'Silent Night', a Hayley & Aled Jones duet CD single

[Dave]

Aled Jones posted the following message in the "Diary" section of his Official Website yesterday, September 1st 2004:

"I will be duetting on my forthcoming Christmas CD, with my lovely friend Hayley Westenra. We've recorded Silent Night together and it sounds really lovely. There will be pictures from the session on the website in the next few days. Needless to say we had great fun. We will be performing the duet on a Songs of Praise Christmas special - being recorded next week at the Royal Albert Hall in London. It may even come out as a single - Cliff Richard watch out!!!!" [my emphasis]

He also says "...straight back to London ready for the Songs of Praise filming on Sunday from RAH - 2 shows - The Big Sing and the Christmas special I mentioned earlier"

So it looks like Hayley is back in the UK, ready for the RAH on Sunday, possibly performing in both prerecordings!

Note for non-UK readers: Cliff Richard is famous for having released successful Christmas singles in the UK, almost every year for the last 40+ years!

[misshappy774]

Oh fantastic, I can say without much doubt that I'm not the only one hoping it will come out as a single. Wouldn't it be wonderful if it did and it made No1.

Ahh, in my own little happy bubble now!

Kirsty xx

[Joe]

Hayley and Aled's duetting will sound brilliant on the Songs of Praise special. What with 'Pure" being re-released as well; Hayley might have the coveted #1 spot at Christmas!

Cheers, Joe

[misshappy774]

Yep, that's what I'm hoping for. Wouldn't it be nice if it went to someone who could actually sing rather than the last 2 years where the Christman #1 spot has been filled by the winners of Pop Stars & Pop Stars The Rivals.

Kirsty xx

[Dave]

Well that *would* be difficult, getting a single to no. 1 (if it's released - fingers crossed!) but you never know -and the duet should certainly be added to the Pure re-release. Why should Aled Jones be the only one to have it on his album?

It would help the UK re-release to qualify for the classical charts, too.

[Joe]

Aled Jones' Christmas Album is available for preorder from www.crotchet.co.uk/prerelease-vocal-full.html. Also on this page is info on upcoming releases by Libera, Renee Fleming, Katherine Jenkins and Russell Watson.

Here's the info on Aled's upcoming Christmas release which contains his duet w/ Hayley on 'Silent Night'.
ARTISTS: Aled Jones
TITLE: The Christmas Album
CATALOGUE NR: 9868649
RECORD LABEL: Universal
FORMAT: CD
PRICE: £ 12.95 including VAT, or £ 11.02 excluding VAT
RELEASE DATE: 29-Nov-2004

TRACKS: Away in a Manger. Hark the Herald. In the Bleak Midwinter. Candlelight Carol (Rutter). O Come All Ye Faithful. O Come O Come Emmanuel. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen. O Little Town of Bethlehem. Whence is the Goodly Fragrance. The Little Road to Bethlehem. The Angel Gabriel. The Three Kings. Silent Night (with Hayley Westenra). O Holy Night. Do You Hear What I Hear. Coventry Carol.

[Dave]

Now THIS is interesting

Quote, from Amazon.com (US):

"Silent Night [CD-SINGLE] [IMPORT]
Aled Jones, Hayley Westenra
List Price: $11.99
Availability: This item will be released on December 13, 2004. You may order it now and we will ship it to you when it arrives.

Audio CD (December 13, 2004)
Label: Universal/Ucj
ASIN: B0006OOAAQ

Hmmm... I wonder where the "Import" is from? I can't imagine anywhere else other than the UK or NZ but my searches haven't come up with anything else on this. Anyone?

The way Aled's new album in the UK seems to be selling like hot cakes, a rush release here in the UK wouldn't entirely surprise me - but time's getting very short.

[Dave]

Here is the final proof, I think, that the "Silent Night" duet by Aled Jones and Hayley was planned as a Christmas single in the UK.

Quote from Amazon Japan:

"Silent Night [SINGLE] [FROM UK] [IMPORT] Aled Jones & Hayley Westenra
CD (2004/12/13)
UCJ - ASIN: B0006OOAAQ

What a pity it never happened

[Bamafan]

Whoop!! Guess what I got in the mail today?





-Taylor

[Joe]

Hi Taylor

Well done...you are acquiring an excellent Hayley collection.  

I've amended the thead title to remove the word "possible"    from Dave's post nearly ten years ago. 

[Dave]

Well done Taylor and thanks Joe!

Problem solved, it only took over 9 years!

For anyone who wasn't around then and wonders what we are discussing, here is the Songs of Praise version of the Silent Night duet:

Silent Night Duet - 2004

Taylor will now be able to tell us if they did in fact lip-sync that performance as some of us suspected, or just used a backing track to live vocals.

Cheers, Dave

[Bamafan]

Just compared: No suspicion here! It is undeniable that they were.

-Taylor i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif

[Richard]

Hello folks!

I've moved this thread from Other Albums to the Singles board.

Richard

[John H]

That Songs of Praise performance was my first experience of Hayley (apart from the rehearsal earlier in the day ) and left a lasting impression in my memory.
I had no suspicion of lip-syncing at the time, but then I was sitting behind them so even if they had done it badly I wouldn't have noticed

[Dave]

Thanks Taylor, thought so!

I think, John, that Songs of Praise have for as long as I can remember asked many of their well-known performers to lip-sync, at least for some performances. I have always assumed that it's because they have to run it on a tight budget!

Cheers, Dave