While Watermark has its roots in traditional Irish music with Celtic rhythms and melodies that flow as easily as a Riverdance routine, its music truly doesn't fit into any established genre. When Watermark was released in 1988, rock critic Robert Christgau gave the album a D+, saying that the album "makes hay of pop's old reliable women-are-angels scam." It's a fair assessment, but he says that like it's a bad thing - when in fact, it's why the album should be included in a canon of the greatest albums made by women. In an occurrence that could have ended the career of a less confident artist, her follow-up, Watermark, was critically panned. It's an impressive feat made even more impressive by the fact that her self-titled debut album was scarcely remarked upon by the global press. And in the past 16 years, Enya has spent 283 weeks - about five and a half years - in the No. Her fans kept her 1991 album Shepherd Moons on the Billboard 200 chart for 238 weeks. The appropriately three-part "Triad" showcases her ear for vocal work excellently, while both versions of "To Go Beyond," especially the second, which closes the disc with an exquisite extra string part, also are worthy of note.Turning The Tables A New Canon: In Pop Music, Women Belong At The Center Of The Storyĭespite her lack of interest in the trappings of fame (save for the castle she bought herself), Enya truly is famous. Generally, though, her musical instincts serve her very well, with many striking highlights. There are a couple of slight missteps - an electric guitar solo disrupts the string-and-vocal flow of the truly lovely "I Want Tomorrow," for instance. The charging surge of the title track functions both as a fine introduction and its own stirring, quietly powerful anthem, a good sign for the rest of the album. Given that The Celts is a commissioned piece of work, it actually stands on its own quite well. It's understandable why folk music traditionalists and anti-mainstream types would get the hives, but those not coming from that angle will find much that's rewarding.
The flip side is that those who find such a combination to be gloopy mush won't be at all convinced further by her work here.
All the elements that characterize her music - open, clear nods to her Irish heritage, any number of vocal overdubs to create an echoing, haunting feeling, and layers of synth and electronic percussion - can be found almost track for track. With production and lyrical help fully in place thanks to her husband-and-wife gurus Nicky and Roma Ryan, Enya's combination of Celtic traditionalism and distinctly modern approach finds lush flower here. Initially released simply as Enya, The Celts shows that the style she became famous for on Watermark was already well under way.
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