Le Roi Est Mort, Vive Le Roi!
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''Le Roi Est Mort, Vive Le Roi!'' (French for "") is the third studio album by the German musical project Enigma, released on 22 November 1996 by
Virgin Records Virgin Records is a British record label owned by Universal Music Group. They were originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman (musician), ...
.


Background and release

The album continued Enigma's trend, giving it a slightly more modern, futuristic sound by combining the elements of Enigma's first album, '' MCMXC a.D.'', and their second album, '' The Cross of Changes''.
Michael Cretu Michael Cretu (, ; born 18 May 1957) is a Romanian-German musician, singer, songwriter, composer, and record producer. He gained worldwide fame as the founder and musician behind the musical project Enigma, which he formed in 1990. Cretu began ...
, producer of the project, considered ''Le Roi Est Mort, Vive Le Roi!'' to be the child of the previous two albums, with the first being the father and the second being the mother, as indicated by the 19‑second track "Third of Its Kind". There are two editions of the packaging; one with standard paper artwork, and another with translucent tray and booklet artwork printed on a heavier plastic. ''Le Roi Est Mort, Vive Le Roi!'' was nominated for Best New Age Album at the
1998 Grammy Awards The 40th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 25, 1998, at Radio City Music Hall, New York City. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year. Performers * Will Smith – Men In Black/ Gettin' Jiggy Wit It * R. K ...
, while Johann Zambryski's album art design earned him a nomination for Best Recording Package. The intro track begins with a sample of mission control contacting the ''Discovery'' from the film '' 2001: A Space Odyssey''. The intro, including the famed "Enigma horn", is played backwards for the closing track, "Odyssey of the Mind". The track " T.N.T. for the Brain" contains samples taken from '' Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds''. The samples are just audible, underlying the main music. They can be most clearly heard at the start and the end of the track, but are just noticeable throughout. The track "Prism of Life" appears at the end credit of the 2023 documentary ''"Close Encounters of The Fifth Kind"''.


Commercial performance

The album reached to the top spot in Norway and the top five in Austria, Finland, Germany and Switzerland. It spawned two singles, " Beyond the Invisible" and " T.N.T. for the Brain". A planned third single, "The Roundabout", was scrapped at the last minute for unclear reasons, even though a remix had already been created by DJ Quicksilver.


Reception

Rick Anderson of
AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
stated that " ichael Cretu, as Enigmadoesn't seem to have done much to expand upon his original ideas", and despite reserving praise for the "darkly lovely" "The Child in Us", dismissed most of the album as "twaddle" and "disappointing". The site gave the album two and a half stars out of five. Tracey Pepper of ''
Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...
'' summarized the album as "another synthesizer-heavy mix of Gregorian chants, moody atmospherics, lyrics rife with existential platitudes, and well-trodden '90s dance rhythms", writing, "It sounded okay in 1990, but now it's just embarrassing."


Track listing

All lyrics and music by
Michael Cretu Michael Cretu (, ; born 18 May 1957) is a Romanian-German musician, singer, songwriter, composer, and record producer. He gained worldwide fame as the founder and musician behind the musical project Enigma, which he formed in 1990. Cretu began ...
, except where noted.


Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of ''Le Roi Est Mort, Vive Le Roi!'' * Dr. Bhagya Murthy – Sanskrit chant * Sandra Cretu – female voices * Louisa Stanley – female voices * Peter Cornelius – guitars on "The Child In Us" *
Michael Cretu Michael Cretu (, ; born 18 May 1957) is a Romanian-German musician, singer, songwriter, composer, and record producer. He gained worldwide fame as the founder and musician behind the musical project Enigma, which he formed in 1990. Cretu began ...
– instruments, production, engineering * Johann Zambryski – art direction, design * Volker Sträter – illustrations


Charts


Weekly charts


Year-end charts


Certifications


References


External links


Details about the album
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roi est mort, vive le Roi!, Le 1996 albums Charisma Records albums Enigma (German band) albums Virgin Records albums