Search - Enya :: Only If

What was the last reviewer smoking when he heard this?

John Wheeler | King David's Harp, Inc., Houston, TX. USA | 07/12/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I hope I may be pardoned for saying that the preceding review of this album, and not the album (far from it!), was a bit grating. Not only does it work very well (both one track at a time and as an ensemble of tracks), it makes me wonder (again) why Reprise Records scatters so many of Enya's best tracks into such relatively inaccessible corners.For a long time, the only version of "Willows on the Water" I had was a MIDI file I found on a Web site. (It's a good rendition, but a bit limited.) I was dismayed to learn that this track was almost unobtainable, because the "single" CD which contained it, "Only If...", was out of stock. The only other option was to buy a box set which would mostly duplicate what I already have. What a pleasure, then, to find someone selling a used copy of this CD right here on Amazon.com. Considering what I got for the price, it's the best CD purchase I've ever made."Only If..." is a fun song, and hardly just a rehash of Enya's "Orinoco Flow" days. (To those who think otherwise: Every composer has his or her own signature preferences in style, and Enya's are unusually idiosyncratic. Deal with it.) "Willows on the Water" for me is alone worth the price of the CD; I can hear it over and over without tiring of it. (I would love to have it played at my wedding, or at the reception, at some point.) The Gaelic version of "Silent Night" (please don't ask me to spell it from memory!) is Enya at her most ethereal: not the usual sentimental or folk-style rendition one hears. (I recognized just one word, in the second verse: the Hebrew "Halleluyah".) In short, these tracks are like three gems of different colors in the same Celtic necklace...it's Enya's distinctive musical personality that ties them together."

It's not really a single; it has three great songs on it

John Wheeler | 01/23/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Not only does it have "Only If" on there, but it also has "Willows on the Water" and "Oiche Chiun", the Gaelic Silent Night. "Only if" and "Willows on the Water" are both catchy tunes. "Oiche Chiun" has a haunting beauty to it. Enya did it to the style that she did "Hope has a place". I reccomend this brilliant CD."

Why are you still reading this? Buy this album!

John Wheeler | King David's Harp, Inc., Houston, TX. | 01/23/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"For a long time, the only version I had of Enya's "Willows on the Water" (not released in any album set until recently) was in MIDI format. Thanks to this "single" release, I now have it, and that alone makes the CD worth the purchase. But the recording also has the wonderfully playful title track "Only If..." (originally released on "Paint the Sky With Stars"), and a Gaelic version of "Silent Night" (the Christmas song) as only Enya could do it.Bravo, Enya. You've done it again."