Elemental [ENHANCED]

Loreena McKennitt

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 20, 1994)
• Original Release Date: 1985
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Enhanced
• Label: Quinlan Road
• ASIN: B000000LXB
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (47 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #14,245 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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  #46 in	Music > World Music > Celtic > Fusion
  #49 in	Music > World Music > Celtic > New Age
  #53 in	Music > New Age > Celtic New Age

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
This 1985 album represents the debut of Loreena McKennitt. If there was justice in the world, it would have represented her commercial breakthrough. (That didn't come until 10 years later). Though her work became more complex as time passed, all the elements were already in place: her beautiful voice, ethereal arrangements, and her exotic adaptations of traditional songs. McKennitt is smarter than Enya and a better singer to boot. Her version of William Blake's "Lullaby," the best yet put on CD, is alone worth the price of this CD. --Charles R. Cross

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A voice as clear and sharp as cold crystal., May 12, 2000

By	Joseph Haschka (Glendale, CA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Loreena McKennitt is not one of those vocal artists whose voice is lost amidst background music that is either too loud or too overwrought. Her voice is as crystal clear as stars seen against a cold, night, desert sky. And what a magnificent voice it is.

For me, "Elemental" does not evoke the emotional tugs of "The Visit", another of the artist's CDs reviewed by me on this website. However, the former's program of traditional Celtic ballads exposes the listener to Loreena's incredible talent as a singer and musician. (I must admit here that I consider Barbra Streisand to have the most perfect voice I've ever heard. That likely makes me "square". However, more to the point of this review, Loreena is a very close second, in my opinion, in terms of vocal purity.)

The best reasons to buy this CD are tracks 5 and 8. The former, "Carrighfergus", is a duet by tenor Cedric Smith and McKennitt. It's more of a showcase for Smith - a relatively short, but beautifully intense, ballad of lost love. Track 8, "Come By the Hills", is a soulful tribute to a wild and mountainous region of the British Isles which I assume to be the Scottish Highlands, though it's not identified specifically as such. In any case, I've been to the Highlands, and the song fits.

If you've not previously had the privilege of listening to this amazing Canadian vocalist, then "Elemental" is an excellent introduction.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Celtic Tunes with a Twist, December 2, 1999

By	Emily Snyder (Massachusetts) - See all my reviews

One of Loreena McKennitt's earlier albums, "Elemental" is a beautiful album of classic and new Celtic songs and poetry. The overall tone is light, like the air after a storm, and wonderful for late-night relaxing. While this album remains purely Celtic in tone (rather than adding in Spanish or Indian elements as "The Mask and the Mirror" and "The Book of Secrets" do), Ms. McKennitt slips expectational boundaries with stunning success in "Carrighfergus" (playing harmony to a gentleman's voice) and in the passionate and rumbling "Lullaby" (picking drops of notes beneath the literal recitition of a poem by Blake). And like Blake's "Songs of Innocence and Experience," Ms. McKennitt weaves together love and death, elation and remorse as common themes in all her songs. An altogether ethereal collection.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars hauntingly beautiful, March 27, 2000

By	Ellen Barski (Roswell, GA USA) - See all my reviews

This is a superb CD, and it makes a wonderful lullaby album, as I discovered with my daughter. Every song on it (except the last, which I find to be out of place) is gorgeous in its lyrics, melody, and arrangement. It is quite hard for me to choose a favorite, but I believe "She Moved Through the Fair" to be exceptional. Loreena McKennitt's choice to make the piece essentially a cappella adds to its haunting quality -- what "musical" sounds she included (the birds and the bells) are perfect. I listen to this CD every day and look forward to hearing it each time.