LSD- the ecstasy of obsession (Love Sensuality Devotion: The Greatest Hits - Enigma)

Member Name: 2Quizzy

Product:	Love Sensuality Devotion: The Greatest Hits - Enigma
Date:	01/12/03 (398 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great music

Disadvantages: Disturbing lyrics for some

enigma: dark, obscure, or inexplicable; a riddle, statement or action, the hidden meaning of which is to be discovered or guessed.

"Don't be afraid to be weak, Don't be too proud to be strong
Just look into your heart my friend, That will be the return to yourself - The return to innocence.

If you want, then start to laugh, If you must, then start to cry
Be yourself don't hide, Just believe in destiny.

Don't care what people say, Just follow your own way
Don't give up and use the chance - To return to innocence.

That's not the beginning of the end, That's the return to yourself - The return to innocence."
enigma - return to innocence

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ecstasy: Intense joy or delight. A state of emotion so intense that one is carried beyond rational thought and self-control. The trance, frenzy, or rapture associated with mystic or prophetic exaltation.

"beside me on the left appeared an angel in bodily form . . . In his hands I saw a great golden spear, and at the iron tip there appeared to be a point of fire. This he plunged into my heart several times so that it penetrated my entrails... The sweetness caused by this intense pain is so extreme that one can not possibly wish it to cease, nor is one's soul content with anything but God. This is not a physical but a spiritual pain, though the body has some share in it -- even a considerable share."
The Ecstasy of St. Theresa

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sadism: The deriving of sexual pleasure or the tendency to derive sexual gratification from inflicting pain, cruelty or emotional abuse on others.

"The pleasure of the senses is always regulated in accordance with the imagination. Man can aspire to happiness only by serving all the whims of his imagination."
Marquis de Sade

"Pro
cedamus in pace In nomine Christi, Amen. Let us go forth in peace In the name of Christ, So be it. Cum angelis et pueris, fideles inveniamur. We shall find the faithful in the company of angels and children."
enigma - Gregorian Chant - sadeness part 1

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IN THE BEGINNING

..there was a man named Michael Cretu. Born in Romania, he studied music in his birth land, France and Germany before moving on to create his own music. His dream was to see if he could create something new and completely original. Something that would break all the rules by combining styles of music and tempos no one would even consider compatible.

The result was Enigma.

THE MUSIC

This is not music you get into easily. It has more twists than the Minotaur's maze. Ethnic rhythms, techno synthesised sounds and musical instruments with electronically altered human voices and Gregorian chants. Layers of sound where lyrics are narrated rather than sung and singing has no discernible words. Enigma is hard to categorise. The music has a mystical feel, yet the lyrics are quite dark giving the all over affect of something more Gothic than New Age. Listen to the music and you are soothed and swept away, listen to the lyrics and you are brought back down to more earthly things and darker pleasures.

Synthesised music can become very sterile and there are some tracks that I didn't like for this reason. Michael Cretu has tried to over come this with his subtle layering of sounds, but in some the technical cleverness outweighs the "human touch". I still prefer real musical instruments to synthesised ones although, in my opinion, Enigma carries it off far better than any other music or band I?ve listened to. The repetitive melodies and ethnic beat are almost transcendal.


THE MESSAGE

From 1990 to 2000 Enigma released a series of albums as com
plex and esoteric as the name. Michael Cretu, or "Curly M C" as he is listed on the Enigma albums, brought in Jens Gad to work on Enigma. His wife Sandra Cretu, performs on many of the songs. Attitudes to sex is an ongoing theme in the music of Enigma. Michael Cretu has personally stated that he feels Christianity, and the Catholic church in particular, have left Western world with many misconceptions related to human sexuality.

To me the strongest theme in Enigma's music is ecstasy - spiritual, physical, mental. From the darkest form, as seen in the first hit single "Sadeness part 1", to the beautifully enlightened "Return to Innocence" there's the ongoing message about how humans strive to reach a higher experience and higher meaning to Life. The lyrics in Enigma neither preach nor condone, they are simply meant to make you think.

THE ALBUM

In October 2001 "Enigma LOVE SENSUALITY DEVOTION: The Greatest Hits" was released. Cretu tried to take the best of his first four albums and weave them together into the "story" of Enigma, it's growth and hidden messages. The cover illustration says it all. A subtle picture of a faceless man holding the face of a woman like a mask before him. He has a butterfly where his mouth should be, a la "Silence of the Lambs". On the right side of him everything is dark and in shadows, on the other all is light. The only colour is the butterfly and the violent red of the woman's smiling mouth. You feel like there are meanings behind meanings here as in the music itself. Symbolism and secrets woven in everywhere. The back of the cover is an old drawing that looks rather like a Cabalistic tree of Life with all the planets in it's branches. Inside the cover there are disturbing if thought-provoking quotes from famous mystics like Rasputin and William Blake.

Some songs have been slightly altered from the original so they blend
in with the overall feel of the album. There are virtually no gaps are noticeable pauses between tracks. You simply flow from one to the next and you have to listen hard to pick the spot where the end of one tune and tempo is frayed out and woven into the edges of the following song.

1. Landing
The first track brings you in with the gentle sounds of waves on the shore and noises that would fit as easily in outer space as beneath the sea.

2. Turn Around
A slow beat shifts the melody into electronically altered voices and Native American style flute or pipes. A woman's voice whispers words which are actually the titles of all the songs on the album.

3. Gravity of Love
A synthesised "chorus" sounding very similar to a Wagnerian opera opens this gently building up to a crescendo. The chorus and a slow heavy drum beat are the base to this track. The sounds tend to surge loud and soft in waves that stir the emotions. A woman's voice, Ruth-Ann Boyle, half sings half speaks the lyrics which are a series of statements as complicated in meaning as the sphinx's riddles. Ending with the whispered words:

"O Fortuna velut Luna ( Oh Fortune, like the Moon )
The path of excess leads to
The tower of Wisdom."

4. T.N.T. for the Brain
This version was the club release rather than the original. It's more intense and I think I prefer it. It starts with electronic organ music and the sound of the wind. The beat is a heartbeat that gradually builds up tempo and is joined by ethnic-style drumming that sets the senses on fire.

A woman whispers and groans the lyrics in a state of breathless ecstacy.

"Smell your skin
Feel your breath
You on my side
I couldn't resist..

..What you feel is insane
It is love and not a game
T.N.T. for the brain"

5. Modern Crusaders
Suddenly things speed up into a strong alm
ost military drum beat. An electronic chorus starts slowly as a man's electronically altered voice sings the rousing lines to:
"Stand up, join us.." and become modern crusaders.

Made me think that a version of Power Rangers could use this one as their battle song!

6. Shadows in Silence
We change completely from fire to water. The soft sounds of whales singing mixes with a gentle ethnic drum beat. This one is mesmerising and very soothing. Electronic voices singing in a Native American style mixing and blending with wordless harmonising in the style of Gregorian monks chanting. Very New Age and very enjoyable. It drifts perfectly into the next track..

7. Return to Innocence
The most recognisable of Enigma's singles. The video of this one was as stunning as the song itself. It's one of my all time favourite music videos. Interesting to me was the fact that Cretu ended up in a lawsuit for this one by using portions of an actual Native American tribal song in it.

The haunting sound of a man singing a Native American song starts this one and is interwoven throughout the entire song. A young androgynous/male voice sings the lyrics. The tune spirals and the two male voices grow louder and recede in a never-ending cycle. Beautiful to listen to and perfectly crafted, in my opinion.

It ends with a woman gently narrating the final verse:

"That's not the beginning of the end,
That's the return to yourself - The return to innocence."

The song drifts out to the sound of the wind blowing gently..

8.I Love You... I'll Kill You
The ethnic drum beat and melody here remind me of India. A woman speaks the lyrics, slow and intense:

"I see love, I can see passion
I feel danger, I feel obsession
Don't play games with the ones who love you
Cause I hear a voice who says:
I love you ... I'll kill you ..." r>
9. Principles of Lust
This one starts off with strange synthesised sounds that reminded me of whales or horses neighing! The drum tempo here is more upbeat and has a jazz/blues feel to it. Ethnic style flute/pipe music carries the tune. You aren't likely to see the video to this single often. It was aimed at portraying the title theme and was definitely beyond PG! A woman speaks the lyrics in a breathless voice.

"The principals of lust are easy to understand... do what you feel, feel until the end."

The song fades out and you can hear a woman's shaky breathing faint behind the beat. The sound of a heart beating fades in to..

10. Sadeness, Pt. 1
The title of this hit single was a deliberate play on words. Cretu was fascinated with the tormented excessive life of the Marquis de Sade, the man who perfected sexual deviance and gave the world a new word - sadism. His life was both depraved and tragic. Thus this song is about "sadness" and "Sade-ness". There are plenty of websites dealing with this bizarre man so we'll move on to the song.

It starts with the beautiful spiritually uplifting sound of Gregorian monks chanting in Latin. Soulful flute/pipe music joins in. A Man's voice speaks insistently in French. It translates as:

"Sade tell me what is it that you seek?
The rightness of wrong, The virtue of vice
Sade tell me why the Gospel of evil ?
What is your religion? Where are your faithful?
If you are against God, you are against man.

Sade tell me why blood for pleasure?
Pleasure without love?
Is there no longer any feeling in man's Faith?
Sade, Sade are you diabolical or divine?"

in the background a woman, Cretu's wife Sandra, pants, gasps and groans.

The song ends with her voice saying:
"Sade, dis-moi" "Sade, donnes-moi" (Sade tell me. Sade give me.)
a

lternating with the monks chanting:
"Hosanna"

11. Silence Must Be Heard
This is one of the song I like the least. It has a strong aggressive beat and the woman's electronically altered voice sings it in an equally loud assertive way.

"Look into the other's eyes, many frustrations
Read between the lines, no words just vibrations
Don't ignore hidden desires
Pay attention, you're playing with fire

..The time has come to learn, that silence
Silence must be heard."

Fades out to a whisper..

12. Smell of Desire
A gentle start with a very rhythmic spiralling beat and soft ethnic drumming to synthesised woodwind music. also an electric guitar played on this one. There are no lyrics although there are layers of voices coming and going in the spiralling sound. A woman murmurs in French and a choir singing "In nomine Christi, Amen" is played backwards.

Apparently she sings the words below, but I find it's too faint to hear on the track itself.

"Je ne dors plus, Je suis folle. Je m'abandonne." ( I can't sleep anymore, I am crazy. I am letting myself go )
" The eternal flame will always burn
Feel - understand - and learn"

13.Mea Culpa
Thunder and Gregorian monks chanting to the background sound of a single drummer start this track. The beat quickens and ethnic piping joins in as a man and woman speak the lyrics - she in French, he in English.

This song stirred up a lot of people and you'll find a dozen different opinions on the web as to what it's supposed to mean. "Mea Culpa" translates roughly as "I take the blame." It's a dark song that hints at sexual dominance and submission. Another reminder of the Marquis de Sade?

It ends with the woman panting heavily fading until only the lone drummer remains. He sounds like the
drummer that would play at an execution.

14. Push the Limits
A very techno-synthesiser sound and beat to this one. It's a faster beat with a slightly Middle-Eastern feel to it. A woman sings a high pitch Arabian sounding wordless tune to the strong beat. Another deeper woman's voice whispers words too faint to discern. It turns into the sound of a woman whispering and making soft moaning gasps and then just -

- ends.

15. Beyond the Invisible
This one has a definite ethnic Middle-Eastern tune and women singing. The singing is very repetitive and mesmerising.

A woman whispers:

"I look into the mirror
See myself, I'm over me
I need space for my desires
Have to dive into my fantasies"

A man starts singing with the women half-chanting in the distance. The thing I like most about this one is the stereo effect. The man's voice is central whilst the women's singing flows continuously from left to right.

"Close your eyes
Just feel and realize
It is real and not a dream..

..If you follow you will see
What's beyond reality."

16. Age of Loneliness
Starts with sounds played backwards and a woman singing wordless sounds. An otherwordly ethnic sound to this one. Part Middle-Eastern, part futuristic. The music is a mix of synthesised sounds and what sounds like Middle-Eastern bagpipes. The original video for this was never aired. Apparently it featured Sharon Stone.

Fades out with Gregorian chanting..

17. Morphing Through Time
This one has a slow beat. A man's electronically altered voice sings the lyrics as multiple voices and sounds shift and fade in and out behind him. It's as if he's walking slowly through time and the sounds of each era he passes through grow and fade as he passes. If you listen carefully you'll hear all sorts of voices and styles including a woman sing
ing opera and a "Heavenly choir".

"We're just travellers in endless space
If we're following our mind
We can glide into light
No one knows if there'll be an answer
While we're morphing through time."

18. Cross of Changes
Starts gently with the sound of a piano playing a soft haunting tune. The music is very peaceful and dreamlike. It comes and goes like waves on a shore. Women singing played backwards is blended with the piano. The refrain cycles back to the beginning and a woman speaks quietly:

"If you understand or if you don't
If you believe or if you doubt

There's a universal justice
And the eyes of truth
Are always watching you"

THE END

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Title: Enigma LOVE SENSUALITY DEVOTION: The Greatest Hits
Producer: Michael Cretu
Performers: Michael Cretu, Jens Gad, Sandra Cretu
Original Release Date: October 23, 2001