Enigma - The Cross of Changes (1993)

Artist...............: Enigma
Album................: The Cross of Change
Genre................: New Age
Source...............: Cd
Year.................: 1993
Ripper...............: Exact Audio Copy
Codec................: Flac
Information..........: TntVillage
Covers...............: Front
Total Size...........: 275 Mb
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Rewiev
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Cretu being no fool, he figured if it worked the first time, no need to change things much for the second.

But he also knew not to simply go ahead and just rehash his debut for Cross of Changes, resulting in a just

different enough effort along the same overall lines. The usual air of tasteful middle-of-the-road

spirituality takes precedence, right down to the cover art and appropriately pantheistic quote from Persian

mystic poet Rumi in the CD booklet. Needless to say, the music attempts to match the same throughout, and

often succeeds. Things kick off with more of the synth-whale song noises and atmospherics from MCMXC,

however there aren't any monks to be found this time around, but what sounds like the same whispering woman

talking about "clearing the debts of many hundred years" and the like. From there, Cretu merrily takes the

same plunge -- some of his sample choices this time around show he's got a decent record collection,

including parts from Songs From the Victorious City, the striking fusion of Egyptian and Western musics

from Anne Dudley and Jaz Coleman. His work with beats and loops noticeably shows a more developed edge --

while hardly an innovator, there's a bit more grime and loud in his rhythms, which in combination with

extra electric guitar make a reasonable contrast to the smoother elements. Consider the rampaging

conclusion to "I Love You...I'll Kill You," which while sharing some cheese with the title itself still

works surprisingly well, right down to a clever Robert Plant vocal sample at the end. "Return to Innocence"

was the big single from this one, not quite up there with "Sadeness" in the popular culture in the U.S. but

almost inescapable elsewhere. There's another Led Zeppelin sample (this time John Bonham) and a haunting

male vocal providing oomph under the fuzzy-headed greeting card philosophy of the main lyrics. It's an

impressive effort, showing Cretu had a definite something in his own way.
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Tracklist
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01. Second chapter
02. The eyes of truth
03. Return to innocence
04. I love you ... I'll kill you
05. Silent warrior
06. The dream of the dolphin
07. Age of loneliness (Carly's song)
08. Out from the deep
09. The cross of changes