Track Listing

1. Pokarekare Ana
2. Never Say Goodbye
3. Who Painted the Moon Black?
4. River of Dreams
5. Beat of Your Heart
6. Amazing Grace
7. Benedictus
8. Hine E Hine
9. Across the Universe of Time
10. Dark Waltz
11. In Trutina
12. Heaven
13. Wuthering Heights

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7197 in Music
• Released on: 2004-04-06
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .23 pounds

Amazon.com
Comparisons with Charlotte Church are inevitable, yet 16-year-old New Zealand singer Hayley Westenra has her own distinctive sound. She has impeccably clear diction coupled with a gorgeous voice with a very wide range: her high notes in the Kate Bush hit "Wuthering Heights" are especially striking, and like Bush she is also a dancer, having performed with the Royal New Zealand Ballet. If there's a problem, it's that Pure doesn't have a focus to match Westenra's talent, the tracks spanning everything from "Amazing Grace" to a Maori lullaby ("Hine e Hine") to hybrid pieces adapted from Ravel ("Never Say Goodbye") and Vivaldi's Four Seasons ("River of Dreams"). Ultimately what this set does demonstrate is that whatever direction Westenra finally settles on, she has the ability to go to the very top. For now she is a young artist finding her way, and for many listeners the result is Pure magic. --Gary S Dalkin

Customer Reviews

Stepping Out Into the Limelight
I have mixed feelings about Hayley Westenra. She is gifted with a beautiful voice, which has yet to fully mature. The work on this album complements her range perfectly. She is attractive and bright in her appearances. Indeed, it's hard to find a material complaint about her. I just wish she would slow down a bit.

A fine voice is a fragile thing, and a quick visit to her website reveals that a great deal over effort is being put into the making of a Hayley into a 'phenomenon. Today she has the seemingly endless energy of a young woman at the age of sixteen. Hopefully her voice will be given a chance to mature and bloom. Right now, she reminds me a bit of the young Sarah Brightman, and so is worth respect and attention.

Avuncular musings aside, this is a very auspicious international debut. As I've mentioned, the songs are well chosen, varying from Maori folks songs to rewritten classical melodies. Her previous albums, which are less orchestral over-productions, are more genuine expressions of her voice, which has been strained to its limits on this album. Unfortunately, they have limited distribution outside of New Zealand. If you can find them, they are also excellent purchases.

The overall styling is a bit 'lavender,' with some sameness in arrangement and expression. But the core quality is excellent with outstanding moments (Heaven, Hine E Hine, and Who Painted the Moon Black). Pokarekare Ana is a close runner-up, but lacks the depth displayed in the others. Wuthering Heights is just a bit out of her grasp, although it won't be in a few years. By all means pick this up - it's as pleasant a piece of pop music as I've heard this year.

Crystal Clear
Hayley Westenra, the 17 year old songstress from New Zealand, has put together a debut album for America that is sure to please classical crossover fans. With a diverse selection of music from classical to folk to easy listening, all the songs fit together as a whole due to their orchestrated arrangements. Perhaps most notable in Hayley's voice is the absence of the operatic vibrato that many classical crossover artists utilize in their performances, such as Charlotte Church who most people will draw immediate comparisons to. Instead, Hayley is more like Streisand in how she holds the note crystal clear with slight vibrato towards the end. Hayley's range is quite high for a young woman and, unlike her earlier releases in New Zealand, her pitch is truly perfect. However, her music is not sterile by any means, showing room for improvement as her voice matures, but bringing a warm personality to the performances that pleases the ears and soothes the soul.

Highlights for me off this album are:
? Never Say Goodbye - So high and steady is her voice at one point you will mistake it for a violin. Soothing, not screechy.
? Across the Universe of Time - Haunting chorus as she sings with herself. Melancholy yet beautiful.
? Dark Waltz - A beautiful classical arrangement compliments this melancholy tune. Hayley's voice is angelic throughout the chorus.
? Heaven - More pop than the other tracks, but still more classical than mainstream. Lilting tune. Lilting voice.
? Wuthering Heights - Perhaps an unfamiliar tune to those not aware of the delightful Kate Bush, Hayley adds her own personality to this arrangement, even outshining the same cover she did for the UK release. With more dramatic strings and accompaniment than the UK edition behind her, Hayley's voice soars into the higher octaves effortlessly. Very different than Kate Bush's original falsetto version or the rerecorded version from 1985.

I highly recommend this album. It is a wonderful panacea to the blather currently blaring on pop radio.

Took me by surprise!
At the ripe old age of 50 I thought I'd heard everything worth listening to by now. Then a commercial for Pure ran and I was completely speechless! I'm saying to myself, what are they FEEDING this gal ... ambrosia and nectar from the gods? Nobody gets a voice like this! Nobody!

Hayley has a divine gift. That's the deal, plain and simple. Buy this album or steal it from a friend who already has five copies. Get it by all means and rejoice in the purity and glory of songs so delicious you won't believe your ears.

If we're naming favorites, I'd start with River of Dreams, Dark Waltz, Benedictus, Amazing Grace and Across The Universe Of Time, but the list really includes everything. No clunkers, only some more heavenly than others if you know what I mean. Wuthering Heights is so different it feels like it belongs on another album but I appreciate every crazy note of it. The guitar solo at the end was a nice touch for us old rockers.

In summary: Pure is a total knockout! Get it or miss out!