Happy 20th: Enya, A DAY WITHOUT RAIN

20 years ago today, Enya released her fifth studio album, a long-awaited effort which was her first new full-length LP in half a decade.

Produced by Nicky Ryan and recorded at Aigle Studio in Killiney, Ireland, A DAY WITHOUT RAIN made a huge number of Enya fans very happy, since they’d been waiting for her to release a new studio LP since 1995’s THE MEMORY OF TREES. Enya’s decision to reteam with Ryan was hardly surprising, given his past successes as her producer and arranger, not to mention the fact that his wife, Roma Ryan, was Enya’s regular lyricist. 

Perhaps unsurprisingly, many critics groused about how the album sounded very much like Enya’s previous albums, but such opinions don’t take into consideration that it’s that very sound which Enya’s fans both want and have come to expect from her. Had she suddenly decided to go heavy metal, it would’ve been both jarring and, very likely, a commercial flop. Instead, A DAY WITHOUT RAIN became – and still remains – her most successful studio album ever, going platinum seven times over in America and double platinum in the UK.