Pure US version

[Joe]

Is the song "My Heart and I" not on the US version? I can't find it on any track listings.

[HWI]

It doesn't look like it, Joe. I also spotted an error on their tracklisting.

It says Amazing Grace (From the "Armed Man: A Mass For Peace"). Amazing Grace is a traditional song. This note should be alongside Benedictus.

Keith.

[Joe]

The CD booklet contains NEW pictures of Hayley! Page 8 has a *gorgeous* pic of Hayley looking in a mirror, page 14 has a different pose of her at the seaside. In the other booklet she's got on a hooded blue coat w/ "fur" trim. This is a nice close-up done in a sepia tint. The next page (the credits) is diff. also. Plus there's an insert from Universal Classics about joining a mailing list.

[Joe]

Just listened to the entire album. Pokarakara Ana is the same w/ the Te Tau Choir. No added English lyrics like "come back to me".

However Wuthering Heights is different!!! It's the version from the video and single.

Benedictus is listed as From the "Armed Man: A Mass For Peace" and not Amazing Grace. It's been corrected.

[Dave]

Thanks for that Joe. The new US CD booklet is up on HWI already (well done Keith/Simon!) and I was wondering why the dates recorded (page 7)had "November/December 2003" added. I wonder if anything else apart from WH was re-recorded or remixed? What about the instrumental break near the end of PA? Is it the same as the new PA video, or like the original UK version?

The trend on Amazon sales rank is encouraging, with Pure at 219 on release day and already up to 81 by mid morning NY time today

I can't wait for the Billboard chart and sales details, next week. We must look out for any sales information released early, by Billboard or Decca!

[preciousthings]

It'll be the fastest selling classical album in the US . Really, these days, failure is the phenomenon

[Joe]

Hello Dave!

PA is the same version as my Int'l and Australia re-release of Pure. Even though the listing for PA has "Come Back to Me", it's not even sung. There's no instrumental break, just the choir. I don't have the UK version. Thank God, b/c I have 3 CD's and 3 cases and 3 booklets from Pure and it's hard to tell what's what.

Yeah, WH is a different (the one from the video). I like the percussion better. I was puzzled also about the Nov/Dec 2003 recording time. That's when she did the video.

Those numbers from Amazon are looking better and better! Thanks for keeping track for us.

Take care,
Joe

[HWI]

I think I know when the WH video was filmed, although I am not saying.

Mind you, being a person of integrity, I am open to bribery. i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif

Keith.

[Dave]

Joe said:

Those numbers from Amazon are looking better and better! Thanks for keeping track for us.

Hi Joe - now 219 to 36 in one day

Whoooooooooosh........ look out Josh Groban above, you're getting some company!

Changing subjects, hey Keith[/size][/color], give us a clue!

[HWI]

You've forced me into this Dave. It's all your fault.

When we saw Hayley at the Sargeant Cancer Care For Children Christmas Concert last December 12th, Steve (Hayley's manager) was beginning to get a little agitated as time passed. The reason - they had to go back to the apartment to pack, and then start on a two and a half hour journey. The following morning, Hayley was to be on set filming a video by 8am.

Could that be the one? The only video I have seen which would fit the bill of an English location in the middle of winter is WH.

[preciousthings]

Joe said:

The CD booklet contains NEW pictures of Hayley! Page 8 has a *gorgeous* pic of Hayley looking in a mirror

There's something that bugs me about the album booklet pictures. Did they really deem it necessary to tint Hayley's hair dark and color her eyes to an almost unnatural blue, added to that, airbrush out her cheeks?

[stevemacdonald]

Hi Joe - now 219 to 36 in one day

I just got back from the busy Borders store in my neighborhood and have some disappointing information to share:

I checked with them and they have not yet sold a single copy of Pure despite having her poster in the front window for a few weeks and a large display rack devoted exclusively to her.

I have a feeling it will take some time before Pure gathers steam in the USA. Until she does some major TV appearances the music-buying public will not seek out her CDs.

But take heart. It took Norah Jones a full year just to break the top ten.

[Dave]

SteveMacDonald said:

I just got back from the busy Borders store in my neighborhood and have some disappointing information to share:

I checked with them and they have not yet sold a single copy of Pure despite having her poster in the front window for a few weeks and a large display rack devoted exclusively to her.

I have a feeling it will take some time before Pure gathers steam in the USA. Until she does some major TV appearances the music-buying public will not seek out her CDs.

But take heart. It took Norah Jones a full year just to break the top ten.

You are right, of course Steve. We musn't get too carried away. Hayley was in the UK weeks or months ahead of the release and that must have contributed to its high chart entry at 8. She's hardly arrived in the US and it's out already! So comparisons with the UK are premature.

A better comparison may be with Charlotte Church's debut in the US, Voice of an Angel, it entered the charts in early April 1999 (same time of year!). Its first 7 weeks were 28 (highest) -34-42-47-51-57-73- then it spent a year between 50 and 140! It wasn't until her third album Dream a Dream that Charlotte reached the top 10 (no.7).

Also, the effect of Easter on first week sales is unpredictable, so we (including me!) should be patient. With Hayley's two TV appearances next week, we may see Pure climbing the chart in week 2. Anything higher than Charlotte's debut album in the first few weeks will be real success and I will be getting quite excited if Hayley does it!

[HWI]

Hayley was in the UK from February to June of 2003, recording the album and doing appearances. She then went to New Zealand, Australia, and several Asian countries before returning to the UK in August. From August, she was here pretty well right through (with a flying visit to Japan in November) until mid December. So, although she had a number of appearances under her belt before June, her real promotional work for the album ran from the Faenol Festival on 24th August righ the way through until she went home for Christmas.

So, it may be a bit slow off the starting blocks in the US, but just watch how quickly it picks up speed once she starts appearing on TV etc.

I would not be surprised to see it go double platinum over there fairly quickly, too.

Keith.

[roger]

Earlier this week, Kirsty pointed out a difference that she had detected in the US version of Wuthering Heights compared to that on the UK and other versions. Admittedly I cannot hear any difference in the way Hayley sings the word "home" during the chorus as she indicated but that doesn't mean there isn't one. I do agree with her that there may be a little more "echo" being used.

What I have also noticed is that Hayley's voice sounds a little stronger and more mature in the US version throughout the song.

A vast difference appears in the arrangement of the percussion. When it first comes in, it does so with a "crash" and then certain beats are accentuated very heavily throughout. If you then go back to the UK version, the percussion passes almost unnoticed. Personally, I much prefer the stronger beat (and the stronger vocal) and so I feel the US version is vastly better.

Of course, this is this version that was to be used for the hitherto unreleased UK single. It was presumably chosen for the US CD in the belief that it was the better one. Oddly, another version that I have which purports to be the German release (even though it is not yet available and therefore is a mystery in itself!) reverts to the original version. Strange.