Hayley Vs Judy

[chungchungxavier]

First and foremost , I want to say that I am not a troll and I am not here to bash Hayley .

I just bought Judy Collins' latest album "Amazing Grace" .

Judy has covered these 2 songs :
BOTH SIDES NOW
AMAZING GRACE

I listened to them many , many times .
and
I made a comparison between Judy's covers and that of Hayley.
and .......................................................................................

somehow I found that Judy's covers of these 2 songs are slightly superior to that of Hayley's covers .

I don't know exactly why .
but Judy's soprano voice seems to have more depth and is stronger , fuller and much richer . Hayley's seems a little weak and pretentious ........................................................................



and umm..........................
please give me your opinions

thank you !!!

[roger]

Hi chungchungxavier,

To be honest, I like both version of both somgs although it is many years since I have heard Judy Collins. I remember buying one of her early albums which had 'Both Sides Now' on it and loved it.

There isn't really a nead to compare their two voices. It's nice that we have a choice and can enjoy both.

Roger

[Dave]

chungchungxavier said:

I just bought Judy Collins' latest album "Amazing Grace" .
Judy has covered these 2 songs :
BOTH SIDES NOW
AMAZING GRACE

I listened to them many , many times .
and I made a comparison between Judy's covers and that of Hayley. and .......................................................................................
somehow I found that Judy's covers of these 2 songs are slightly superior to that of Hayley's covers .

I don't know exactly why . but Judy's soprano voice seems to have more depth and is stronger , fuller and much richer . Hayley's seems a little weak and pretentious ........................................................................
and umm..........................please give me your opinions
thank you !!!

Well, chungchungxavier, there are few things you may not know about Judy Collins and her recordings of those two songs.

First, Judy was and is a wonderful singer whom I remember well from her chart hits of the 1960s and later - and she has several all-time classic recordings to her name. Hayley would not have even considered trying to make "better" recordings than the originals - Hayley just likes to record, in her own way, songs that she likes and loves and these are two such songs. And of course, what Judy recorded are also covers, as are Hayley's versions.

I take strong exception to your use of the word "pretentious" to describe Hayley's voice in her versions of those songs and it is completely unjustified; perhaps you misunderstand what the word actually means? Hayley is one of the most unpretentious singers that i know.

Judy Collins has a unique sounding voice - as Hayley has - but they are very different voices. They were also very different in age when they first recorded these songs. Hayley was in her teens, Judy was aged 28 to 31 when she recorded them. The female singing voice continues to develop well into the twenties; perhaps you really meant to say that Hayley's voice sounds "younger" than Judy's? Well, it is!

And Judy has recorded more than one version of Both Sides Now (one of them many years after the original) and probably, Amazing Grace too. Do you know when she recorded the versions you are listening to? I assume that "her latest album" Amazing Grace is the album Judy first released in 1985 and which has recently been re-released in some Countries.

In my opinion, Hayley's versions of those two songs are of similar quality to Judy's famous originals and which version is the best is entirely down to personal preference. In my opinion (and I know and like both singers) neither version is "better" than the other.

Cheers, Dave

[postscript]

Hi Chungchungxavier.
'Comparisons be odorous' says Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream. I think you have to be careful that you are comparing like with like.

Judy Collins is a mature woman while Hayley is a young one, in that difference alone lies chalk from cheese. The beauty of Hayley is that her voice is still developing. Some of her now favourite songs are likely to remain favourite and in twenty years time (if she has chosen still to sing) she may well re-record. That is when you want to make comparison, between the mature Judy Collins and the mature Hayley.

We had a similar discussion, under which thread i can't recall, but I believe Roger contributed about soprano and mezzo-soprano (may have been Cadogan Hall) and we observed that there was little difference (a few notes) in the range of one against the other but I expressed the opinion that the range didn't matter as the timbre of the instrument.

A similar analogy could be drawn between clarinet and oboe. The musical range is not greatly different but the sound is totally different while often seeming close on some notes.

I'm not so sure it is a question of one version being better but that at the moment you would seem to prefer one over the other, may I suggest?

I have a similar problem but in a different way with Hayley's O Mio Babbino Caro. This has been a favourite of mine for years due to early musical impressions acquired from a local performer in my pre-teen years. That was rendered by a (to me) mature performer singing with all the emotional stops hanging out of their sockets.

I have long felt it was a song for Hayley because of the song itself and Hayley's age and she has occasionally introduced it with a humorous comment about it not relating to her family situation. Hayley's version is to let the tune carry the weight and her plea is the rationality of argument rather than deep emotion. I still cannot reconcile myself as to which interpretation I prefer and i conclude that I like both dependent upon my mood, in which case I would most often go for Hayley!

Peter