''Safe Trip Home'' is the third studio album by

Dido Dido ( ; , ), also known as Elissa ( , ), was the legendary founder and first queen of the Phoenician city-state of Carthage (located in modern Tunisia), in 814 BC. In most accounts, she was the queen of the Phoenician city-state of Tyre (t ...

. It was released in the United Kingdom on 17 November 2008."Album Release Date Change"
. DidoMusic.com. 3 October 2008. Retrieved 5 October 2008. The album features collaborations and production with

Jon Brion Jon Brion is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, and composer. He performed with the Excerpts, the Bats, 'Til Tuesday and the Grays before becoming an established producer and film score composer. Brion has ...

, her brother

Rollo Armstrong Rowland Constantine O'Malley Armstrong (born 8 May 1966), known professionally as Rollo, is an English music producer. He is one half of the remix/production duo Rollo & Sister Bliss and is a founding member of the electronic music group Faithl ...

Brian Eno Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno (; born Brian Peter George Eno, 15 May 1948) is a British musician, composer, record producer and visual artist best known for his contributions to ambient music and work in rock, pop an ...

Mick Fleetwood Michael John Kells Fleetwood (born 24 June 1947) is a British musician, songwriter and occasional actor. He is best known as the drummer, co-founder, and leader of the rock band Fleetwood Mac. Fleetwood, whose surname was merged with that of th ...

Citizen Cope Clarence Greenwood (born May 20, 1968), also known by his stage name, Citizen Cope, is an American songwriter, producer and singer. His music is commonly described as a mix of blues, soul, folk, and rock. Citizen Cope's compositions have been r ...

and

Questlove Ahmir Khalib Thompson (born January 20, 1971), known professionally as Questlove (stylized as ), is an American musician, record producer, disc jockey, filmmaker, music journalist, and actor. He is the drummer and joint frontman (with Black Thou ...

.Aizlewood, John
"In The Studio"
. '' Q''. October 2007. The album was the 44th best-selling album worldwide of 2008, according to

IFPI The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) is the organisation that represents the interests of the recording industry worldwide. It is a non-profit members' organisation registered in Switzerland and founded in Italy in 19 ...

. In the UK the album was certified gold, which was a massive drop from her previous album which went nine-times platinum. The album was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical.

Release

The album's cover artwork and track listing were revealed by Dido's official website on 5 September 2008. The album was originally due to be released on 3 November, but was delayed for two weeks due to manufacturing delays. In the UK, the album launch was heralded with a special listening party, which fans can win an invitation to through the

Nectar loyalty card Nectar is a loyalty card scheme in the United Kingdom run by Nectar 360 Ltd, a company wholly owned by Sainsbury's. The scheme is the largest in the United Kingdom, and comprises a number of partner companies including Sainsbury's, Esso and eBay ...

points scheme. The album cover features a photograph of astronaut

Bruce McCandless II Bruce McCandless II (born Byron Willis McCandless; June 8, 1937 – December 21, 2017) was a United States Navy officer and aviator, electrical engineer, and NASA astronaut. In 1984, during the first of his two Space Shuttle missions, h ...

during a

spacewalk Extravehicular activity (EVA) is any activity done by an astronaut in outer space outside a spacecraft. In the absence of a breathable atmosphere of Earth, Earthlike atmosphere, the astronaut is completely reliant on a space suit for environmen ...

, as part of the 1984 Space Shuttle mission STS-41-B. McCandless later sued Dido,

Sony Music Entertainment Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainment ...

and

Getty Images Getty Images Holdings, Inc. is an American visual media company and is a supplier of stock images, editorial photography, video and music for business and consumers, with a library of over 477 million assets. It targets three markets— creative ...

over violating his publicity rights. The case was settled under undisclosed terms on 14 January 2011.''McCandless v. Sony Music Entertainment et al.'', Case No. CV10-7323-RGK (C.D. Cal.) (Docket No. 4 otice of Settlement And Dismissal With Prejudice filed 14 Jan. 2011 On 27 October 2008, it was announced that eleven short films were being produced to accompany the tracks on the album, based around the theme of home.

Critical reception

The album received very positive reviews.

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, 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 arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

rates the album at 74 out of a 100. Stephanie Merritt from ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' wrote "This album is a mature and thoughtful collection of songs and a fine memorial to her father, who would have been right to be proud." While Chris Willman from ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...

'' said "The emotion in these sad, subtle songs seems inherent enough, though you may still find yourself wishing she'd allowed the slightest hint of it to creep into her voice." Will Hermes of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' said: "Dido's voice is so comforting, you almost miss the blues it conceals." Sal Cinquemani of ''

Slant Magazine ''Slant Magazine'' is an American online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York ...

'' gave a more critical review: "The album might be Dido's least adventurous to date,

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her brand of vanilla soul going down like a warm cup of milk on tracks like the lead single "Don't Believe in Love" and "Quiet Times", the lyrics of which pretty much capture her overall state of mind: "My home is home and I'm settled now/I've made it through the restless phase." Though he noted that there was a "timeless quality to the songwriting and production." Elizabeth Goodman of ''

Blender A blender (sometimes called a mixer or liquidiser in British English) is a kitchen appliance, kitchen and laboratory appliance used to mix, crush, purée or emulsion, emulsify food and other substances. A stationary blender consists of a blender ...

'' was also more critical. "The songs are ostensibly sad but

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as pleasant as a pile of warm, unfolded laundry. ...Dido should let her socks go unsorted for a while; genuine sorrow sounds good on her." Regardless of the album's late release in the year, it was ranked No. 50 in '' Qs 50 Best Albums of the Year 2008. In 2010, the album was nominated for the

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

for

Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical The Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical has been awarded since 1959. The award had several minor name changes: * In 1959, the award was known as Best Engineered Record – Non-Classical * In 1960, it was awarded as Best Engineeri ...

Singles

Two singles were released from the album. On 22 August 2008, the day that the album's title was announced, the track "Look No Further" was released as a free digital download through her official website."Dido reveals new album details"
''

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 ...

''. 22 August 2008. Retrieved 28 August 2008. The first official single from ''Safe Trip Home'', "

Don't Believe in Love "Don't Believe in Love" is a pop song performed by Dido. It is the only official single from her third studio album, ''Safe Trip Home'', but the second single overall. It was released on 27 October 2008.Cohen, Jonathan"Dido bringing it all "Hom ...

", was released on 27 October 2008. It was also made available on

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

stores internationally from 29 October.Cohen, Jonathan
"Dido bringing it all "Home" in November"

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was estab ...

. 22 August 2008. Retrieved 28 August 2008. The second single, "Quiet Times", was released in February 2009.

Track listing

Credits adapted from the album's

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes. Origin Liner notes are desce ...

Personnel

Musicians *

Dido Armstrong Florian Cloud de Bounevialle O'Malley Armstrong when asked to say her real name. (born 25 December 1971), known professionally as Dido ( ), is an English singer and songwriter. She attained international success with her debut album ''No Angel ...

– vocals, drums, guitar, omnichord, bells, additional keyboards, piano * Mark Bates – programming, editing, keyboards, piano *

– keyboards, guitar, bass guitar, celeste, cello, additional percussion, drum machine *

Sister Bliss Ayalah Deborah Bentovim (born 30 December 1970), better known by her stage name Sister Bliss, is a British keyboardist, record producer, DJ and songwriter. In the studio, she is best known for her work with Rollo Armstrong as one half of the pr ...

– keyboards, bass guitar, programming *

– additional keyboards * Joel Shearer – additional guitar *

Sebastian Steinberg Sebastian Steinberg (born February 20, 1959) is an American bass player, best known for his work in the band Soul Coughing. Biography Steinberg played with Soul Coughing throughout the band's entire history, from 1992 to 2000. In 2001, Steinberg ...

– bass guitar *

Justin Meldal-Johnsen Justin Meldal-Johnsen (born March 26, 1970) is an American musician, record producer, songwriter and musical director. He is best known for his work with artists such as Beck, Paramore, Nine Inch Nails, M83, Air, and St. Vincent. Meldal-J ...

– bass guitar *

– drums *

Jim Scott Jim or Jimmy Scott may refer to: Music * Jimmy Scott (1925–2014), American jazz vocalist * Jim Scott (producer), music engineer and producer * Jim Scott (musician), acoustic guitar player and songwriter * Jimmy Scott (songwriter), British-born mu ...

– drums *

Matt Chamberlain Matthew Chamberlain (born April 17, 1967) is an American session musician, drummer, producer and songwriter. Biography Life and career Chamberlain was born in San Pedro, California on April 17, 1967. He began learning how to play the drums ...

– drums, percussion *

– drums, backing vocals, guitar on ''Burnin Love'' *

Lenny Castro Lenny or Lennie may refer to: People and fictional characters * Lenny (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Lennie (surname), a list of people * Lenny (singer) (born 1993), Czech songwriter Arts and entertainment Music * ''L ...

– percussion * David Campbell – string arranger (tracks 2, 4, 8), orchestra arranger and conductor (tracks 2, 4, 8) *

Gavyn Wright Gavyn Wright is a British violinist and orchestra leader with the London Session Orchestra and Penguin Cafe Orchestra. He is best known for his orchestral arrangements on pop productions (including Elton John, Simply Red, Bush, Mecano, Oasis, ...

– session leader *

Eric Gorfain Eric Gorfain is an American violinist and founder of The Section Quartet, a string quartet that plays cover versions of rock songs. He is married to singer-songwriter Sam Phillips, with whom he has toured and recorded. Gorfain studied music at UC ...

– orchestration * Michael Price – orchestration * Matt Robertson – orchestration Production * Chris Bolster – studio staff *

– mixer (track 3, 5, 6, 9, 11), orchestra arranger and conductor (tracks 1, 3, 5, 6, 9, 11) * Nick Braun – studio staff * Bobby Campbell – studio staff *

Eric Caudieux Eric Caudieux is a French sound engineer and producer. An accomplished player of the keyboards and rhythm guitar, he is best known for his work with Joe Satriani, appearing on many of his albums and as a member of his backing group when he is on to ...

– programming/editing (tracks 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 11) *

Peter Edge Peter Edge is an English-American record executive. He is the chairman and CEO of RCA Records. Early life and education Edge was born near Coventry, England. Fueled in part by his sister’s record collection – which included influential ...

– album mastering (at A&R) * Isobel Griffiths – contractor * Grippa – mixer (track 8) * Kayt Jones – photographer * Rouble Kapoor – studio staff * Greg Koller – mixer (tracks 3, 5, 6, 9, 11) * Peter Leak – manager * Josh Newell – studio staff * Alex Pavlides – studio staff * Bret Rausch – studio assistant for Jon Brion * Joanne Rooks – designer * Jim Scott – mixer (track 2, 4, 7, 10), vocal and string mixer (track 8) * Wesley Seidman – studio staff * Paul Smith – studio staff * Todd Steinhauer – assistant mixer (track 2, 4, 7, 10) * Jill Streater – copyist * Brady Woodcock – studio staff * Alan Yoshida – album mastering (at Ocean Way)

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

External links

Album's official website
{{Authority control 2008 albums Albums produced by Jon Brion Cheeky Records albums Dido (singer) albums RCA Records albums