Track Listing

1. I'm All Right
2. The Summer Wind
3. Blue Alert
4. Everybody's Talkin'
5. River - Madeleine Peyroux, k.d. lang
6. A Little Bit
7. Once In A While
8. (Looking For) The Heart Of Saturday Night
9. Half The Perfect World
10. La Javanaise
11. California Rain
12. Smile

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2710 in Music
• Released on: 2006-10-30
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 49 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Southern-born, Paris-honed Billie Holiday sound-a-like Madeleine Peyroux has been charming audiences with her sophisticated renditions of jazz/blues standards and torch songs for a decade now. Half The Perfect World differs from previous albums Dreamland and Careless Love in that Peyroux covers songwriters from recent times, rather than those of yesteryear. Not only that, but she has also included more of her own compositions -- four in total -- penned with long-time collaborator/producer Larry Klein. It's her own "It's All Right" (which also has writing credits from Steely Dan's Walter Becker) that gets the album off to an infectious and insouciant start. Backed by musicians Sam Yahel (Norah Jones, Bill Frisell), David Piltch (Holly Cole), Jay Bellerose and drummer Scott Amendola, amongst others, Peyroux then proceeds to take us through a smoky, emotive world of romance, eroticism and heartbreak populated by re-interpretations of classics like Joni Mitchell's "River" (a duet with k.d. lang), Tom Waits' "The Heart Of Saturday Night", Leonard Cohen's "Blue Alert" -- even Charlie Chaplin's "Smile". A string-laden version of Serge Gainsbourg's "La Javanaise" provides the anticipated French touch, while the remainder of Peyroux's own songs, in particular the heartfelt "California Rain" and the poignant "Once in a While", stand up surprisingly well next to the rest of the material.--Paul Sullivan

Album Description
Madeleine Peyroux is back. Described as "a thing of late night beauty" by The Times, Madeleine returns with an amazing new album, 'Half The Perfect World', packed with brand new songs and well known hits.

'Half the Perfect World' focuses on artists and writers from Madeleine's lifetime, including Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits, Fred Neil & Joni Mitchell, and features a stunning duet with K.D. Lang.

The new album is beautifully produced by Larry Klein, as was Madeleine's previous album 'Careless Love', which has sold more than a million copies worldwide. This new record serves as both a complement and a contrast to 'Careless Love'.

"This record is different from Careless Love in the sense that there's a unison of joy on it," Peyroux says of the new album. "It's pushing certain boundaries for me".

Customer Reviews

Like good coffee ruined with too much milk.
The first few tracks are the heart and soul of this album. "I'm All Right" the first, is probably the best. "Summer Wind" is a sweet ballad - rock steady beat with gentle softly swooping vocals - very nice. "Blue Alert" - this is a good number that bops along nicely but Peyroux's vocals lack the edge and attack that would have made it something special. Still - it grows on you.

"Everybodys Talkin" is just an incredibly dull rendition of a clasic song. Truly dreadful.

There isn't much to say about the rest of the album only two other tracks are worthy of note: "Little Bit" co-written by Peyroux is a pretty good number - I hope to hear more of her own material on future albums.

"The Heart of Saturday Night" is one of those song that should have been left to Tom Waits, but this version is ok.

The rest of the album is OK, not bad, nothing special. I do listen to this album from start to finish but there are only the first three songs and "Little Bit" which grab my attention.

Well worth 3 stars.

Another Gem
Another slice of heaven. A phenomenal voice tied in with incredible production makes this an excellent buy that would enhance any collection.

Much more than half perfect to my ears
"Half the Perfect World" is the third, extremely tasteful album by Madeleine Peyroux and is yet another gem.

Musically, it features a wider range of material and, vocally, it sounds more light-hearted, less world-weary than a lot of her previous work.
Progress is shown as she co-wrote four original songs. Of course, like in the past, she also provides very individual, creative, sweetly nuanced arrangements to some cover songs (ranging from Johnny Mercer and Charlie Chaplin to Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell and Tom Waits.)

Larry Klein (Mitchell's former husband) again produces whilst many of the musicians already played on her previous "Careless Love". Dean Parks (guitar), jazz keyboardist Sam Yahel, and bassist David Piltch are brilliant and solid pros. Interesting aural colours are added: Greg Leisz' steel guitar, a string quartet and k.d. lang's guest vocals.

The opener "I'm All Right" is a lost love song co-written by Peyroux, Walter Becker (from Steely Dan) and Larry Klein. The tempo swings gently. The three other originals feature the contribution of Jesse Harris (in place of Becker) ; Harris is well known for his collaboration with Norah Jones.
Johnny Mercer "The Summer Wind" follows ; very far from the usual ballad treatment, it is nothing short of a reinvention of this classic.
Two Leonard Cohen songs are covered : Blue Alert - very laid back - and "Half the Perfect World" - where Peyroux sounds both fragile and assured.
Fred Neil's masterful, folkish "Everybody's Talking" (a 1969 # 6 US pop hit for Harry Nilsson), receives a very memorable vocal performance whilst giving place for instrumental solos.
Tom Waits' "(Looking for) the Heart of Saturday Nigh" is masterfully adorned by Greg Leisz' country leaning steel.
"A Little Bit", one of the best original, has some kind of a "soul" arrangement.
Given the singer association with France, it's not surprising that she sings the excellent Serge Gainsbourg's song "La Javanaise" featuring an elegant sounding string section. Joni Mitchell's sad "River" sees k.d. lang alternating stanzas with Peyroux ; both singers prove supremely compatible on this song.
The CD concludes with the unexpected cover of Charlie Chaplin's "Smile" featuring Dean Parks on ukulele. Nicely done, but maybe nothing special either.

Sonically, this CD is well recorded, often capturing the intimate sound well, especially on Peyroux' vocal.

Madeleine Peyroux is one of the best artists of the young generation expressing itself in the "chanteuse" genre, and she clearly grows from strength to strength with each new recording.