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Post by oregonwinebaby on May 9, 2008 13:09:49 GMT -5
Ok I am not that great at being the first to post in a particular topic, but here goes nothing! Shepherd Moons to me is Enya's most magical album. I think my surroundings at the time it came out played a part in that. I attach many memories to the songs on that album. I would have to say most of them are wonderful memories at a special time in my life. Without going back to find out who said it, the other member was right when they said that SM was a more mature Watermark...something she built off that album with. (or something like that lol) It's so true. In a way, to me, SM was the last CD which had that special "older Enya magic." TMOT was ok...but that album has always seemed to miss something to me. I look at TMOT as the first CD which has a mix of older Enya with a hint of a new, modern Enya.
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Post by Moe on May 9, 2008 13:21:42 GMT -5
Gosh, OWB, we agree yet again - are we related?
SM would also be my choice: there is a whimsical magic about it, as is hinted at in the cover itself (which I have a poster of - the only enya photo that hangs on a wall in my house).
Caribbean Blue, with its amazing video, remains magical: one of my fondest "enya moments" was actually hearing it on my walkman while sitting on a deck chair on a Caribbean cruise ship. I just looked up at the blue sky and let the song transport me.
Angeles was another song from SM that blew me away, and not just because of the number of vocal layers; the lyrics, to me, are magical, and the clarinet part simply wonderful.
Book of Days, Marble Halls, Afer Ventus, the uillean pipes of Smaointe, and the mystical title track -- such were the tracks that, with this album, confirmed me as an Enya fan.
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Post by oregonwinebaby on May 9, 2008 19:52:14 GMT -5
We must be related because Caribbean Blue is the one I also hold as the most magical and the nicest memory related song. Your memory sounds nice...cruise ship in the Caribbean lol...how perfect! Mine isn't as nice as that...it is one of those memories that would seem rather boring to listeners so I won't go into detail. You know...it would be kind of neat to see Enya try mixing her modern sound with that magical sound/touch I know she still has in her. Maybe this time around it would really impress?
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Post by skyscape on May 12, 2008 7:37:24 GMT -5
SM is Enya's most accomplished CD I think.
From the starry opening track to the heart-warming waltz of CB the album is full of corking melodies. I would love to hear this album produced to the same standard of Amarantine.
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Post by Treecat on May 12, 2008 17:35:36 GMT -5
Sky, could you compare the production values between the two albums, and how you think Amarantine succeeds over SM? I know SM was produced with equipment that's antiquated by Amarantine standards. Do you think the difference is due to the quality of the new equipment and the new studio, more experience in doing their work, or is it something entirely different that they do now, that they didn't do then?
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Post by marie on May 14, 2008 15:32:22 GMT -5
I agree SM is magical. It seems every album Enya releases is a little more mature than the last. I guess that's because she becomes more experienced with every album.
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Post by oneofakind on Jun 11, 2008 19:12:20 GMT -5
I can only say this..... i have 2 cds of SM LOL i guess that says it all
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Post by bigwiglaf on Jun 12, 2008 16:22:16 GMT -5
I do remember a couple of years back, the show ' So You Think You Can Dance' actually used Caribbean Blue as a song, for, of all things, a waltz....
Does it count that I have 3 SM cds, 2 with Book of Days in Gaelic, and 2 cassettes, as to how much I enjoy this album??
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Post by silmaril on Jun 12, 2008 20:56:40 GMT -5
Shepherd Moons here! It's because it contains my favorite Enya song of all time - and magical at that! - "Book of Days". I own the original 1991 US Reprise pressing (containing the original Gaelic-lyric 'Book of Days') on CD and cassette as well as the [empty] longbox. I was able to acquire the vinyl, minidisc and digital compact cassette formats as well. I have yet to own the promotional presentation box.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 13, 2008 4:14:28 GMT -5
Before the mp3 players,I had no other choice but carrying a discman with me anywhere,and couldn't take all my fav cd's,unless I'd use a large flightcase... It was never an easy decision to pick the cd's for the day,but Watermark and SM were always the first pair to hit the bag ;D
Absolutely amazing...
Ahrod B,
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Post by skyscape on Jun 13, 2008 8:46:36 GMT -5
Sky, could you compare the production values between the two albums, and how you think Amarantine succeeds over SM? I know SM was produced with equipment that's antiquated by Amarantine standards. Do you think the difference is due to the quality of the new equipment and the new studio, more experience in doing their work, or is it something entirely different that they do now, that they didn't do then? I think the melodies are styled differently too. There is less of a lush, cinematic gauze and a more folky straightforward cleanliness to the sound. When I hear Amarantine first I heard a lot of Clannad in there...
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Post by Treecat on Jun 13, 2008 13:17:24 GMT -5
You know, I wouldn't mind hearing Enya recording with Clannad again, for one album at least.
I don't know that I hear a folky cleanliness/clarity in Amarantine. It's too sophisticated, to my hears, to have a folk feeling--except LLJ could have been recorded by Clannad. I think of Amarantine as a very very good, very dry martini. It has that astringency of a good gin.
Though I think of WSTHH itself as a very good dry white wine, rather than gin. There was something good, German I think, that we were given awhile back that reminds me of WSTHH -- cold and dry.
SM--love some of the songs and like the album, but it's an odd duck. Two songs that she didn't write, and Smaointe, which was done back in the days of WM. Nine new songs -- I think this one might have been difficult to shove out the door and, despite all that they've said about HCIKFS and Marble Halls, those songs were expedient ways to fill out the album, Smaointe too, as it was only available as a cd-single. SM is an album where I sense writer's block creeping in, and a worry that a new album was needed on the table before people forgot who Enya was.
I pass over to TMOT as the second great album of the WM/SM/TMOT trio.
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Post by skyscape on Jun 20, 2008 7:05:28 GMT -5
You know, I wouldn't mind hearing Enya recording with Clannad again, for one album at least. I don't know that I hear a folky cleanliness/clarity in Amarantine. It's too sophisticated, to my hears, to have a folk feeling--except LLJ could have been recorded by Clannad. I think of Amarantine as a very very good, very dry martini. It has that astringency of a good gin. Though I think of WSTHH itself as a very good dry white wine, rather than gin. There was something good, German I think, that we were given awhile back that reminds me of WSTHH -- cold and dry. SM--love some of the songs and like the album, but it's an odd duck. Two songs that she didn't write, and Smaointe, which was done back in the days of WM. Nine new songs -- I think this one might have been difficult to shove out the door and, despite all that they've said about HCIKFS and Marble Halls, those songs were expedient ways to fill out the album, Smaointe too, as it was only available as a cd-single. SM is an album where I sense writer's block creeping in, and a worry that a new album was needed on the table before people forgot who Enya was. I pass over to TMOT as the second great album of the WM/SM/TMOT trio. Equally one could argue that SM is the bette for the inclusion of HCIKFS and Marble Halls, so much so that both were released either as singles or promo CDs. TMOT also recycles with Pax Deorum being adapted from The Celts soundtrack and Athair ar Neamh borrowing from that melody, albeit form her own catalogue. Enya has admitted she suffers from writer's cramp.
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Post by Treecat on Jun 20, 2008 11:32:14 GMT -5
You could argue with those points, Sky. Other than Caribbean Blue, only HCIKFS and Marble Halls are the only songs that work as singles. Evacuee, though in English, doesn't strike me as a single release type of song. OTOH, HCIKFS and Marble Halls aren't songs I would have bought as singles.
I wonder if the relative "rush" of albums from WM through TMOT was possible because the use of reworked themes from The Celts documentary, as well as the use of covers as on SM? The 5-year stretch began with the time frame from TMOT to ADWR and continues to Amarantine.
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Post by draoicht on Jun 21, 2008 10:23:21 GMT -5
Shepherd Moons is Enya's most magical album IMO. There is an air of magic from the front and back cover, the opening track, Caribbean Blue is Enya at her most magical. I'm not sure that it is my favourite album, I think Watermark pips it at the post, but I much prefer SM to TMOT. To me TMOT always felt a bit disjointed without alot of continuity, if that makes sense.
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