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Treasure |
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Artist:
Hayley Westenra
Average Customer Rating:  
List Price: £9.99
Our Price: £4.18
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Binding: Audio CD
EAN: 0028947585220
Label: Universal Classics
Manufacturer: Universal Classics
Number Of Discs: 1
Publisher: Universal Classics
Release Date: 2007-02-26
Running Time: 50
Studio: Universal Classics |
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Disc 1:
| 1. Let Me Lie | | 2. Le Notte Del Silenzio - Hayley Westenra, Humphrey Berney | | 3. Santa Lucia | | 4. Shenandoah | | 5. Whispering Hope | | 6. Summer Rain | | 7. Danny Boy | | 8. One Fine Day | | 9. The Heart Worships | | 10. E Pari Ra | | 11. Sonny | | 12. Summer Fly | | 13. Melancholy Interlude | | 14. Bist Du Bei Mir | | 15. Abide With Me |
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Amazon.co.uk Review
Hayley Westenra's first two albums - Odyssey and Pure – blended classical arias, traditional Irish and Maori folk songs with great success. This third album, while covering similar ground in terms of musical styles, is slightly different. Recorded in Dublin, it thematically celebrates Westenra's family roots - namely her grandparent's journey across the world from Ireland to New Zealand in the 1880s - featuring not only cover versions, but also several of her own compositions. The bad news is that the choice of covers on Treasure is not startlingly original. Songs like "Danny Boy," "Scarborough Fair", and "Shenandoah," have been sung by a thousand voices, and though Westenra's versions aren't without merit, they hardly break new ground. More interesting are Westenra's own compositions, such as "Summer Fly," a Norah Jones-esque slice of countrified folk that breaks up the smoothness of Treasure beautifully, and "Whispering Hope," a jaw-droppingly gorgeous hymn recorded a capella alongside a choir. A mixed bag of songs it is, but Westenra's enormously enchanting voice ensures it a place in any collection. --Danny McKenna
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Another Great Bunch of Songs from Hayley, 2007-06-06
There are without doubt some great songs from Hayley on this Album. I can't say that every song choice is superb because Summer Rain is a mess. Songs like Let me Lie, Whispering Hope, Danny Boy and abide with me for example really show off her voice beautifully.
It's funny actually mentioning Whispering Hope to be one of my favorites after the previous reviewer slammed it. Whispering hope is one of my favorite Hayley songs and let me state why, it is pure singing. No musical instruments used, it's just Hayley and some backing singers. It sounds beautiful and you can hear every pure note that comes from the girls mouth.
I think the previous reviewer is kinda misguided when he declares Odyssey the better album. Granted not all the songs here suit Hayley (well summer rain doesn't suit her) but The Bridal Ballad was pretty bad too.
I have listened to this album a lot and I rate it highly. If amazon supported half stars then I would give it 4.5, sadly however I can only give it a 4 because of Summer Rain.
Bland material, bland arrangement, bland singing., 2007-06-21
Treasure is Hayley's third international outing, whilst her fifth album over all. So what has changed since her first release in NZ 'Hayley Westenra' and her fifth album 'Treasure'? Not that much really. Of course, her voice has grown immensely. Only natural for a girl back then who was thirteen, and the woman now who is at the end of her teens.
Her first album contained covers, mostly of musical numbers, traditional songs, pop covers and a few classical numbers. Her first international album (her third album) contained traditional songs, pop covers, a few classical numbers and the odd original song. Her fifth album had traditional songs, classical numbers and the odd original song. The growth based on material is pretty much non-existent.
Hayley Westenra, by this point, is highly predictable, and as you slide this CD into your CD player you will not be blamed if you think to yourself 'Hey, I've heard this all before'. We have some eye rolling tracks on here, like 'Shenandoah', 'Danny Boy', 'One Fine Day', and 'Abide With Me'. But it's not without its credit. It has some original songs, and some songs are quite unusual - but even then, you get this sense with 'Pure' when Hayley first did this kind of thing. 'Pure' had an eclectic selection which Westenra can't seem to top with her two later releases as each song was drastically different to the next throughout most of the album. It's not the case with this album - they wash over you as it sounds like the rest of the album.
I'll mention a few songs here. Songs I don't mention you can take to mean as 'bland'. 'Let Me Lie', partly written by Hayley herself, is very pleasant and gives a 'May It Be' feeling from Hayley's previous album. By no means is this a bad song, but it's lack of lyrical content, and the music not really taking it anywhere, it becomes quite repetitive very quickly. This leads to 'Le Notte Del Silenzio' (a duet with Humphrey Berney) which again, is not a bad song at all, but sounds very similar to the first song, and it's also 'Treasure's answer to 'Odyssey's 'Dell'Amore Non Si Sa', (a duet with Andrea Bocelli), only 'Treasure's answer is a mere echo of the superior Bocelli duet. 'Summer Rain' is an Enya-esque exciting piece. Hayley also co-wrote this - it's like an upbeat version of Miriam Stockley's 'Perfect Day' (the theme song to Beatrix Potter's Peter Rabbit animation adaptations). 'One Fine Day' was brave. Loved and cherished by audiences everywhere as the beautiful aria from 'Madame Butterfly' Hayley decided to do something different with it. Her fragile voice is no where near capable of taking it on as an opera piece, so she makes a chill out version of it (like the rest of the album). The result is making a beautiful piece of music sound insipid. 'Sonny', like the rest of the album, is chill out, but Hayley's vocal stands out for once and she saves this song from the terrible arrangements that are present throughout the rest of the album. 'Summer Fly' is like a nightmare. One will either love or hate this song - it's the standout of the album simply because it's upbeat (as upbeat as the horrible arrangements can go, at least). All the other songs sound strikingly similar to each other.
With the material out of the way, I'll say the arrangement, like on every other single album of hers, is awfully bland. There's not a drum beat in sight on this album, rather, it relies on the guitar or Mandolin to get the song going, indeed, percussion only has a place on five songs on this album, and it's very light use of it too. As to Hayley's performance, I'll repeat what I said in my review of her last album. It's very sweet, yes, she technically hits all the high notes, through she strains at times, but it has no energy, power of emotion. It does not command your attention.
What 'Treasure' leaves me wondering, is why didn't I just pick up the Celtic Chillout in the Woolworths Bargain Bin for 50p, rather than spend £10 on this, which has less varied selection, one bland singer, one bland way of arranging and has, more or less the same kind of booklet, as booklet of this album is a fold out with info on songs like any compilation would. I like the fact that Hayley has ventured out to compose a little herself, but other than that, I'm not sure what the point of this album was.
If new to Hayley Westenra, pick up 'Pure', not 'Treasure'. Her talents are wasted on this recycled material and arrangements.
Could be better, 2008-11-05
Hayley Westenra, what a fantastic voice. But she sould be singing classical tracks, instead of corny old numbers like Danny Boy.
Not a good cd at all, very sad.
Hailstones, 2008-10-07
well I think Hayley has done a pretty good job on this album. I only just got it with the angels album. she has a really pleasant voice and although I think it's time she moved from girl to woman musically, this is a lovely album.
A waste of a talented singer, 2007-03-25
I would have liked to have given this album four stars, or even five. I had high hopes for it after Hayley's very promising previous album Odyssey. I pre-ordered it, so I've had it since it was released, and I've hesitated about reviewing it because I don't like writing bad reviews. But in the interests of honesty I really think a few things need saying.
To try to be balanced, let's look briefly at things Hayley's done before this album. If you're one of those people made happy by Hayley singing `Away in a Manger' a while ago, you'll probably like this album. On the other hand if you're one of the people who deplore hearing a good singer wasted on songs for five year olds, you'll be horrified. Apparently Hayley had rejected that song earlier, but it seems to have come back like a bad smell and she ended up recording it despite her initial rejection of it. All credit to Hayley for trying to get rid of it, anyway. All credit to her as well for being determined to sing Wuthering Heights on her first album, despite reservations from a record company that thought a song that reached the number one spot a quarter of a century ago was a bit too adventurous.
The result was a lacklustre instrumental performance that let the song down and probably added to a few avoidable problems that came up with the release of that song. But Wuthering Heights was on her first international album, Pure. The second, Odyssey, was much better, full of strong arrangements, fine production, and a strong, confident and feeling performance by Hayley. In the meantime, Away in a Manger sounded a definite warning of horrors that may happen. That's the story so far, briefly told, leading up to this album.
Some people do like this album. I've already suggested who they might be. Decca seem to want to keep Hayley firmly in a small, rather too cosy niche market, with a core group of fans - I seem to recall Hayley herself requesting some of them to be a bit less fanatical. She's like that, it seems - a nice, decent person, balanced and.... well, in a rut, really, which she doesn't deserve to be in.
So why did I pre-order this album? Because her last one was so good, and also because she's done some of the songwriting on this one. That last fact is the reason I gave this review two stars instead of just one. The best thing about this album is the budding talent struggling to break through the sugary and heavy-handed arrangements. But as with Hayley's earlier bid for freedom, Wuthering Heights, everyone else seems to want to drag her back.
I won't review the album track by track. Some of it is quite listenable, if undistinguished - undemanding easy listening, ok for a while until you remember what sort of music you could be listening to instead. Some of it is irritating because it could be much better. Some of it actually isn't bad at all, but it gets dragged down by the music around it - because some of it is awful beyond description. The execrable Whispering Hope is perhaps the best example of the worst.
It'd be more constructive to just advise anyone thinking of buying it to listen to it first. You may like it. Or like me you may find far too much of it basically unlistenable. I certainly wouldn't buy Hayley's next album without hearing it first. But with luck, the next one just may pick up on the promise of Odyssey and give Hayley's talents the support they deserve.
And if you do listen to this one and find it as awful as I do, check out Odyssey as well. You may find it much better.
Treasure is supposed to showcase songs that are important in Hayley's ancestry and background. Fair enough. But good artists improve on their background and bring something new and vital to it. Hayley evidently has roots in this stuff, but it would have been nice to hear her putting out shoots instead - making more use of that songwriting talent, and co-working with creative songwriters as well as skilled arrangers.
If Hayley wants to waste her abilities on this kind of stuff, then so be it. And if as a listener you actually like this stuff, then buy it, obviously. I thought I really should make some comments as a warning to people who expect something far better on the basis of what Hayley achieved on Odyssey, though. Who knows - maybe Hayley will break free eventually and make full use of her talents. And the rest of the musical world will probably welcome her with open arms when she does - if they can forget Away in a Manger and Whispering Hope.
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