Enigma: MCMXC a. D. альбомы

the album by Enigma

MCMXC a. D. is the debut studio album by the German musical project Enigma, led by Romanian German musician Michael Cretu. It was released in Europe by Virgin Records on 3 December 1990, and in the United States by Charisma Records on 12 February 1991. Cretu became fascinated with mixing archaic sounds with modern music after producing German pop singer Sandra's song "Everlasting Love", for which he experimented with Gregorian chant. Following Michael Cretu and Sandra's marriage in 1988, Michael developed the idea of the musical project Enigma and recorded the album over the course of eight months in 1990 at A. R. T. Studios. MCMXC a. D. combines new age music with dance rhythms, as well as combining themes of religion and Gregorian chant with sexuality, for which the album received generally positive reviews from music critics. The Gregorian chant was taken from recordings by Capella Antiqua München, which resulted in the Munich based choir's label, Polydor Germany suing Cretu and Virgin Records for infringing on its "right of personality". He would become fascinated with incorporating archaic sounds into contemporary songs. MCMXC a. D. was recorded in 1990 in eight months at A. R. T. Studios, Cretu's studio located on the Spanish island of Ibiza. Cretu conceived the album as one continuous song; Cretu produced MCMXC a. D., with creative input from Frank Peterson and Fabrice Cuitad. The first song recorded for the album was "Sadeness (Part I)". After making the song, Michael told Sandra Cretu, "This will be a huge hit or nothing at all." "Sadeness (Part I)" was released as a single on 1 October 1990. while Peterson was credited as F. Gregorian,efn |F. Gregorian is short for Father Gregorian. Virgin Records promoted the song with radio and club play only. Despite having virtually no promotion, "Sadeness (Part I)" became an international hit and reached number one in Germany faster than any previous new release, and prior to the completion of its music video. Cretu still wanted to remain anonymous, believing that the consumers would buy the album for the music itself.

MCMXC a. D. is 40 minutes and 16 seconds long and is divided into seven tracks, two of which contain three separate songs each. The track "Principles of Lust" contains "Sadeness", "Find Love", and "Sadeness (Reprise)"; and "Back to the Rivers of Belief" contains "Way to Eternity", "Hallelujah", and "The Rivers of Belief".

"The Voice of Enigma" was written solely by Cretu, After the foghorn, Louisa Stanley (an executive at Virgin Records at the time) starts talking The first part, "Sadeness", It also includes contributions from Fabrice Cuitad and Peterson. "Callas Went Away" was written solely by Michael Cretu, "The Voice & the Snake", written by Cretu and Peterson, "Knocking on Forbidden Doors" was written solely by Cretu.

Four songs from MCMXC a. D. were released as singles. "Sadeness (Part I)", known as "Sadeness" on the album and the first part of "The Principles of Lust" track, and was the fastest German single to reach number one, and reached number seven on both the German charts and on the Billboard Dance Club Songs chart. The song charted at number four in France, and received a gold certification from the French National Syndicate of Phonographic Publishing (SNEP). "Principles of Lust" and "The Rivers of Belief" were both as singles released in 1991. number 59 in the UK, and number 29 in France. "The Rivers of Belief" single is the third song of the "Back to the Rivers of Belief" album track. and in Sweden at number 37.

MCMXC a. D. was met with generally positive reviews from music critics. Danny Serbib of Colorado Springs Magazine said that by adding Gregorian chant to the album, "[Cretu had] redefined the possible future of popular music." AllMusic critic Ned Raggett said, "Michael Crétu's attempt at fusing everything from easy listening sex music and hip hop rhythms to centuries old Gregorian chants could not have been more designed to tweak the nose of high art." In Germany, MCMXC a. D. entered the German Albums chart at number 60 for the week of 10 December 1990. It stayed on the Billboard 200 for 262 weeks, peaking at number six for the week of 3 May 1991. The album has since been certified triple platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for shipments in excess of 900,000 copies in the UK. While most of the press did not think that MCMXC a. D had satanic implications, Charisma Records issued a press release denying such claims. This proved to be false; in 1991 Capella Antiqua München, a Munich based choir, recognized a sample of one of their recordings on MCMXC a. D. Their label, Polydor Germany, sued Cretu and Virgin Records for infringing on its "right of personality" in using the Gregorian chant samples in "Sadeness (Part I)" and "Mea Culpa". The lawsuit was settled out of court after Virgin publicly apologized for the infringement and Cretu agreed to pay compensation to the original creator of the samples.