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Rating: Recycling n. [derived from riciclare, following the model of the Fr. recyclage]. - 1. In technical terms, less commonly used than riciclo. 2. broad. and fig. The action of reintroducing into circulation, reusing materials, products, values: recycling of waste; recycling of water, the operation of recovering and purifying it for reuse; recycling of petrodollars, the employment of large dollar deposits created, in European and North American banks (especially in the second half of the 1970s), by oil-exporting countries, which exceeded the value of goods and services that these countries were able to import; money laundering, a journalistic term indicating the use in various investments of money derived from criminal activities (drug trafficking, kidnappings, etc.) or also its conversion into other currencies to avoid recognition. For other figurative uses, see RECYCLE.
(Vocabulary of the Italian Language, Institute of the Italian Encyclopedia, Giovanni Treccani)
Therefore, from the previous definition, it can be deduced that the term "recycling" does not necessarily have to be attributed, as often happens, a negative meaning. Thus excluding the journalistic context to which this term owes one of its meanings, we associate "recycling" with the idea of transforming worn material into useful material, the transition of glass into new glass, of the existed into existent. Enya, five years after the previous "A Day Without Rain", collects the broken glass from the Bohemian set of "Watermark" and "Shepherd Moons" and transforms them into the glasses of the comfortable tea service of "Amarantine", less rich and noble art but still fundamentally valid and effective.
Thus, easy to say, the title track is a revisiting at a more upbeat rhythm of the hit "Only Time" from five years earlier, "Amid The Falling Snow" retraces the tracks of the older "China Roses" from "The Memory Of Trees" of '95, "If I Could Be Where You Are" even reaches back to the grandeur of "Evening Falls" from "Watermark" of 1989.
The "recycling" also identifies, incredibly to say, in thematic issues: the "Long Long Journey" is the same as in "Book Of Days" of the enlightened "Shepherd Moons" more than a decade earlier, while one of the happiest episodes of the album, that "The River Sings" which already musically draws due comparison with "Ebudae" from a few years earlier, continues the discourse already started with "River" of the already mentioned "Watermark". To conclude, "Someone Said Goodbye" is almost an exact repetition of "One By One" from a few years earlier.
So, excluding some more original episodes like "Sumiregusa" and "Drifting", "Amarantine" is a fine product of recycling. Already familiar to connoisseurs of the genre, pleasant as a Fernet to those approaching the artist for the first time.
Recycled, to be sure, but sounds good.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Less Than a Pearl (03:44)
Out of night has come the day.
Out of night, our small earth.
Our words drift away.
Our words journey
to find those who will listen.
We call out into the distance...
We call out into the distance...
We call out into the distance...
We call out into the distance...
Less than a pearl in a sea of stars,
we are a lost island in the shadows.
It may be our words become lost.
It may be our words find nothing, find no-one.
We call out into the distance...
We call out into the distance...
02 Amarantine (03:12)
You know when you give your love away
It opens your heart, everything is new
And you know time will always find a way
To let your heart believe it's true
You know love is everything you say
A whisper, a word, promises you give
You feel it in the heartbeat of the day
You know this is the way love is
Amarantine, amarantine, amarantine
Love is, love is, love...
Amarantine, amarantine, amarantine
Love is, love is, love...
You know love may sometimes make you cry
So let the tears go, they will flow away
For you know love will always let you fly
How far a heart can fly away
Amarantine, amarantine, amarantine
Love is, love is, love...
Amarantine, amarantine, amarantine
Love is, love is, love...
You know when love's shining in your eyes
It may be the stars falling from above.
And you know love is with you when you rise,
For night and day belong to love
06 Long Long Journey (03:17)
City lights shine on the harbour,
night has fallen down,
through the darkness
and the shadow
I will still go on.
Long, long journey
through the darkness,
long, long way to go;
but what are miles
across the ocean
to the heart that's coming home?
Where the road
runs through the valley,
where the river flows,
I will follow every highway
to the place I know.
Long, long journey
through the darkness,
long, long way to go;
but what are miles
across the ocean
to the heart that's coming home?
Long, long journey
out of nowhere,
long, long way to go;
but what are sighs
and what is sadness
to the heart that's coming home?
07 Sumiregusa (04:42)
Mono no aware
Murasaki iro no hana
Haru no hana
To fuyu mo koyuki
Harahara
Shizen no bi kana
Ah! Midori no ha to
aki no iro
Kaze no koe Tori no saezuri
Kanashii umi
yorokobiino umi
Yama
Koishi
Ayamegusa
(translation)
The poignancy of things
A purple flower
The blossoms of spring
and the light snow of winter
How they fall
The beauty of nature
A green leaf and
Autumn colours
The voice of the wind
The song of birds
A sad sea
A joyful sea
Mountains
Pebbles
A wild iris...
08 Someone Said Goodbye (04:02)
Night has gone without my tears
Now I walk alone
You're no longer here
The days turn to years
I could never say goodbye
To the sadness in my eyes
You know you are in my heart
But the miles keep us apart
Time moves slow
In the falling rain
I still dream of you
And whisper your name
Will I see you once again?
I could never say goodbye
To the sadness in my eyes
You know you are in my heart
But the miles keep us apart
I could never say goodbye
09 A Moment Lost (03:08)
It's only now when words are said
that break my heart in two,
I wonder how you can endure
all I've said, all I say to you.
How strong, how brave, how true of you
to bear the hurt I gave.
I know it tears your heart in two:
all I've said, all I say to you.
After all the words are said,
after all the dreams we made;
every one a precious one,
every one a summer sun...
A moment lost, forever gone,
can never be again,
so know how much it means to me;
all you said,
all you gave,
all your love to me.
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Other reviews
By The Punisher1
Enya's strategy: listen to me, you’ll be calm, I won’t shake you, no jolts, no minor chords, no drum rolls.
An insipid and downright sticky album due to how much molasses oozes from every track.
