Review of Odyssey

[stephch]

Here is a great review of odyssey but they do get one thing wrong pure was not classical and showtune's here frist CD was like that.

link to xtramsn.co.nz

Hayley Westenra Odyssey
View larger imageHayley Westenra Odyssey
Universal
08/08/2005
By Sonia Robinson
New Zealand classical superstar Hayley Westenra follows up her record breaking 2003 debut Pure with the delicate, inspirational Odyssey, a stunning collection of songs that showcase her superior vocal talent.

The 18-year-old Christchurch native has performed in front of prime ministers, presidents and royalty. She was most recently seen on New Zealand shores when she sang the National Anthem for the All Blacks vs Lions game in Wellington earlier this year.

Pure has sold two million copies to date, topped UK classical charts and also went top ten in the pop equivalent. In New Zealand Pure is the biggest selling New Zealand album of all time.

Now marking her return with Odyssey, Hayley shows just how much she's grown, both as an artist and as an individual. As with Pure her voice retains its crystal-clear purity, but her singing is now richer and more rounded than before. Having sung at such world-famous venues as the Sydney Opera House, Royal Albert Hall and Carnegie House has also done wonders for her confidence.

"It's really exciting to have something new out there for people to listen to," Hayley explained. "I wanted to make a record that represented me as a person. And I think I've improved as a vocalist."

While restricting herself to classical pieces and show tunes on Pure, Odyssey has more variation of material, including a cover of Joni Mitchell's 'Both Sides Now'.

"I like to push myself, and I'm now confident enough to try different things," she said. "I have been much more involved behind the scenes with this album - I wanted to put my individual stamp on each song."

To say each track on this album is anything less than remarkable would be blasphemous. Standouts would have to be the emotionally passionate duet with classical heavy-weight Andrea Bocelli and the soaring 'May It Be' from Peter Jackson's LotR: The Fellowship of the Rings soundtrack.

Poised, angelic and breath-taking Odyssey is a must-have.

10/10
Universal

Tracklisting
Prayer
Never Saw Blue
Dell' Amore Non Si Sa (duet with Andrea Bocelli)
Ave Maria (Caccini)
Both Sides Now
What You Never Know (Won't Hurt You)
May It Be
Quanta Qualia
Bachianas Brasileiras No.5 Aria (Cantilena)
She Moves Through The Fair
I Say Grace
My Heart Belongs To You

[Dave]

Thanks for sharing that Stephanie, it's a nice one. Let's hope they are all as good as that!

I don't worry about the 'classical' description any more as it's a bit more accurate than "opera singer" (lol) which is how some of the media described Hayley when Pure was released!

Cheers, Dave
PS that msn link came out a bit weird but I think I fixed it in the end)

[kcuteus1]

thanks Stephanie.

[Richard]

Thank you Stephanie!

That is a really great review, and I can't wait to hear "Odyssey" myself now. I agree with Hayley that she has improved as a vocalist, but it's a steady maturing of her voice rather than any sudden change. Her voice is now more distinctively Hayley than ever.

Bye for now,

Richard

[Dave]

Fan review! i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif

I can't find a thread with a better name than "Review of Odyssey", and I can't find Belinda's review at the moment so I'll start the ball rolling (again!) in here

My copy of Odyssey arrived here in the UK, from HMV Sydney today and I am now finishing my second play of many. There's so much to say about it I can't really get started at the moment so I'll just make a few brief comments for now, about the first things that struck me.

First and foremost, I am REALLY enjoying this! But I echo what I'm sure Belinda said somewhere, this is no "Pure". That's not a bad thing - and I'm a classical fan - it shows how far Hayley has truly developed into an even better and more versatile *adult* singer over the last few years.

The range of styles on this album is astounding and now, I have a new name for Hayley: "Little Miss Versatile". I think I can safely say for all Hayley fans that Hayley and her team have pulled it off - but I'm not yet sure that everyone who bought "Pure" will agree. Only the sales will tell us that as it's possible Odyssey will fall between two stools... well three or four genres actually! Hayley should pull in many new fans though and it's anyone's guess if they will be more or less than any "lost" fans! OK OK, they will be more!

I think someone may have said this is more classical than "Pure". Well for me, the overall feel is that it's LESS classical, although the three classical tracks are done absolutely beautifully. Coincidentally, I heard Patrick Hawes' original version of "Quanta Qualia" played on Classic FM last night and of course, I listened very carefully to it... and I loved it. Hayley's arrangement is every bit as good as his original... and so it should be, it was arranged and conducted by.. Patrick himself! But, the addition of Hayley's voice pushes it into new territory, it's excellent. I'm not usually a fan of heavy choral backgrounds like this has, but I love this one and I'm certain it will be played many times on that station - whether or not Odyssey qualifies for the classical charts!

Aria (Cantilena) is definitely superior to the version on Hayley's DVD - for a start they've added more strings to the original cello backing and I think that improves over the straight cello backing. Hayley's vocals are definitely more accurate and with more feeling than her original "live" performance - she has simply got better at it.. Hayley also uses more vibrato at times than I have heard before, but the balance is, I think, about right for this aria. I found a better version on the Internet than her original (shock, horror!) - but I have found nothing to beat this one... not even by trained opera singers. Wow.

As for the pop songs, they are all good - in fact there isn't a bad track on the album! My current favourites are Never Saw Blue, Prayer, May It Be (I no longer think it's too slow), What you Never Know, I Say Grace and My Heart Belongs To You. If I *had to* drop three tracks for the UK version, they would be Dell' Amore Non Si Sa, Both sides Now and She Moves Through the Fair. But, I know that many other people will rave about these three tracks so they can no way be described as below-par - they are not!

The booklet is at first sight disappointing, it must have been Belinda who mentioned that there are no lyrics in it and it looks like a pale imitation of the "Pure" booklet. However, the detailed credits and Hayley's extensive sleeve notes make up for that, for me anyway. There is plenty of new information in there and Hayley has a LOT to say - it gives us a good insight into her developing social circles and makes me feel better about her being "cut off" when in London from her NZ friends and family. And yes, she does thank... Daniel Bedingfield as well as Natasha - and makes special mention of her friend Katherine Jenkins. Many others are mentioned, including us lot, the fansites and fans!

Uh-oh... did I say this was going to be brief? Sorry!!! I'll stop now - back again to this wonderful album, thank goodness for auto-repeat!

[kcuteus1]

Thanks for that review.

I did not get my cd but I think I could like this cd more than pure as I did not like some of the songs on pure and no they were not the classical or folk songs .

[portia]

Regarding Bachianas, there IS something called autotune, which would explain why it sounded better on the CD than live. Just like Pokarekare Ana sounds better on the CD than live.

[Raymond]

portia said:

Regarding Bachianas, there IS something called autotune, which would explain why it sounded better on the CD than live. Just like Pokarekare Ana sounds better on the CD than live.

Could you explain more about it? What is autotone?

[portia]

Autotune is the airbrush in music. It's there to adjust sound, make it sound fuller and more luminous. This can be done with special amplified mikes, or simply through computerization.

[roger]

Hi Portia,

You clearly know a lot about it. Forgive me if I've missed something but may I ask if you are a singer?

Roger

[Dave]

But tuning and fullness wasn't the "problem" on the DVD. I've heard Hayley sing live many times and she is one of the last singers in the World to need autotune. When I heard her sing "O Mio Babbino Caro" for the first time ever in public, at Kenwood House, she was note perfect throughout. In the studio, if she did hit a note wrong, all she'd normally need would be a retake to correct it (but obviously there are other reasons to do retakes). Anyway, if Hayley had been out of tune oir whatever, autotune would have been used to correct it on the DVD - so we'd never know!

What I meant was that Hayley seemed to find Aria (Cantilena) 'difficult' to sing live last year - but not because of tuning. It's a very tricky song this, and Hayley went slightly astray (not out of tune) for a couple of bars in the middle, before quickly recovering.

I think that now, a year later, Hayley would be able to sing it live pretty much as well as on the album. I also think very few (if any) singers without full classical training would even attempt to sing a song as hard as 'Aria', live in public. This is, I think, the most difficult song Hayley has ever attempted live... so far!

One of Hayley's most endearing qualities for me is her willingness continually to push out the boundaries like this, as she develops. It will be fascinating to watch her doing even more of this, in pop as well as classical, over the next few years. Hayley still has a lot to learn but with Odyssey, she has raised the bar again.

[Raymond]

dave said:

But tuning and fullness wasn't the "problem" on the DVD. I've heard Hayley sing live many times and she is one of the last singers in the World to need autotune. When I heard her sing "O Mio Babbino Caro" for the first time ever in public, at Kenwood House, she was note perfect throughout. In the studio, if she did hit a note wrong, all she'd normally need would be a retake to correct it (but obviously there are other reasons to do retakes). Anyway, if Hayley had been out of tune oir whatever, autotune would have been used to correct it on the DVD - so we'd never know!

What I meant was that Hayley seemed to find Aria (Cantilena) 'difficult' to sing live last year - but not because of tuning. It's a very tricky song this, and Hayley went slightly astray (not out of tune) for a couple of bars in the middle, before quickly recovering.

I think that now, a year later, Hayley would be able to sing it live pretty much as well as on the album. I also think very few (if any) singers without full classical training would even attempt to sing a song as hard as 'Aria', live in public. This is, I think, the most difficult song Hayley has ever attempted live... so far!

One of Hayley's most endearing qualities for me is her willingness continually to push out the boundaries like this, as she develops. It will be fascinating to watch her doing even more of this, in pop as well as classical, over the next few years. Hayley still has a lot to learn but with Odyssey, she has raised the bar again.

Yes,Hayley is improving. Thank you for telling us what is autotune.

Cheers,
Raymond

[Joe]

My Odyssey CD arrived on Saturday!!
Hi all,
My order came very quickly from HMV Australia. I've listened to the entire album about three times now. Here's my review:

Pity the booklet doesn't contain the lyrics. She writes lots of thank-you's (nearly filling two of the eight panels); mentioning fellow singers Katharine Jenkins, Ronan Tynan, Mario Frangoulis, the Bedingfields and others. She thanks us, "the lovely people working on her fansites: thank you for your tireless work and support".

'Prayer' is a wonderful and calming song. A perfect into into our odyssey. 'Never Saw Blue' is so lovely; a CD single would be great. "Dell' Amore Non Si Sa" with Bocelli is wonderful! What a great song for Hayley and Andrea to duet to. Caccini's Ave Maria is my fav. version; Hayley's voice is in top form. If you think 'Both Sides Now' and 'May It Be' were good on the DVD...they are ten times better on Odyssey! 'What You Don't Know' which was co-written w/ Hayley is a treasure!

Quanta Qualia is a wonderful choral. Aria (Cantilena) definitely has another violin or two more than the DVD and with that comes a knock-out vocal performance by Hayley...even topping her performance on the PBS special. 'She Moved Through The Fair'...a traditional Celtic song (this version includes the uillean pipes). 'I Say Grace' I found to be very inspirational and uplifting. Another song that may be a smash hit on radio. 'My Heart Belongs to You' is easily the poppiest song here...very suitable as a pop single and a radio hit in the USA.

My top five: My Heart Belongs To You, Both Sides Now, May It Be, She Moves Through The Fair, Aria (Cantilena)

[portia]

roger said:

Hi Portia,

You clearly know a lot about it. Forgive me if I've missed something but may I ask if you are a singer?

Roger

Yes, I am a singer.

And Dave, autotune isn't used to tune your notes, though its meant to. It's basically to make your tone sound much fuller and brighter than it actually is.

I honestly don't think Hayley, with her current voice, should attempt anything classical, because when she does sing classical, she lets her voice follow the words instead of keeping a steady head voice. Her high notes are induced by great "squeezing" of the vocal chords, but it sounds passable because she's pitch perfect. I think it's a wise idea for Hayley to stick to non classical songs, and to work on diction as well.

[Dave]

Thanks Portia, that's an interesting insight.

I have to say that I wouldn't mind too much if Hayley drifted further into easy listening pop, as I think she may be doing, but I do enjoy hearing her sing the classical songs so I hope she continues to include suitable ones in her repertoire.

Hayley's ability to sing classical (to a point) also sets her apart, I think, from the rest of the easy listening singers with whom she will be competing for album sales. And I personally enjoy her "different" way of singing the classical songs. Although I also enjoy the Flemings and Domingos of this World, I find Hayley's unique way of singing classical songs a pleasant change from the "correct and proper" way of doing it. I'm sure many others do, too. Of course, from what you said, it's going to be essential for Hayley to select only those songs suitable for her voice and range and not to "push it" too far.

So I think Hayley has found a niche in the market and it would seem to make sense for her to stay very much where she is for a few years, continuing to slowly broaden her repertoire as she hopefully becomes fully established (it's still early days).

I hope that's what she does, anyway.