Does anyone have Walking in the Air?

[Belinda]

I bought my copy in the sounds music store,

There was a big display,
4 main centres had them, it was not that much a private thing
well originally maybe,Then it branched out.
If there had not been a WITA there may have not been the Wonderful Artist you see today.
Memories are about all we have thank goodness for WITA

Belinda

[Ed]

Personally I would kill to get a copy of WITA. Well, maybe not literally kill...I don't know. If the opportunity presented itself...

Just kidding. But I certainly envy anone who owns a copy. Don't ever part with it, but if you ever decide to, keep me in mind.

Ed

[Richard]

Hello Ed!

There are probably more people wanting this CD than there were copies produced. As the psychiatrist said to the chap who thought he was a snooker ball, "Get on the end of the cue!"

Best Wishes,

Richard

[luv4hayley]

Hi peoples. I'm new here. I wanted to join a fan club or something sooner, but I'm not the smartest internet guy, so it took me a while to get here. (And to figure out how to get here)

Anyway. I collect every scrap of Hayley music that I can get my hands on. I would LOVE to get Hayley's WITA CD. I looked all over for it and couldn't find it. Then I found out that it was extremely rare. If anyone knows where I can go to find it, or some of its songs, even if it wasn't downloadable, just merely listenable I would REALLY appreciate it. It's hard to know these songs are out there and I CAN'T listen to them . . . yes, it is hard.

[Richard]

Hello 'luv4hayley', and welcome to the forum!

As you say, 'Walking In The Air' is an extremely rare album, but it has been known for a copy to appear on eBay.

We have some information on the HWI main site HERE, including short clips of some of the tracks. Where you see the silver disc icon, click on the song title, then click on the spinning CD icon on the next page. There is also a clip of the title track.

Best Wishes from London,

Richard

[Nordly]

Also, some songs that don't have a silver disk are also on her album Hayley Westenra, and some of these have a silver disk.

HayleyLynnFan

[roger]

Hi HayleyLynnFan,

You are quite right in saying some of the WITA tracks also appear on the album entitled Hayley Westenra but they are different recordings. Nevertheless, it still enables you to hear her singing them.

Just for the record, WITA is extremely rare - originally, there were only 70 and then a further 1000 when fans began to demand them and a family friend financed the production.

Roger

[grant]

roger said:

originally, there were only 70 and then a further 1000
Roger

Hi Roger.

It's interesting where this figure of 70 comes from, because recently, I've had cause to question it!

After the BBC recording at the Mermaid Theatre the other week, I spoke to Hayley about the copy that was then on Ebay. Hayley said then that originally there were only 20 copies made. I thought at the time that possibly, with the passage of time, Hayley had forgotten the actual number.

Recently, I obtained a copy of 'Next' magazine for August 2001 featuring Hayley and Jill on the cover and a very good article inside. I was quite surprised that this article also states that there were only 20 original copies made.

Interesting!

Best wishes
Grant

[comet]

Hi Grant,
Does this mean the one that went on E bay recently was " One of Twenty "



comet

[Mark]

Hi Comet/Paul

I suspect that it was - having the Westenra's phone number written on the back of the cd case. However, Hayley seemed a little mystified about the "extra" track on that particular one - so who knows I know one thing for sure, I'm regretting not having at least attempting to bid for it

Best wishes
Mark

[grant]

Hi Paul/Mark

Talking to Hayley after the show at the Mermaid, it would appear that it was neither one of the 20 (or 70) as I checked with the seller and, although it had a phone number on a label, it didn't have the unique ID number. The larger batch of 1000 are all supposed to be identical to Belinda's so it aint one o' them either!!.

Although Hayley remembered the additional song after Caitlin had told her the correct title, it would seem that it wasn't on either of the recordings.

I have to be careful here, but it seems it may have been an 'unofficial' release which Hayley said she would look into, but we may never know the full story unless others like it turn up.

Best wishes
Grant

[Dave]

grant said:

roger said:

originally, there were only 70 and then a further 1000
Roger

It's interesting where this figure of 70 comes from, because recently, I've had cause to question it!

Hi Grant,

I don't know where it originated but it's certainly stated in Hayley's 2004 (auto?)biography "The World at Her Feet". Page 46:

The Westenras paid for some seventy copies of Walking in the Air to give to family members and special friends.

Of course, the 70 could have been produced in smaller batches but I don't think the details are important as even the family may not accurately recall the exact size of the first batch, which ones were for family use etc. There could easily have been a few try-out versions too, with more than one different track listing - but we may never know the details of this and whatever we think we know, it may be impossible to verify as the full details may be forever lost in the mists of time.

Cheers, Dave

[Andrew]

Hi All,

I have just Emailed the eBay seller who sold this particular copy of 'WITA' on eBay (Sept 21st 2007) for the equivalent of: £335.19, to see if they can supply any more copies of the CD! The seller, as I think we have already discussed is located in New Zealand. It appears that the CD was obtained from another second hand record store (he responded to a question from Grant!).

Yes it is very intriguing to see the song title: 'Part of My World' included on the track listing. Indeed this was not included on the other version of 'WITA' (catalogue no. cdhw001).

The Copyright stamp on the reverse of the CD cover - of the CD sold on eBay read: "Copyright Hayley Westenra 2000, All Rights Reserved, Unauthorized copying, lending or public performance prohibited". This was different to the Copyright stamp on the reverse of 'WITA' (catalogue no. cdhw001).

I hope we can find out a little more about the CD which was sold on eBay. That particular CD had a picture of Hayley on the front cover which I hadn't ever seen before either.

Andrew

[roger]

Hi Grant,

I don't recall where I first heard the figure of 70 being mentioned but it certainly pre-dates the publication of the book. I have always believed that to be the correct number but it may not be.

Roger

[grant]

Hi Dave

I understand that the original quantity were individually numbered, because if you read further on in the chapter, Alan Traill comments that he is very proud to have "Copy No. 1", which would seem to suggest that there was only one batch produced.

Don't you just love a good mystery!?

Best wishes
Grant