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List Price: $22.99 | | Label: Universal
Salesrank: 1306734
Released: July 5, 2005 |
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| Used Price: $15.49 |
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| Media: Audio CD |
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Call off the Search Track Listing:
1. Call Off The Search
2. Crawling Up A Hill
3. Closest Thing To Crazy
4. My Aphrodisiac Is You
5. Learnin' The Blues
6. Blame It On The Moon
7. Belfast
8. I Think It's Going To Rain Today
9. Mockingbird
10. Tiger In The Night
11. Faraway Voice
12. Lilac Wine
13. Katie Melua 'Onstage & Backstage'
14. Faraway Voice (Live)
15. I Put A Spell On You (Live)
16. Closest Thing To Crazy (Live)
17. My Aphrodisiac Is You (Live)
18. I Think It's Going To Rain Today (Live)
19. Belfast (Live)
20. Mockingbird Song (Live)
21. Crawling Up A Hill (Live)
22. Call Off The Search (Live)
23. Making Of 'Call Off The Search"
24. Closest Thing To Crazy (Video)
25. Call Off The Search (Video)
26. Crawling Up A Hill (Video)
27. Katie Melua "Starting Out 2003" (Video)
Editorial Review:
Call Off The Search is the 2004 debut album from Georgia born (UK based) singer/songwriter Katie Melua. The album is a mix of contemporary adult pop, jazz, blues and world music. This limited special bonus edition features a bonus 16-track DVD (NTSC/Region 0). The DVD features an 11 song perfomance recorded at Croydon's Fairfield Hall, three promo videos to, 'Call Off The Search', 'The Closest Thing To Crazy' and 'Crawling Up A Hill' along with two segments, Call of the Search - The Making of the album and Katie Melua 'On Stage and Back Stage'. Universal. 2005.
Description of Call off the Search:
Call Off the Search was released in the U.K. in November 2003 to deserved acclaim, alongside countless declarations that this 19-year-old British music school-educated, Russian-born singer is "the next Norah." There are similarities--Melua does work within a jazz/blues idiom, is talented beyond her years, and concentrates more on classics than her own material (ten are covers and two originals). But she's far more of a classic showbiz type singer than the sultry and sophisticated-sounding Jones. On the single "The Closest Thing to Crazy," for instance, Melua's phrasing is pure show tune. But it works for her, as it did for Lena and Liza before. The only weak link resides in a few straightahead blues songs, notably the 12-bar stomp "My Aphrodisiac Is You." Melua has the talent, she just lacks the soul to put oomph into a song that namechecks the Kama Sutra (this is as it should be, of course, as she's a teenager, but the choice of material is suspect nonetheless). Melua is a great torch singer who deserves the spotlight; odds are you'll eagerly await her next album before you're even done listening to this one all the way through. --Mike McGonigal
Call off the Search Reviews:
Best New Artist! 
2006-07-31 - I originally purchased Katie Melua's CD after hearing her perform for the first time on a national morning talk show last year. I couldn't stop listening to it. Still haven't. Afraid that I would literally wear out this CD, I ordered another one when I saw this special CD and bonus DVD offered by [...]. Ms. Melua has a unique blues/jazz voice that grabs your heart; her songs of loss and longing speak to your soul. I especially recommend two songs from this CD: "The Closest Thing to Crazy" and "Tiger in the Night." Would like to see this artist perform in Baltimore at The France-Merrick Performing Arts Center!
great combo
2006-07-18 - Songs are a bit more mellow than her Piece by Piece cd, but not so mellow that you want to take a nap. The dvd is excellent, and it is worth it just to watch her channel Bob Dylan.
My Aphrodisiac is you....
2005-12-18 - Katie is one of those once in a lifetime talents. Her voice is beautiful and strong. While the modern female "jazz" singer is not the in the mold of singers in the past, there are some truly talented female performers in the genre: Katie Melua, Dianna Krall, etc.
Sadly, Katie (because of her age) is lumped into the same category of the most overrated performer ever: Norah Jones.
Hearing about Norah's "phrasing abilities" is like hearing about Mariah Carey's 8... no 9... no 10... no 11 octave range (you get the picture).
Katie's phrasing is average, but her voice and talent supersede this genre!!
A New Talent - Getting There 
2005-07-25 - The Amazon review hits it pretty much on-target. She has the voice and talent for a great career - her choice of materials could use much more work. This is decent CD - some great and excellent tracks where her voice rises to the material - her voice works best on sexy and melancholy cabaret choices like BLAME IT ON THE MOON and I thought her performance on MY APHRODISIAC IS YOU was a cute, sexy, breathy cabaret take (as opposed to the Amazon review who dislaiked it) but on other tracks when she has to really "plow" into it, she is clueless for instance, butchering the MOCKINGBIRD SONG. If you like to hear all new talent, you should give her a listen but right now, you should just buy a few tracks until she gets the material to match her strengths.
Not just a pretty face - this is an outstanding debut 
2004-12-04 - What a wonderful talent she is! So young, but very mature, with a great voice, a lovely personality and a head that is not big, but is screwed on correctly. All this can be gleaned from this CD/DVD version of the album.
It is a wonderful assortment of styles and sets her apart from a lot of other singers, although she will be compared to people like Norah Jones. The DVD, highlighting her in concert at Croydon's Fairfield Hall, as well as her talking about the album, band and videos, shows her to be unspoilt and as good live as on record.
She has a great set of songs here, all of them worthy of their place on the album. Bearing in mind Mike Batt was first known for the UK children's TV show The Wombles (big furry animal who roamed Wimbledon Common - bless them!), half of the album tracks are his compositions.
However, there are other composers' songs here - she does a very good reading of John Mayall's "Crawling Up A Hill", an equally excellent version of James Shelton's "Lilac Wine" .... and there are a couple of her own songs, the impressive "Belfast (Penguins and Cats)" which recall her days in that city and "Faraway Voice", a song dedicated to Eva Cassidy, whom Katie is a big fan of. This last song is nice, but too heavily influenced by Christine McVie's "Songbird" which Cassidy sang so splendidly. There's the classic Randy Newman song "I Think It's Going To Rain Today". However, the arrangement just doesn't do it for me and a the one major disappointment on the album.
Nevertheless, this edition of the album tells you more about Katie Melua and shows her to be very pretty, very talented and with a very fine voice.
Finally, I must say the collection of musicians on the album and the DVD should get a mention - they are all very wonderful. Mike Batt has brought together some serious experience which, no doubt, from whom Miss Melua will learn from. Just one other point about the concert, I wish Mr Batt had not worn that top on stage - it deflects a little from the star attraction!
I'm not certain what Katie's follow-up album should sound like. Perhaps she will need to avoid being too similar to Eva Cassidy (or anyone else, for that matter) - she has a different kind of voice and has enough about her to develop her own style. but I am already looking forward to it.
