UK: Pure to be re-released! (from HMV)

[Dave]

Dave said:

(from Charts thread):
Sales can be combined for chart purposes if at least 80% of the tracks are common to both versions of the CD.... So if the original Pure is kept intact, a bonus CD could be included with 3 or 4 new tracks plus some remixes of the original songs.
Decca would have to be careful not to fall foul of the classical chart rules... Shall we start a campaign? i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif

HMV have just posted a UK re-release of "Pure" with bonus tracks Here's the link. [/color]

It's now available for pre-order, with a release date of November 15th - and the bonus tracks (to be confirmed) are:

14. Mary Did You Know
15. Across The Universe Of Time
16. My Heart & I
17. Pokarekare Ana [/size]

[Dave]

The UK re-release of Pure on November 15th 2004 is now supported by W H Smith and they say: "Original version of the album Pure plus a bonus disc containing 7 brand new tracks plus the beautiful video for Pokarekare Ana." So this is starting to look like quite an exciting release.

Edit: Found the track list at: [/color] Crotchet.co.uk.

Based on what WHS and Crotchet have said:

Disc 1:
The original UK Pure.

Disc 2:
Mary did You Know.
Bridal Ballad from the film 'Merchant of Venice'.
Pokarekare Ana - Vocalese.
My Heart and I.
Across The Universe Of Time.
Silent Night. (doesn't say if it's the duet with Aled Jones or not )
Away in a Manger.
Pokarekare Ana - Video.

I might just have to buy it - again!

[gareth]

Dave said:

The UK re-release of Pure on November 15th 2004 is now supported by W H Smith and they say: "Original version of the album Pure plus a bonus disc containing 7 brand new tracks plus the beautiful video for Pokarekare Ana." So this is starting to look like quite an exciting release.

Edit: Found the track list at:

[/color] Crotchet.co.uk.

Based on what WHS and Crotchet have said:

Disc 1:
The original UK Pure.

Disc 2:
Mary did You Know.
Bridal Ballad from the film 'Merchant of Venice'.
Pokarekare Ana - Vocalese.
My Heart and I.
Across The Universe Of Time.
Silent Night. (doesn't say if it's the duet with Aled Jones or not )
Away in a Manger.
Pokarekare Ana - Video.

I might just have to buy it - again!
[/quote]

Hello Dave, forgive me for being critical (again) - but I shall NOT be buying the re-release. Reasons are as explained in the following copy from a post elsewhere.

Added to that, the slogan "7 brand new tracks" in my view accounts to misleading advertising. What's so brand new about "Mary Did You know", "My Heart and I", "Across The Universe of Time", "Away in a manger"? And the two more versions of Pokarakare Ana. What's brand new about that? I am reserving my judgement on Silent Night. If this is the Aled Jones duet, one could say it is new ....

---

Hmmm,

I got some questions about re-releasing Pure in Britain. Frankly - I'm not altogether impressed with that.

What's really new on that re-release? "The Wedding Song" perhaps. I believe that every other track has been released on one version or the other of Pure already. Why do a re-release with a "bonus" CD, when with just 6 or 7 more other tracks they could have created a completely new album? After all, it is well over a year ago that Pure was released in Britain - surely a new album could have been contemplated.

This is now the second time that Pure has been re-released in a country with a "bonus" CD. Last year it was Australia, just before Christmas, with a 'Christmas bonus'. Just about all of the tracks on that Christmas 'bonus' are now appearing on the UK 'bonus'.

I do not think that such re-releases with 'bonus' 'half' or 'quarter' CDs are bonuses at all. It may attract a small percentage of new fans - but I think this is more akin to 'milking' the existing fan base.

I am not one of those who is going to allow himself to be milked. I have two different releases of Pure, one including a 'bonus VCD'. When I put those two versions together, I have all but one of the tracks on this re-release of Pure. I am not going to fork out money just for that one track.

It is well known that the record industry is facing dilemmas, with lots of people saying that albums are way too expensive. Now we have a situation that we have to fork out that way too expensive price again, just to keep our collection of Hayley songs complete.

I think that with a little effort (and possibly with a less hectic concert schedule for Hayley), Decca would have been quite able to present us now with a genuinely new album. Record 7 new songs, and put them on that 'bonus' CD, and release that as a new album ....

I hope I am not upsetting Hayley fans - I am a genuine fan myself. But I do not like what's been going on since the release of Pure in NZ. There has been a flood of derived items since then, like a special Japan single, a special UK single, a special bonus Australian issue, and now a special bonus UK issue.

Time for a new album, I think.

Gerrit

[Dave]

GerritK said:

Hello Dave, forgive me for being critical (again) - but I shall NOT be buying the re-release. Reasons are as explained in the following copy from a post elsewhere.

Added to that, the slogan "7 brand new tracks" in my view accounts to misleading advertising. What's so brand new about "Mary Did You know", "My Heart and I", "Across The Universe of Time", "Away in a manger"? And the two more versions of Pokarakare Ana. What's brand new about that? I am reserving my judgement on Silent Night. If this is the Aled Jones duet, one could say it is new ....

[snip] ...Time for a new album, I think.

I think it's becoming a standard record industry ploy Gerrit, to be honest: re-releasing a CD at the end of its run to squeeze out the last few sales and maybe add another platinum from the extra shipments. We are going to see a lot more of this in the future as they have just relaxed the chart rules to allow any number of extra tracks on a bonus CD (the previous limit was about 4 excluding remixes and videos). I think this explains why Decca suddenly increased the bonus CD tracks from 3 + video to 7 + video. They should have thrown everything they had in, in my opinion - but the change did only occur a few weeks ago. Also, Decca seem to be limited by wanting to get Pure into the UK classical chart - maybe for good financial reasons as Hayley's only UK airplay is on Classic FM? So that would limit their choice of material for the bonus disc (playing devil's advocate for Decca here )

I suppose most of the "new" stuff is genuinely new to most of the general public, only die hard fans in the UK will have these tracks already! I only have the basic "Pure" and no other recent Hayley CD material. So I may buy it if I can get it for under £10 or a present - we'll see.

Let's hope we don't have to wait too long for Hayley's next CD - I agree that one could have been fitted in but Decca's fixation on the US market at the moment probably precluded it. I think a new CD for the UK NZ and Oz this year may have sold a million - far more than Pure seems set to sell in the US (120,000 currently, by my estimate, after 6 months). I hope Hayley doesn't miss the boat by delaying her 2nd International album for too long...

[roger]

First of all, I agree with virtually everything that Gerrit has said concerning the forthcoming UK re-release of Pure. Moreover, I have been concerned for months that fans are being kept waiting far too long for the release of the next album.

However, the suggestion that the seven "new" tracks plus video on the bonus disc is misleading, in my opinion, isn't entirely true. These tracks will be new to the UK market. Only those of us who have bought imported versions will already posses them. Not everyone can buy online and not everyone is aware that imported versions with bonus discs have been available in stores in London. Consequently, I suspect that only Hayley's most devoted UK fans (like me!) will have bought these imported versions and that the vast majority will therefore be delighted that seven more tracks will now be easily available. No doubt, they would have preferred an entirely new album too but this is better than nothing.

Just for the record, I will be buying it!

[Dave]

Lest it be thought I was disagreeing with the sentiment of Gerrit's post, far from it. Let me put the record straight - I had only intended to play devil's advocate. I definitely think that by now, Hayley should have her next album under way and the US launch shouldn't have been allowed to get in the way of that. Most debut singers (Internationally, that's what Hayley is) release their second album within 15 months of the first and that means - this month! You can bet your bottom dollar that Decca will want to launch the next album for next year's Christmas market, which means an Autumn release. Big mistake - many of her original fans may have drifted away by then. Some of us already seem to be getting irritated, not with Hayley but with the way things seem to be being handled on her behalf.

As for their stop-gap of the UK special edition, given the new chart rules, it's looking like an increasingly feeble effort (by Decca) in comparison with the opposition. Take Katie Melua for example - another young (UK) singer who came on the scene not long after Hayley, last autumn, and her debut CD "Call of the Search" has done even better than Pure (triple platinum here). Take a look at her UK "special edition", released on Monday next week: HMV details.

Katie Melua's bonus disc is an *entire concert* on DVD containing all the original songs and seven extra ones, plus a three minute interview with her and videos of the three singles she's released. Not only that, Amazon are selling the whole CD+DVD package for £8.99! Now that's what I call a bonus disc!!! Several other artists' bonus discs, out this autumn in the UK, are also much better value than "Pure" (in terms of the amount of extra content). Frankly, Decca are looking increasingly mean when you add this to the multitude of "Pure" special editions all over the world - I too have never seen anything like it! Frankly. If they carry on like this, they risk killing or at least hurting the goose that laid the golden egg - and none of us want that.

Wake up, Decca!

[roger]

Just to underline Dave's point with which I wholeheartedly agree, Katherine Jenkins' second album is due to be released on Monday. That is just 6.5 months after the release of her first.

Hayley has established a sizeable fan base here in the UK. Again, Dave is quite right when he suggests that some of them may drift away. Not only that but, with Pure drifting out of the charts, Hayley is being played on the radio less and less. That in turn will not help the sale of tickets for next month's tour. Only two weeks ago I enquired at one of the venues and was offered a block of four tickets in the third row!

Frankly, I was surprised when this tour was announced. Pure was spectacularly successful by any standards but there is a limit to the amount of time that an artist can ride on the back of the success of one album. Of course I don't blame Hayley personally; I fear she may be a victim of her own success.

[gareth]

Well, when I posted my thoughts initially, I did so with some reluctance - but my concerns about all these versions already started last year, when Pure was re-released in Australia/New Zealand with a bonus Christmas CD. Already at that time I thought - so, that's what loyal supporters get - a message from Decca that they shouldn't buy too quickly, because by waiting some time they would have gotten better value for money.

Quite obviously, I also wanted to find out if others were having similar concerns. It seems that quite a few people do.

Thanks for correcting some of my points - some of it was written too much from the 'Internet trading community'. I now realise that the UK bonus will for most people contain more than just 1 new track. But they are certainly not all brand new - not even for the British public. Across the Universe of Time and My Heart and I were already available on the Wuthering Heights single (unless these are new recordings - but then I'd say, why spend time on re-recording old material; that time would be better spent on recording a few real new songs.

Gerrit

[roger]

GerritK said:

I now realise that the UK bonus will for most people contain more than just 1 new track. But they are certainly not all brand new - not even for the British public. Across the Universe of Time and My Heart and I were already available on the Wuthering Heights single (unless these are new recordings - but then I'd say, why spend time on re-recording old material; that time would be better spent on recording a few real new songs.

Gerrit

Just a small technicality here. The Wuthering Heights single was never released in the UK. Again, only a relatively small number have been obtained from overseas by ordering online. I missed the boat and have never been able to get it. Consequently, this will be the first opportunity for the UK public to buy "Across the Universe of Time" and "My Heart and I" other than to order it online as an import.

Roger

[gareth]

Well now - this is news for me. I thought that the version including the Wuthering Heights video was not released, but that that was replaced by a version without the video.

Goes to show, you are never too old to learn new facts

Gerrit

Roger said:

Just a small technicality here. The Wuthering Heights single was never released in the UK. Again, only a relatively small number have been obtained from overseas by ordering online. I missed the boat and have never been able to get it. Consequently, this will be the first opportunity for the UK public to buy "Across the Universe of Time" and "My Heart and I" other than to order it online as an import.

Roger

[Dave]

OK so we've had a go at Decca for the way they handled things - but what's done is done. At least they've now done *something* to try and keep things ticking over (in the UK) until Hayley's 2005 album. In fact, on August 16th in the Latest Chart News thread I asked them to do almost exactly what they've done, so I need to be careful here! (I'm sure they had it planned long before that).

But they could have made an even better bonus disc, in view of the new chart rules - so that's an opportunity missed. I still think it will sell fairly well though; it should get Pure back into the top 75 album chart for a while so there's still a chance of getting that elusive triple platinum (Charlotte Church never managed that).

As Roger mentioned, ticket sales for the UK tour seem to be a problem so I hope there's lots of advertising planned for it and the re-release: we don't want Hayley singing to half empty halls or (perish the thought) cancelled concerts! Perhaps the re-release should be brought forward by a week or two to allow earlier advertising and hopefully, some airplay. And we shouldn't forget Hayley's November GCSE exams - they must come first.

[Dave]

As of today, HMV have marked the UK Bonus edition of Pure (with 7 extra tracks and a video) as DELETED and it can no longer be pre-ordered. HMV are usually the first with up to date availablility information on UK CDs. There's no mention of this change on Hayley's Official site as yet - but HMV were first to indicate that Wuthering Heights was deleted so they can't be ignored.

I think if HMV are right, confusion over the new UK chart rules is the most likely reason. The Official Charts Company have now said they don't want sales of a bonus CD set to be combined with the original CD if it's a re-release and there's more than 3 or 4 new tracks (the 80% rule). So the bonus CD set would have to be available when the album is first released, or count as a separate album. Decca may have been caught out by this "clarification". The OCC may have been listening to Gerrit

Decca could still issue as many extra tracks as they like and combine the sales, if they are on a bonus *DVD* (Katie Melua's done exactly that this week). I wonder what Decca will do next?

[Dave]

OK, the Special Edition did get released with 6 new (to the UK) tracks, another "Pokarekare Ana" and the video. So now I'm getting into downloading tracks, I purchased "Bridal Ballad" (which I love), Mary Did you Know and Pokarekare Ana (vocalese) at 192 kbps from www.woolworths.co.uk. That's almost as easy to use as tesco.com and again, you pay by credit card just like any other online purchase. A snip at 79 pence a track and much MUCH better and easier for me than itunes or mycokemusic.

Pokarakare Ana (vocalese) is the same version as on the video put up on Hayley's official website earlier this year.

Wow, haven't I been busy on the forum today! (where's everyone else?)

[Joe]

Glad that the Pure SE is out now in the UK. The bonus tracks and PA video are certainly a treat. Can't wait to hear 'Bridal Ballad' .

You know, I've never done that pay-as-you-download song thing. It's dead cheap at only 79p at the Tesco and Woolies download sites. Over here Wal-Mart has 99 cent downloads.

[Richard]

Hello again everybody! This is going to be a long one, but I'll try to make it interesting.

It might look as though I've got more money than sense, because I'm now the proud owner of FOUR different versions of "Pure"!!!

1) The original UK Special Edition - 13 tracks including two versions of "Hine e Hine".

2) The International version (Import) - 14 tracks including "My Heart and I" and "Across the Universe of Time".

3) The Australian Limited Edition (Import) - 15 tracks including a duet of "Pokarekare Ana" with Russell Watson, plus 4-track bonus Christmas CD including "The Mummers' Dance".

4) The reissued UK Special Edition as (1), with 7-track bonus CD not including "The Mummers' Dance"! There's also a video track that can only be played on a computer.

For the benefit of any new Hayley fans reading this, version (4) has everything except "The Mummers' Dance" and the duet. Incidentally, the bonus CD features "Mary Did You Know?" and "Silent Night", both new recordings, quite different from the versions on "My Gift to You".

Personally I think it's a great pity "Across the Universe of Time" was left off the original UK version, because that track might well have given Hayley more airplay on Radio 2. It could even have been a hit single, but it's too late now.

Presumably the new UK version is an attempt to maintain the CD-buying public's interest until Hayley releases a new album. It certainly worked with me! I noticed it was in the lower reaches of the Music Week Album Chart for two weeks, but it hasn't made a big impact. At least it's keeping Hayley's face in the record shops.

To complete my collection, I managed to find both of Hayley's Universal New Zealand CDs from 2001, "Hayley Westenra" and "My Gift to You". The steady improvement in her voice is remarkable, so I'm looking forward to her next album now. I just hope Hayley can find the time to complete it with her busy touring schedule.

I'm not surprised Hayley's finding plenty of work with her amazing talent. To be honest, I enjoy watching her live in concert more than listening to her on CD at home. Apart from the special magic of her performance, there's usually a good chance of meeting Hayley. Yes, that is the voice of experience!

Going back to my four versions of "Pure", I know I could have saved quite a bit of money, but I would have needed a crystal ball and a lot of patience! Anyway, I've amassed several hundred CDs over the last twenty years or so, too many to count, let alone play them all regularly, so I'm not really worried about all the repeat tracks. I'm pleased with my collection, and I'm very proud to be a fan of Hayley and a member of Hayley Westenra International. This Forum is a great way to share my thoughts and experiences with other Hayley fans.

I know I got into a flow there, but with Hayley one thought leads to another!

Best Wishes to you all,

Richard Norrington