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. The First of Autumn (exclusive bonus track), 3:10. 12. Lazy Days, 3:42.
Total time: 37:28


Poetic and Beautiful   September 5, 2006
Lonnie E. Holder (Columbus, Indiana, United States)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

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 and 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 First of Autumn." Other versions add "Isobella." I would like to have had both on one CD, which would have made a longer version. Both songs are nice to have, and I find it obnoxious to have to buy multiple CD's to obtain all the available tracks.

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!



Very Soothing   August 16, 2001
3 out of 4 found this review helpful

I find this CD to be very comforting. I truly enjoy it. My 4 year old daughter absolutely loves it. She especially loves track 3 - "Only Time". I personally love them all. She is a truly gifted artist. Now I know I have to order "Watermark" because I love the song "Orinoco Flow" also know as "Sail Away". I would recommend this CD to anyone who loves music.


A little too short   May 11, 2001
Leon (Australia)
3 out of 4 found this review helpful

A DAY WITHOUT RAIN is a briliant CD. The stand out tracks are as always the title track "A Day Without Rain", "Wild Child", "Only Time", "Flora's Secret" and "The First Of Autumn". However, like the other reviewer, I have to complain that this CD is far too short. I mean, paying $ for just over 35 minutes worth of music is a little too extreme. Surely Enya has plenty other songs that she could put on her CD. Never the less, Enya has always been a terrific and persistent artist and I hope she will always continue to do what she does best.


Enya likes us Canadians   March 8, 2001
3 out of 4 found this review helpful

Well apparently Enya decided to give us Canadians (and a few other countries besides the US) one extra track on our cut of ADWR. How nice of her. If any of you in America live near the border I'd recommend taking one afternoon to just drive up here and pick up the 12 track copy if you're that much of a die hard fan, otherwise you're not missing much. I like the extra track "The First of Autumn" though, it's nice. Still I can't give this album a perfect score because it should have been a little bit longer. My question is: Why didn't she put ALL of the new tracks she made onto her album? She could have added "The Promise", "Isobella" and "The First of Autumn" to make a total of 14 tracks. That would have been more respectable. I love the album though.