Wallflower is the twelfth studio album by Canadian singer Diana Krall, released on February 3, 2015, by Verve Records. The album was produced by David Foster. The album's supporting tour, Wallflower World Tour, began in Boston on February 25, 2015.
Recording The album consists of cover songs of various pop and rock songs, the only previously unreleased track being "If I Take You Home Tonight" by Paul McCartney. He wrote the song for his album Kisses on the Bottom, in which he collaborated with Krall. Although the song did not make the cut for that album, Krall asked McCartney if she could record the song, and he gave his consent.
Critical reception
Wallflower received mixed reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 58, based on 10 reviews.
Neil McCormick of The Daily Telegraph stated, "It is a lovely Valentine record, if you favour melancholic songs about missed chances. The set feels overfamiliar, though, drawing heavily on classic Seventies ballads by the Carpenters, Eagles, Elton John and 10CC. A moodily evocative reading of a gorgeous new Paul McCartney song, "I'll Take You Home Tonight", suggests this album might have been more interesting if Krall had dared to take the middle-of-the-road less travelled".
Jim Farber of the New York Daily News wrote, "Wallflower breaks another pattern for Krall. It eschews her frequent focus on American standards. But the sexiness and spring she brought to the best of those covers rarely comes into play here".
Commercial performance Wallflower debuted at number two on the Canadian Albums Chart, selling 13,000 copies in its first week. By January 2016, the album had sold 66,000 copies in Canada.
In the United States, it entered the Billboard 200 at number 10 with first-week sales of 44,000 copies, becoming Krall's sixth top-10 album on the chart. The album debuted at number 19 on the UK Albums Chart with 3,511 copies sold in its first week.
Track listing
Personnel Credits adapted from the liner notes of the deluxe edition of Wallflower.
Musicians
Diana Krall – vocals ; piano David Foster – orchestra arrangements ; keyboards ; piano ; string quartet arrangements ; horn arrangements ; arrangements William Ross – orchestra arrangements Graham Nash – background vocals Stephen Stills – background vocals ; electric guitar Christian McBride – bass Ramón Stagnaro – acoustic guitar Michael Thompson – EBow electric guitar ; acoustic guitar ; electric guitar ; guitars Jochem van der Saag – synths ; programming ; sound design Karriem Riggins – drums Michael Bublé – vocals Chris Walden – orchestra arrangements ; string quartet arrangements Dennis Crouch – bass Jim Keltner – drums Dean Parks – guitars Blake Mills – guitar Nathan East – bass Timothy B. Schmit – background vocals Rafael Padilla – percussion Bryan Adams – vocals Vince Mendoza – orchestra arrangements Georgie Fame – vocals Jerry Hey – horn arrangements Joey DeFrancesco – B-3 organ Steve Jordan – drums Sean Billings – trumpet Matt DeMerritt – tenor saxophone Chris Lea – tenor saxophone Elizabeth Lea – trombone Gavin Greenaway – orchestra conducting Susie Gillis – orchestra conducting assistance Everton Nelson – orchestra leader
Technical
David Foster – production Jochem van der Saag – co-production, mixing, engineering Jorge Vivo – recording, engineering Steve Price – orchestra recording Steve Genewick – Pro Tools, engineering assistance Roy Henderickson – recording engineering Daniel Fyfe – recording engineering assistance Anders Pantzer – recording engineering Chris Owens – engineering assistance Spencer Sunshine – recording engineering Chris Parker – engineering Paul Forgues – engineering assistance Guillame Dujardin – engineering Andreas Carlsson – production (Georgie Fame vocals) Hank Linderman – recording (Timothy B. Schmit vocals) Nuno Fernandes – recording (Bryan Adams vocals) Adam Miller – Pro Tools engineering Paul Blakemore – mastering
Artwork Coco Shinomiya – design Mr. Fotheringham – illustration Bryan Adams – photography
Charts
Weekly charts Chart (2015) Peakposition Australian Jazz & Blues Albums (ARIA) 1 Croatian Albums (HDU) 7 Greek Albums (IFPI) 6 Japanese Albums (Oricon) 19 South Korean Albums (Gaon) 48 Swedish Jazz Albums (Sverigetopplistan) 1 US Traditional Jazz Albums (Billboard) 1
Year-end charts Chart (2015) Position Australian Jazz & Blues Albums (ARIA) 1 Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria) 63 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) 103 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia) 76 Canadian Albums (Billboard) 26 French Albums (SNEP) 53 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) 74 Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ) 48 New Zealand Albums (RMNZ) 44 South Korean International Albums (Circle) 39 Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE) 45 US Top Jazz Albums (Billboard) 2
Chart (2016) Position Australian Jazz & Blues Albums (ARIA) 9 US Top Jazz Albums (Billboard) 18
Chart (2017) Position Australian Jazz & Blues Albums (ARIA) 20
Chart (2018) Position Australian Jazz & Blues Albums (ARIA) 40
Chart (2019) Position Australian Jazz & Blues Albums (ARIA) 42
Certifications
Notes
References