Albums

Enigma - A Posteriori

Thomas 21/11/2006

Rating: 1/5

Ambition, now there's a word. Some people want money, some want to climb Everest, some want to appear in Heat magazine talking about how great it is to be off drugs, while on drugs. However, in the world of music there appear to be only two directions, one being fame and success through writing memorable tunes and the other being making a conceptual dance record about the collision of galaxies and forging of a boundless new Cosmic World. In Latin.

What now, you disagree? Well send your 'Indignant of Brighton' letters not to us but to Michael Cretu, the hitherto frustrated genius behind 'A Posteriori'. Such is its similarity to the overblown concept albums of the Seventies you half expect to hear some tubular bells or the flapping of Rick Wakeman's cape. Instead you get twelve tracks of the same synths each time churning out dated, cod-atmospheric warbles over dull dance beats, plus what appear to be some monks singing through a vocoder. Just how they got them into the studio we'll never know.

The best thing you could say is that it's some kind of chillout record for chin-strokers, but that would be ignoring the fact that it's simply the indulgent toss turned out by a chap who still lives off his Boney M productions of thirty years ago. Play this at a party and lose all your friends quicker than Blunkett can say “Visa's done”. By the way, a late glance at Mr Cretu's biography reveals a mildly amusing bit of information. Guess who he worked with on an album back in the mid Eighties? Mike 'Tubular Bells' bloody Oldfield. Sometimes, you really can't make it up.