Katherine Returns to Decca

[susieverity]

I will also be interested to see if this new album of Katherine's makes it into the classic fm chart as I am not sure it has enough 'classical' songs although classic fm seem to be supporting it already and playing the songs from it.

Susie

[martindn]

Libby,

I think Hayley really did make an effort to make Hushabye different. The close miking approach to the songs and different arrangements, finding the extra verses on Twinkle etc show where Hayley's heart is. She WANTS to do something different, and did so within the constraints that were placed upon her for Hushabye.
And the way that the HSJS albums were marketed does nothing to diminish the originality of the idea. I repeatedly said at the time that they should have been released worldwide, and Decca messed up badly by not doing so. Hayley tries to do original work, or to make stuff that is not original as different as she can. What is done with the recordings afterwards is outside Hayley's control (as she once told me herself).
But I think we agree really (apart from our opinions of Hushabye).

Martin D

[Bamafan]

Here's my take on Hushabye:

First off, I do like the album. But it was set on shaky ground just by being what it is: a lullaby album. It's extremely difficult to make a respectable album consisting of songs that are mostly limited to an audience of young children (and perhaps their parents, but to be honest, what normal parent wants to listen to their baby's sleepy-time music?).

Fairly original, but not ground-breaking, approach to unoriginal songs, combined with the unoriginal and overdone concept (Decca's idea BTW) of the "lullaby" album. That, combined with extremely poor, even disastrous, promotion and not qualifying for the classical charts are what I would safely say caused the failure of "Hushabye."

(To get back on topic), the same thing might happen with Katherine's newest album. There could be two things that save it, however: First, new and extremely original arrangements (which I highly doubt); second, good promotion from Decca. That is the key ingredient that will make this album sell. There is little else, besides Katherine's name and voice behind it; no depth and little substance. Of course this is speculation, having not heard the album. But gauging from the tracklist, that could very well be what this album turns out to be.

-Taylor

[Libby]

Jul 24, 2014 22:56:20 GMT Bamafan said:

Here's my take on Hushabye:

First off, I do like the album. But it was set on shaky ground just by being what it is: a lullaby album. It's extremely difficult to make a respectable album consisting of songs that are mostly limited to an audience of young children (and perhaps their parents, but to be honest, what normal parent wants to listen to their baby's sleepy-time music?).

Fairly original, but not ground-breaking, approach to unoriginal songs, combined with the unoriginal and overdone concept (Decca's idea BTW) of the "lullaby" album. That, combined with extremely poor, even disastrous, promotion and not qualifying for the classical charts are what I would safely say caused the failure of "Hushabye."

(To get back on topic), the same thing might happen with Katherine's newest album. There could be two things that save it, however: First, new and extremely original arrangements (which I highly doubt); second, good promotion from Decca. That is the key ingredient that will make this album sell. There is little else, besides Katherine's name and voice behind it; no depth and little substance. Of course this is speculation, having not heard the album. But gauging from the tracklist, that could very well be what this album turns out to be.

-Taylor

Thank you, Taylor. Nice to see someone who likes the album who also can understand what the problem with the album is. Despite the fact that I have no patience for patronizing songs written for babies, if the album had actually done what it was supposed to do, cash in on the royal birth, I would have accepted it's existence that much better. I still would not have liked it, but if it had actually served a purpose for her career, I would have been happy about that. But Decca failed miserably with their own clever idea, and frankly, that makes me loathe the whole entire project.

What Katherine has going for her is that she's pretty well-known over there, so if nothing else, that will get her albums sold, classic charts or no. And just so we're clear, I have never implied that Katherine wasn't talented. I just don't find her talent very enjoyable to my ears, that's all. In her genre, there are other singers who blow her out of the water. She's trained in opera obviously, and that's the way she sings every song, even if it isn't actually an opera song, but not every song needs to be sung like opera. Jackie does that now, as well. I actually liked her voice before she really went opera (I saw her old videos before she was ever on AGT). So I bet if Katherine were to sing "normally", without the operatic yawning, I might actually like her voice. I don't believe there's anything natural about opera singing, it's all forced, no matter who sings it. Some singers force less than others, though, and not all of them find the need to "yawn". And there are certain singers who sing opera that I actually enjoy because of that. Also, I tend to prefer sopranos, and I think the "yawning" is more prevalent, or noticeable, in mezzos. Katherine's voice is sometimes too low and soft to be effective in opera. Sarah Brightman sounds outstanding in any operatic song, and she's a broadway/former pop singer. So despite her being talented, I just believe there are much more talented artists out there in her genre, so I have no reason to listen to her. I tend to settle on singers of a genre that I think are the best, and tend to ignore the rest, because why bother, when I already listen to what I consider the best (and they are). Especially when they all sing the same things, anyway. I don't need 10 albums with Ave Maria, etc. on it. And I've decided Sarah Brightman's version is my favorite version of that, alongside Josh Groban (Hayley was forced to sing it too fast on her old album).