''All the Lost Souls'' is the second studio album by the English singer-songwriter

James Blunt James Blunt (born James Hillier Blount; 22 February 1974) is an English singer, songwriter and musician. A former reconnaissance officer in the Life Guards regiment of the British Army, he served under NATO during the 1999 Kosovo War. After l ...

, released on 17 September 2007. It is the follow-up to his hugely successful 2004 debut album, '' Back to Bedlam''. The first single released from the album was "1973", which started radio play on 23 July 2007. Several songs on the album were performed at live shows during Blunt's 2006 tours, including "1973", "I Really Want You", "Annie" and "I Can't Hear the Music". His touring band, consisting of Paul Beard (keyboards and

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

), Ben Castle (guitar and

), Malcolm Moore (bass guitar and

) and Karl Brazil (drums and percussion), backed Blunt on the new album.

Tom Rothrock Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...

returns as producer; Rothrock also produced ''Back to Bedlam.'' Blunt also performed the song "Same Mistake" during his performance at the

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concert in London. The album received mixed reviews, but peaked at number one in over 20 countries.

Cover art

The cover consists of hundreds of pictures of Blunt (from childhood to recent) which forms a

photomosaic In the field of photographic imaging, a photographic mosaic, also known under the term Photomosaic, is a picture (usually a photograph) that has been divided into (usually equal sized) tiled sections, each of which is replaced with another phot ...

of his face.

Singles

The first single produced from the album was "1973". The single proved to become a massive hit, due to heavy airplay and satisfying sales. It performed below expectations in the US, peaking at number 73. On the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, the song peaked at number four, despite being at number one on the Airplay charts. The second single taken from the album was "

Same Mistake "Same Mistake" is the second single from James Blunt's second studio album, '' All the Lost Souls''. The song was released to radio on 1 November 2007, before being officially released on 3 December 2007. The song was heavily edited for radio pl ...

", which failed to chart in the US and had a differing successes in other countries, however, it was a major hit in many South American countries. The third single released was " Carry You Home", which peaked at number 20 on the UK Singles Chart. The fourth and final single from the standard edition of the album, " I Really Want You", was only released as a promotional single, although a music video does exist. " Je réalise" was released as the first single from the deluxe edition of the album, exclusively in France. " Love, Love, Love" was released as the second single from the deluxe edition of the album, charting in many countries. " It Is My Song" was released as the third and final single from the deluxe edition of the album.

Critical reception

The album received mixed reviews from critics: At

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7 ...

score of 53 out of 100, which indicates "mixed or average reviews", based on 21 reviews. Kerri Mason, reviewing for '' Billboard'', gave the album a positive review, saying that Blunt "shows the abandon and confidence of a long-term artist, not just a one-hit wonder". She continued " estill dwells on moody, introspective midtempos. In other words, he still adheres to the Gray template the second time around, but he opens things up slightly with some spacy textures reminiscent of Coldplay and a heavy dose of classic popcraft" and finished the review saying "This makes All the Lost Souls soothing, not haunting." Liz Hoggard of ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...

'' gave it four stars out of five and called it "a terrific album". She praised "the dissonant guitar chords to the curly-wurly typography on the album cover. The anthemic 'Shine On' is exquisitely crafted while 'I Can't Hear the Music' hooks into your brain with its James Bond-style orchestration" and finished saying "But snobbery apart, this is a terrific album." ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' was less impressed, saying, in a four out of ten review, that "Britain prayed James Blunt would retire, renounce music and go burn £50 notes for fun in his mansion...But he's only gone and come back. And improved, actually: we counted two more hits than ''Back to Bedlam''." Mike Joseph of

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...

also gave the album four out of ten, and said in part: "Not to say that this album is awful, but there's definitely something lacking here. Blunt's voice is quite the acquired taste, and nothing on here really stands out or connects from a thematic or lyrical standpoint. Nothing really hits the heart; it's all very precise and workmanlike."

Chart performance

In Australia and Germany the album ''All the Lost Souls'' is certified

Platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Pla ...

for shipping over 70,000 and 200,000 copies respectively. In Argentina, Australia, Canada, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy and the UK, the album peaked at number one on the album charts.

Track listings

* Standard Edition # "

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: ...

" (James Blunt /

Mark Batson Mark Batson is an American producer, musician and songwriter. He has worked on albums by artists including Alicia Keys, Dave Matthews Band, LeAnn Rimes, Anthony Hamilton, Eminem, India Arie, 50 Cent, Jay-Z, Maroon 5, Skylar Grey, Grace Potter an ...

) – 4:40 # "One of the Brightest Stars" (James Blunt /

Steve McEwan Steve McEwan is a multi Grammy award winning British songwriter, artist, and musician. His songs have been recorded by country music artists including Kenny Chesney, Carrie Underwood, Faith Hill, and Keith Urban. Outside of country, he has also ...

) – 3:11 # "I'll Take Everything" (Blunt / Eg White) – 3:05 # "

" (Blunt) – 4:58 # " Carry You Home" (Blunt /

Max Martin Karl Martin Sandberg (; born 26 February 1971),Max Martin
allmusic.com known profess ...

) – 3:56 # "Give Me Some Love" (Blunt) – 3:36 # " I Really Want You" (Blunt) – 3:30 # "Shine On" (Blunt) – 4:26 # "Annie" (Blunt /

Jimmy Hogarth Jimmy Hogarth (born 1974, Orkney Islands, Scotland) is a London-based producer and songwriter, whose production and writing credits include, Amy Winehouse, Sia, Tom Grennan, Paolo Nutini, Duffy, Corinne Bailey Rae, Ren Harvieu, Estelle, Tina ...

) – 3:25 # "I Can't Hear the Music" (Blunt) – 3:45 * Deluxe Edition Bonus Tracks : 11. " Love, Love, Love" (Blunt) – 3:58 : 12. "Cuz I Love You" (Live) – 3:25 : 13. "Young Folks" (Live) – 2:58 : 14. " Breakfast in America" (live

Supertramp Supertramp were an English rock band that formed in London in 1969. Marked by the individual songwriting of founders Roger Hodgson (vocals, keyboards, and guitars) and Rick Davies (vocals and keyboards), they are distinguished for blending p ...

cover) – 4:03 * Deluxe Digital Edition Bonus Tracks : 15. " It Is My Song" (Duet with Laura Pausini) – 3:28 : 16. " Je réalise" (Duet with

Sinik Thomas Gérard Idir (; born 26 June 1980), better known by his stage name Sinik, is a French-language rap artist. He is also known as Malsain, L'assassin and S.I.N.I.K.. His father is Algerian while his mother is French. In 2001, he founded hi ...

) – 3:28 * UK Standard Edition Bonus DVD # "In the Studio with James Blunt" # "The Making of All the Lost Souls" # "1973" (Video) – 4:15 # "Return to Kosovo" (Preview) – 2:18 * Australian Tour Edition Bonus DVD # "Give Me Some Love" (Live From

The MAX Sessions ''The MAX Sessions'' is an Australian television program broadcast on MAX. It features intimate performances, by both Australian and over-seas artists, played mostly acoustically in a live set up, similar to ''MTV Unplugged''. History ''The MA ...

, Sydney) # "I Really Want You" (Live From The MAX Sessions, Sydney) # "So Long, Jimmy" (Live From The MAX Sessions, Sydney) # "Carry You Home" (Live From The MAX Sessions, Sydney) # "Wisemen" (Live From The MAX Sessions, Sydney) # "Same Mistake" (Live From The MAX Sessions, Sydney) # "1973" (Live From The MAX Sessions, Sydney) * American Target Edition Bonus DVD # "1973" (Video) – 4:15 # "1973" (Making of the Video) – 4:55 * Deluxe Edition Bonus DVD # "Same Mistake" (Live at Abbey Road) # "I'll Take Everything" (Live at Abbey Road) # "1973" (Live at Abbey Road) # "You're Beautiful" (Live in Paris) # "Goodbye My Lover" (Live in Paris) # "Carry You Home" (Live from the Sydney Opera House) # "Wisemen" (Live in Ibiza) # "One of the Brightest Stars" (Live in Ibiza) # "1973" (Video) # "Same Mistake" (Video) # "Carry You Home" (Video) # "I Really Want You" (Video) # "Je Realise" (Video) # "1973" (The Making of the Video) # "Same Mistake" (The Making of the Video) # "Carry You Home" (The Making of the Video) # "I Really Want You" (The Making of the Video) # "Return to Kosovo" (Documentary) # "T5M Interview Special"

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

External links

Official Site for MVI VersionAlbum Review from UKEvents.net
{{Authority control 2007 albums James Blunt albums Albums produced by Tom Rothrock Atlantic Records albums Custard Records albums Warner Music Group albums