Enigma "Cross of Changes"
Mike Brown
our local radio station started hyping it about a month ago. I mean, they
were advertising it 10-15 times a day, so I thought it must have some merit.
(Note: This radio station had never advertised non-Canadian albums like this
before)
So I listened to it with great expectations. Mistake! What I found was a
very average album, perhaps suitable for those times when no drying paint
or growing grass is available for viewing. This album is simply a rehash
of their (his) first with different voice sampling in place of the Gregorian
singing. No originality! Same beats, tempos, 'deep' spoken-word segments,
etc. Even 2 Unlimited uses different drum sounds once in a while!
Perhaps with less hype and build-up I wouldn't have been so disappointed.
But I doubt it.
DON'T BELIEVE THE HYPE!
Mike Brown
mi...@skyler.arc.ab.ca
Sandy Santra
> This album is simply a rehash
> of the first album with different voice sampling in place of the Gregorian
> singing.
I'm with Mike. What a disappointment. Enigma is no longer an enigma
(which was one of its strong points); it is now merely alternative.
Especially on cuts like "Out From the Deep" with its incredibly repetitive
male vocal and generic guitar solo(s), and "Silent Warrior" which is an
abominable attempt at American Indian nationalism rhetoric (complete with
lines like "...for the [white men] who abuse [GOD's] name, There'll be no
change to escape on judgment day") which pales in comparison with Rage
Against The Machine. They should have left in the Gregorian chants.
For those of you who want to listen to the *real* followup to Enigma
first album, buy Deep Forest!
--
Great minds think alike:
Sting: "When the world is running down, you make the best
of what's still around."
Butt-Head: "The more things change, the more they suck."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
sandy santra tre...@netcom.com
el cerrito, california tre...@well.sf.ca.us
Ander S. Monson
: Mike Brown (mikeb@skyler) wrote:
: > This album is simply a rehash
: > of the first album with different voice sampling in place of the Gregorian
: > singing.
: I'm with Mike. What a disappointment. Enigma is no longer an enigma
: (which was one of its strong points); it is now merely alternative.
: Especially on cuts like "Out From the Deep" with its incredibly repetitive
: male vocal and generic guitar solo(s), and "Silent Warrior" which is an
: abominable attempt at American Indian nationalism rhetoric (complete with
: lines like "...for the [white men] who abuse [GOD's] name, There'll be no
: change to escape on judgment day") which pales in comparison with Rage
: Against The Machine. They should have left in the Gregorian chants.
: For those of you who want to listen to the *real* followup to Enigma
: first album, buy Deep Forest!
Agreed, Deep Forest struck as very Enigma-like, but with the Pygmy chants
instead of the Gregorian.
As for Cross of Changes, overall I am kind of disappointed with it. I
really like "Return to Innocence" despite the guitar solos which I did not
think added much, and "I love you, I'll kill you" which is IMHO, the best
track on the disc. Still worth it overall, but not quite living up to
the first album.
-- ander
Mark Conklin
first one, but at least it doesn't sound like a rehash of the first disc. It
still has all the seductiveness of the first disc so it will make a killer fuck
disc. One thing I really don't like is the bad male vocals though - but I can
filter those out. Anyway's give it another chance, sure there is some filler,
but the good songs are really great!
-MC-
mbco...@rs6000.cmp.ilstu.edu
"If you want to stay underground, you have to dig deeper..."
Woody Hanscom
mbco...@rs6000.cmp.ilstu.edu (Mark Conklin) wrote:
> I don't know why yet, but I like it. Sure -it is not as ground breaking as the
> first one, but at least it doesn't sound like a rehash of the first disc. It
Have to agree here...in the midst of all the Enigma-bashing that’s popped
up, I like the new disc a lot...especially track three, Return to
Innocence. Don’t really mind the male vocals on other tracks that much,
either...
Besides, without a _major_ change in style and content, there isn’t much
Enigma could do to create another groundbreaking album, and still remain
Enigma...much of their ‘sound’ is that floaty, dreamy style, and I really
don’t mind that they chose to go with mideastern chanting instead of
Gregorian on this release. A simple rehash of the first album, while it
might still have sounded good, would be boring...
/========================================================================\
| Woody | Anybody intelligent enough to run the |
| as...@aurora.alaska.edu | country is going to be too smart to get |
\==========================| into politics in the first place. -Herman- |
\=============================================/
Thomas G. Mon
>first album, buy Deep Forest!
Deep Forest would be tolerable if it was just instrumental. Those
voices are REALLY annoying. Even more than the chants in say, Return to
Innocence. A friend told me it was like Enigma, but I really don't
think so.
Tom.
tm...@andrew.cmu.edu [NeXTmail welcome]
Ryan Masaru Kawailani Ozawa
[ first album, buy Deep Forest!
Hear hear... Seems Deep Forest is definately going the way of Enigma's
first album, slow start but in less than a month now I've seen nearly
everyone (even a scary percentage of pop music fans) pick it up.
I agree that Enigma's second go is hardly the groundbreaker the first-
one was, but I didn't expect it to be either. I had a sense of what
we'd see when they slipped that track of theirs into the _SLIVER_
soundtrack. I still think it's good music, just not spectacular
music. _RETURN TO INNOCENCE_ is my pick of the bunch, and I'm
getting the single for it too.
_-^ [P]rophet Zarquon >< Ryan Masaru Kawa'ilani Ozawa >< (808) 935-2666 ^-_
| prophet%intera...@netcom.com >< University of Hawaii at Hilo |
| 603 W. Lanikaula St. >< Hale Kehau #120B >< Hilo, HI 96720 |
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