Husband-and-wife team seek new friends. European. Very open-minded.

German-based Michael Cretu and wife Sandra pre-dated the craze for all things chilled by a good 11 years, but when they first appeared in 1990 their trademark combination of slow burning electro beats, breathy female vocals and liberal doses of Gregorian chanting assured instant appeal. Such invigorating titles as Principles of Lust briefly gave clubbers the chance to add arch and theatrical to their list of vices. But lacking any sense of irony and, worse, any new ideas, Enigma quickly fell to making po-faced parodies of their own melodramatic sound. Of the other 15 OTT "hits" included here, only 1994's exuberant, tribal Return to Innocence comes closing to standing out.

(3 out of 5 stars)

Reproduced without permission from Q Issue # 185 for private and research purposes only.