I HATE ENYA!!!! ... and what brought this about

cramer · Post by **cramer** » Mon Mar 24, 2003 9:48 am

what drives me crazy about enya is that every song sounds exactly the same to me. you don't need to buy her albums, just get a single song from her and you have her entire collection! and it is so overly produced that i cringe when i hear it.

thank you for starting this thread, i needed to get that out. it has been pent up for a long time now.

on the other hand, i respect just about anyone who can make a living playing their music. good on ya!

Feadan · Post by **Feadan** » Mon Mar 24, 2003 10:09 am

cramer wrote:what drives me crazy about enya is that every song sounds exactly the same to me. you don't need to buy her albums, just get a single song from her and you have her entire collection! and it is so overly produced that i cringe when i hear it.

I own 3 Enya CDs. At this point it certainly feels like 2 too many. I feel the same way about Loreena McKennitt. All of it over-produced-sounds-the-same.

-David

Feadan · Post by **Feadan** » Mon Mar 24, 2003 10:12 am

elendil wrote:who's this enya??

(snip)

celtic elevator music?

Nah...that would be Phil Coulter.

David

The Weekenders · Post by **The Weekenders** » Mon Mar 24, 2003 11:17 am

Funny thing is, Enya doesn't sound much like Clannad (except reverb) but is more futuristic sounding, I guess.

Clannad has been doing about the same thing for years and years and you either like em or don't. They did the soundtrack to some Robin Hood tv show years ago and the stuff that they play on LiveIreland.com now (seanchas I think is the song) sounds the same. Very choral, very echo-y and very reminiscent of some Renaissance Faire from Hell.

And they use saxophone, that instrument which has been just about ruined for the Weekender by various LITE LITE LITE jazz people. I find their inclusion of saxophone annoying.

Enya is great for movie soundtracks and atmospheric listening. Problem is that we in the whistling world tend to have an IRTRAD orientation and you can't get much more of a contrast than reels-n-jigs to that foofy space music.

But hey, she is making a living playing music and nothing else, so my hat is off to her even if my hands are over me ears.

AaronMalcomb · Post by **AaronMalcomb** » Mon Mar 24, 2003 11:44 am

I do agree that Enya has breached the limits of taste and artistic ingenuity. And I wholly agree with tuaz on the motion rhyming song. Some of her stuff is up there with "Up, Up and Away in My Beautiful Balloon" as far as cheesy light pop music.
I like her intent on a lot of songs, not so much on others. Many are overproduced, especially after Watermark. Her best pieces have the least production. Standouts are "Sun in the Stream," juicy uilleann pipes backed by piano and light synth texturing. "Watermark" is just piano with light synth texturing. I think if Enya was a great conductor, her stuff would be awesome if played by a symphony and sung by a choir.
I have similar sentiments towards Clannad. I like the early, lightly jazz tinged stuff from the 70's and early 80's. The Weekenders put it best for everything afterwards, Renaissance Fair from Hell. If you listen to early albums like Dulaman and Crann Ull, they really aren't too strayed from things the Bothy Band were doing. Fuaim is when things start to get out of hand. There's some great traditional stuff going on but the bad Kenny G type stuff starts to rear its ugly head too.
The people you really need to examine are Roma and Nicky Ryan who have produced and written a lot of Enya and Clannad's albums. They've produced some awesome stuff too but they are just as responsible for the bland wash of Oprah's Book Club fluff that Enya and Clannad now are.
Cheers,
Aaron

Jack · Post by **Jack** » Mon Mar 24, 2003 1:27 pm

John Allison · Post by **John Allison** » Mon Mar 24, 2003 2:13 pm

Martin Milner wrote: Would it have been less upsetting if the young lady had chosen the Coors, U2, Lunasa or The Dubliners instead of Enya?

Obviously, hopefully, when the phrase Irish music is mentioned on these boards one would think of traditional Irish music not...well...Enya! Names like Clancy and Ennis and O'Flynn and (some) Chieftains spring to mind. I guess the difficulty might be the same in defining American music. Everyone has their own opinion and everyone might be right. But saying Enya is Irish music can never be right!!

I can understand you're annoyed that your efforts were wasted (and I'd be too, probably more so, completely with you there) as it was very rude and thoughtless of the father and daughter in question, but why take it out on poor Enya?

I don't think my time was really wasted...but it was disappointing not to be able to educate. Generally, with the people in my church, "if it ain't country it ain't music".

She clearly has a lot of personal issues to deal with, living with a voice with permanent reverb, is it fair that she should be on the Allison hate list too?

If she ever heard any real trad Irish music I'm sure those Enya CDs would make some real nice coasters for the coffee table.

And one last thing...people without a last name just give me the willies!!
 
 
P.S. If Enya is reading this...I'm extending an open invitation to get together and discuss new directions to take your music!

Aodhan · Post by **Aodhan** » Mon Mar 24, 2003 2:47 pm

I like Enya. I don't like Kenny G. I like Clannad. I don't like Anuna. Don't much care for Solas. I like 7 Nations, Gaelic Storm, Chieftains.

Enya creates music, and does so rather well. As far as being "elevator" music, well, so was Air Supply.

(I like them too...<GASP!>)

As far as it being Irish Music, that's debatable. She certainly has the pedigree, and there are a lot of Irish influences in her music. Is it TRADITIONAL Irish? Not by a long shot. I would think of it being "modern" Irish music.

Look at Kiss, Poison, Whitesnake, The Doors, etc. How much relation do they have to Big Band music? Country music? Almost none. Does that make them any less of "American" music? Not at all.

Sorry for the minor rant, but with everyone jumping on the "Lets bash Enya with a really large shillelegh (sp?)" bandwagon, I figured I'd voice an opinion of someone that likes her music.

Aodhan

aderyn_du · Post by **aderyn_du** » Mon Mar 24, 2003 2:56 pm

Oh man.... Air Supply! All Out Of Love, Here I Am, Making Love Out Of Nothing At All-- brings back memories of school dances, sweaty palms, and young love/broken hearts.

Thanks for the trip down memory lane, Aodhan!

Best,
Andrea

Aodhan · Post by **Aodhan** » Mon Mar 24, 2003 3:02 pm

aderyn_du wrote:Oh man.... Air Supply! All Out Of Love, Here I Am, Making Love Out Of Nothing At All-- brings back memories of school dances, sweaty palms, and young love/broken hearts. Thanks for the trip down memory lane, Aodhan!

Best,
Andrea

Heh...All out of love...

I was skating on a Friday night (I used to speed skate competitively, and we'd all go "impress" the chicks on the weekends), and skating backwards during a couples dance. I was singing (Probably really badly), thinking I was "all that", when I tripped and fell, pulling her down as well. Her comment?

"Yeah, and you're all out of grace, too..."

Aodhan
P.S. All I ever saw was their greatest hits album...never saw ANY other albums by them. Curious, huh?

chas · Post by **chas** » Mon Mar 24, 2003 3:04 pm

Feadan wrote:
I own 3 Enya CDs. At this point it certainly feels like 2 too many. I feel the same way about Loreena McKennitt. All of it over-produced-sounds-the-same.

Feadan, you obviously haven't listened to Loreena's older stuff, which was largely traditional, sparsely arranged, and certainly not overproduced. Check out "To drive the cold winter away." It's mostly Loreena's voice and harp with the occasional whistle or cello. It has a little dubbing, and all the reverb is natural -- it was recorded entirely in cathedrals. There are those of us who felt cheated when she started doing "world music" -- her voice is so incredible that it's a heckuvanote when it gets lost behind all the syndrums, djembes, and electric fiddles.

aderyn_du · Post by **aderyn_du** » Mon Mar 24, 2003 3:22 pm

Aodhan wrote: P.S. All I ever saw was their greatest hits album...never saw ANY other albums by them. Curious, huh?

Well, this might be proof that they did have more than their Greatest Hits: http://www.poplyrics.net/waiguo/airsupply/

Who knows... it could be an Air Supply conspiracy.

Andrea

Feadan · Post by **Feadan** » Mon Mar 24, 2003 9:07 pm

chas wrote:
Feadan wrote: I feel the same way about Loreena McKennitt. All of it over-produced-sounds-the-same.
Feadan, you obviously haven't listened to Loreena's older stuff, which was largely traditional, sparsely arranged, and certainly not overproduced. Check out "To drive the cold winter away."

What I didn't like about that one was that her voice sounded more "classical" than folk.
Gave my copy away to someone who appreciated that sound more than I.
Yes...it's true...I'm a musical snob. What can I say?

I also disadain the Langstaff "Revels" material for the same reason
(those classical folks doing that quaint folk music).

Alas, there is no accounting for taste...you know
...like the questionable taste of posting a puking smilie.

Cheers,
David

Bagfed · Post by **Bagfed** » Mon Mar 24, 2003 9:50 pm

John Allison wrote:Two weeks ago I was asked if I would provide the "Irish music" for a themed church dinner tonight. I quickly found out that meant playing the pipes and whistle solo for only two hours! Since it was basically "mood music" I reached a compromise in that I would play a little and then provide a couple of homemade CDs for the rest of the time.

Two weeks were spent in preparation selecting the exact music to play and more to burn to CD.

Tonight I show up all ready to go only to find out that the daughter of the gentleman in charge has usurped the "entertainment" portion of the event and has brought her boombox and lifetime collection of Enya. Words cannot express, at this point in time, how much I now hate Enya!! It's not like I really liked her music to start with...but this just frosts the cake.

Sounds like misdirected frustration to me, (I know it well)
Nepatism rears it's ugly head.

tuaz · Post by **tuaz** » Mon Mar 24, 2003 10:09 pm

Some of her stuff is up there with "Up, Up and Away in My Beautiful Balloon" as far as cheesy light pop music.

Hey! I've always thought the tune (happy, breezy, melodious) and chord structure (consider that the tune actually changes key 3 times) for Up Up and Away were good. There's nothing simplistic about the music even if the lyrics were...

Chiff and Fipple Forums

I HATE ENYA!!!! ... and what brought this about

Re: I HATE ENYA!!!! ... and what brought this about