Half the Perfect World

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.[10]

Half the Perfect World
Studio album by Madeleine Peyroux
Released	September 12, 2006
Recorded	April 2006
Genre	Vocal jazz
Length	48:56
Label	Rounder/Universal
Producer	Larry Klein
Madeleine Peyroux chronology
Careless Love (2004) Half the Perfect World (2006) Bare Bones (2009)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
ARTISTdirect.com	[2]
Being There Magazine	[3]
The Guardian	[4]
JazzPolice.com	(NR)[5]
Mojo	[6]
musicOMH.com	[7]
Rolling Stone	[8]
inthenews.co.uk	[9]

The album contains four original songs, all of them co-written by Peyroux, and cover versions of songs by Johnny Mercer, Joni Mitchell, Tom Waits, Charlie Chaplin, Serge Gainsbourg, and Leonard Cohen.[1] "I'm All Right," "A Little Bit" and "Once in a While" were released as singles.

David Dye listed the album at number 10 on World Cafe's list of the top 10 CDs of 2006.[11]

Track listing

1. "I'm All Right" (Walter Becker, 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, Klein, Peyroux) – 4:02
7. "Once in a While" (Harris, Klein, Peyroux) – 4:00
8. "(Looking for) The Heart of Saturday Night" (Tom Waits) – 3:27
9. "Half the Perfect World" (Cohen, Thomas) – 4:21
10. "La Javanaise" (Serge Gainsbourg) – 4:11
11. "California Rain" (Harris, Klein, Peyroux) – 2:57
12. "Smile" (Charlie Chaplin, Geoffrey Parsons, John Turner) – 3:57

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)
• Larry Goldings – celeste (tracks 3, 10)
• Till Brönner – trumpet (tracks 8, 12)
• Gary Foster – alto saxophone (tracks 2, 9)
• Dean Parks – guitars (exc. track 3; solos on 1, 6), ukulele (1, 11, 12)
• Greg Leisz – pedal steel guitar (tracks 8, 11)
• David Piltch – double bass
• Scott Amendola – drums (tracks 2, 5, 9, 12)
• Jay Bellerose – drums (exc. 2, 5, 9, 12), additional cymbals (2, 9)
• String quartet arranged by Mark Orton (tracks 7, 10)

• Carla Kihlstedt – violin
• Graeme Jennings – violin
• Charith Premawardhana – viola
• Sam Bass – cello

Certifications

Country	Certifications (sales thresholds)
Brazil	Gold[12]
New Zealand	1× Gold[13]
United Kingdom	Gold[14]

References

1. Brown, Marisa. "Half the Perfect World". AllMusic. Retrieved November 9, 2017.
2. Hermann, Andy. "Half the Perfect World by Madeleine Peyroux". Artist Direct. Retrieved November 9, 2017.
3. Being There Magazine review Archived October 24, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
4. Fordham, John (October 27, 2006). "Madeleine Peyroux, Half the Perfect World". The Guardian. Retrieved November 9, 2017.
5. JazzPolice.com review Archived October 16, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
6. Snow, Mat (November 2006). "NY State of Mind: Madeleine Peyroux Half the Perfect World". Mojo: 104.
7. musicOMH.com review
8. Rolling Stone review
9. "inthenews.co.uk review". Archived from the original on October 4, 2012. Retrieved February 9, 2011.
10. Cohen, Jonathan (December 1, 2008). "Peyroux Goes 'Bare' On New Album". Billboard. Retrieved December 12, 2008.
11. Dye, David (December 4, 2006). "World Cafe's Top 10 CDs of 2006". NPR.
12. "Certificados (Searchable Database): Madeleine Peyroux – Half the Perfect World" (in Portuguese). Associação Brasileira dos Produtores de Discos. 2008. Archived from the original on October 17, 2012.
13. "Latest Gold / Platinum Albums". Recording Industry Association of New Zealand. RadioScope New Zealand. November 23, 2008. Archived from the original on July 24, 2011.
14. "BPI Certified Awards (Searchable Database – By Award – Gold): MADELEINE PEYROUX – HALF THE PERFECT WORLD". British Phonographic Industry. December 8, 2006.