Only If [Import, Single]

Enya | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 23, 1998)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import, Single
• Label: Import [Generic]
• ASIN: B000007V7U
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #619,565 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

ENYA Only If... (1997 UK 3-track CD single including Willows On The Water and Oiche Chiun picture sleeve WEA143CD)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What was the last reviewer smoking when he heard this?, July 12, 2001

By 

John Wheeler "Johanan Rakkav" (King David's Harp, Inc., Houston, TX. USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Only If / Willows on the Water / Oiche Chiun (Audio CD)

I hope I may be pardoned for saying that the preceding review of this album, and not the album (far from it!), was a bit grating. Not only does it work very well (both one track at a time and as an ensemble of tracks), it makes me wonder (again) why Reprise Records scatters so many of Enya's best tracks into such relatively inaccessible corners.

For a long time, the only version of "Willows on the Water" I had was a MIDI file I found on a Web site. (It's a good rendition, but a bit limited.) I was dismayed to learn that this track was almost unobtainable, because the "single" CD which contained it, "Only If...", was out of stock. The only other option was to buy a box set which would mostly duplicate what I already have. What a pleasure, then, to find someone selling a used copy of this CD right here on Amazon.com. Considering what I got for the price, it's the best CD purchase I've ever made.

"Only If..." is a fun song, and hardly just a rehash of Enya's "Orinoco Flow" days. (To those who think otherwise: Every composer has his or her own signature preferences in style, and Enya's are unusually idiosyncratic. Deal with it.) "Willows on the Water" for me is alone worth the price of the CD; I can hear it over and over without tiring of it. (I would love to have it played at my wedding, or at the reception, at some point.) The Gaelic version of "Silent Night" (please don't ask me to spell it from memory!) is Enya at her most ethereal: not the usual sentimental or folk-style rendition one hears. (I recognized just one word, in the second verse: the Hebrew "Halleluyah".) In short, these tracks are like three gems of different colors in the same Celtic necklace...it's Enya's distinctive musical personality that ties them together.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's not really a single; it has three great songs on it, January 23, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Only If (Audio CD)

Not only does it have "Only If" on there, but it also has "Willows on the Water" and "Oiche Chiun", the Gaelic Silent Night. "Only if" and "Willows on the Water" are both catchy tunes. "Oiche Chiun" has a haunting beauty to it. Enya did it to the style that she did "Hope has a place". I reccomend this brilliant CD.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Rounding Out an Enya Collection, August 22, 2006

By 

David Hardison "rackitycoon" (Denver, CO USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Only If / Willows on the Water / Oiche Chiun (Audio CD)

I've never been big on singles, but I'm glad I stumbled upon this one. The title track was only available on "Paint the Sky with Stars" (one of those 'collections plus two new tracks' that tend to irritate long-time fans) and is a nice addition. A number of people have compared it to her first hit "Orinoco Flow", and it's true they are both upbeat, lyrical songs. But I think "Only If" has a much stronger rhythmic quality to it, almost a march if that's not going too far out on a limb! "Willows on the Water" (previously unreleased) is an instrumental piece that's uplifting, but more flowing than the first track. And things slow down even further with her beautiful rendition of Silent Night (previously only found on "The Christmas EP"). Her Gaelic translation is divine and well worth the price of the entire disc.