Enigma - MCMXC a.D. (Limited Edition) (1991)

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MCMXC a.D. is the debut studio album by the German musical project Enigma, led by Romanian-German musician Michael Cretu. 

It was released in Europe by Virgin Records on 3 December 1990, and in the United States by Charisma Records on 12 February 1991. 

Cretu became fascinated with mixing archaic sounds with modern music after producing German pop singer Sandra's song "Everlasting Love", for which he experimented with Gregorian chant. 

Following Michael Cretu and Sandra's marriage in 1988, Michael developed the idea of the musical project Enigma and recorded the album over the course of eight months in 1990 at A.R.T. Studios.

MCMXC a.D. combines new-age music with dance rhythms, as well as combining themes of religion and Gregorian chant with sexuality, for which the album received generally positive reviews from music critics. 

The Gregorian chant was taken from recordings by Capella Antiqua München, which resulted in the Munich-based choir's label, Polydor Germany suing Cretu and Virgin Records for infringing on its "right of personality". The case was dropped after Cretu agreed to pay compensation. 

Songs

"The Voice of Enigma" was written solely by Cretu, and starts with a foghorn sound that is known as the "Enigma horn". 

After the foghorn, Louisa Stanley (an executive at Virgin Records at the time) starts talking and invites the listener to relax and take a deep breath, while an environmental soundscape plays in the background. 

"The Principles of Lust" track employs a drumbeat throughout similar to the R&B 1989 song "Back to Life (However Do You Want Me)" by Soul II Soul, flute synth lines, and Cretu's whispers and "orgasmic breathing" that mark the song breaks. 

The first part, "Sadeness", includes a Gregorian chant taken from the track "Procedamus in pace!" from the 1976 album Paschale Mysterium by Capella Antiqua München. 

It also includes contributions from Fabrice Cuitad and Peterson. 

The song's French lyrics are a quizzical look at, and defense of, the 18th-century writer Marquis de Sade, who was notorious for writing literature delving into themes of sexual violence and domination.

"Callas Went Away" was written solely by Michael Cretu, and samples Maria Callas's singing. "Mea Culpa" was written by Cretu and Fabrice Cuitad and is a follow-up to "Sadeness". Like "Sadeness", "Mea Culpa" samples Gregorian chant from the Capella Antiqua München and thus evokes the same atmosphere. 

The song's theme "centers around guilt", according to the official Enigma website. "The Voice & the Snake", written by Cretu and Peterson, is based on the Book of Revelation.

"Knocking on Forbidden Doors" was written solely by Cretu. The "Back to the Rivers of Belief" track's three songs were mainly written by Cretu, with the song "The Rivers of Belief"—which centers around the Indian river Ganges and differs from the other songs in being more soulful—including contributions from Fabrice Cuitad.

The bonus remixes are a bit of a mixed bag. The remixes of the better tracks on the album, "Sadeness" and "Mea Culpa", are both great: the former is a Chillout interpretation of the reprise found earlier, minus the monks' samples; the latter also suffers from a lack of Gregorain goodness, but almost compensates with an eclectic mix of pan-flutes, varying beats and extra vocals from Sandra Cretu (the wife of Michael). 

The remixes of "Principles of Lust" and "The Rivers of Belief" are both inferior takes on the originals, the former being a Carbon copy with a slightly different beat superimposed while the latter is an interesting combination of the title track, "Callas Went Away" and "The Voice and the Snake", introduced by an excerpt from "Toccatta and Fugue"!

1990 original version

1.  The Voice of Enigma - 2:21

2.  Principles of Lust - 11:43

     a. Sadeness

     b. Find Love

     c. Sadeness (Reprise)

3.  Callas Went Away - 4:27

4.  Mea Culpa - 5:03

5.  The Voice & the Snake - 1:39

6.  Knocking on Forbidden Doors - 4:31

7.  Back to the Rivers of Belief - 10:32

     a. Way to Eternity

     b. Hallelujah

     c. The Rivers of Belief

1991 The Limited Edition

8.  Sadeness (Meditation) - 2:43

9.  Mea Culpa (Fading Shades) - 6:04

10.  Principles of Lust (Everlasting Lust) - 4:50

11.  The Rivers of Belief (The Returning Silence) - 7:04

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of MCMXC a.D.

• Michael Cretu (credited as "Curly M.C.") (all tracks)
• Frank Peterson (credited as "F. Gregorian") (tracks 2a, 2c, and 5)
• Fabrice Cuitad (credited as "David Fairstein") (tracks 2a, 2c, 4, and 7c)
• Sandra Cretu (uncredited) (tracks 1, 2a, 2c, and 4)

Companies, etc.

• Printed By – TOPAC
• Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Virgin Schallplatten GmbH
• Copyright © – Virgin Schallplatten GmbH
• Pressed By – EMI Swindon

Credits

• Design – Lmp 
• Illustration – H. P. Uertz
• Producer – Enigma

Notes

Released: 1 991

Recorded:  1990-1991 Studio A.R.T. (Ibiza, Spain) 

Genre:  New-age, worldbeat 

Length:  1:00:28

Producer:  Michael Cretu 

Label - Virgin Records 

Enigma - The Cross Of Changes (Special Edition) (1994)

Enigma is a German new age musical project formed in 1990 by Michael Cretu, David Fairstein and Frank Peterson. The Romanian-born Cretu conceived the Enigma project while working in Germany, but based his recording studio A.R.T. Studios in Ibiza, Spain, from the early 1990s until May 2009, where he has recorded all of Enigma's studio releases to date.
 Cretu is both the composer and the producer of the project. His former wife, pop singer Sandra, often provided vocals on Enigma tracks. Jens Gad co-arranged and played guitar on three of the Enigma albums. Peter Cornelius also contributed to Enigma during the 1990s.
The Cross of Changes is the second studio album by the musical project Enigma, released three years after MCMXC a.D..
The most notable songs on the album are "Return to Innocence", which was released as a single and featured in several film soundtracks, "Age of Loneliness (Carly's Song)" which was originally written especially for the film Sliver and remixed for this album, and "The Eyes of Truth" which was also used as the music on the trailer for the film The Matrix The song "Out From the Deep" was the final song released from the album, although it was only available in a handful of territories.
A more rock-infused sound is present in The Cross of Changes, and the Gregorian chants from the previous album were replaced with ethnic-style world chants.
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.

Track listing

01. "Second Chapter"   (Curly M.C.)  - 2:16
02. "The Eyes of Truth"   (Curly)  - 7:13
03. "Return to Innocence"   (Curly, Kuo Ying-nan, Kuo Hsiu-chu)  - 4:17
04. "I Love You ... I'll Kill You"   (Curly, David Fairstein)  - 8:51
05. "Silent Warrior"   (Curly)  - 6:10
06. "The Dream of the Dolphin"   (Curly, Fairstein)  - 2:47
07. "Age of Loneliness (Carly's Song)"   (Curly)  - 5:22
08. "Out from the Deep"   (Curly, Morsman, Pierlejewski)  - 4:53
09. "The Cross of Changes"   (Curly)  - 2:23
10. "Return to Innocence  (Long & Alive Version)"  - 7:07
11. "Age of Loneliness"  (Enigmatic Club Mix)  - 6:23
12. "The Eyes of Truth"  (The Götterdämmerung Mix)  - 7:18

Credits
Peter Cornelius – guitar
Michael Cretu (credited as "Curly M.C.") – vocals, production
Sandra Cretu – vocals
Jens Gad – guitar
Andreas Harde (credited as "Angel X") – vocals
Louisa Stanley – vocals

Production
Produced & engineered by Michael Cretu
All Songs Published By Enigma Songs, except track 4 (Enigma Songs-Wanho Music) and track 7 (Ensign Music/Data Alpha-Wanho)

Notes
Release date: 6 December 1993
Recorded at: A.R.T. Studios, Ibiza, 1993
Genre:  New-Age, Ambient
Length: 65:00
© 1994

Label - Virgin/Charisma (US)