Enya Music:

A Day Without Rain Track Listing:
1. Day Without Rain
2. Wild Child
3. Only Time
4. Tempus Vernum
5. Deora Ar Mo Chroi
6. Flora's Secret
7. Fallen Embers
8. Silver Inches
9. Pilgrim
10. One by One
11. First of Autumn
12. Lazy Days

Editorial Review:
Japanese edition of her forthcoming album adds 'Isobella' which is exclusive to this pressing and is not available as a b-side from the first single, 'Only Time'! 12 tracks in all.

A Day Without Rain Reviews:
Poetic and Beautiful
2006-08-04 - Enya brings us once again the haunting music that is her trademark, written in multiple languages.

The CD kicks off with the mellow instrumental "A Day without Rain." A piano provides the principal musical instrument with Enya humming in harmony. The music evokes nature at peace; woods with a light breeze on a cool day, light clouds dotting a peaceful sky. You could readily sleep to this music. The instrumental leads into "Wild Child," a faster paced song that stays within the musical theme of the peaceful outdoors, but now the music has the theme of the wild, yet innocent child, frolicking in the benign environment. Enya's vocals are as much instrument as the instruments themselves. This song is beautiful in its conception and execution.

"Only Time" follows. Enya proves once again that she has the ability to create beautiful musical poetry. The deceptively light lyrics can pull the listener into a deep contemplation of love and life and the roads that we choose. The lyrics also explain that we must have patience because only time will allow all to be revealed in fullness.

Enya then switches themes and styles as she moves into a Latin song with heavy bass backing. The literal translation of "Tempus Vernum" is "Spring Time." The lyrics appear to be a series of words that might be considered to be opposites, such as east and west, earth and star, and autumn and spring. Thus in one sense Roma Ryan's lyrics appear to be exploring the Yin and Yang of some Asian philosophies, the contrast of opposites. The serious ponderous tone of the music is heavily contemplative, deep philosophical evaluation of a subject; beautiful in the selection of words and the musical match.

The musical tone then becomes a Gaelic lament, "Deora ar mo chroi," or "Tears on My Heart." The gentle, sad music belies the actual translation of the Gaelic, which is full of beauty and happiness. The effect is more in the poetry of the Gaelic and how well the music is matched to it rather than the actual meaning of the words. The execution is very artistic and poignant.

Enya then lightens the music with "Flora's Secret," which has a faster pace than the previous two selections. This love song is musical poetry is beautiful and full, a musical wine. You may either interpret the song from an aspect of nature, or of two lovers. In either case, this song is an experience.

"Fallen Embers" is a dream, a memory of a former love. Mellow, slow, but sufficiently ethereal to keep from being ponderous. Enya's beautiful voice is the centerpiece of the song. The instruments add fullness, but her voice alone could have carried this song.

"Silver Embers" is another instrumental with a moderate pace. Short and, as always, beautiful, this song leads into "Pilgrim," yet another lament. I personally enjoy this song because the theme is that there are many roads to choose in life, some of which lead to nowhere, and yet we have no clue as to which is which, and which is the best. We are all pilgrims in life, and this song is our song.

Sometimes I have difficulty in interpreting Roma Ryan's lyrics. Such is the case with "One by One." I understand that this song is about love, but some of the lyrics imply there is a constraint between him and her, and she is longing to be free of those constraints. Yet the final stanza implies that love binds them and will never die; a bit confusing for my poor brain.

This version adds the song "Isobella," a sumptuous four and a half minute bonus track that is worth. I usually avoid recommending alternative releases that contain unnecessary bonus tracks. In the case of this CD, "Isobella" should have appeared on the U.S. release. The layered vocals are beautifully done and rank with some of Enya's best, which is disappointing because it did not appear on the original U.S. release. Perhaps a future U.S. release will include this song.

The quicker-paced "Lazy Days" finishes off the CD. Given the general theme of nature and love this song appears to tidily wrap up the CD with the promise of things yet to come.

Enya has once again created another sumptuously beautiful work of music that you can listen to time after time just to begin to appreciate the complexity and poetry of this music. This music is unique and nearly stands in its own category. It is artistically and technically flawless. The only possible flaw this CD has is that it is only about 39 minutes long. I could argue that for the beauty and quality of the music 39 minutes is a great length, but it seems to me that a bit more quantity would have made this CD absolutely phenomenal. As it is, it begs to be combined with another short work to create a full CD's worth of music; admittedly a minor flaw. Enjoy!


Isobella Haunts
2002-06-09 - What a song.If you don't you are missing something please get.Thanks Enya.

Exquisite
2002-03-03 - A Day Without Rain, Enya's latest heralded achievement, was missing something in my estimation. The US pressing was a meager 34 minutes, and just didn't feature the same passionate Gaelic songs of her other masterpieces, Watermark and Shepherd Moons. As a devoted fan of Enya's, I was intrigued by the Japanese pressing of the album, because of the very rare bonus track, Isobella. I was not disappointed by it in the least, upon receiving this import album a few months ago. It is a vast improvement over the US pressing and Aussie pressing of the album. Isobella, track 11, is an amazing piece with Gaelic lyrics written by Enya herself. While the title doesn't translate, the song itself transcends language boundaries. It's an atmospheric masterpiece with stunning voice layering and clear and distinct lyrics that surround one in what Enya defines as a veritable "wall of sound." Comprised of a lighter section of music and then a more passionate, earnest section of music, it exemplifies why Enya is one of the top recording artists of our time. Beyond this track, other bonuses include a lyric booklet that is printed on harder material, an additional booklet containing an interview with Enya in Japanese and translated lyrics, and a disc that is evergreen on light green versus the red on seafoam of the US release. While I own all three versions of A Day Without Rain, this is clearly the most prized and most stunning of all. I truly recommend this cd, especially for collectors.

Track listing: 1. A Day Without Rain (2:38) 2. Wild Child (3:47) 3. Only Time (3:38) 4. Tempus Vernum (2:24) 5. Deora ar mo Chroí (2:48) 6. Flora's Secret (4:07) 7. Fallen Embers (2:31) 8. Silver Inches (1:37) 9. Pilgrim (3:12) 10. One by One (3:54) 11. Isobella (exclusive bonus track) (4:30) 12. Lazy Days (3:42)
Total Time: 38:48

Day without rain
2002-02-05 - I hear many kinds music in my life, but Day without rain Enya is different song. That's song make me always happy, fully hope the live is verry nice in peace. I go to my office and back home with this song. It's real.

Isobella: Enya's best song in years!
2001-11-12 - I reviewed A Day Without Rain about a week ago however I managed to download Isobella onto my computer and wow! WShat a song. While I liked Enyas latest album Isobella surpasses every other songs on A Day Without Rain.

Isobella is a beautiful song that has a hounting chorus and beautiful Gaelic lyrics. I have no idea why Japan gets all the good songs. All countries deserve to hear this song.

While I somewhat disagree with Kabir Ahamed about it beating out Na Leatha Geal M'Oige and Smaointe, Isobella is a song that stands out on its own. It's a somewhat dark song that could have propelled ADWR to a five star. Enya hasn't put out such a great song in a long time.

I highly reccommend that you get this version of ADWR. Incredible work Enya! I hope your next album is a return to your darker more Boadicea-esque sound.