Piece by Piece (album)

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Piece by Piece
Piece by Piece cover
Studio album by Katie Melua
Released 26 September 2005 (UK)
 6 June 2006 (USA)
Recorded 2004-2005
Genre Jazz/Blues
Length 44:32
Label Dramatico
Producer(s) Mike Batt
Professional reviews
Katie Melua chronology
Call off the Search
(2003)		 Piece by Piece
(2005)


Piece by Piece is the second album by UK jazz and blues singer Katie Melua, released in 2005 (see 2005 in music).

Its first single, "Nine Million Bicycles", became Melua's first top five hit in the UK and caused controversy when science writer Simon Singh said the lyrics "demonstrates a deep ignorance of cosmology and no understanding of the scientific method". The second single was a double A-side comprising "I Cried for You" and a cover of The Cure's "Just like Heaven". The former song was written after Melua met the writer The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail and is about Jesus and Mary Magdalene, while the latter was recorded for the soundtrack to the film Just like Heaven. The single peaked outside the UK top twenty, and the album's third single, "Spider's Web" (which Melua wrote when she was eighteen, during the Iraq war) did not reach the top forty.

Melua wrote the title song "Piece by Piece" after she broke up with her boyfriend Luke Pritchard, and "Half Way up the Hindu Kush" was written by Katie and Mike Batt as a joke playing on the innuendo implicit in the title phrase, which cropped up in a conversation about scarves on a train journey. Katie wrote the chorus and Mike the verses. Alongside covers of "Blues in the Night" and Canned Heat's "On the Road Again", the album includes "Thankyou, Stars", which was originally released as a B-side on Melua's debut single "The Closest Thing to Crazy" (2003).

Contents

[edit] Track listing

  1. "Shy Boy" (Mike Batt) – 3:22
  2. "Nine Million Bicycles" (Batt) – 3:15
  3. "Piece by Piece" (Katie Melua) – 3:24
  4. "Half Way up the Hindu Kush" (Melua, Batt) – 3:06 *
  5. "Blues in the Night" (Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer) – 4:12
  6. "Spider's Web" (Melua) – 3:58
  7. "Blue Shoes" (Batt) – 4:39
  8. "On the Road Again" (Floyd Jones, Alan Wilson) – 4:38
  9. "Thankyou, Stars" (Batt) – 3:39
  10. "Just like Heaven" (Robert Smith, Porl Thompson, Simon Gallup, Laurence Tolhurst, Boris Williams) – 3:35
  11. "I Cried for You" (Melua) – 3:38
  12. "I Do Believe in Love" (Melua) – 3:00
Special edition
  1. "It's Only Pain"
  2. "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" (Lennon/McCartney) (acoustic)
  3. "Sometimes When I'm Dreaming"

[edit] Charts

Chart (2005) Peak
position
United Kingdom 1
Poland 1
Netherlands 1
Italy 2
Germany 2
Chart (2006) Peak
position
U.S. Billboard 200 108
U.S. Billboard Top Heatseekers 2
U.S. Billboard Top Jazz Albums 3

[edit] 2005

United World Chart
Week 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 Year End Chart
Position
7
12
14
20
13
24
23
34
37
31
29
25
40 (1.488.000)

[edit] 2006

United World Chart
Week 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
Position
25
32
32
23
21
26
32
34
30
31
26
31
Sales
226.000
77.000
66.000
63.000
61.000
58.000
52.000
59.000
62.000
56.000
71.000
61.000
Total
1,714,000
1,791,000
1,857,000
1,920,000
1,981,000
2,039,000
2,091,000
2,150,000
2,212,000
2,268,000
2,339,000
2,400,000
Week 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36
Position
31
40
35
**
39
**
**
**
36
38
38
34
Sales
74.000
60.000
55.000
**
46.000
**
**
**
49.000
45.000
41.000
49.000
Total
2,474,000
2,534,000
2,589,000
**
2,635,000
**
**
**
2,684,000
2,729,000
2,770,000
2,819,000
  • Note: As the album was out of the charts for 4 weeks the correct sales are unavailable for now.

[edit] Personnel

  • Vocals: Katie Melua
  • Guitars: Katie Melua, Chris Spedding, Jim Cregan
  • Piano: Mike Batt (Katie Melua on "I Do Believe in Love")
  • Bass: Tim Harries
  • Drums: Henry Spinetti
  • Solo Trumpet: Dominic Glover
  • Solo violin: Mike Darcy
  • Percussion: Martin Ditchman, Chris Karan
  • Harmonica: Paul Jones ("Blues in the Night")
  • Ethnic flutes: Adrian Brett ("Nine Million Bicycles")
  • Mandolin: Peter Knight ("Thankyou, Stars")
  • Sitar: Craig Pruess ("Halfway up the Hindu Kush")
  • Orchestra: The Irish Film Orchestra - Conductor: Mike Batt

[edit] Production

  • Producer: Mike Batt
  • Engineer: Steve Sale
  • Arranger: Mike Batt
  • Photography: Simon Fowler

[edit] External Links

Katie Melua
Albums
Call off the Search | Piece by Piece
Singles
"The Closest Thing to Crazy" | "Call off the Search" | "Crawling up a Hill" | "Nine Million Bicycles" | "I Cried for You" | "Spider's Web" | "It's Only Pain" | "Shy Boy"
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