Call Off the Search

For the title song, see Call off the Search (song).

Call off the Search is the debut studio album by British jazz and blues singer Katie Melua, released in 2003.

Call off the Search
Studio album by Katie Melua
Released	3 November 2003
Recorded	2003
Genre	Jazz blues
Length	41:14
Label	Universal
Producer	Mike Batt
Katie Melua chronology
Call off the Search (2003) Piece by Piece (2005)
Singles from Call off the Search
"The Closest Thing to Crazy" Released: 1 December 2003 "Call off the Search" Released: 15 March 2004 "Crawling up a Hill" Released: 19 July 2004

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]

Recording and release

British songwriter, producer and arranger Mike Batt signed Melua to his Dramatico recording and management label after she performed at a showcase at the Brit School for the Performing Arts in early 2003. Batt was looking for a young artist capable of "performing jazz and blues in an interesting way". Melua went into the studio soon after with Batt as the producer. She recorded songs written by Batt, John Mayall, Delores J. Silver, herself, Randy Newman, and James Shelton. Melua wrote "Faraway Voice" about singer Eva Cassidy. "Belfast (Penguins and Cats)" refers to Melua's upbringing in Belfast, Northern Ireland: "Penguins" referring to Protestants and "Cats" to Catholics.

Call off the Search was released in the United Kingdom on 3 November 2003. It became a hit, reaching number one on the UK album chart in January 2004 and the top twenty of the Australian album chart in June 2004. It spent 87 weeks in the ARIA Top 100, certified Platinum for shipments of 70,000+. First single "The Closest Thing to Crazy", written by Batt, reached the top five in Ireland, top ten in the UK, top twenty in Norway, and top fifty in Australia. The second single from the album was the title track, "Call Off the Search", which gave Melua her second UK top twenty hit. The third single, a cover of Mayall's "Crawling up a Hill", was released on 18 July as the third single in the UK. In the UK the album sold 1.8 million copies within its first five months of release, making it six times platinum.^[2] It spent six weeks at the top of the UK chart.

Chart performance

In the United Kingdom, Call off the Search was the 5th best selling album of 2004 with 1,356,962 copies sold,^[3] and has sold over 1.9 million copies in the UK as of January 2013.^[4]

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Call Off the Search"	Mike Batt	3:24
2.	"Crawling Up a Hill"	John Mayall	3:25
3.	"The Closest Thing to Crazy"	Batt	4:12
4.	"My Aphrodisiac Is You"	Batt	3:34
5.	"Learnin' the Blues"	Delores J. Silver	3:23
6.	"Blame It on the Moon"	Batt	3:47
7.	"Belfast (Penguins and Cats)"	Katie Melua	3:21
8.	"I Think It's Going to Rain Today"	Randy Newman	2:30
9.	"Mockingbird Song"	Batt	3:06
10.	"Tiger in the Night"	Batt	3:07
11.	"Faraway Voice"	Melua	3:13
12.	"Lilac Wine"	James Shelton	4:11

The Japanese release has the extra track "Deep Purple".

Personnel

• Katie Melua – guitar, vocals
• Mike Batt – organ, piano, conducting, arrangements, production
• Jim Cregan – guitar
• Tim Harries – bass
• The Irish Film Orchestra – orchestra
• Michael Kruk – drums
• Alan Smale – leader
• Chris Spedding – guitar
• Henry Spinetti – drums

Technical

• Steve Sale – engineering
• Simon Fowler – photography
• Michael Halsband – cover photo

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (2003–04) Peak position Australian Albums (ARIA)[5] 13 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[6] 76 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[7] 76 Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[8] 1 Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[9] 6 French Albums (SNEP)[10] 41 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[11] 8 Irish Albums (IRMA)[12] 2 Japanese Albums (Oricon)[13] 13 New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[14] 4 Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[15] 2 Polish Albums (OLiS)[16] 19 Portuguese Albums (AFP)[17] 17 Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[18] 22 Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[19] 29 UK Albums (OCC)[20] 1 US Billboard 200[21] 161 US Heatseekers Albums (Billboard)[22] 7

Year-end charts Chart (2003) Position UK Albums (OCC)[23] 110 Chart (2004) Position Australian Albums (ARIA)[24] 60 Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[25] 26 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[26] 21 New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[27] 35 UK Albums (OCC)[28] 5 Chart (2005) Position Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[29] 37 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[30] 40 UK Albums (OCC)[31] 94

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[32]	Platinum	70,000^
Denmark (IFPI Danmark)[33]	2× Platinum	80,000^
France	—	100,000[34]
Germany (BVMI)[35]	2× Platinum	400,000^
Netherlands (NVPI)[36]	Platinum	80,000^
New Zealand (RMNZ)[37]	Platinum	15,000^
Norway (IFPI Norway)[38]	3× Platinum	145,000[39]
South Africa (RISA)[38]	Platinum	50,000*
Sweden (GLF)[40]	Gold	30,000^
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[41]	Platinum	40,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[42]	6× Platinum	1,900,000[4]
United States	—	66,000[43]
Summaries
Europe (IFPI)[44]	2× Platinum	2,000,000*
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

See also

• 2003 in music