Average Rating: 
Rating:  - You can't improve upon perfection
It's been a long time since Enya has release a CD with new material. Very little has changed. Her style and arrangements are like Shepherd Moons or The Memory of Trees. Unlike Watermark's "Oronoco Flow" and "Rains in Africa," there are no tracks that are likely to be blockbuster hits. Yet, despite the lack of innovation, I rate this CD five stars because she does what she does best yet again. Like they say, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." Enya's beautiful, sweet, Celtic style comes out particularly well in "Wild Child" and "Lazy days." For those of us who have waited a long time for something new from Enya, this fills the bill. There's nothing really new but there is more of what we've grown to love. To me, this means Enya is true to herself and isn't selling out. If you like Enya and are not tired of her standard fare, you should love this CD.
Rating: - "A Day Without Rain"...And A Breath Of Fresh Air
I've been raving about how much I LOVE Enya's music over the past few years, excessively gushing about how amazingly she can combine ethereal vocals and instrumental strings with a spiritually soothing aesthetic. It's good to see that after five years (well, three, actually, if you count in "Only If" and "Paint the Sky with Stars"), she hasn't lost her magical touch, and "A Day Without Rain" shows time well spent.On this album, Enya has returned with a more subdued offering, bringing out a strange nostalgia from "Shepherd Moons" and "The Memory of Trees", yet coming across as completely original, almost as if we're getting a whole new sound from Enya. It is also audible that Roma Ryan is becoming more adventurous as a lyricist, for example, having Enya sing of a "crazy day" in "Lazy Days". She does, also, deserve credit for the still poetic verses that blend in flawlessly with Enya's music. The opening title track follows in the footsteps of "Watermark" with a sincerely beautiful piano recital, showing no irony that this was composed on a calm Irish morning after days of inglorious rainy weather. Then enters "Wild Child" that has a liveliness which surprises so adorably and almost surreally brings back memories of juvenile freedom. This precedes "Only Time", which becomes an instant classic with a perfectly peaceful melody, alongside other legends like "Orinoco Flow" and "Anywhere Is". "Tempus Vernum" continues with resemblance to "Pax Deorum": That same dark atmosphere that sounds hauntingly subtle, but brightens up as it continues into "Deora Ar Mo Chroi" (brilliant musical tactic here!). There is also "Silver Inches" that sounds so enjoyably like "Tea House Moon". "A Day Without Rain" then concludes wonderfully with "One By One" (catchy tune here!) and "Lazy Days" (somehow, it reminds me of "The Longships"). However, this album is not without its flaws. Unlike all of Enya's other albums, "A Day Without Rain" carries a formula that doesn't quite flow, and its tracks seem to pop up here and there inconsistently. It is perhaps for this reason that certain songs, such as "Flora's Secret", "Pilgrim" and "Fallen Embers" come across as rather unappealing. A bonus track - "The First of Autumn" - is probably Enya's worst instrumental venture to date. It's a pity that "The Promise" of the "Only Time" maxi-single isn't on this CD to compensate for the disappointing material. And maybe one more flaw that Enya should note is the lack of variation on her latest musical package. Listeners should consider: We had trademark vocal layering in "Orinoco Flow" and "The Longships", but we also heard African drums on "Storms in Africa" in the same album "Watermark"; we had uillean pipes in "Sunstream" and even a hypnotic electric guitar on "I Want Tomorrow" from "The Celts". Yet here almost every track seems laced with strings, that, without the great melodies, they would actually sound bland. Still, one can't help but give Enya and the Ryans the praise they've earned in creating more beautiful Celtic music - with considerable success - once again. I'm still very much looking forward to Enya's next musical voyage - I just hope I don't need to wait another five years!
Rating: - Enya Got Happy.
Enya's consistency as a recording artist is no doubt due to the fact that all her albums since the 1986 debut 'Enya' (later renamed and issued as 'The Celts') have had a very dominant theme. What sets 'A Day Without Rain' apart from Enya's back catalogue is its unusually cheerful, almost jubilant tone - a far cry from the ominously moody 'Shepherd Moons'.Although you could offer up a million superlatives to describe Enya's music, you could also argue that 'stale' would be one of the first words to pop up. For the first time in a long while, Enya has stretched herself creatively and given her fans some truly intriguing surprises along the way. Whilst she has, in no way, discarded the 'Enya' sound (the title track is very 'Watermark', and many of the other songs feel like they have contemporaries on Enya's other records), a lot of this record is a little more melody-based than atmosphere-based. Becoming too commercial? Bowing to pressure? Selling out? No, none of those ... simply realising that her talents do not mean she can't produce an infectiously hummable tune. The first single, 'Only Time', is vintage but beautiful Enya (check out the slightly peppier remix on the single of the same name), whilst five tracks into the disc 'Deora Ar Mo Chroi' is a forgettable snorefest. Every other track on the album, however, has a far brighter vibe than anything Enya has ever captured on record before. 'Flora's Secret' is a beautiful tribute to spring romances, referencing 'lovers in the long grass', whilst 'Fallen Embers' becomes the perfect track for those cold nights with your partner in front of a crackling fire. Despite a career of almost fifteen years, Enya has not lost her for magical music which can evoke a time and place in the blink of an eye. 'One By One' remains the set's most compelling inclusion. A track which is about as furthest 'pop' as Enya has ever gone, its melody is undeniably brilliant and the lyrics are quite lovely, talking of a broken love affair. Could it be the disintegration of the romance mentioned in 'Flora's Secret'? More than ever before, this album has a true flow and theme to it. I remarked to a friend that 'A Day Without Rain' seems like a journey through one person's year, or whatever period of time you wish to use. The result is that 'A Day Without Rain' creates a lasting effect on the listener that many of Enya's previous releases have failed to provide. Having met Enya herself in March 2001 makes this record all the more special for me, but it is without bias that I highly recommend this album. Enya has gone to strength to strength, but seems really to have excelled herself on 'A Day Without Rain'. Everything from the opening heartfelt piano on the title track, to the deliciously crafted closer 'Lazy Days' ... even the stunning 'seasonal' photographs contained within ... reflect true beauty. Despite lasting only forty minutes in length, this just may be Enya's opus.
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