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Post by martindn on Nov 27, 2007 23:10:35 GMT
Well, I had this album almost a week now, and have played it quite a few times. It was off my car CD player only once during y visit to the Lake District, and that was to play West Side Story. Last Friday was a fabulous day, clear blue sky from dawn to dusk, although quite cold and freezing hard on the summit os Blencathra. But the visibility was superb, we could clearly see the Scottish hills sixty miles away. The "new" songs have had time to grow on me, and, just like every other Hayley album, I have fallen in love all over again, or at least that is what it feels like! Yes, this is a wonderful collection, with probably more variety than any other album, even though there is no opera. "Listen to the Wind" and "You are Water" I particularly like among the new songs, and the old ones are all favourites anyway. It would probably be a good choice for someone who is new to Hayley's music, provided they aren't opera fans. There is certainly nothing here that is less than excellent, and some of it is stunning.
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Post by Richard on Dec 8, 2007 14:18:45 GMT
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Martin
Global Moderator
HWI Management Team
Posts: 3,335
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Post by Martin on Dec 8, 2007 14:46:31 GMT
£26 !!! Are you sure? - I paid around £12 including delivery from Japan. Martin
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Post by roger on Dec 8, 2007 17:00:57 GMT
Yes Martin. I can confirm that HMV are charging £26 for this item. I saw it in the same store last week and put it back for two reasons: 1. The Price. 2. I've already got it! Roger
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Post by James on Dec 9, 2007 21:43:00 GMT
As I mentioned to a few of you at Fairfield Halls, my copy of Prayer finally arrived that morning. This weekend is the first chance I've had to listen to it and it's definitely a welcome addition to the collection, containing many songs I have not heard before. Interestingly, when I put it into my laptop, the titles came up in Japanese so I can learn the song titles in a new language (just like Stephany! ) I'm not going to add a detailed review, as that's already been done on this thread, but I have comments on a couple of songs: First the bad news; this album contains probably the worst song Hayley has ever recorded. "There's A Sparkle In Your Eyes" is frankly awful. The male singer sounds like a poor Elvis impersonator and I just don't think is worthy of duetting with Hayley, unlike say Andrea Bocelli and Humphry Bernal. The song is horribly old fashioned and for me just doesn't work. Now the good news - there are some great "new" songs on this album. On first listen I fell in love with "Listen To The Wind", and on second listen I thought it was even better! This reminds me somewhat of "Let Me Lie" and makes me wonder if Hayley had this in mind when writing that track? The other stand out new track is "I'm Kissing You" - simply beautiful. I also like "You Are Water" and it shows that Hayley can do light pop/country very well (as we saw at Shepherd's Bush). This track reminded me a bit of Summer Fly and is a direction Hayley could comfortably explore in future. James
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Post by martindn on Dec 10, 2007 23:00:10 GMT
"Listen to the Wind" is a superb song IMO. Terrific lyrics too. Why it wasn't used in the film I will never understand. Does anyone know who wrote "You are Water"? The sleeve notes don't mention songwriting credits as far as I can tell. Is this another one of Hayley's songs? If so it is impressive.
Martin
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Post by James on Dec 10, 2007 23:15:41 GMT
Does anyone know who wrote "You are Water"? The sleeve notes don't mention songwriting credits as far as I can tell. Is this another one of Hayley's songs? Martin Sadly not Martin. The songwriting credits appear to go to Ava Parnass, Alex Forbes and Eve Nelson. I'm not familiar with any of their other work. I believe the song is on the original release of Odyssey, so maybe someone with that album can shed more light? James
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Post by grant on Dec 11, 2007 0:35:33 GMT
Hi James, Martin and everyone "You Are Water" First appeared on the US release of Odyssey. James is correct about the writers, and I believe this was the song written for Hayley to sing on Oprah, although this never happened, Hayley liked the song and recorded it. I'm sure I've read, or heard Hayley talk about it in an interview, but for anyone who hasn't realised, the song is about a daughter talking about the importance of her father. You may be interested to check out the following HEREHope that helps! Best wishes Grant
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Post by Stephany on Dec 11, 2007 9:56:03 GMT
First the bad news; this album contains probably the worst song Hayley has ever recorded. "There's A Sparkle In Your Eyes" is frankly awful. The male singer sounds like a poor Elvis impersonator and I just don't think is worthy of duetting with Hayley, unlike say Andrea Bocelli and Humphry Bernal. The song is horribly old fashioned and for me just doesn't work. Hello James, Have you seen the video clip of 'There's a sparkle in your eyes'? You're gonna 'love' it even more You can see it HERE. Stephany
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Post by comet on Dec 11, 2007 11:22:29 GMT
Oi ! Just to make it worse, I have the DVD The Crooners, also the DVD the making of the Crooners and the DOUBLE cd The Crooners I love Hayley in this video, I'm not that fussed about Lotti, but that might be because he's a bloke, but he is a great singer. It might just grow on you James, This might be the duet for you and Hayley to do together with a great big guitar riff
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Post by grant on Dec 11, 2007 14:22:23 GMT
Hi Comet and James. I too have to admit to quite liking this duet. I'm not a great fan of Helmut Lotti and the whole thing is a bit 'twee' (that's if you've seen the video), but come on! It's our Hayley so it's got to have something going for it! Best wishes Grant
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Post by James on Dec 12, 2007 21:35:53 GMT
I love Hayley in this video I'm not denying the merits of Hayley in the video (though the expressions are a little schmalzy) - it's just that the video is slightly better with the sound turned down in places. I'd rather watch (and listen) to the Pokarekare ana video on my edition of Pure. Grudgingly though, I must admit the video was slightly better second time through...
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Post by Stephany on Dec 12, 2007 21:47:12 GMT
Grudgingly though, I must admit the video was slightly better second time through... Great acting from Hayley, isn't it? Stephany
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Post by Paddy on Dec 13, 2007 2:18:51 GMT
Oi !Just to make it worse, I have the DVD The Crooners, also the DVD the making of the Crooners and the DOUBLE cd The Crooners I love Hayley in this video, I'm not that fussed about Lotti, but that might be because he's a bloke, but he is a great singer. It might just grow on you James, This might be the duet for you and Hayley to do together with a great big guitar riff Hi Comet! While I agree with your " Oi!" in this context, I must confess that I don't share your love for 'The Crooners' or that genre of music. Yes, Helmut is a good singer in my view - but I wish he'd sing something else ... That said, I must admit that, when I first heard 'There's A Sparkle In your Eye', it impressed me as a performance (within its genre) . I was also delighted to see this further evidence of Hayley's versatility and was surprised to see how well she could handle this genre - " horribly old-fashioned" as it may well seem to some. I find the genre somewhat ' amusing' and, hopefully, Hayley will have more original material on her forthcoming albums and compilations. Paddy
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Post by Richard on Dec 13, 2007 8:44:56 GMT
Hello James and everybody! I quite like 'Sparkle', but I'm glad I've found it on a Hayley album. I've seen a copy of 'The Crooners' in HMV here in London, but I wasn't tempted. Richard
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