Pictures (Katie Melua album)

Pictures is the third album by British-Georgian jazz and blues singer Katie Melua, and was released on 1 October 2007. It was released in the USA on 5 May 2009 with a different album cover.

Pictures
Studio album by Katie Melua
Released	1 October 2007 (UK)
Recorded	2006–07
Genre	Easy listening blues jazz reggae
Length	44:44
Label	Dramatico
Producer	Mike Batt
Katie Melua chronology
Piece by Piece (2005) Pictures (2007) The Katie Melua Collection (2008)
Singles from Pictures
"If You Were A Sailboat" Released: 24 September 2007 "Mary Pickford" Released: 26 November 2007 "If the Lights Go Out" Released: 25 February 2008

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
Digital Spy	[2]
BBC Music	(mixed)[3]
The Guardian	[4]
Virgin Media	[5]

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Mary Pickford"	Mike Batt	3:12
2.	"It's All in My Head"	Batt Katie Melua	4:03
3.	"If the Lights Go Out"	Batt	3:14
4.	"What I Miss About You"	Andrea McEwan Melua	3:48
5.	"Spellbound"	Melua	3:00
6.	"What It Says on the Tin"	Batt	3:44
7.	"Scary Films"	Batt	4:02
8.	"Perfect Circle"	Molly McQueen Melua	4:01
9.	"Ghost Town"	Batt Melua	3:31
10.	"If You Were a Sailboat"	Batt	4:02
11.	"Dirty Dice"	McEwan Melua	3:39
12.	"In My Secret Life"	Leonard Cohen Sharon Robinson	4:23

Variants

The iTunes release includes a bonus track, "Under the Cherry Moon".

The Japanese release also contains extra tracks, "When You Taught Me How to Dance" and "Closest Thing to Crazy (acoustic version)".

In the United States, the Target store release had four extra live tracks:

1. "The Closest Thing to Crazy"
2. "Nine Million Bicycles"
3. "Piece by Piece"
4. "Thank You, Stars"

iTunes early release

On 2 September 2007, iTunes began selling Pictures in many of its locations, including the UK and Australian stores in error, a month before its official release date. Initially, it was unclear if it was in error. However, moderators on Melua's forums had deleted any posts relating to the discussion of the release, and the "tell a friend" link on the UK iTunes Store stated the album would be available on 29 September, suggesting that it should not have been available. Melua's official website also made no mention of an early iTunes release.

By 3 September 2007 the album was unavailable in the iTunes Store, with an error message stating the album would be available on 29 September. The album peaked at number 3 in the UK iTunes vocal-genre chart.

Chart performance

In the United Kingdom, the album debuted at #2 with 53,878 copies sold in its first week.[6]

Peak Positions Chart (2007/08) Peak position Austrian Albums Chart[7] 6 Belgian (Flanders) Albums Chart[7] 10 Belgian (Wallonia) Albums Chart[7] 2 Danish Albums Chart[7] 2 Dutch Albums Chart[7] 1 Finnish Albums Chart[7] 20 French Albums Chart[7] 4 German Albums Chart[8] 2 Italian Albums Chart[7] 18 Irish Albums Chart[8] 6 Japanese Albums Chart[9] 222 New Zealand Albums Chart[7] 27 Norwegian Albums Chart[7] 2 Polish Albums Chart[10] 3 Portuguese Albums Chart[8] 4 Swedish Albums Chart[7] 9 Swiss Albums Chart[7] 1 UK Albums Chart[11] 2 US Billboard Top Heatseekers[12] 11 Decade-End charts Chart (2000–09) Position Dutch Albums Chart[13] 27

End of year charts Chart (2007) Position Austrian Albums Chart[14] 68 Belgian (Wallonia) Albums Chart[15] 43 Dutch Albums Chart[16] 1 European Top 100 Albums[17] 19 French Albums Chart[18] 85 Swedish Albums Chart[19] 89 Swiss Albums Chart[20] 9 UK Albums Chart[21] 49 Chart (2008) Position Belgian (Flanders) Albums Chart[22] 51 Belgian (Wallonia) Albums Chart[23] 15 Dutch Albums Chart[24] 27 European Top 100 Albums[25] 29 Swiss Albums Chart[26] 29 UK Albums Chart[27] 168 Certifications Region Certification Austria (IFPI Austria)[28] Gold Belgium (BEA)[29] Gold Denmark (IFPI Denmark)[30] Platinum Germany (BVMI)[31] Platinum Portugal (AFP)[32] Gold Sweden (GLF)[33] Gold Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[34] 2× Platinum United Kingdom (BPI)[35] Platinum Summaries Europe (IFPI)[36] Platinum

References

1. Mason, Stewart. Pictures at AllMusic
2. Levine, Nick (2007-10-02). "Katie Melua: 'Pictures'". Digitalspy.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-07-29.
3. "Music - Review of Katie Melua - Pictures". BBC. 2007-10-01. Retrieved 2016-07-29.
4. Clarke, Betty (28 September 2007). "CD: Katie Melua, Pictures". The Guardian. London.
5. "Music". Virgin Media. 2016-04-15. Retrieved 2016-07-29.
6. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-01-11. Retrieved 2012-03-14.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
7. "finnishcharts.com - Katie Melua - Pictures". finnishcharts.com. Retrieved 24 August 2011.
8. "Katie Melua - Pictures - Music Charts". acharts.us. Retrieved 24 August 2011.
9. ケイティ・メルアけいてぃめるあ (2007-10-01). "ピクチャーズ | ケイティ・メルア | ORICON STYLE". Oricon.co.jp. Retrieved 2016-07-29.
10. "Official Retail Sales Chart - sales for the period 15.10.2007 - 21.10.2007". OLiS. Retrieved 2013-09-20.
11. "The Official Charts Company - Katie Melua - Pictures". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
12. "Pictures - Katie Melua | Billboard.com". billboard.com. Retrieved 24 August 2011.
13. Steffen Hung. "Dutch Charts". Dutchcharts.nl. Archived from the original on 2015-02-08. Retrieved 2016-07-29.
14. Steffen Hung. "Das österreichische Hitparaden- und Musik-Portal". Austriancharts.at. Retrieved 2016-07-29.
15. "Ultratop Belgian Charts". Ultratop.be. Archived from the original on 2014-10-24. Retrieved 2016-07-29.
16. Steffen Hung. "Dutch Charts". Dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved 2016-07-29.
17. "Billboard.BIZ". Web.archive.org. 2009-02-25. Archived from the original on 2009-02-25. Retrieved 2016-07-29.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
18. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-03-05. Retrieved 2011-04-05.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
19. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-10-14. Retrieved 2012-03-17.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
20. Steffen Hung. "Swiss Year-End Charts 2007". Swisscharts.com. Archived from the original on 2009-02-16. Retrieved 2016-07-29.
21. Chartwatch Annual Chart Booklets: Year 2007 Retrieved January 1, 2011.
22. "Ultratop Belgian Charts". Ultratop.be. Retrieved 2016-07-29.
23. "Ultratop Belgian Charts". Ultratop.be. Archived from the original on 2012-01-05. Retrieved 2016-07-29.
24. Steffen Hung. "Dutch Charts". Dutchcharts.nl. Archived from the original on 2012-03-31. Retrieved 2016-07-29.
25. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-10-04. Retrieved 2011-08-01.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
26. Steffen Hung. "Swiss Year-End Charts 2008". Swisscharts.com. Archived from the original on 2010-02-13. Retrieved 2016-07-29.
27. Chartwatch Annual Chart Booklets: Year 2008 Retrieved January 3, 2011.
28. "Austrian album certifications – Katie Melua – Pictures" (in German). IFPI Austria.
29. "Ultratop − Goud en Platina – albums 2007". Ultratop. Hung Medien.
30. "Danish album certifications – Katie Melua – Pictures". IFPI Denmark. Scroll through the page-list below until year 2008 to obtain certification.
31. "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Katie Melua; 'Pictures')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie.
32. "Portuguese album certifications – Katie Melua – Pictures" (in Portuguese). Associação Fonográfica Portuguesa. Archived from the original on 2009-05-11.
33. "Guld- och Platinacertifikat − År 2008" (PDF) (in Swedish). IFPI Sweden.
34. "The Official Swiss Charts and Music Community: Awards (Katie Melua; 'Pictures')". IFPI Switzerland. Hung Medien.
35. "British album certifications – Katie Melua – Pictures". British Phonographic Industry. Select albums in the Format field. Select Platinum in the Certification field. Type Pictures in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
36. "IFPI Platinum Europe Awards – 2007". International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.