MCMXC a.D.

In 1987, Michael Cretu worked with Sandra on her song "Everlasting Love". Cretu experimented with Gregorian chant while working on the song with Sandra, and the chants appeared at the beginning of her song. He would become fascinated with incorporating archaic sounds into contemporary songs. MCMXC a.D. was recorded in 1990 in eight months at A.R.T. Studios, Cretu's studio located on the Spanish island of Ibiza. Cretu conceived the album as one continuous song; Cretu produced MCMXC a.D., with creative input from Frank Peterson and Fabrice Cuitad. The first song recorded for the album was "Sadeness (Part I)". After making the song, Michael told Sandra Cretu, "This will be a huge hit or nothing at all." "Sadeness (Part I)" was released as a single on 1 October 1990. while Peterson was credited as F. Gregorian, and Cuitad was credited as David Fairstein. Virgin Records promoted the song with radio and club-play only. Despite having virtually no promotion, "Sadeness (Part I)" became an international hit and reached number one in Germany faster than any previous new release, and prior to the completion of its music video. Cretu still wanted to remain anonymous, believing that the consumers would buy the album for the music itself. ==Composition and lyrics==

Overview MCMXC a.D. is 40 minutes and 16 seconds long and is divided into seven tracks, two of which contain three separate songs each. The track "Principles of Lust" contains "Sadeness", "Find Love", and "Sadeness (Reprise)"; and "Back to the Rivers of Belief" contains "Way to Eternity", "Hallelujah", and "The Rivers of Belief". Songs "The Voice of Enigma" was written solely by Cretu, After the foghorn, Louisa Stanley (an executive at Virgin Records at the time) starts talking The first part, "Sadeness", It also includes contributions from Fabrice Cuitad and Peterson. "Callas Went Away" was written solely by Michael Cretu, "The Voice & the Snake" is based on the Book of Revelation and was sampled from "The Seven Bowls," which is the eighth track on the final album of the prog-rock band Aphrodite's Child, 666, released in 1972. "Knocking on Forbidden Doors" was written solely by Cretu. ==Singles==

Four songs from MCMXC a.D. were released as singles. "Sadeness (Part I)", known as "Sadeness" on the album and the first part of "The Principles of Lust" track, and was the fastest German single to reach number one, The song charted at number four in France, and received a gold certification from the French National Syndicate of Phonographic Publishing (SNEP). "Principles of Lust" and "The Rivers of Belief" were both as singles released in 1991. The "Principles of Lust" single is a reworking of the song "Find Love". number 59 in the UK, and number 29 in France. "The Rivers of Belief" single is the third song of the "Back to the Rivers of Belief" album track. and in Sweden at number 37. ==Critical reception==

MCMXC a.D. was met with generally positive reviews from music critics. Danny Serbib of Colorado Springs Magazine said that by adding Gregorian chant to the album, "[Cretu had] redefined the possible future of popular music." AllMusic critic Ned Raggett said, "Michael Crétu's attempt at fusing everything from easy listening sex music and hip-hop rhythms to centuries-old Gregorian chants could not have been more designed to tweak the nose of high art." Marisa Fox wrote, for Entertainment Weekly, that while the album doesn't have as many accessible hits as other ones, "[the] journey through what the group calls 'music, spirit, and meditation' is entrancing as well as provocative." In contrast, Brian Bourke, in the Syracuse Herald-Journal, stated that "once the novelty of Enigma's approach wears off", the rhythms underneath the songs have a sameness that is "irritating" in his eyes, with the exception of "The Rivers of Belief". The Village Voice critic Robert Christgau asserted that the "mellow electrobeat and Gregorian fog" of "Sadeness (Part I)" "provide[s] mutual relief", and suggested the other songs are disco filler with sexual content that is too lacking in vulgarity for his tastes. ==Commercial performance==

MCMXC a.D. was a worldwide commercial success. According to The New York Times, the album had sold 12 million copies worldwide as of February 1994. In Germany, MCMXC a.D. entered the German Albums chart at number 60 for the week of 10 December 1990. It stayed on the Billboard 200 for 262 weeks, peaking at number six for the week of 3 May 1991. The album has since been certified triple platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for shipments in excess of 900,000 copies in the UK. Elsewhere, MCMXC a.D. reached number one in Belgium, Greece, Portugal, and Spain; number two in Australia, New Zealand, and Switzerland; number three in Austria, Canada, and Sweden; number four in Ireland and Norway; and number seven in the Netherlands. ==Controversies==

Satanism rumors Because MCMXC a.D. has themes of balancing good with evil, Cretu has been accused of putting Satanic content into the album. While most of the press did not think that MCMXC a.D had Satanic implications, Charisma Records issued a press release denying such claims. This proved to be false; in 1991 Capella Antiqua München, a Munich-based choir, recognized a sample of one of their recordings on MCMXC a.D. Their label, Polydor Germany, sued Cretu and Virgin Records for infringing on its "right of personality" in using the Gregorian chant samples in "Sadeness (Part I)" and "Mea Culpa". The lawsuit was settled out of court after Virgin publicly apologized for the infringement and Cretu agreed to pay compensation to the original creator of the samples. ==Track listing==

Credits adapted from the liner notes of MCMXC a.D. • Michael Cretu (credited as "Curly M.C.") (all tracks) • Frank Peterson (credited as "F. Gregorian") (tracks 2a, 2c, and 5) • Fabrice Cuitad (credited as "David Fairstein") (tracks 2a, 2c, 4, and 7c) • Sandra Cretu (uncredited) (tracks 2a, 2c, and 4) • Louisa Stanley (uncredited) (track 1) ==Charts==

Weekly charts Year-end charts ==Certifications==