Half the Perfect World

Half the Perfect World
Studio album by Madeleine Peyroux
Released	September 12, 2006
Recorded	April 2006
Genre	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]

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]

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.

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.^[11]

Certifications

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

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)

References

1. Allmusic review
2. ARTISTdirect.com review
3. Being There Magazine review
4. The Guardian review
5. JazzPolice.com review
6. Snow, Mat (November 2006). "NY state of mind: Madeleine Peyroux Half the Perfect World". Mojo. p. 104.
7. musicOMH.com review
8. Rolling Stone review
9. inthenews.co.uk review
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.
13. "Latest Gold / Platinum Albums". Recording Industry Association of New Zealand. RadioScope New Zealand. November 23, 2008.
14. "BPI Certified Awards (Searchable Database - By Award - Gold): MADELEINE PEYROUX - HALF THE PERFECT WORLD". British Phonographic Industry. December 8, 2006.