Rahul Sharma (Editor)

Half the Perfect World

Updated on
Edit
Like
Comment
Share on FacebookTweet on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Reddit
Released
  
September 12, 2006

Length
  
48:56

Half the Perfect World (2006)
  
Bare Bones (2009)

Release date
  
12 September 2006

Genre
  
Jazz

Recorded
  
April 2006

Label
  
Rounder/Universal

Artist
  
Madeleine Peyroux

Producer
  
Larry Klein

Half the Perfect World httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediaenthumb3

Nominations
  
Echo Award for Jazz Production

Similar
  
Madeleine Peyroux albums, Jazz albums

Half the Perfect World is the fourth studio album by American jazz singer Madeleine Peyroux. It was released on September 12, 2006. It peaked at No. 33 on the Billboard 200 albums chart and had sold 218,000 copies in the United States by December 2008.

Contents

The album featured four original songs, all of them co-written by Peyroux: "I'm All Right," "A Little Bit," "Once in a While" and "California Rain." This marked a change in Peyroux's style, who would, in March 2009, release her first album without any covers.

Peyroux did a cover of "Summer Wind," a song by Johnny Mercer, whom she always credits as a major influence on her music. She also recorded three covers (two were issued on the standard edition; the bonus track "Crazy to Love You" was added to the Japanese one) from Leonard Cohen and Anjani Thomas' album Blue Alert.

Half the perfect world madeleine peyroux


Track listing

  1. "I'm All Right" (Walter Becker, Madeleine Peyroux, Larry Klein) – 3:27
  2. "The Summer Wind" (Hans Bradtke, Henry Mayer, Johnny Mercer) – 3:55
  3. "Blue Alert" (Leonard Cohen, Anjani Thomas) – 4:10
  4. "Everybody's Talkin'" (Fred Neil) – 5:10
  5. "River" featuring k.d. lang (Joni Mitchell) – 5:19
  6. "A Little Bit" (Jesse Harris, Larry Klein, Madeleine Peyroux) – 4:02
  7. "Once in a While" (Jesse Harris, Larry Klein, Madeleine Peyroux) – 4:00
  8. "(Looking for) The Heart of Saturday Night" (Tom Waits) – 3:27
  9. "Half the Perfect World" (Leonard Cohen, Anjani Thomas) – 4:21
  10. "La Javanaise" (Serge Gainsbourg) – 4:11
  11. "California Rain" (Jesse Harris, Larry Klein, Madeleine Peyroux) – 2:57
  12. "Smile" (Charlie Chaplin, Geoffrey Parsons, John Turner) – 3:57

Singles, promotion and publicity

"I'm All Right," "A Little Bit" and "Once in a While" were all released as singles. The song "Blue Alert" can be heard in the 2007 Old Navy Denim Jeans commercial.

Chart performance

Half the Perfect World was the highest peak (No. 33) on Madeleine Peyroux's career. It finished at No. 9 on the Jazz Albums year-end.

David Dye listed the album at number 10 on World Cafe's list of the top 10 CDs of 2006.

Personnel

  • Madeleine Peyroux — vocals, acoustic guitar (tracks 1, 3, 6–8, 10, 11)
  • Sam Yahel — Piano (tracks 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10, 12), Wurlitzer electric piano (1, 3, 6, 8, 11), Hammond organ (1, 3, 6), Estey organ (7, 9, 10, 12)
  • Dean Parks — guitars (exc. track 3; solos on 1, 6), ukulele (1, 11, 12)
  • David Piltch — bass
  • Jay Bellerose — drums (exc. 2, 5, 9, 12), additional cymbals (2, 9)
  • Scott Amendola — drums (tracks 2, 5, 9, 12)
  • Gary Foster — alto saxophone (tracks 2, 9)
  • Larry Goldings — celeste (tracks 3, 10)
  • String quartet arranged by Mark Orton (tracks 7, 10)
  • Carla Kihlstedt — violin
  • Graeme Jennings — violin
  • Charith Premawardhana — viola
  • Sam Bass — cello
  • Greg Leisz — pedal steel guitar (tracks 8, 11)
  • Till Brönner — trumpet (tracks 8, 12)

    • Songs

    1I'm All Right3:28
    2The Summer Wind3:55
    3Blue Alert4:11

    References

    Half the Perfect World Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA