A Day Without Rain

Enya

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 21, 2000)
• Original Release Date: November 21, 2000
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Reprise / Wea
• ASIN: B000050XEI
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (670 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #643 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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  #2 in	Music > New Age > Meditation
  #3 in	Music > World Music > Celtic > Fusion
  #3 in	Music > World Music > Celtic > New Age

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
As each new Enya release has washed over all who have ears to hear, as each heaven-touched work leaves admirers sitting speechless in slack-jawed wonder, questions eventually come to mind: Might her layered, choral-like approach gradually become predictable or stale? Will she ever exhaust her deep reservoir of soul-stirring ideas? Remarkably, A Day Without Rain, Enya's fourth release since her 1988 breakthrough, Watermark, establishes new artistic heights for the gifted Irish vocalist and keyboardist. The project, polished and refined over a five-year period in the company of longtime collaborators Nicky Ryan (producer) and Roma Ryan (lyricist), may qualify as her best yet--a radiant, beatific collection of works that command attention with their cathedral-like resonance as they soothe your spirit with some of Enya's loveliest, most graceful voicings ever. The disc's opening three tracks (including the spellbinding "Only Time") form a gorgeous trilogy that suggest Enya has deepened her focus on the nexus where sophisticated pop and regal mysticism, the twin rivers of her singular sound, form a seamless intersection. The disc's gentle timbre is disturbed only once, and in memorable fashion, with "Tempus Vernum," a marshalling of mythic sonic forces that brings to mind the theme from the De Beers diamond commercial, but with a Celtic/Goth edge. Additional highlights abound. The closing "Lazy Days" will leave your soul dancing in a shower of flower petals and sunshine. A wonderful recording. --Terry Wood

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

170 of 176 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enya's Day without Rain Is Our Day with Beautiful Music, March 2, 2001

By	Andrew Gallas (USA) - See all my reviews

As Enya's seventh official album, she still manages to produce astounding chords, harmonies, and overlapping vocals. The song of Heaven itself cannot be much better than this. _A Day without Rain_ is an absolute masterpiece, one that reaches new heights for Enya. Overall, this album seems to have a peaceful, mellow theme to it; but this theme is actually halted for one song. The following is a song-by-song experience of Enya's _A Day without Rain_.

1. "A Day without Rain" is the first and title track of the album. As a quiet and gentle piano/vocal piece, the song seems to bring to mind a silent snowfall in winter. Yet as it is titled, the song pinpoints how glorious the sunshine can be after prolonged periods of rain.

2. "Wild Child" is the second song on the album. A bit playful but still retaining an inner knowing, this song's plucking background and rhythmic singing definitely project some sort of happiness or discovery. The melody is very catchy, and you'll find yourself singing along in no time.

3. "Only Time" is the gem-like third track on _A Day without Rain_, and is featured in the film _Sweet November_. This song quiets the mind and reassures that all troubles and triumphs are handled by time. The song seems to climax halfway through, with added background vocals and melody changes. Just like a rain shower fading, "Only Time" ends as if it has given you a pearl of wisdom.

4. "Tempus Vernum" is where the theme stops, but then repeats after this song until the end of the album. Dark strings and xylophone-sound plunking give this song an edge. The chanted/sung Latin lyrics add to its eerieness, and its sound building at the end of the song leaves as quickly as it came. This is certainly a memorable piece.

5. "Deora ar Mo Chroi" is partners with "Tempus Vernum" in that the strings in "Tempus Vernum" quiet and fade into the background for this song. Serene Irish Gaelic lyrics make a very Enya-like atmosphere. If "Tempus Vernum" raised your heart rate, this song definitely slows it down.

6. "Flora's Secret" is a lovely song with a pleasing melody and rhythm about two lovers and the stories told to them by Flora. Again using strings and airy background vocals, this song will put a smile on your face.

7. "Fallen Embers" is a contrast to "Flora's Secret." Using a piano and Enya's voice as a solo, this song tells the story of losing a love, and reminiscing about how the world seemed so much better when her love was with her. What a sad but beautiful song! A real tear-jerker for anyone that has ever had to cope with loss.

8. "Silver Inches" almost seems like an attempt to brigten the mood of the sorrowful person in the last song! Using string-like (or maybe just string) instruments, this song's staccato fading to legato sound is absolutely marvelous.

9. "Pilgrim" in style and feeling seems to resemble "Only Time," but not in sound! With Enya singing solo again (other than quiet background vocals through half of the song), the swaying melody and wisdom-filled lyrics create an almost comatose piece.

10. "One by One" is another catchy melody with strings and lovely vocals, about the adventures befalling a "he" and "she" who repeatedly leave each other. The chorus, "one by one my leaves fall, one by one my tales are told" almost give the feeling that the singer is telling their life story in this song.

11. "Lazy Days," the last song (on the U.S. release) on _A Day without Rain_, is easily one of my favorites. A completely fun song about having a day or two to do "nothing." The loose lyrics and spunky melody combine to form a joyous atmosphere. The "chorus" of climaxing "da da da da da da da da da"'s make you want to dance. This is the perfect ending to a perfect album.

In short, _A Day without Rain_ may just be Enya's best album yet. Although the length is little over 30 minutes, the quality of this music is worth every penny. Absolutely amazing!

40 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "A Day Without Rain" is breathtaking and brilliant, November 23, 2000

By A Customer

I must begin by saying this: Enya is simply and utterly the most amazing artist I have ever discovered, and will surely remain as such for all eternity. Her capability to keep creating albums and songs that are all so different, yet all so amazing and beatiful, is genius!

The album begins with the pure and refreshing title track, which is an instrumental. As an added bonus, there are vocals throughout the song by Enya.

Then you are taken to a brighter, less serious level in "Wild Child", whose title fits perfectly! This song is joyous and slightly spunky, and reminded me a little of "Anywhere Is".

The single and third album track, "Only Time", is calming and reassuring, and seems to say that worry is worthless, since all is in Time's hands.

"Tempus Vernum" seems to stir up every sense in me. This is easily one of my favorites from the album, and is a Latin chant that crescendos to the very end.

The effect that occurs between the fourth and fifth songs is very interesting. When "Tempus Vernum" ends, the background actually fades into the background for "Deora Ar Mo Chroi".

This Irish Gaelic song's translations are given in the album booklet, which speak of the earth's voices singing and gentle skies falling. It also mentions the singer's voice rising to the sky and "telling all that I believe in". The song ends with the knowledge that the earth will sing again after night concludes.

"Flora's Secret" is, surprisingly, a love song. The background sounds very much like the beginning of "Wild Child", but the melody and lyrics differ extremely. This song is light and full of the comfort of love between two people.

The seventh song on the album, called "Fallen Embers", seems to tell a personal love story between the singer and someone close her. It is reminiscent of time spent with this person, how nights seemed to last forever, and how their hearts were singing. While the song speaks of love lost, Enya manages to hint at hope and gives the listener a bittersweet reaction.

"Silver Inches" is a delightful interlude for this album and entertains happily before the ninth track.

"Pilgrim" is a sober yet retainingly beautiful piece about journeying in self-discovery and life itself.

The next song provides another relationship song, "One By One", filled with partings between the characters and then, without outright mention, coming together again. This airy piece begins the conclusion to A DAY WITHOUT RAIN.

"Lazy Days", I must say, is just about the most perfect ending for a music journey that I can imagine. The lilting track's beginning even gives off an almost "goofy", lighter side of Enya. The piece continues into spending days doing nothing but enjoying the present, and the vocal "chorus" stirs the memory of laughing children.

For anyone who is considering purchasing this album, or even if you are not very convinced by now, I URGE you, BUY THIS CD! You will definitely NOT regret it! There is no proper or possible way to describe the effect Enya's music has on the public, and I am sure that my review comes short of its goals, but one important goal has been reached: spreading the joy of Enya and her music!

48 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The music is great; The CD length is a joke, November 2, 2001

By	Distant Voyageur "Nicholas Computer" (Io) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Finally after waiting five years Enya has finally returned with all new material. While I am proud of owning this CD I kind of feel a smidgey bit cheated. First off this CD is only 34 and a half miniutes long. It seemed more like a demo tape. I have CD singles that are more than 34 minutes long. She could maybe on her next album compose songs that are an average of five or six minutes long. And a couple of songs are like unfinished demo tapes. Deora Ar Mo Chroi and Silver Inches are probably the most uninspired boring tracks Enya has ever written.

That doesn't mean that this album is less than great. It's actually one of my favorite albums of 2000. I ran out and bought it on the day it came out. While I miss the dark and stromy atmosphere of Watermark what Enya has offered is no less than amazing. This album is by far her sunniest and most cheerful album to date.

The title track is your typical piano instrumental with some vocals here and there. Wild Child is a beautiful song with plucky strings and a very sunny atmosphere and rhythm. Only Time is like Anywhere Is but much slower. This is from what I guess is her biggest hit since Orinoco Flow from 13 years ago. This another beautiful song. Tempus Vernum is the winner on ADWR. This song is totally different from the previous songs. It's a very Gothic song with lyrics sung in Latin. This is like a severe thunderstorm. The only complaint is that it's only 2 and a half minutes long. It could have been lengthened to about 5 minutes. Deora Ar Mo Chroi is like the calm after the thunderstorm has passed. Unfortunately I am not very moved by this song. It is one of my least favorites on this album. Floras Secret is a beautiful song about two lovers dancing in a garden of petals in a blue sky. Definately one of my favorites on this album. Fallen Embers is a bueatiful song that sounds a bit like China Roses but not as romantic as that one but nonetheless a nice song. Silver Inches is a short instrumental that could,ve been left off this album. It should have been replaced with Isobella. Isobella is a beautiful haunting song that is only available on the Japanese import version of this album. Silver Inches is probably the most uninspiring song Enya has ever done. Pilgrim on the other hand is a very serene song that I would play when sailing along the river on a warm cloudy evening. One By One is another good song. One of the strongest songs on this album. Lazy Days is a great closer to this album. It sounds a lot like On My Way Home but brighter and more optimistic. It's like the third companion of Orinoco Flow.

Overall while this album is flawed this is a great new offering from one of my all-time female singers. My wish though is that she would include Isobella on this album. As I said before it's a beatiful haunting song that would have beat every other song on this album. In fact Enya should stop and compile a CD full of B-Sides and rare songs. There are at least ten of them. It would show an even greater prospective of Enyas amazing talent. Another wish is that maybe her next album could be more electronic sounding like Watermark and at least 55 minutes long.

An even cooler thing that could happen is a collaboration between Enya and New Age musician Patrick O'hearn. Just imagine Enyas haunting vocals combined with O'hearns soaring ambient electronic synthesizers. It would be the best New Age album ever. I can smell it in the air.

But even though that may not happen Enya will remain one of my top five favorite divas of all time. Go and buy this album. While I mostly recommend it to veteran fans it would be a great introduction to new fans as well.

Well that's all folks.... He! He!