LSD - Love Sensuality And Devotion (The Greatest Hits) - Enigma

What is Enigma? A band, a project, a state of mind, an attitude? Although people may be able to put a vague musical style to the name, it is a name well chosen. Information about Enigma is not that readily available but a bit of digging will reveal a Romanian musician called Michael Cretu and a long an intricate history. Cretu began playing piano at the age of five and has been involved in making unique albums, both as a solo musician and as a collaborator ...
...Mike Oldfield, Cretu moved in a more ethereal direction and under the name of Enigma has been releasing music that defies being pigeonholed. In 2001 after over a decade of successful albums, a greatest hits was forthcoming under the title "Love, Sensuality, Devotion" or L.S.D.

But before we plunge headlong into this celebration of the bands finest moments, what sort of thing are we going to find there? Enigma remains a band ... more

What is Enigma? A band, a project, a state of mind, an attitude? Although people may be able to put a vague musical style to the name, it is a name well chosen. Information about Enigma is not that readily available but a bit of digging will reveal a Romanian musician called Michael Cretu and a long an intricate history. Cretu began playing piano at the age of five and has been involved in making unique albums, both as a solo musician and as a collaborator through out a long career. In 1990 after encouragement from Mike Oldfield, Cretu moved in a more ethereal direction and under the name of Enigma has been releasing music that defies being pigeonholed. In 2001 after over a decade of successful albums, a greatest hits was forthcoming under the title "Love, Sensuality, Devotion" or L.S.D.

But before we plunge headlong into this celebration of the bands finest moments, what sort of thing are we going to find there? Enigma remains a band that encroaches on many styles and yet sits comfortably in none. The men in suits who try to come up with catch all buzzwords and snappy phrases for purposes of advertising and reviewing are not yet able to concisely capture their essence. New Age is a term that is banded around a lot, but that just makes me think of recordings of whale noises and people called Miranda knitting green bobble hats and wearing no shoes. Easy Listening makes them sound like Perry Como and world music always makes me think of WOMAD festival and bands from Mongolia with unpronounceable names playing a two string horse fiddle. Really it's a hybrid of all of those genres and more. There is an element of dance to a lot of the beats but its not club music. The best thing is if I just wade right in and let the music explain itself to me, you however, will have to put up with my written interpretations.

The opening piece, "The Landing" is a gentle piano and keyboard wash and a spoken vocal that builds in a very Vangelis sort of way and gradually slides into the first real song on the album. "Turn Around" brings us into the world of enigma very gently. A rhythmic back beat forms the structure for some electronically affected vocals, soothing yet almost incomprehensible. Vocals in this place are another instrument, the words are not always important in themselves, the sounds and atmosphere that they create are. Because of that this is music that you don't have to concentrate on, the art of getting the most out of this type of music is to let it wash over you, don't try to dissect it, understand it, analyse it, just experience it.

A distant vocal wash builds in the background to introduce "Gravity of Love", a mix of percussion, clear sensual female vocal, and with a recurring mass male choral creating dynamic emphasis when required and then dying away again to leave a minimal song. Some songs act more like musical passages that link the more colourful and dramatic songs, but this is to be as expected when albums are meant to be experienced as a whole and not merely a collection of individual tracks. Although the idea of a concept album is a bit dated now and conjures up images of beardy denim clad rockers from the mid seventies, Enigma albums are really just that. Although unlike those older albums, here there is no story to be told, the album is still designed to be experienced as a complete piece. "Modern crusaders" is more dance orientated, a tribal backbeat underpins an impassioned musical call to arms for like-minded folk. One reoccurring sample used to build this song is the choral piece O Fortuna from Carmina Burana, that's the Old Spice music to you lot! As those august tones fade a guitar solo that is pure rock and roll takes its place and there's even room for a bit of Bach before the song evolves into the much mellower directions of "Shadows in Silence" This neatly shows the diversity of sources Enigma use to build them musical soundscapes; I call them that, as song seems to small a word.

By far the best known of their work, "Return To Innocence" soon offers itself up, tribal Indian vocal chants act as a chorus as a female vocal takes the centre stage. A mid paced groove through love and innocence, state of the art keyboard effects sit side by side with simple vocal instrumentation, the modern studio sharing the song with the campfires of long vanished plains Indians, such is the scope of a musical vision not bound by time or direction. "Sadness (part 1) " is another song that mixes old and new. The rich, dulcet tones of Gregorian chant are laid over a modern drumbeat, which in itself is smooth and stylish enough, but into this mix comes a flute riff and a sexy and breathy French vocal, mixing the heavenly and the devilish side by side. A phased out electric guitar helps pile on the dark imagery and there is a constant battle of innocent and knowing, good and bad, all the way through the song.

The eighteen tracks that make up this compilation are all songs of originality, intelligence and beauty, a fine representation of what Enigma are all about, but the band being what they are, its difficult for even such a lengthy album as this to be whole representative. This is not a greatest hits in the true sense of the word as Enigma are not orientated towards the singles release, though the few singles that they have had have been massive sellers. Instead it's a mixture or remixes, re-interpretations and establish songs melded together to create a grab-bag collection that goes a long way to sum up the essence of Michael Cretus vision. Its dance aware, world encompassing, nature, its ability to pay homage to almost every musical form past and present (not to mention creating a few new ones along the way) and its uncompromising character and boundary pushing drive means that there is something there for everyone, all you need to bring to the party is an open mind and a lot of soul.
 

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