Seven Lives Many Faces

Seven Lives Many Faces is the seventh studio album by German musical project Enigma. It is Enigma's 7th album. The album was released on 19 September 2008 worldwide and on 30 September 2008 in North America. Michael Cretu stated that the new album would feature an omnicultural sound unlike anything on its previous releases. On 12 September, the album was released on Enigma's MySpace page for pre-listening. After enjoying a huge success on MySpace (with over 400,000 listens in 2 days), several international MTV and VH1 web sites started streaming the album until 22 September.[1]

Seven Lives Many Faces
Studio album by
Released19 September 2008
Recorded2007–2008
at various places with the "Alchemist" (all in one computed mobile studio)
Genre
Length50:01
LabelVirgin / EMI
50999 2 37979 0 2
V0-37979
ProducerMichael Cretu
Enigma chronology
A Posteriori
(2006)
Seven Lives Many Faces
(2008)
The Platinum Collection
(2009)

Seven Lives Many Faces was also released in DVD format with 5.1 surround sound, similar to their previous album A posteriori.

Singles

The first two singles from the album are "Seven Lives" and "La Puerta del Cielo". The videos for each song use scenes from previous Enigma videos, "Push the Limits" for "Seven Lives" and "Age of Loneliness" for "La Puerta del Cielo". "The Same Parents" was released as the third single off the album. The lyrics of the song "La Puerta del Cielo" (The Gate of Heaven), although with a Spanish title, are in Catalan language. The other song of the album written in Catalan is "Between Generations". Both songs were co-written by Michael Cretu and Margalida Roig.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]

AllMusic's James Christopher Monger gave the album three stars out of five. While he praised the singles "Seven Lives" and "La Puerta del Cielo" calling them "quietly stunning", he found that in most cases "the new age, fortune-cookie derived lyrics... mirror the unimaginative, two-chord melodies that carry them along."[2]

Commercial performance

The album debuted at No. 92 on the Billboard 200,[3] and No. 1 on the New Age Albums,[4] selling 6,000 copies in the first week. The album had sold 85,000 copies in the United States as of September 2016.[5]

Track listing

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Encounters"Michael Cretu3:12
2."Seven Lives"Cretu4:25
3."Touchness"Cretu3:35
4."The Same Parents"Cretu5:19
5."Fata Morgana"Cretu3:23
6."Hell's Heaven"Cretu3:51
7."La Puerta del Cielo"Cretu, Margarita Roig3:28
8."Distorted Love"Cretu, Andru Donalds4:11
9."Je t'aime Till My Dying Day"Cretu, Donalds4:18
10."Déjà Vu"Cretu2:56
11."Between Generations"Cretu, Roig4:31
12."The Language of Sound" (6:52 track length includes bonus track "Where Are We From")Cretu4:20
Total length:50:01
Japanese bonus track
No.TitleLength
13."Epilogue"1:57

Bonus disc

All tracks are written by Michael Cretu.

No.TitleLength
1."Superficial"2:58
2."We Are Nature"3:51
3."Downtown Silence"2:08
4."Sunrise"2:38
5."The Language of Sound" (slow edit)3:56
Total length:15:31

Credits

  • Michael Cretu – music, lyrics, performance, production, programming, arrangements, engineering
  • Andru Donalds – vocals (tracks: 2, 4, 8, 9), co-writer (tracks: 8, 9)
  • Nanuk – vocals (track: 4), narration (track: 9)
  • Nikita C. – vocals (track: 4)
  • Sebastian C. – vocals (track: 4)
  • Margarita Roig – vocals (tracks: 7, 11, 2 (Bonus CD)), co-writer (tracks: 7, 11)
  • Ruth-Ann Boyle – vocals (tracks 3, 5, 2 (Bonus CD))
Additional personnel
  • Photography – Rosemary Robenn
  • Artwork – Dirk Rudolph

[6]

Charts

Chart (2008) Peak
position
Austria Albums Chart[7] 30
France Albums Chart[7] 93
Germany Albums Chart[7] 15
Italy Albums Chart[7] 36
Mexico Albums Chart[7] 59
Netherlands Albums Chart[7] 22
Poland Albums Chart[7] 48
Portugal Albums Chart[7] 29
Russia Albums Chart[8] 10
Spain Albums Chart[7] 75
Switzerland Albums Chart[7] 18
US Top New Age Albums[9] 1
USA Billboard Top 200[9] 92

Certifications

Region CertificationCertified units/sales
GCC (IFPI Middle East)[10] Gold 3,000*
Russia (NFPF)[11] Gold 10,000*

* Sales figures based on certification alone.

Release history

Country Date
Worldwide 19 September 2008
North America 30 September 2008

DVD release

The entire album was released on DVD, with claimed 5.1 surround sound. Unlike previous DVD release called A Posteriori, Seven Lives, Many Faces features video movies to each song.

References

  1. "ENIGMA New Album Pre-Listening on MTV Sites Around the World!! by ENIGMA on Myspace". myspace.com. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
  2. Monger, James Christopher. Seven Lives Many Faces at AllMusic. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
  3. "Billboard 200". Billboard. 18 October 2008.
  4. "New Age Albums". Billboard. 18 October 2008.
  5. "Upcoming Releases". Hits Daily Double. HITS Digital Ventures. Archived from the original on 28 September 2016.
  6. Enigma – Seven Lives Many Faces
  7. "Enigma - Seven Lives Many Faces - Music Charts". acharts.us. Retrieved 23 January 2012.
  8. Россия Top 25: Centr - Эфир в норме (in Russian). 2M-online.ru. 13 December 2008. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 30 August 2016.
  9. Billboard.com
  10. "IFPI Middle East Awards – 2009". IFPI Middle East.
  11. "Russian album certifications – Enigma – Seven Lives Many Faces" (in Russian). National Federation of Phonogram Producers (NFPF).

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