Enchanted Review

By Charles Wertz, November 30, 1994

This is Enchanted's first album as far as I know, and it is simply entitled Enchanted. The CD is 41 minutes long with 11 tracks. Track by track:

Track 1: The Struggle (1:14)

This track is basically the introduction to the whole CD. There is no Gregorian chant; it's just music that I guess depicts the struggle of mankind. It sounds kind of epic, but it didn't impress me very much.

Track 2: Enchanted (3:59)

This one begins with a melancholy sounding Gregorian chant with some nature sounds in the background (rain falling, birds chirping, etc.). After a few second some ambient music begins. Then, 1:40, the beat kicks in. It's standard hip-hop dance, nothing out of the ordinary, but it serves its purpose well enough. You can hear Dana Nicosia doing some vocal harmonies here and there. All in all, this track is pretty good, I just wish the beat would've kicked in earlier.

Track 3: Angels (Mother's Theme) (3:48)

Angels runs right off of Enchanted (Actually, all the tracks on the album run directly to the next one without a pause); the beat is exactly the same. The Gregorian chant changes also; it's more cheerful and uplifting. I liked this one; I wouldn't be surprised to see Angels as Enchanted's first single. Then again, Angels sounds a lot like a poppy Christmas song.

Track 4: Awakening (1:29)

Nothing much to say about this one; it's a musical interlude between tracks 3 and 5. It's a lot lighter sounding than The Struggle, which was pretty dark sounding now that I think about it. Awakening has a lot of ambient sounds to it.

Track 5: Love Vacation (7:07)

This one has a nice beat. Unfortunately, that doesn't save this song from being my least favorite on the whole CD. The Gregorian chant sounds like it was put in as an afterthought. The lyrics to the song are some of the lamest I've ever heard. Love Vacation is too long and too lame.

Track 6: The Truth (2:22)

Another musical interlude. It kinda has a "dark" feel to it. I usually press FWD on my CD player.

Track 7: Temptation (5:27)

I like this one. It opens up with a repetitive piano loop that sounds through the whole song. The chant begins soon after along with the beat. Every so often, a little Aladdin-esque sounding tune plays. My only problem it Temptation is that it's extremely repetitive, and after the first couple of minutes into the song I'm waiting impatiently to hear something new. But, for the most part, this is my second most listened to track on the CD.

Track 8: Fly Away (4:44)

No chant. No beat. Just some ambient-type (poppy?) music and more lame lyrics by Dana Nicosia. Someone earlier commented that this sounds like a Debbie Gibson song; I couldn't agree more. I hate sappy love songs.

Track 9: The Truth (0:32)

Here it is again, in short form. Hooray.

Track 10: Heaven (6:16)

This is a kind of dark sounding, chant filled track. The beat is nice, with lots of bass. Pretty mediocre stuff, but I like it.

Track 11: Reprise (of "The Struggle" and "Awakening")

The Struggle and Awakening are spliced together and extended. I guess MoJoe Nicosia (producer of the album, and Dana's husband [I think]) ran out of originality..... not that is album is full of it, mind you...

Well, overall, if I had to give this album a letter grade, it would be a low "B". It's okay as a whole, but there are those lame lyrics in the two afore-mentioned songs. To sum it up: This is a watered-down Enigma. To those of you who live outside the US where the album is as yet unavailable, well, you're not missing much. I recommend Delerium before Enchanted. To those of you who do have Enchanted, I'd like to hear your opinions. To those who don't, I hope this review helps out a little.