The Very Best of Enya

In 2001, Warner Music released an Enya music videos collection on DVD everywhere but the USA. This DVD, titled Enya: The Video Collection, went out of print in Europe fast. At the time, fans of Enya in the States had minimal information on when the DVD would get a release in this country. One reason floated for why the plans for a release in the USA were scrubbed was that Nicky Ryan wanted the Enya DVD to have more than a LPCM audio track, he wanted Dolby 5.1. This new DVD has audio in LPCM, Dolby 5.1 and DTS, but this DVD took eight years to get here in altered form.What this DVD doesn't have are the videos Exile and Book of Days from the 2001 DVD, nor the documentary Enya-A Life in Music. The missing Exile is no loss, it has too many close-ups of a moody Steve Martin from the movie L.A. Story, sometimes pontificating on the meaning of life. The Enya documentary is something else, a class production that should be in the DVD, even if it is a little dated.This Very Best of DVD is mostly a quality mastering job, but there are signs of corner cutting. There are no English subtitles available, unlike the 2001 DVD. Further, on Orinoco Flow, it seems that some technician did a cheap job transcoding a PAL video master to NTSC. Playing the new DVD on my computer monitor, I see a slightly jagged border at the bottom of the frame. Playing the Orinoco Flow video I copied from my Enya laserdisc Moonshadows onto DVD, the bottom of the frame is even. That 1991 laser also came with closed captioning.This combination CD/DVD is a real bargain, having extra song tracks compared to the CD only release and having mostly crystal clear videos. The two discs come in a mini-book instead of an Amaray case or jewel box. The overhead photo of Enya on the outside box and on the minibook cover, with Enya centered in a gigantic red puffy dress, looks sort of strange, but that is no big deal. I wish the record producers had done more than color the CD a chalky bright red and the DVD an off white color with the enya logo barely visible on the CD. There is no accounting for taste. The packaging of these discs is too minimalist for me. Petty criticism aside, it is great to have these Enya videos finally available alongside a fine collection of Enya songs.

I've been a long time Enya fan now, and for so long I've waited for a DVD collection of Enya's videos. I've always had Enya's VHS "Moonshadows", but with only 5 videos it makes yiou want more. I was excited when I heard that Enya was coming out with a DVD of videos but unfortunatley it was not available for US market (PAL format only). So it took a 9 more years for us US fans to finally get Enya's videos, but it sure was worth the wait. This is a great package because not only you get the DVD portion of Enya's videos but also a CD of most of Enya's hits. Now, I purchased this mainly for the DVD portion since I have all of Enya's albums. I am very grateful for this DVD to finally have Enya's collection of vidoes, but I don't know why "Book Of Days" was left out when it was on "The Video Collection". I love this song and never have seen this video, I'm sure the video is mostly of clips of "Far And Away" but still would have been nice in this collection. Other than that, that was my only disappointment. The up-side to this, is you get the most recent videos "Amarantine", "It's In The Rain", and "Trains And Winter Rains" here. So overall this is a better DVD collection of Enya's videos, and like I mentioned earlier, you get a CD of Enya's collection of hits also."1987: Enya"04. The Celts (#29 UK)"1988: Watermark"01. Orinoco Flow (#1 UK)07. Evening Falls (#3 Ireland)12. Storms In Africa (#12 Ireland)"1991: Shepherd Moons"02. Caribbean Blue (#6 US)"1995: The Memory Of Trees"08. Anywhere Is (#7 UK)13. On My Way Home (#26 UK)"1997: Paint The Sky With Stars"11. Only If (#43 UK)"2000: A Day Without Rain"03. Only Time (#1 Germany)10. Wild Child (#72 UK)"2005: Amarantine"05. Amarantine (#10 US)09. It's In The Rain (#5 Hungary)"2008: And Winter Came"06. Trains And Winter Rains (#6 Japan)Special Features:01. Documentary02. Making of Caribbean Blue03. Making of Only Time

Enya does not disappoint- love her sound, calming and just beautiful.