediately becomes complicated.. and it always involves duct tape. ;D
Regarding the plastic versus real business: I prefer the ADWR look, I think it represents a real side of Enya. Though I'm not as negative on the Amarantine cover as Sky, I also wonder what in heck they were thinking of. I liked his comment somewhere about it looking like a photo of Enya stuck on a piece of white paper.
I also admit that when people start going on about Our Beloved Celtic Faery Princess, Enya the Mystique (or whutever), I delight in chiming in "Hey, she's not doing bad for 47!" To some people, she seems to have stuck in time, never aging beyond SM.
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Post by oregonwinebaby on May 13, 2008 13:22:39 GMT -5
Wait, what? Eithne isn't a floating fairy princess goddess from Loxia? But...she sings to me in her songs. Secret messages. She uses the fairy wand and....gah...I can't even go on without feeling sick. I Hate the fairy princess lable as well. In a way, she sort of asked for it in her earlier years though.
I really like the ADWR cover. I too feel that she went from "mystical" or "mysterious" to just...Enya, the human being. However, she does look too skinny during that time frame. I have Amarantine and ADWR 12x12 cardboard poster framed up on my wall close to one another, and when I compare the two I see a big difference. ADWR looks like she was told to sit there and smile. I don't feel like she really means it. I can't help but think she had some kind of inner struggle or sadness going on with that entire album. It was up and down.
Then take the Amarantine cover. The smile is much more genuine. She seems the happiest on that cover. I see the white background as sort of a fresh clean slate...baggage and sadness left behind. She looks content.
Side note...I don't like the 80's tights either. I suppose they realized that if they want that particular pose, she would have to put something on, lol. In that case, black is probably the best color. I would have chosen a different pose, however. There is never a good time for 80's black tights
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Post by riene on May 13, 2008 19:17:06 GMT -5
*sighs* I still think that is a very heavily retouched image on the cover. I can take it into my graphics program and see where there is no color graduation, only large regions monocolor blocks, as if someone went back in with an airbrush.
Still, for 40-odd, she's in great shape. I do hope she eats something besides raw lettuce and the occasional piece of fruit. She looks too thin to me.
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Post by skyscape on May 14, 2008 6:50:36 GMT -5
*sighs* I still think that is a very heavily retouched image on the cover. I can take it into my graphics program and see where there is no color graduation, only large regions monocolor blocks, as if someone went back in with an airbrush.
Still, for 40-odd, she's in great shape. I do hope she eats something besides raw lettuce and the occasional piece of fruit. She looks too thin to me. Enya does look celebrity thin to me. She has a gym at Manderlay so maybe she works off the stress of the studio on the treadmill? Perhaps she applies the same discipline to her diet as she does to the music?
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