Only If

Oiche Chiun (Silent Night) [Maxi Single]	Enya	A Day Without Rain 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 eve...	Paint the Sky with Stars: The Best of Enya New Age diva Enya first became widely known when her 1988 album Watermark sold 4 million copies and launched the single "Orinoco Flow." Her follow-up, Shepherd Moons, was even more successful, selling over 10 million copies despite its slightly lower grade of ethereal enchantment...	Shepherd Moons The success of her first international hit, Watermark, confirmed Enya as less a singer or songwriter than a sonic architect: working with producer Nicky Ryan and his wife, lyricist Roma Ryan, the classically-trained pianist built vaulting cathedrals of sound, framed by luminou...
Anywhere Is	Only Time The first single from the beloved Celtic new age diva's first studio album in five years 'A Day Without Rain' due November 21st. No U.S. release has been slated for 'Only Time', which is accompanied here with two previously unreleased non-LP tracks, 'The First Of Autumn' and 'The...	Christmas Secrets	Only Time / Oiche Chiun	The Memory of Trees To many people, Enya has become synonymous with new age music. Her haunting voice, clear and crisp above richly woven musical arrangements and adaptations, represents some of the best in the genre. Her performances on The Memory of Trees justify the Celtic songster's reputation. ...

Rounding Out an Enya Collection
I've never been big on singles, but I'm glad I stumbled upon this one. The title track was only available on "Paint the Sky with Stars" (one of those 'collections plus two new tracks' that tend to irritate long-time fans) and is a nice addition. A number of people have compared it to her first hit "Orinoco Flow", and it's true they are both upbeat, lyrical songs. But I think "Only If" has a much stronger rhythmic quality to it, almost a march if that's not going too far out on a limb! "Willows on the Water" (previously unreleased) is an instrumental piece that's uplifting, but more flowing than the first track. And things slow down even further with her beautiful rendition of Silent Night (previously only found on "The Christmas EP"). Her Gaelic translation is divine and well worth the price of the entire disc.

Why are you still reading this? Buy this album!
For a long time, the only version I had of Enya's "Willows on the Water" (not released in any album set until recently) was in MIDI format. Thanks to this "single" release, I now have it, and that alone makes the CD worth the purchase. But the recording also has the wonderfully playful title track "Only If..." (originally released on "Paint the Sky With Stars"), and a Gaelic version of "Silent Night" (the Christmas song) as only Enya could do it.Bravo, Enya. You've done it again.

Buy this simply for Silent Night
This CD is good, but I could lie back and listen to Enya sing "Silent Night" in Gaelic for hours! If for no other reason, that track is reason enough to purchase this CD "single."

What was the last reviewer smoking when he heard this?
I hope I may be pardoned for saying that the preceding review of this album, and not the album (far from it!), was a bit grating. Not only does it work very well (both one track at a time and as an ensemble of tracks), it makes me wonder (again) why Reprise Records scatters so many of Enya's best tracks into such relatively inaccessible corners.For a long time, the only version of "Willows on the Water" I had was a MIDI file I found on a Web site. (It's a good rendition, but a bit limited.) I was dismayed to learn that this track was almost unobtainable, because the "single" CD which contained it, "Only If...", was out of stock. The only other option was to buy a box set which would mostly duplicate what I already have. What a pleasure, then, to find someone selling a used copy of this CD right here on Amazon.com. Considering what I got for the price, it's the best CD purchase I've ever made."Only If..." is a fun song, and hardly just a rehash of Enya's "Orinoco Flow" days. (To those who think otherwise: Every composer has his or her own signature preferences in style, and Enya's are unusually idiosyncratic. Deal with it.) "Willows on the Water" for me is alone worth the price of the CD; I can hear it over and over without tiring of it. (I would love to have it played at my wedding, or at the reception, at some point.) The Gaelic version of "Silent Night" (please don't ask me to spell it from memory!) is Enya at her most ethereal: not the usual sentimental or folk-style rendition one hears. (I recognized just one word, in the second verse: the Hebrew "Halleluyah".) In short, these tracks are like three gems of different colors in the same Celtic necklace...it's Enya's distinctive musical personality that ties them together.

A bit grating
For those of us who know and love the music of Enya, its fairly obvious that this single is perhaps the closest she has come to 'pop' music. It also shows us that she hasn't moved past the 'Orinoco Flow' days, which is a bit sad, considering that its well over a decade since that single came out.While the other two songs on this CD are catchy and hummable - and rare to find, as well - it still doesn't really work. This was Enya's first single off her 'Paint the sky with stars' album, which was less of a greatest hits, and more of a clumsy collection of possible hits. Did creativity die with 'The Memory of Trees'?