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 (2006-09-12)
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

Charts

Weekly charts Weekly chart performance for Half the Perfect World Chart (2006) Peak position Australian Albums (ARIA)[12] 26 Australian Jazz & Blues Albums (ARIA)[13] 1 Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[14] 42 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[15] 41 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[16] 31 Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[17] 19 French Albums (SNEP)[18] 15 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[19] 55 Greek Albums (IFPI)[20] 6 Italian Albums (FIMI)[21] 15 New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[22] 25 Scottish Albums (OCC)[23] 12 Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[24] 38 Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[25] 24 Swedish Jazz Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[26] 1 Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[27] 41 UK Albums (OCC)[28] 12 UK Jazz & Blues Albums (OCC)[29] 1 US Billboard 200[30] 33 US Top Jazz Albums (Billboard)[31] 1 US Traditional Jazz Albums (Billboard)[32] 1

Year-end charts 2006 year-end chart performance for Half the Perfect World Chart (2006) Position Australian Jazz & Blues Albums (ARIA)[33] 6 French Albums (SNEP)[34] 151 US Top Jazz Albums (Billboard)[35] 7 2007 year-end chart performance for Half the Perfect World Chart (2007) Position Australian Jazz & Blues Albums (ARIA)[36] 10 US Top Jazz Albums (Billboard)[37] 9 2008 year-end chart performance for Half the Perfect World Chart (2008) Position Australian Jazz & Blues Albums (ARIA)[38] 30 2009 year-end chart performance for Half the Perfect World Chart (2009) Position Australian Jazz & Blues Albums (ARIA)[39] 49

Certifications

Certifications for Half the Perfect World

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Brazil (Pro-Música Brasil)[40]	Gold	30,000*
Germany (BVMI)[41]	2× Platinum	40,000^
New Zealand (RMNZ)[42]	Gold	7,500^
United Kingdom (BPI)[43]	Gold	100,000^
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.