BenWiganUK

It's a bit of an odd release this one. Compilations are either done by the record company with no contribution by the artist. Or they are done with full involvement of the artist - new music, photoshoot, single release, promotion etc. Paint the sky with stars fell into the latter category. This new 'best of' doesn't fall into the former category though. There has been involvement by Aigle but it seems to be limited. I'm not expecting there to be any promotion other than the odd tv advert showing clips of previous videos. I'm not expecting it to be a big seller. I think perhaps they should have waited until after the next studio album.

I am really enjoying watching the video blogs on Youtube. There are some fantastic ones this year. I wish I had the technical skills to come up with something like them. I don't know how Roma will pick a winner - there were three that I thought were really strong and I wouldn't be able to choose between them.

Thanks for this. Is it just me, or is it really low?

Well in that case I really hope you win too, On your shore. Good luck.

There are a lot of people in the UK who won't have 'The magic of the night' or 'Christmas secrets' as the Amarantine Christmas edition didn't chart very highly in 2006. So to many, they would have felt like new songs and worthy of inclusion on the new 'best of'.

Well I submitted a limerick but I don't hold out much hope of being a winner this time around. I found it hard completing the limerick with the first three lines provided for us. I just hope the winners, whoever they are, get as much enjoyment out of the selection of prize process as I did last year.

I'm finding myself in agreement with a lot of what TheSkeptic has written. My excitement for this release is limited to Aniron really. Aniron, I've just realised, is probably the Enya track I've listened to the least. I never bought the Lord of the Rings soundtrack so I've never owned a legal copy of the song. I am eager to hear the 'new' version of this track. I'm not overly-upset that there is no other new music. We've had a lot since 2005 and I would rather the trio concentrated their energies on having some time off before starting work on another new album. I would be quite happy to wait until 2013 if I thought the album was going to be brilliant. And winter came was, I feel, the weakest of the 6 proper albums. The deluxe edition of the new best of looks beautiful and, to be frank, I can easily afford it. But I think it's overpriced and I can't justify spending that amount of money. I'm a collector in terms of music, not a collector of packaging. For that reason, I never bought Only Time: The Collection. I did buy A box of dreams but regretted it. I don't think the new best of will chart particularly highly in the UK, particularly if there's no promotion. I will buy the dvd edition but I'm not bursting with the usual excitement over an Enya release.

I like it. Initially, I was disappointed with the new album cover, mainly because it's an old photo of Enya. But, on the website it looks very striking.

Just out of interest.....On your shore.....who are you on the enya forum? And I agree, week 4 was really hard. I spent hours on it. I'm not in contact with anyone this year about the games. Last year, Debargha gave me help and hints but he hasn't been doing the games this year. This year I've had to go it alone and it's been really hard. But very enjoyable and rewarding.

I've not been on here much because I've been so busy with the Loxian Games. I've found it much harder this year but have managed to get the green lines for the first three weeks and the blue line for the fourth week. Just waiting now to find out what to do / where to go next. Week 4 has been ingenious.

The magic of the night is by no means a favourite of mine, but I don't dislike it either. What does amaze me, however, is that it is not included in the new 'best of'. I was also amazed that it didn't appear on 'And winter came'. For me, the most underrated Enya track from 2006 is the gorgeous 'Christmas secrets'.

Bloody hell! That is strong competition. If they stick with 16th I don't think they'll get top ten. Even on 23rd it'll be hard for them.

I prefer the track listing of the single CD. I'm a bit disappointed, but not too surprised, that there's no new track. I suppose Aniron might be nice to have if it's different from the LOTR version. I would have loved a reworked and re-recorded version of I want tomorrow.

I'm stuck at the moment. Completely. Don't know why I can't move forward. Also, all the books on Roma's website are at the bottom of my screen and won't open. Is that the same for everyone?

I was lucky enough to be one of the ten winners last year so I'll have to give it another go! It took me bloody hours though!

I'm really disappointed with the cover because it's such an old photo and so obviously photo-shopped. I always adored Enya's album covers but Amarantine and this one are a real let down. I just don't get the big dress thing. I always thought her earlier covers were like oil paintings....I think this one is lazy and uninspired. I know it's only a cover but I always used to really look forward to the album covers. I think this looks like a budget cd cover....a bit cheap.

It's interesting that Enya only ever sings live in America. She's never done a live performance in the UK. I can't understand why she couldn't have attempted it with My my. The performance on Alan Titchmarsh was most unconvincing. It didn't look remotely live.

None of it was live. It was identical to the CD. My friends thought it looked most unconvincing. I really can't decide if I like My my time flies. I've not been able to decide since first hearing it almost three months ago. I admire it because it's different and I like the creativity of a new direction. But I'm not sure it's the style I like Enya to move into and I'm not sure it would attract me to Enya if it were her first single.

I was talking to a friend on the phone tonight. He asked me if I realised that Radio 2 had played My My time flies a lot lately. He said he had heard it at least 3 times over the past few days. Radio 2 is probably the UK's biggest radio station so that is very encouraging. I wonder if she's reworking the song like she did with Storms in Africa and Book of Days to get rid of the Santa reference? I'd love a physical release but I'm not expecting one. I think enya.com has been superb over the past few months. A massive improvement in their communication with the fan base.

I listened to The Spirit of Christmas Past a lot on Christmas Eve. Beautiful. One of my favourites from the album.

No I hadn't heard about that misfit/nutter/weirdo either. I don't know why she talks so much about her castle. I haven't a clue where most celebrities live but Enya has always been very open about the fact that she lives in a castle. I even know whereabouts it is. For someone so private I've always been surprised at the amount of discussion she allows to the fact that her home is in a castle just outside Dublin.

I hope we get to see these performances on line. Particularly if she's singing live!

In yesterday's Guardian there was an interesting article about real-life people who were mentioned in famous songs. There were interviews with these people. One of the people interviewed was Rob Dickins.... Rob Dickins, CBE (chairman, Warner Music UK, 1983-99): When I signed Enya, her manager/producer Nicky Ryan said, "You're not going to push us for singles, are you?" It wasn't that kind of music. After we'd made the Watermark album, I said as a joke, "Nicky, where's the single?" A week later Nicky rang up and said, "We've got it!" Got what? "We've got the single!" He sent over what became Orinoco Flow. There was no middle eight, and "Sail away" was after every line - it drove me crazy, but there was something there that could be worked on. Orinoco was the name of the studio and I think they saw me as the captain of the ship. The whole thing was a metaphor for a journey for all of us. I was in charge of the record company for the UK and Ireland, but we never had any Irish music. Someone said, "You like Clannad, you'd like this soundtrack album this ex-Clannad member has done." She'd done the music for the BBC series The Celts. I loved it and played it every night. We met at an Irish awards ceremony and I said, "You must do a vocal record." The record company thought I was mad, but I said what became a famous quote - "Sometimes you sign acts to make money and sometimes you sign acts to make music." In the week of release, Tower Records phoned up to say that when they played the album in the shop they sold 45 copies - almost everyone in the shop had bought the record. It was unheard o. It went from 29 to 5, then to number 1 and we sold bucketloads of albums. It was totally rags to riches. It's one of the things I'm most proud of. Funnily enough, I hadn't even noticed the lyric until they printed the album. It was embarrassing. But when it went to number 1 I thought, "I'm in the lyric of a number 1 song, how fabulous." All these years later, if I heard that line "Rob Dickins at the wheel" I can't help smiling.

A moment lost.

Pax Deorum