Fortunately for Enya, MTV had not yet reached the 'rap-and-crap only' stage that it seems had developed as its style, when she put out her first videos.

While some of her song off The Celts had some video support, most recall as her first video the one accompanying Orinoco Flow. This visually unique and stunning piece is more like a moving painting. With images of the sea, opening flowers, hummingbirds, rainfall and of course the ship (this is a song about a journey), Enya's presence seems to float as moving painting across a brush-stroke sky at times stormy and at other times calm. The moon gracefully floats by with pastel clouds lightly obscuring the features. Finally, the sails flapping as Enya sings Sail away, sail away, sail away... is quite wonderful.

The next video, Exile, uses imagery from the movie L.A. Story. This is a very haunting piece of music, which has a personal meaning to me. I have a deaf friend who loved the cover of Enya's Watermark, and expressed to me that about the only regret he had in being deaf was not being able to hear such music. He could sense the vibrations, but stereo vibrations were rather indiscriminate. He suggested and I agreed to sing this song, as he put his hand on my throat, and he got a sense of the changes in the vibration pattern. I was so excited when this video was released, because he could also get a visual sense of the music. This video is good in both the sense of supporting the music and supporting the film for which it was used.

The video Storms in Africa, has deep red overtones, images of plains and desert, wildlife and sun, as Enya's celtic strains gently glide over a drum set reminiscent of African folk rhythms. Breaking into blue sky against the brown sandy desert, the scene shifts between animals, people, nature scenes, children, and lightning. Storms bring life in the desert, and this video helps capture a sense of the wonder of the life that such supports.

The video Evening Falls is another dark and haunting melody. This video is done primarily in duotone, against a fluid backdrop that gives a sense of impermanence and distance (...so far away). Candles light the way in the darkness, and an owl keeps vigil as Enya's soft voice sings of regret with the power only people such as the Celts seem to be able to conjure. As the candle is extinguished and all the lights dim, imagery of timeless stones and childhood dreams fill the evening air as the singer dreams of a home far away.

The final video, Caribbean Blue, returns to the style of the moving painting, done appropriately in primarily blue tones. The shifting sea, the sands and shore, all centering on the young boy watching the scene unfold in his massive books. Maxfield Parrish comes to life, as the butterfly chaser in the painting springs to life, the pond and forest maidens playful stop him from capturing nature but present him a camera as a better way. The boy steps into the painting and becomes a player himself. Of course, arriving at the Temple of Chocolate should thrill almost anyone, small boy or not! The fluid sky and the sparkles which seem to come from the magical Enya make this a wonderful accompaniment to a magical song.

The total running time for the video is only 25 minutes. But it is one that I watch over and over. Visually and musically stunning, it is a must have for any Enya fan.

19 of 19 found the following review helpful:

Lovely collection of images from Enya  Dec 27, 2002
By Daniel J. Hamlow
All but one of Enya's first five videos are taken from the Watermark album, the sole exception being "Caribbean Blue" from Shepherd's Moon. This is unusual, considering how the video sleeve is of a similar motif to Shepherd's Moon. It's this collection that demonstrates how music videos should be made! And what a voice!

"Orinoco Flow" is a burst of pastel colours set amidst the beauty of nature, be it hummingbirds, insects, crashing ocean waves, flowers opening up, sailing ships, and that dark-haired beauty herself, Enya, dressed in a white robe. The collage of images match the tempo of the song.

"Exile" intercuts scenes from L.A. Story, starring Steve Martin and Victoria Tennant, with a profile of Enya singing. It starts with a scene from that movie, of Martin sitting at the airport, beginning with his words: "Why is it that we never know when love begins, but always when it ends?" There is a rain theme playing throughout the video. It ends with a rain-drenched Martin and Tennant embracing. Martin's final words: "A kiss may not be the truth, but it's what we wish were true."

"Storms Of Africa", which is the English version of the Watermark tune, is another video glorifying nature. It's set in the desert, and is another collage-like video, featuring eagles, lions, elephants, elands, storm clouds, and even African drummers.

"Evening Falls" is a bleak black-and-white piece that reflects the forlorn-ness of the tune. Dimly lit passages inside an old house, Stonehenge, and an effect of Enya being filming through lace is achieved.

In "Caribbean Blue", the theme revolves around a boy reading an oversized leather picture book, in which he becomes so involved, that he becomes part of the adventures within, kind of like the young man does in the Van Gogh paintings in Akira Kurosawa's Dreams. There's a butterfly hunter in white hat and suit in a forest, a group of pretty and mischievous forest nymphs who play around with him, and then there's the blue-robed and forlorn-looking Enya herself.

After that, there are a series of still photos of Enya, the stars, galaxies, and the credits, played to the title track from Shepherd's Moon. This is so far the only Enya video collection to date, and one would hope for more, but she's only released two more studio albums since Shepherd's Moon, so who knows when a second video album will come?

33 of 37 found the following review helpful:

Too much to pay for too little  Aug 06, 2000
By Jennifer "jeanvieve7"
First I would like to say that I do love Enya. Her music brings lots of beautiful pictures to mind. In this tape her videos try to capture that feeling, and interpret her music into visual pictures.

There are 5 music videos in this tape: Orinoco Flow, Exile, Storms In Africa, Evening Falls.. and Caribbean Blue. The first thing that was a little disapointing, is that all the videos were so similar. Most were made to look as if you were in a moving painting. Now this wouldn't be bad, except that it seems to be the same painting, with a little color and scenery change for each video. So instead of Storms In Africa having it's own tundra uniqueness, it has the same feel and texture as Caribbean Blue and Orinoco Flow. The exception is Exile, which features Enya singing in a quiet blue room, and clips from LA Story. This really works rather well and has a wonderful mood to it.

This video is about 20 minutes long (25 if you count credits). To me that's a very short video to pay fourteen dollars for. But, if you really love Enya, and would just love something dreamy to look at while hearing her sing, you would probably like this tape.

11 of 11 found the following review helpful:

Excellent Video by an Excellent Artist  Mar 17, 2000
By Airin D Smith
I have always loved Enya since I first heard Anywhere Is, I have worn out my Paint the Sky with Stars CD and when I saw that she had a video of her music videos out I jumped on the chance. I truly enjoy this video and especially love the last video Caribbean Blue. You can see the similar look and feel of the videos since they are all made by the same director and I would of loved the Celtic version of Storms in Africa not the English version that is here on the video but I still love these songs and highly recommend it.

See all 30 customer reviews on Amazon.com