Radiant!

This CD was awesome! Michael Cretu has done it again. With his first release of Enigma, I was shocked at the originality. It was just awesome how he incorporated different (enigmatic) sounds in his music and made it like one whole song. His first album was awesome with the revival of the Gregorian Chants and marvelous lyrics; now he has broght a different, powerful work with the same essence. The Cross of Changes concentrates in a Native American style instead of the Gregorain Chants. It is beautifully done! I love how Michael Cretu has thought of different cultures and times: Middle Ages of Gregorian Chants, ancient acoustic sounds mixed with modern synthtic sound, and in the song "Silent Warrior," the lyrics explain the Spanish takeover of Mayan culture. "They took their land/ They took their lives..../ White men won in the name of God." Very interesting lyrics throughout the music many involving ethical values. It begins with "The Second Chapter" describing that "we came out from the deep to help and understand and not to kill" and follows with different believes, but finally concludes: "If you understand or if you don't/ If you believe or if you doubt/ There's a universal justice/ And the eyes of the truth/ Are always watching you."

Enigma- Chaper 2

"Cross of Changes" is my favorite Enigma album, it's a great mix of beautiful ambient music. Michael Cretu had dropped the "Trademark" Gregorian chants and concentrading on other things instead. There is more variety here though, Native American chants on "Return to Innocence", Piano playing on "Dream of the dolphin" and horns on "Silent Warrior". On "Age of Loneliness" we'll hear a wonderful female voice and backround drums and some horns. But Cretu also sings ofcourse, we'll hear his lyrics on "Return to innocence" and on "Out from the deep". The album closes with a perfect song,the title track "Cross of Changes". There is no song that is bad here actually. I enjoyed them all. This album was also one of the absolute top albums of 1994. Flawless.

Cross Purposes

Enigma mesmerized everyone in 1990 when his/their debut became (we're all adults here, right?) a bedroom classic. He also took the music world by storm, and soon everyone from Deep Forrest to the Benedictine Monks were marking their territory with similar forays into new age and ambient music. Which meant that Michael Cretu was left with either trying to make "Sadeness-ness" or pushing his sounds in different directions.

To that end, he certainly did try! There's very little of the Gregorian sampling from the first album here, and in its place are explorations of Native American music and electric guitars. Not all of it works as well as the debut (those guitar solos in particular), but "Return To Innocence" is probably the best song he's ever come up with. Much like a modern day Alan Parsons Project, Michael Cretu builds songs like a sonic architect, layering images for effect, and on the opposite side, effects to evoke imagery.

In "I Love You...I'll Kill You," the sounds come off as dangerous and slinky. Considering the song was originally used in a stinker of a stalker movie called "Sliver," it fits. But the catcher is the song's final verse, where the voice whispers, "I love you, I'll kill you, but I'll love you forever." Now THAT'S the kind of freakiness that got the first album noticed, and it's the closest "Cross Of Changes" gets to the brilliance of "MCMXC A.D." (Though I could have lived without the rock guitar.)

While a pretty good album overall, I'd still recommend the debut first, and then "Cross Of Changes." If you're looking for more of the bombastic songs from Enigma's career, I'd then suggest going with the "L.S.D." hits collection, which skips the ambiance and concentrates more on popular selections.