Songs of Praise, Jan. 4, 2004

[gareth]

Hello All,

Just a reminder that Hayley will appear on BBC One Songs of Praise, Sunday January 4th, from 17:30 - 18:05 local time (time in Holland 18:30 - 19:05).

Hayley is scheduled to perform one song, "Heaven". She was filmed in a loft appartment in East London.

Needless to say - I have my video recorder ready. Haven't seen her perform "heaven" on video!

Gareth

(Details:
www.bbc.co.uk/religion/programmes/songsofpraise/)

[Dave]

Thanks for that information Gareth, and what an interesting choice of song. The title and lyrics are obviously religious but to my ear, the arrangement is more like "easy listening" pop music. A big change from Hayley's three Christmas performances that we've enjoyed in the UK. I wonder if they will mention that it's from "Pure?"

I haven't watched "Songs of Praise" for a long time but I don't remember them doing "happy" arrangements of songs. In the old days, they always seemed to do everything far too solemnly for my liking. Perhaps this is a sign that things have changed for the better! And with a bigger audience than Top of the Pops, Hayley's Songs of Praise appearance may help to shove Pure back up the charts again news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/3303285.stm

P.S.
Well now I've seen the programme I can see exactly why they chose "Heaven"... in the context of what went before, it was a wonderful choice, and a really nice video production too. What a lovely upbeat way to (almost) end the programme and what a perfect performer to sing it! It literally brought tears to my eyes...

[gareth]

Hi Dave,

Those are interesting observations . Obviously, they didn't mention Pure during the programme - just a clean video. I was glad they didn't spoil it by talking through the intro or butting in at the end, as often happens!

The arrangement was quite compelling. I liked the way they tried to recreate an 'unearthly' ('heavenly' ?) atmosphere. And yes, it did fit in well. If I remember correctly, the last interview before that was about organ donation - one way in which people can make heaven on earth for each other - which in a way is what the song was about.

I have a special interest in programmes like Songs of Praise, as i am always looking for suitable video material to feature on Young Performers!

Gareth

[Dave]

Well as we guessed, Songs of Praise (and a wonderful performance by Hayley!) did the trick. Pure dropped to 27 in the pop album charts last week - then came Songs of Praise - and it's just shot up to 14 again (and number one in the Classical charts).