Odyssey - a look back.

[jons]

A retrospective on Odyssey - First: The initial excitement


The website was still unmistakably Pure - white, scattered with images taken from the album, but on this visit there was another single word echoing in my mind - ‘Odyssey’. I had visited the site hoping to find something. I had been waiting patently for this in fact, and there it was, a clickable link with colours and imagery at odds with the main site layout. At once I clicked on it.
The Ecard loaded relatively fast on my Broadband connection. It may have been exciting to see new artwork but I was aching to click on ‘samples’; Its always exciting to hear the first notes of an artists new album but Hayley was different: It wasn‘t just anybody’s voice. Before I had the chance to do anything however, it struck me. The words “What You Never Know”. I’d never heard that song before, but I felt I had, and it was a favourite of mine. It was Hayley singing, but on retrospect it didn’t sound like the voice on Pure. This didn’t matter one bit - it was unmistakably Hayley. A matured voice, a more colourful voice. Listening to the rest of the samples, my breathe was taken away. A couple of the songs I did not like, but was willing to give them a chance to grow on me. While I waited for the album to be released I was addicted to these samples.
Listening to the album proper revealed the full power of those songs and of Hayley. ‘Never Saw Blue’ had real emotion in her voice - a sign of maturity. After hearing samples to ‘I Say Grace’ and ’My Heart Belongs To You’ I had to get the international album. While some people do not like those songs, the truth was the latter showed how much emotion Hayley puts into her songs - Hayley may not have the power of Celin Dion but each word she sung on that song has meaning and if you where not moved by it you must have had a heart of stone. The former song was gospel, but some thought she didn’t sing it in a gospel manner, whatever that means. What it was to me was pure, sweet and meaningful. Delicate and smooth and even if you did not like the song it was that thing again - unmistakably Hayley.

[Dori]

Yes, it was amazing how both, her voice and even the photoshoots, were so different from Pure, yet they were oddly the same!
Dori

[comet]

Hi Folks.
Has any noticed after listening to Treasure (About 80 Times at least) that it changes your perspective on Odyssey completely.

You start to hear Hayley's voice relative to the age she was when Odyssey was recorded, If anything it makes you appreciate Odyssey more because now Hayley's voice has matured and changed.

It's not that I don't love Treasure too, I do, I do, I do,
But it now places Odyssey firmly between Pure and Treasure as a clear record of the development and growth of Hayley's vocal abilities.

comet

[Martin]

Hi Comet
This is all true and there may well be some songs performed on Pure for instance which would not now suit Hayley's voice. Perhaps "Wuthering Heights"?

I'm sure our other members will have strong views on this suggestion.

Martin

[Dori]

Oh my gosh, Comet, that's EXACTLY what i was telling a friend the other day!!! So true!!!!
Dori

[milewalker]

This is of course, one of the potential challanges that Hayley faces. Objectively, her voice has matured and improved as befits the four years or so between recordings. Unfortunately and paradoxically however, from the perspective of anyone who thought that Pure was perfect, any change at all in her voice will be perceived for the worse. I think that this problem is common to the type - any teenaged artist will be subject to this effect. It is, in fact, one of the reasons I have been trying to focus on ways she can grow her fanbase, because she is going to lose some people along the way, because of this and other factors.

Jon

[Eric]

Hi Jon (milewalker),

I do agree with you that a singer is always looking to maintain her current fanbase. However, what about her new fans? I personally fell in love with her voice once I had heard "Celtic Treasure" (without ever hearing the other two CD's). Only after this, did I purchase the first two and then began to realize how diverse her style is. Nonetheless, she had me hooked on "Let Me Lie" about two seconds in.

She has different styles she likes to sing...this last album seemed to me more of a "Hello, let me tell you a little about myself-themed" CD than a "hey, look at what I can do" CD. She's taken the world by storm through her first two international albums...and I think it was time to reflect a little, possibly experiment a little, however, mostly to appreciate her heritage, where she came from, and who has been an inspiration to her.

I don't know....Just a thought. I'm open to any dissenting views.

Eric

[grant]

When Treasure first appeared and everyone marvelled at the beauty of it. It somehow seemed to be compared with Pure and I got the impression that many thought Odyssey to be the poor relation.

Like many of us, I guess, once I had Treasure, I played it non-stop to the exclusion of everything else. Then, when I drove to Telford to get our concert tickets ( a leisurely 90 minute drive) I let the CD player get on with it.

You know, I'd forgotten how much I LOVE Odyssey but I guess not hearing it for a while and then having some "new" Hayley to compare it with, my appreciation of it has changed - for the better I might add.

Best wishes
Grant

[Stephany]

I can't really comment adequately on this topic because I discovered "Pure" and "Odyssey" at the same time.
Yet, I noticed the evolution in Hayley's voice between the 2 albums (for the better, I think) and it is clear that she embraced a wider range of musical styles with "Odyssey". But the reason I like better "Pure" is because I didn't know most of the songs on it as opposed to "Odyssey" (even though I adore Hayley's rendition of each song!).

[Mark]

Hi everyone

I think we must have all reached this stage at more or less the same time I also recently listened to Odyssey after not listening to it for a while and I also really enjoyed it, almost like listening to for the first time

Best regards
Mark

[postscript]

comet said:

Hi Folks.
Has any noticed after listening to Treasure (About 80 Times at least) that it changes your perspective on Odyssey completely.

You start to hear Hayley's voice relative to the age she was when Odyssey was recorded, If anything it makes you appreciate Odyssey more because now Hayley's voice has matured and changed.

It's not that I don't love Treasure too, I do, I do, I do,
But it now places Odyssey firmly between Pure and Treasure as a clear record of the development and growth of Hayley's vocal abilities.

comet

Interesting comment, Comet. I recently found myself playing 'Pure' for the first time for a long time. I found that also very refreshing. To say we have three Hayley's would perhaps exaggerate a point, but there is a lot in what you say.

Now, that poses a question. The placing of her CDs. Are they solely to do with logistics: time, promotion pattern; Hayley making up her mind and 'feeling her way' to each CD; or could it be taking advantage of noticeable changes in her devlopment--or is that point a pure coincidence?

Peter S.

[milewalker]

Hello all,

I think the perspective about how Hayley's voice has changed is different if you also consider her first two albums. In my opinion, she had already done a lot of her vocal development by the time she released My Gift To You. The lovely version of Pokarekare Ana there is already unmistakably Hayley. Her voice has grown considerably since then - Pure was another big step forward. My sense however is that the change has actually slowed somewhat between Odyssey and Treasure.

Jon

[jons]

I'll get back to this later, but when putting together the 'metascore' for Odyssey I noticed quite a few negative reviews (Most from consumers) and it surprised me. But I don't remember checking any reviews when I first got Odyssey so it obviously went unnoticed.

[postscript]

jons said:

I'll get back to this later, but when putting together the 'metascore' for Odyssey I noticed quite a few negative reviews (Most from consumers) and it surprised me. But I don't remember checking any reviews when I first got Odyssey so it obviously went unnoticed.

An interesting point Jon. If they weren't noticed, do we need to rake them up? Having said that, I have stated in the past we should be positive about negative reviews, meeting them head on by evaluating their validity as being the best way to maintain balance and therefore our collective integrity. We do Hayley more favour by being upfront with negativity than by 'hiding it' by not acknowledging critcism. So, if there is criticism, can we try and put it in context regarding source/authority/validity? In particular, perhaps relevance?

Peter S.

[jons]

postscript said:

jons said:

I'll get back to this later, but when putting together the 'metascore' for Odyssey I noticed quite a few negative reviews (Most from consumers) and it surprised me. But I don't remember checking any reviews when I first got Odyssey so it obviously went unnoticed.

An interesting point Jon. If they weren't noticed, do we need to rake them up? Having said that, I have stated in the past we should be positive about negative reviews, meeting them head on by evaluating their validity as being the best way to maintain balance and therefore our collective integrity. We do Hayley more favour by being upfront with negativity than by 'hiding it' by not acknowledging critcism. So, if there is criticism, can we try and put it in context regarding source/authority/validity? In particular, perhaps relevance?

Peter S.

I agree Peter. I'm hoping that the 'Metascore' proves that, despite the presence of criticism, the majority view is a good one. If you include all the positive reviews whether generally or very positive that we found it comes to 87 out 100 per cent. Which is very good indeed, but we will see what happens with Odyssey (I expect it to be similar.) Remember these reviews are un-biased.

It is good to see fans expressing relevant criticism as you mentioned Peter. You could say that if those really negative reviews from some sources seem a bit personal they can be dismissed - it might be a good idea to review them.