From Hayley Westenra to Andrea Ross.

A slight deviation from the most recent focus on Hayley Westenra. It just so happens that it was as I was researching on-line for an appropriate and suitably economic on-line web-store to purchase Hayley Westenra's new album " Treasure " the UK Import Edition that I incidentally discovered " Andrea Ross ", a relatively new artist who has just released her new debut album called " Moon River ". Andrea Ross's ' Moon River ' is a new item listed as a recommendation for people purchasing Hayley Westenra's ' Treasure ' or ' Celtic Treasure '. Recommendations listed by the retailer are usually items similar ( or at least somewhat similar ) to the item being purchased. On that note, I decided to look into the recommended item and see what it's like. I must admit it was the 'visual' element that initially got my attention - They displayed the CD Cover image of the album being recommended ( Andrea Ross's face is on the cover... ), and she admittedly does look quite pretty. I figured she must have her own official web site somewhere, so I just went by initial intuition and typed in www.andreaross.com. Sure enough, it's her official web site. She has a bit of preview audio on her homepage that plays automatically as soon as you load up the page ( at least then you know what her voice sounds like ). She does have a very nice singing voice. She also has an alternative web-page at the Bebo Network site where she has sample audio clips of tracks from her debut album. There is a link to that page on the top-right-hand-corner of her official web site. I've already listened to the sample audio clips on her Bebo page and the songs are really good. She may not necessarily be quite as brilliant as Hayley Westenra, but if you like Hayley Westenra, there's a good chance you'll also like Andrea Ross. I agree with retailer recommendations and I'd recommend Andrea Ross to fans of Hayley Westenra.; Andrea Ross's new debut album " Moon River " was released on sale to the public on March 5th, 2007.

For the past week or two, I've been tossing-up whether or not I should buy the ' Moon River ' CD. This morning, I made the decision to go-ahead with the purchase. ( It'd be nice to have some new music to add to my collection. ) I purchased the ' Moon River ' CD through the same retailer where I purchased Hayley Westenra's new album " Treasure " the UK Import Edition, DVD.co.uk on-line. They charged me approximately 12.00 UK Pounds for the CD and 1.00 UK Pound Shipping and Delivery Fee, totalling approximately 13.00 UK Pounds, which equates to approximately AUD $ 31.00, which is fair, considering that would be the approximate local cost if it 'were-to-be' purchased in-store locally here in Australia. And while we're on the subject, I will say that I purchased the ' Moon River ' CD on-line internationally because it's not yet available for local in-store purchase in Australia yet. ( I have already investigated it, and had it been available for purchase in-store locally, I probably would have purchased it earlier, before today. ) Not only are DVD.co.uk on-line pretty fair with thier prices, they're also fairly punctual with thier estimated delivery times. When I bought Hayley Westenra's ' Treasure ' through them, I recieved the item well within thier estimated delivery time, trampling through public holiday days and weekends as if they were ordinary week days ! My order for Andrea Ross's ' Moon River ' CD has not yet shipped, but from the moment the order status shows ' Shipped ', given thier estimated delivery time, it should take no longer than approximately a week for the delivery to arrive on my front door-step. I have recieved an email notification from DVD.co.uk confirming placement of my on-line order for Andrea Ross's ' Moon River ' CD, and that the order and payment has been processed, as the item availability on thier stock-inventory is easily 'in-stock', and will be shipping soon. I have balanced my accounts accordingly.

Andrea Ross is at least a little bit like Hayley Westenra, if not alot. Andrea Ross's debut album is music worthy of attention, and shows alot of promise. If she sticks strong to this path, then she has a great future ahead of her. I'll certainly be watching her musical career with some interest. Like Hayley, she's different, not like all that shallow mediocre stuff you hear on the radio all the time. Andrea Ross's music actually sounds interesting and is also unique. That's what I like about it. People like Hayley and Andrea have a unique and natural talent, music with a hearty, captivating spirit - attributes you cannot buy or manufacture. Hayley, Andrea, and others in the same boat deserve so much more. Nowadays, these are the qualities that attract me to a musician. In light of her new debut album ' Moon River ', Andrea Ross has great potential. It would be good to see her grow and develop on her current apparent foundation, even if it's just her debut album.

Update : 7:54 PM :

I have just recieved an email notification from DVD.co.uk that my on-line order for Andrea Ross's ' Moon River ' CD has ' Shipped ', and has been dispatched out to me. Since it is now in transit, it should arrive in the mail in approximately 1 week's time.

Update : Friday 20th April, 2007 : 11:58 PM :

When I intially placed my on-line order for Andrea Ross's ' Moon River ' CD, the order was 'Shipped' in only a matter of hours ( on the same day ) after I placed the order, so, techically, today IS Day 7, i.e. 1 week since the order 'shipped' ( DVD.co.uk's estimated delivery time is approximately 5 - 7 days ). However, I have 'Not' seen any sign of arrival of the order as yet. I thought it would arrive today, but not, as it turns out...; It might arrive tomorrow, but Australia-Post doesn't usually work on weekends. If that is true, then on a note of techicality, I'd have to include last weekend in the re-calculation, which would re-approximate delivery time to next Wednesday, 25th April. My previous order was delivered quite punctually, I wonder what makes this particular case different ( even when it shipped out earlier than the previous one ) ?

Update : Tuesday 24th April, 2007 : 3:50 PM :

No Delivery yesterday, nor today. Being ANZAC Day tomorrow, there'd be unlikely any mail or delivery tomorrow. Looks like I'll have to wait until Thursday....

Update : Saturday 28th April, 2007 : 1:15 PM :

Just for the record : No sign of the delivery over the past few days, and still no sign of it yet today. It's exactly two weeks today since I placed the order. I fear the order has been somehow lost in transit. The DVD.co.uk company states on thier web site that not recieving an order AFTER 14 days of ordering, the respective order can be declared 'Lost', at which time DVD.co.uk will either replace the order, or refund the money for the order. I will wait until late Monday afternoon, after which, if I still haven't recieved the order, I will contact DVD.co.uk by email regarding the No-delivery of my order, and find out what DVD.co.uk can do to help with the situation. Maybe they will offer to re-issue my order at no extra cost. So much for punctuality...;

Update : Monday 30th April, 2007 : 4:11 PM :

Still No Sign of the Delivery Today. It's Definitely been Over 14 days now since I originally placed the order, and thus can now be Officially Declared " LOST " ! I have Emailed to the dvd.co.uk company and declared Never having recieved the order. I have requested them to re-send the order at no extra cost if possible. At the moment, I am still waiting for an email reply from them.

Update : 8:40 PM :

Just for the record : The dvd.co.uk company has emailed me thier reply just earlier tonight, and states that a re-issue of my order cannot be executed until six full weeks has elapsed since I originally placed the order ( and the order has not been recieved in that time... ). For now, I'll just have to sit tight and wait and see if and when it might arrive. I'll be sure to check my mailbox every day to see if my order arrives.

Update : Friday 4th May, 2007 : 2:54 PM :

It's Finally Arrived ! I now finally have Andrea Ross's new debut album " Moon River " in my possession ! It sure took long enough to get here ! ( Just under 3 weeks ). Don't have much time to get into much detail right now... I'm going to start listening to it right now. More later...

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Just a quick note on Hayley Westenra's " Treasure " - the UK Import Edition - Just for the record : I have finally got around to listening to it, in fact, I've listened to it in it's entirety about 4 or 5 times already. More about it later....

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Check out some of Andrea's sample audio clips. Click on Andrea Ross's Bebo Page Link below, and on her page, scroll down to the ' Songs ' section. There you will find a list of short sample audio clips from her debut album that you can select to play and listen to.

* Andrea Ross's Official Web Site | * Andrea Ross's Bebo Page.

* Some Background Information on Andrea Ross & ' Moon River '.

Andrea Ross : " Moon River " - The New Debut Album ( 2007 ). .Buy This Product On-Line at DVD.co.uk

* Hayley Westenra's Official Web Site.