Customer Reviews

Paint the Sky with Stars: The Best of Enya

5 star:		(215)
4 star:		(26)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

When I first saw/listened to an Enya video (Orinocco Flow) on television back in the early 90's/late 80's - I thought she was... ...nice... ...but a wee bit...whacked. Or tootie-fruitie. Or whatever. With all the "...hoo! hee! ooh! ahh! oh! hoo! ahh! ee! oh! hoo!, etc." lyrics...

Then, a few years later, over a period of several months, a mildly crazed girl friend force-fed Enya (...and 90's country music) down my gullet. Whether I dang wanted to hear it or not. Well...after an extended amount of time of this force-feed diet...I...began to...like Enya. In fact, I became mesmerized especially by "Watermark" and "Storms over Africa"? or...one of her other songs.

That was about 10 years ago... and it's year 2004 now. And except for a rare occasion here and there - I have not listened to any Enya music at all. However. After wandering about and subsequently stumbling onto Enya on the site here over the past week or two - I found myself nigh brought to my knees in tears over the wondrous beauty of this fair maiden's music. It is SO BEAUTIFUL...! And relaxing! And hypnotic, and just plain...good for you...! It makes you feel good about yourself...and life...and just...Everything! (sigh...).

Anyway, also - the site here confirmed my delighted suspicion that one of Enya's Lovely songs ("Book of Days") is the theme song for the "Out of Ireland" television program, broadcast on Public Television. (That I recently discovered a few months ago).

So, as I find myself having been somehow guided back to Enya, on this here Amazon site, I am just thinking...that I may end up owning... a whole collection... of Enya tapes.

My mildly...enthusiastic former girlfriend (who I am still friends with) done good...

I've always enjoyed Enya and this album is no exception, but while reading some of the customer recommendations posted on this page I discovered an artist by the name of Mehdi (pronounced meddie). After some investigation I found his site (SoothingMusic.Com) and listened to the samples...I was instantly blown away by the quality of this music and so I gave it a try and now that I have listened to his CDs several times I really must say that although I'm still a Enya fan I find Mehdi to be a tad more interesting. I have them both in my multi-disc CD player and love the way they compliment each other. I highly recommend that you give this artist a try or atleast just go listen to the samples, I have a feeling you'll be glad you did.

Trying to review a "Best Of" from Enya is a very difficult assignment. A rarity among popular artists, Enya takes years at a time to perfect and polish her recordings until she decides they are ready, then releases the individual albums as stand alone pieces of work. That an occasional song breaks free and becomes popular is coincidental to the overall scheme of her music. While I must admit that "Orinoco Flow" drove me into a shivering bliss that first time I heard it on the radio, as soon as I got a copy of "Watermark," it was easy to tell that this woman was an artist as perfectionist.

From that point on, I have eagerly awaited the next CD to complete its gestation and land in my disc player. So how does one regard the piecemeal way her first four albums are divided into a "Best Of" collection? Fortunately, Enya has a way with melody, so the songs per se are often memorable outside of context. Much like Enigma, Alan Parsons or Pink Floyd, sometimes a little swath of the album is still enough to convey the consistency of mood, and Enya is of the stature of those equally creative minds.

In short, I have no trouble recommending "Paint The Sky With Stars" to the curious, although my first recommendation would still be to purchase the classic "Watermark" first. But if all you really need is the pleasantries of Enya to put some tranquility in your day, this "Best Of" set will do nicely.

It's always hard to say what is and isn't an artists best, but there's no doubt that this is most of it, even if it's missing a few good ones. It's also pretty lengthy at 16 tracks. Included is "Caribbean Blue", "Storms In Africa", "China Roses", and the hugely popular "Orinoco Flow", among many other favorites. Even the songs I didn't know before, I now love as much as the others. I only wish this included material from her last album, which was released after this was. Anyway, even though I also listen to metal and rap, I believe "Enya" is a must for any collection. Her music is simply beautiful.

This is a great CD and a must for any fan of peaceful music. It occupies a place on my best of all time list, along with Genie's WIldflowers.

Sometimes I wish Enya would use a real piano more often, like Genie does, but both of their voices are so magical that I am swept away. The peace is worth anything.

This album basically is all the best tracks from her previous albums except for a day without rain. Perfect for those who are just starting to hear her songs. This album will stun you. For me. Orinoco Flow, Book of days, Anywhere is, China Roses are my favourites. I have to say that i didn't like the track Paint the sky with stars. But generall, this album is very good.

My mom was the original owner of this cd, but now it's mine, unofficially. At first I only liked, some of the songs on this cd, but now I love all of them as if they were my children. This was actually the first Enya cd that I really listened to, and now I am a big Enya fan. I would also reccommend getting her album 'A Day Without Rain', I did, and I LOVE it! My favorite song on this cd is probably 'Storms in Africa' or 'Watermark', both of them are also on the album 'Watermark', which I have on tape from years ago. A definite, 5 star, MUST-GET!

In the end of 1997 Enya released this "best of"-album including songs from her earlier albums and two brand new songs.

Paint The Sky With Stars starts with her earlier greatest hits Orinoco Flow, Caribbean Blue, Book Of Days and Anywhere Is which all are very good. Orinoco Flow and especially Book Of Days are also very powerful with lots of instrumental and vocal layers. The songs are followed by two other great songs; her 1997 hit Only If and the 10 years older song The Celts. Then we come to a period of beautiful music to calm down to; China Roses, Shepherd Moons, Ebudę (a very rhythmic song), Storms In Africa, Watermark, her second 1997 song Paint The Sky With Stars and Marble Halls. Then comes On My Way Home* and lifting the album again as it's very powerful. The next track, The Memory Of Trees, is a calmer one but is still very good. The album ends up with the track Boadicea which is a quite interesting track giving the album a perfect finish.

If you don't know that much about Enya's music at the moment, then I think you should wear this in your mind; ALL VOICES ARE FROM ENYA AND ALMOST ALL INSTRUMENTS ARE PLAYED BY HER. That's what I call a musical genious, but I also have to thank producer Nicky Ryan and his wife and song writer Roma Ryan for all these great albums!

To me Paint The Sky With Stars is one of few albums that I consider as important to own because you can listen to it anytime; to get relaxed, as background music, on the train, before going to bed or just listen to it with high volume to feel and surely discover her music.
My favourite tracks on the album are Orinoco Flow, Caribbean Blue, Book Of Days, Anywhere Is, Only If, The Celts, Ebudę, Storms In Africa, On My Way Home and The Memory Of Trees. Sometimes these songs give me special feelings; when I hear Book Of Days for example I often think about my ancestors who left my country and "found a new earth across a wide ocean...".

Paint The Sky With Stars should be the best album to start with as it contains all her hits until 1997. If you like this album - with the mix of powerful and calm songs and the mix of English, Gaelic, Latin and instrumental tracks - then you can buy her other CDs as well.

I propose you to visit her homepage www.enya.com and watch some of her videos such as Book Of Days, Anywhere Is, On My Way Home etc. Very beautiful videos with great music!

In the first week of 1998 this album topped the Swedish album chart and it became the third most sold album of 1997!

*Note that it's not the same version on her 1995 album The Memory Of Trees.

Enya is such a load of pop drivel. Anyone who can stand to listen to this doesn't know what good music is. There's no heart, all the instruments are synthesized and its basically a more boring form of techno, I don't see how this qualifies as celt music at all, I guess because there's a "tree" or "star" thrown in every now and then. BLECH!

You can do anything to ENYA, it's all up to you. This CD is an absolute masterpiece. Highly recommended to anyone who likes beautiul, melodic music. The Memory Of Trees is one of my favorite songs of all time. This collection has it all.