Odyssey: which charts?

[kcuteus1]

Dave I like how you have the chart update for Pure but with the one with Odyssey could you put more desing to it if you can.

And yes most places with the charts one behind the times . But with the US I think we have a little to many charts.

[stephch]

Here in the US we have so much charts but some of them I do not understand why they even have them .

[Dave]

kcuteus1 said:

Dave I like how you have the chart update for Pure but with the one with Odyssey could you put more desing to it if you can.

Thanks Kimberly, and you can be sure I am working on an improved design for the tables - for both Hayley's International albums. I have only three weeks left to complete it, before the first release of Odyssey!

Dave

kcuteus1 said:

And yes most places with the charts one behind the times . But with the US I think we have a little to many charts.

Hehe, I agree with you there. I just counted 13 free charts on the Billboard.com website, and another 33 in the premium section I was tempted to post the Top Tropical albums but I didn't recognise ANY of the singers in it! i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif

[kcuteus1]

Dave I know you are going to do a great job I can not wait to see how it looks. Keep up the great work.

[Dave]

OK, well this classical charts saga gets even more interesting. As you know, Odyssey was excluded from the Classical Artist Chart on Sunday but now, another chart has been published that normally very closely mirrors the Classical Artist chart. This is the Britannia Music Club weekly classical chart. Britannia is a very big UK music club. Their chart has just been published this week and guess what's at no. 1? Odyssey, that's what!

What's even more interesting is that the no. 1 album in the Official Classical artist chart (published on Sunday) is nowhere to be seen on Britannia! This album is one I'd never heard of - "Ca Ira" composed by Roger Waters (yep, THE Roger Waters of Pink Floyd fame) and featuring none other than... Bryn Terfel, amongst others. Apart from that, the next 10 albums are identical in both charts. This made me wonder what on earth is happening here. I read up on Ca Ira and listened to some track samples at Amazonhere and there are reviews as well.

Both Amazon and HMV have this album under popular music not classical. However.... it very much sounds classical when you listen to the first few track samples. But, and there are a couple of buts, one reviewer mentions that several of the tracks are more reminiscent of a modern musical rather than a classical opera. Without listening to the whole thing, it isn't easy to form a judgement.

The other 'but' is that classical crossover albums are often excluded from the UK classical chart on the grounds that, although some tracks are arranged classically, they were not composed by "a recognised classical composer". This begs the question: Can Roger Waters be considered to be "a recognised classical composer." Well, the classical committee can't have their cake and eat it - based on THEIR previous decisions, I say NO. Perhaps it is a musical, rather than classical opera?

I'm not sure - and some people will disagree with me, some will agree but I'll tell you one thing: This entire escapade of initially excluding Odyssey and including Ca Ira (probably because "Bryn Terfel" sings in it rather than "Hayley Westenra") smacks of Classical elitist politics.

You can bet your bottom dollar that Universal (for Hayley) are fighting with BMG/Sony (for Roger Waters) as we speak - to have one, or both, either included or exlcuded from the top of the classical charts. The fact that Britannia have thrown out Roger Waters and included Hayley is a hopeful sign for us - but I bet the battle isn't over yet.

It will be absolutely fascinating to see what The Classic FM Chart includes on Friday/Saturday. I really don't care whether Roger Waters is included or excluded (I rather hope it's in, actually) but if Roger is in, and Hayley is out, I will be emailing Classic FM and The Official Charts Company to complain - with reasons. I will publish the email addresses here and I hope others will join me - if it's necessary.

This isn't about what should and should not be included as "classical" but it's about consistency (or the lack of it) in the application of the OCC classical committee's own rules - and possible favouritism to one particular (opera) singer over another singer. The entire episode is crazy and frankly, it stinks.

[/rant over]

Dave

[Richard]

Hello Dave!

I agree with you. I would add that I find it hard to believe that "Odyssey" has been excluded from the classical chart while "Pure" is still included, because to me "Odyssey" is the more classical of the two. Yes, it reeks of politics to me too!

Bye for now,

Richard

[roger]

I'm with you, Dave. If you find it necessary to post the email address here, I will be using it.

And yes, Richard, the overall sound of Odyssey is more classical to me than Pure.

Roger

[Dave]

Well at long last, we know the answer... Odyssey DID qualify for the UK classical charts (in spite of the initial hiccup early in the week). We now know this because the genre eligibility criteria are identical in both the Classical Artist and Classic FM charts, and the Classic FM chart is the last to be produced. The Classic FM chart is, in fact, the Official Classical Combined chart, licensed to Classic FM. But beware... the version you can see at HMV is not always identical to the Classic FM chart, especially below the top 10.

Congratulations to Hayley, Steve and Decca for achieving the almost impossible, and squeezing UK Odyssey into the classical charts. Just like with Pure, they did it again! But we still don't know for sure exactly which tracks qualified as classical!

To find out if all their efforts have paid off, we'll have to wait and see how UK Odyssey performs between now and Christmas compared to the other Countries. So far so good, Classic FM have been VERY good to Hayley and Odyssey has got, I reckon, over 75% of all its airplay from them. They even changed the rules of "Most Wanted" to actually NAME Hayley and Odyssey last Monday - this was previously unheard of. Now, we just have to wait and see how it goes in the coming weeks.

And the next big one up is... the good ol' US of A release in 11 days time! Has anyone started a thread for it yet? i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif

Dave

[roger]

dave said:

.....They even changed the rules of "Most Wanted" to actually NAME Hayley and Odyssey last Monday - this was previously unheard of.....

Dave

Sorry Dave, but that is not quite true. Certainly it is unusual but, on a number of occasions, the entry on the Most Wanted voting page was:

Hayley Westenra
Something from Pure

More often though, as you say, they simply name the composer and the work without naming the artist.

Roger

[Dave]

roger said:

dave said:

.....They even changed the rules of "Most Wanted" to actually NAME Hayley and Odyssey last Monday - this was previously unheard of.....

Sorry Dave, but that is not quite true. Certainly it is unusual but, on a number of occasions, the entry on the Most Wanted voting page was:
Hayley Westenra
Something from Pure
More often though, as you say, they simply name the composer and the work without naming the artist.
Roger

Well it was unheard of by me! but of course, I defer to you Roger, the Most Wanted man!

I have to admit, as I usually check it only when you've mentioned it, my generalisation was a rash thing to do

Do they do this for anyone else, apart from Hayley?

Cheers, Dave

[Richard]

Hello Dave and Roger!

It's great to see "Odyssey" where it belongs, at No.1 in the classical chart. I hope the good news will make Hayley feel better.

I'm sure I've seen other artists specified in the "Most Wanted" list a few times, notably Bryn Terfel.

Bye for now,

Richard

[roger]

dave said:

Do they do this for anyone else, apart from Hayley?

Cheers, Dave

Hi Dave,

I don't recall seeing "Name of Artist" and "Something from..." for anyone else. They do occasionally name a work in the usual way and then on the second line say "performed by..... whoever" but even that is rare.

For the time being, it is probably safe to assume that any item appearing on the Most Wanted list which is from Odyssey will be Hayley's version whether it says so or not. There is no harm in voting for it just in case.

Haha! I don't know what to say - I have never been a "Most Wanted Man" before!

Roger (still on the run!)