Thanksgiving/Espresso Day/Turkey Trot (Illinois)
2005-11-24 @ 9:09 p.m.

Was reading English 'S' stuff, and saw this e-mail from my senior, Rachel Wong, so I thought I'd help her to advertise a bit. She sells "hand-crafted, unique earrings for the confident and sophisticated woman with an individual and inimitable style". Click here for details. I think my neighbourhood's infested. We keep getting these beetles and moths flying into the house lately. Bought Enya's Amarantine and Libera's Visions from HMV, which were quite disappointing, to be honest. Amarantine marks a return to a more stripped-down sound for Enya, which in itself wouldn't be bad if her previous albums hadn't featured such elaborate layering and instrumentation. The only song I like right now is Amarantine. Not even the ones sung in Loxian, Roma Ryan's conlang, appeal to me. The River Sings somehow pales in comparison with Cursum Perficio from Watermark and Tempus Vernum from A Day Without Rain. As much effort as Enya might have put into this album, it wasn't worth a five-year wait. Visions, on the other hand, suffers from an imbalance in its structure. I can't remember why I actually started listening to Libera, but Visions was disappointing after what I heard on Free. At least Free featured upbeat songs like Stay With Me, Ave Verum and Adoramus, and even quieter songs like I Am The Day and Voca Me were stirring. With Visions, the most upbeat tracks are a remixed Libera and Wings Of A Dove. I understand this is only their second album for EMI Classics, so they want to include some of their songs from Libera and Luminosa, hence the remix of Libera, but was it really necessary to redo Sanctus ad Locus Iste? I thought Sanctus II on Luminosa was better than the original on Libera anyway. Knew I should have bought The Corrs' Borrowed Heaven instead!