Enigma - A Posteriori
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Music CD Cover
Artist: EnigmaEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2006-09-26
Music Label: Virgin Records Us
Soundtracks:
- Eppur Si Muove
- Feel Me Heaven
- Dreaming Of Andromeda
- Dancing With Mephisto
- Northern Lights
- Invisible Love
- Message From IO
- Hello And Welcome
- 20,000 Miles Over The Sea
- Sitting On The Moon
- The Alchemist
- Goodbye Milky Way
Free Music Notes for A Posteriori
Free Music Review: I Almost Dismissed Owning This Enigma Release!...
Hit: 5 Stars
I waited for months before purchasing this latest Enigma title based on samples I had heard online.I even experienced very little interest or motivational drive in acquiring A Posteriori(which was HIGHLY unusual from someone who has EVERY Enigma release since 1990). Samples are just samples and only give rough glimpses of what the actual album is like;I foolishly put off buying this title for so long because I was not impressed by what I heard on the snippets of sound and by the lukewarm and mixed early reviews by both critics and fans.My first reaction was, "This cannot be the "new" Enigma sound??" My next thought was,"This new material has such a common, lack luster, ambient,trance-like electronic quality indestinguishable from all other electronica groups/bands/artists out there!" These are thoughts coming from a long time devoted Enigma fan since 1990...
I caved and bought A Posteriori in the early summer of 2007.Listened to it for a few weeks, then,put it away.I needed time to come up with clearer thoughts, a beter take and or perspective in order to do a review and see if my perception of the album had changed.It is now January 2008;I've decided to play this disc for the first time since last year.
I appreciate it much more now than I did on my first initial listening sessions of last year! One of the most common statements I have noticed other reviewers say is how this new Enigma project sounds nothing like his previous works and yet has retained that consistent and inherent trademark "sound" that Cretu does so damn well.Even I cannot quite put my finger on what it is.Familiarity? Is that the word?...What is highly evident or strikingly upfront (I am no musician or tech wizard) is the new or different synthesizer machinations and scapes created;Truly, Cretu spared no expense on updating his A.R.T. recording studio located in Ibiza,Spain---with this latest production it shows! It is absolutely a new direction with new material.Michael Cretu/Enigma has made it clear that the Gregorian chants,the foreign female seductive voices are gone. However, after a long absence from other previous albums, Louisa a.k.a "The Voice of Enigma" Stanley returns to lend her spoken vocals as the devilishly dark temptress on Dancing With Mephisto.Is she a beautiful woman luring someone who is weak to dance with the devil or is she a ghastly vision as in Mel Gibson's "The Passion of The Christ" actress who played Satan?One thing is strikingly assured that like ALL Enigma releases, Cretu produces music that fills the human mind with such rich otherworldy images and captivating visuals.Such adjectives as atmospheric, ambient,somber,moody,mysterious,hypnotic,etc. are all cliche words used before---However, that is exactly what A Posteriori displays in a number of tracks to great effect.The percussion and beats are still deep and even wonderfully layered in some sections(the track Dancing With Mephisto illustrates such enticing and "catchy" beats or hooks that work as artistic musical material and not gimmicky filler).Segueing and song transitions are smooth. The trademark Enigma horn intro on all of his albums is still present.However, the ethnic and Gregorian chants are used extremely sparingly;Very sparse approach this time;After all, what Cretu/Enigma makes clear is that this album's theme is about a voyage to the stars--- is it from the viewpoint of an astrologer? An astronomer? An astronaut?Or that of an astrophysicist?Perhaps all of the above. The thematic continuity is very well kept together. Michael Cretu is very focused on A Posteriori as to it's subject matter and does not leave a lot of "ambiguity" as on previous albums. Some fans like this and some don't.I believe this is where some critics and long time die hard fans may have been disappointed;Some liked the ambiguity of previous projects.
One omission that would have made a wonderful bonus track would have been the inclusion of the "original" version of "Hello and Welcome". It is the version that includes vocals by Andru Donalds and is more of an uptempo rock pop vibe than what Cretu released on A Posteriori.It was the version used as the theme for German boxer Felix Sturm's grand entrance back in 2006 for the WBA championship title.The original music video version of Hello and Welcome can be seen on YouTube.com.
This 2006 Enigma relase without a doubt is something that should not be missed by either long time fans or new ones as well as those who have never bought an Enigma album.The only Enigma album that took me a long time to get used to (even now, it remains my least favorite one) is 1996's Le Roi Est Mort,Vive Le Roi. A Posteriori is 10 years after that release and is definitely in another realm or direction.Many thought, as I, that 2003's Voyageur was the album to mark or segue into a new sonic and artistic direction for Enigma; Not so.Voyageur was just a more "pop" oriented and accessible album for possibly new listeners who were never into the Enigma sound. A Posteriori is the definite marker towards a new musical change,territory, and even style!
A Posteriori Poster
There are no black holes in Enigma's musical universe. Nothing ever just vanishes here. It's been 16 years since October 1st 1990, when Enigma's debut, "Sadeness Part 1," rocked the earthly airwaves and hit the top of the charts with sounds the planet had never heard. All of a sudden Enigma was no longer a UFO but the most famous spaceship of world music - and the music world. On September 22nd, 2006 A Posteriori, the sixth album of Michael Cretu's Enigma project was released.You can get an idea of where A Posteriori is heading from song titles such as "Dreaming Of Andromeda," "Message From Io" and "Goodbye Milky Way." It takes you on a voyage through a multilayered soundscape, to the limits of your sonic experience, but always stays true to the essence of Enigma. The album will carry any hitch-hiker along to explore extraordinary new galaxies aboard the sound-ship Enigma. There is also the overture that, as on the five predecessors, welcomes the listener to Enigma's latest album, before creating the first tonal Fata Morgana 30 seconds later. Wafting through a soft carpet of sound come mysterious voices suggestive of power, shouting something Latin into this new sound-sphere?a sphere where A Posteriori will linger. Enigma once again create associative sound-signals that embed themselves in your head forever like a mental tattoo.
Enigma Photos
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More from Enigma
 Love Sensuality Devotion: The Greatest Hits |  MCMXC A.D. |  The Cross of Changes |
 Voyageur |  Enigma 3: Le Roi Est Mort, Vive Le Roi! |  MCMXC a. D. - The Complete Album DVD |
Sixth in a series of never-quite-the-same recordings from Michael Cretu, the Bucharest-born electronic musician/studio wiz known as Enigma, A Posteriori has the capacity to delight one camp of Enigma devotees while it perplexes another. Less overtly sensual than earlier recordings and devoid of female singers in lead-vocalist roles (no Ruth-Ann, no Sandra), A Posteriori nevertheless stands as a worthwhile recording that at its best moments handsomely displays Cretu's talents for effective songcraft and imaginative sound design. The 54-minute disc--an ode to science and discovery rather than brainy erotica--launches with two impressive instrumentals, "Eppur Si Muove" ("and yet it does move," a phrase attributed to Galileo following his heresy conviction for asserting that the earth rotates around the sun) and "Feel Me Heaven," gorgeous tracks that are part audio space probes, part pulsing Euro electronica. Momentum wanes (or chills) until Cretu strings together a series of tracks that use a heady amalgam of ambient, techno, dance, and rock textures: "Hello and Welcome," "20,000 Miles Over the Sea," "Sitting on the Moon," and the dense, edgy "The Alchemist," which evokes notions of a 21st-century version of Ultravox. "Moon" stands out in particular, guided by a subtle pop melody that exudes the gentle irresistibility of Dido's best work. Cretu wisely limits (or eliminates) the use of Gregorian chants and ethnic voices, once-fresh ideas now demoted to gimmickry. He lets his own voice, a raspy take on Peter Gabriel, carry this disc's three vocal-driven tracks to mixed effect. While not everything glitters here, enough does that A Posteriori warrants investigation by earnestly inquisitive Enigma followers. --Terry Wood
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