Pictures (Katie Melua album)

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]

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 May 5, 2009, with a different album cover.

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 USA, 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. http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/music/a76853/katie-melua-pictures.html
3. http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/release/zg54/
4. Clarke, Betty (28 September 2007). "CD: Katie Melua, Pictures". The Guardian (London).
5. http://www.virginmedia.com/music/reviews/albumreviews/katiemelua-pictures.php
6. http://www.musicweek.com/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=1048801&c=1
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. http://www.oricon.co.jp/prof/artist/342102/products/music/723364/1/
10. "Official Retail Sales Chart - sales for the period 15.10.2007 - 21.10.2007". OLiS. Retrieved 2013-09-20.
11. "Chart Stats - Katie Melua - Pictures". chartstats.com. Archived from the original on 24 July 2012. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
12. "Pictures - Katie Melua | Billboard.com". billboard.com. Retrieved 24 August 2011.
13. http://dutchcharts.nl/decennium.asp?cat=a
14. http://www.austriancharts.at/year.asp?id=2007&cat=a
15. http://www.ultratop.be/fr/annual.asp?year=2007&cat=a
16. http://dutchcharts.nl/yearchart_2007.asp?cat=a
17. http://web.archive.org/web/20090225012214/http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/charts/yearendcharts/european-top-100-albums.jsp
18. http://www.disqueenfrance.com/fr/pag-259376-Classements-Annuels.html?year=2007&type=2
19. http://www.hitlistan.se/netdata/ghl002.mbr/lista?liid=83&dfom=20070001&navi=no
20. http://swisscharts.com/year.asp?key=2007
21. Chartwatch Annual Chart Booklets: Year 2007 Retrieved January 1, 2011.
22. http://www.ultratop.be/nl/annual.asp?year=2008&cat=a
23. http://www.ultratop.be/fr/annual.asp?year=2008&cat=a
24. http://dutchcharts.nl/yearchart_2008.asp?cat=a
25. http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/charts/yearendcharts/2008/european-100-albums
26. http://swisscharts.com/year.asp?key=2008
27. Chartwatch Annual Chart Booklets: Year 2008 Retrieved January 3, 2011.
28. "Austrian album certifications – Katie Melua – Pictures" (in German). IFPI Austria. Enter Katie Melua in the field Interpret. Enter Pictures in the field Titel. Select album in the field Format. Click Suchen
29. "Ultratop − Goud en Platina – 2007". Ultratop & Hung Medien / hitparade.ch.
30. "Danish album certifications – Katie Melua – Pictures". IFPI Denmark. Click on næste to go to page if certification from official website
31. "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Katie Melua; 'Pictures')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie.
32. "Portuguese album certifications – Katie Melua – Pictures" (in Portuguese). Associação Fonográfica Portuguesa.
33. "Guld- och Platinacertifikat − År 2008" (PDF) (in Swedish). IFPI Sweden.
34. "The Official Swiss Charts and Music Community: Awards (Katie Melua; 'Pictures')". Hung Medien.
35. "British album certifications – Katie Melua – Pictures". British Phonographic Industry. Enter Pictures in the field Keywords. Select Title in the field Search by. Select album in the field By Format. Select Platinum in the field By Award. Click Search
36. "IFPI Platinum Europe Awards – 2007". International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.