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List Price: $9.99 | | Label: Dramatico
Salesrank: 8370
Released: May 5, 2009 |
| Our Price: $3.80 |
| Used Price: $3.99 |
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| Media: Audio CD |
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Pictures Track Listing:
1. Mary Pickford
2. Its All in My Head
3. If the Lights Go Out
4. What I Miss About You
5. Spellbound
6. What It Says on the Tin
7. Scary Films
8. Perfect Circle
9. Ghost Town
10. If You Were a Sailboat
11. Dirty Dice
12. In My Secret Life
Editorial Review:
Katie Melua was born in Georgia (former USSR) in 1984, growing up under the communist regime in the capital, Tbilisi. The family left Georgia when Katie was eight and moved to Belfast where her father got a job as a heart surgeon. Katie didn't always want to be a singer or songwriter. Her ambition when she was thirteen was to be a politician or a historian "I honestly thought I'd be able to bring peace to the world...if I ruled it!)" The family lived in Belfast for five years before moving to South East London. At sixteen, Katie joined the BRIT School for Performing Arts.
Composer/producer Mike Batt paid a visit to the school. Katie signed to Batt's record label Dramatico, but stayed at the BRIT School to complete her studies where she graduated with distinction in July 2003.
Unable to secure a contract with a Major record company, Katie and Mike decided to put her album Call Off The Search (containing the song "The Closest Thing To Crazy") out on Batt's own, small record label. After an appearance on The Royal Variety Show, 19 year old Katie shot to the top of the UK album charts and became the biggest selling female artist for the next two years. Her two albums, (the second of which contained the hit "Nine Million Bicycles") have sold more than 10 million copies to date. She and her family took British nationality in 2005. In December 2007, Katie topped the charts with a duet with her idol, the late Eva Cassidy, entitled "What A Wonderful World", with proceeds from the single going to support the UK work of the British Red Cross.
The past years have been quite extraordinary for Katie (now 24). She has had a Dutch tulip named in her honor, met and played for Nelson Mandela in South Africa visiting his Aids charity, has become a hard working Ambassador for Save The Children, raced at 160mph around Grand Prix, flown a plane, learned to dive and parachute freefall, set a Guinness World Record for deepest underwater concert (19 miles under water on a gas rig in the North Sea), and picked up various prestigious awards within Europe, including a World Music Award, a Golden Camera Award, and two German Echo Awards.
Katie's third studio album, Pictures, confirms Katie's status as a unique and remarkable vocalist, and reveals the third chapter of what is destined to be a long musical career.
Description of Pictures:
There is something innately British about Katie Melua’s appeal, her style reminiscent of former '60s UK legend Lulu, especially in songs that combine adult contemporary pop with a slight crooning style ("All In My Head," "If You Were A Sailboat"). Whatever her je-ne-sais-quality is, Melua’s popularity in Europe is massive; she has sold more CDs in Britain than any other female artist in both 2005 and 2006. At the time of the release of her third CD, Pictures, sales of her first two were at an impressive eight million sold and climbing. Many compare her sound and style to Norah Jones and Diana Krall, but that is quite misleading, as she is neither as bluesy as Jones nor as jazzy as Krall, landing in fact much more in the middle of the road stylistically. Cover songs are in short supply on this disc (unlike Melua’s prior releases); Pictures contains only one cover tune, a Motown-affected Leonard Cohen song entitled "In My Secret Life." While all the other songs are originals, many do significantly resemble Cohen cuts, pairing poetry with melancholy ("If The Lights Go Out," "Dirty Dice"). One word of advice to the unfamiliar; the former Russian resident has a vibrato that at times approaches a warble, so although Melua’s music clearly has massive appeal to an entire continent, North American eardrums would do well to preview her sonic wares prior to purchasing the whole disc. --Denise Sheppard
Pictures Reviews:
You don't have to shout to be noticed. 
2009-10-01 - Just released domestically, after a year's availability overseas, the third from this soft-sung Brit writer detours often enough from the well-worn Norah path to embrace even a jaded listener. Melua proves that you don't have to shout to be noticed. All it takes is a memorable melody and engaging arrangements. Producer-keyboardist Mike Batt contributed five songs; the rest were written or co-written by Melua, and contain her trademark imagery-laden lyrics that will likely lend themselves to additional video creativity. Just get past the cloyingly rhymed "Mary Pickford," and the rest of Pictures is a sophisticated romance novel, with film rights just around the corner.
Katie's pictures 
2009-09-30 - This album is smooth, relaxing and the song writing is perhaps better than in the previous albums. As usual Katie sings with feelings that her contemporaries lack. I wouldn't try to categorize this album as it draws from many sources for inspiration. Loved the reggae interlude in Ghost town. And, her rendering of Lenny Cohen's 'Secret Life' should become a classic. Leonard Cohen will surely approve and applaud.
Katie's third album is an acquired taste
2009-07-26 - I've loved Katie Melua's rich, warm voice since 9 Million Bicycles, and I've actually met the young woman myself. I looked forward to this CD for many months, and I was initially disappointed. But this album is an acquired taste - it gets better the more you listen!
"Mary Pickford" is quirky and quick; I was curious enough about the lyrics to look up Pickford on the internet. That doesn't mean I like the song; it just doesn't seem to fit with the rest of the album.
"What It Says On The Tin" is a gem, but probably not the best song on the CD. That honour, in my estimation, goes to "Dirty Dice."
I will happily buy and enjoy everything Katie Melua ever does. "Halfway Up the Hindu Kush" is probably my favourite song of all time. There's something about this young Georgian that really strikes at the Anglophile in me, and listening to her wonderful voice is like finally coming home.
A Great Talent
2009-07-16 - Seven days ago I had never heard of Katie Melua. I now have the "Pictures" CD and it remains in my CD player. Melua is both a great singer and a great writer. Her music is difficult to categorize. It is a bit pop, a bit soft rock (not in the negative sense that phrase often conjures up), a bit blues, and a bit jazz. The writing is both intelligent and moving. Her keyboardist, Mike Batt, wrote five of the selections on this CD. There is no let down with his songs. They are indistinguishable from Melua's songs. And that is a high compliment. He is clearly in tune with Melua as a performer, and probably as a person. As good as the originals are on this CD, they are surpassed by her gorgeous rendition of Leonard Cohen's "In My Secret Life." Other reviewers have offered comparisons of sorts with Diana Krall and Norah Jones. Those are not altogether off the mark, but anyone who likes Krall and Jones would likely find much to savor in this lovely CD.
A Great Third!
2009-06-05 - I've been a fan of Katie Melua for several years, and am happy to see that there is finally an American release of her work! I first heard of here, through Eva Cassidy's web site, where there was a link of Katie doing a duet with Eva (via one of Eva's videos). I love her voice and stylings, and listening to this combination along with her guitar work is something NOT to miss! I can only hope that she comes to the states for a tour in the near future.
