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''Counting Down the Days'' is the third
studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...
by
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
n singer
Natalie Imbruglia Natalie Jane Imbruglia ( , ; born 4 February 1975) is an Australian and British singer and actress. Born and raised in New South Wales, Imbruglia became widely known in the early 1990s playing Beth Brennan in the soap opera ''Neighbours''. A ...
. It was released by Brightside Recordings on 4 April 2005 in the United Kingdom. Her debut with the label, Imbruglia reteamed with Gary Clark to work on her next project, but also consulted a wider range of producers to collaborate with her, including Eg White, Martin Harrington,
Ben Hillier Ben Hillier is an English songwriter and pop-rock record producer who is part of the creative team 140 dB. He produced the notable albums ''Playing the Angel'', '' Sounds of the Universe'' and ''Delta Machine'' by Depeche Mode, ''Think Tank ...
, Ash Howes,
Daniel Johns Daniel Paul Johns (born 22 April 1979) is an Australian musician, singer, and songwriter, best known as the Lead vocalist, frontman, guitarist, and main songwriter of the Rock music, rock band Silverchair. Johns is also one half of The Dissociat ...
, David Kosten, Stephen Lipson, Paul Mac, and Ian Stanley. The album's lead single, " Shiver" (2005), was a commercial hit, particularly in the UK, and officially became the UK’s most broadcast song of 2005 according to PPL. Musically, unlike '' White Lilies Island'' which was predominantly darker and moodier, ''Counting Down the Days'' saw Imbruglia's return to radio-friendly pop songs. The album received generally favorable reviews, to which compliment was given for having a handful of genuinely great songs, even though critics were disappointed of its ''play-it-safe'' attitude that undid some of the good works and risk taker provided by its predecessor, ''White Lilies Island''. Upon release, ''Counting Down the Days'' debuted atop the
UK Album Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Offici ...
for one week, becoming her first and her only number one album in the UK to date. However, despite the new milestone for Imbruglia in the UK market, the album was less successful in her home country, Australia where it only charted within top twenty, the album also didn’t get an official release in North America until 2010, particularly due to her departure from RCA Records, and collaboration with a newly-founded record label that promoted the album only in selected regions, primarily focusing promotion on the UK market. To support the album, Imbruglia went on a small European concert tour from October to November 2005 with 21 shows across Europe, including eight shows in the UK alone. '' Counting Down the Days'' has sold over 204,000 copies in the UK and an estimated 600,000 copies worldwide.


Critical reception

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
editor Jon O'Brien found that the album suggested "a confusing and disappointing change in direction. For all the bittersweet melancholy and dark undertones of '' White Lilies Island'' suggested an interesting career ahead, yet only on a few occasions does ''Counting Down the Days'' veer into this territory. Instead, the majority is made up of fairly inoffensive radio-friendly pop songs ..''Counting Down the Days'' will undoubtedly be a commercial success but its play-it-safe attitude undoes some of the good work done by its predecessor. A few more risks next time wouldn't go amiss." Betty Clarke, writing for ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'', felt that "Revisiting the mid-tempo rhythms of her last album, Imbruglia turns from muse to troubled girl next door, gushing about love and fretting about voices in her head, while acoustic guitars, flutes and strings whip a radio-friendly pop froth around her. Bored with pushing perfection, she's selling an old-fashioned brand of submission, her feisty edge eroded to a disturbing gratefulness. ..Imbruglia's voice sounds better than ever – hanging on to words as if she's rolling out an expensive carpet."


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 cassette j-cards. Origin Liner notes are descended from the prog ...
. Notes * signifies a co-producer * signifies an initial producer


Personnel

Credits adapted from the album's liner notes *
Natalie Imbruglia Natalie Jane Imbruglia ( , ; born 4 February 1975) is an Australian and British singer and actress. Born and raised in New South Wales, Imbruglia became widely known in the early 1990s playing Beth Brennan in the soap opera ''Neighbours''. A ...
lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...
(all tracks), art direction * Ash Howesmixing (tracks 1–5, 8, 9, 11), production (tracks 1, 5, 8, 9), co-production (tracks 2, 11), keyboard (tracks 5, 8),
bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...
(track 1) * Martin Harrington – production (tracks 1, 5, 8, 9), co-production (tracks 2, 11), keyboard (tracks 1, 8),
piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...
&
acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked, its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...
(track 5) * Eg White – keyboard &
guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...
(tracks 2, 6), production,
engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...
, mixing, programming,
drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...
& bass (track 6) * Gary Clark – production, engineering, guitar & strings (track 11), initial production (track 7) * Keith Uddin – engineering (tracks 1, 5, 8, 9, 11), mix engineering (tracks 3, 4), additional engineering (track 2) * Pete Davis – programming & keyboard (tracks 1, 5, 8, 9) * Rej Rheinallt ap Gwynedd – bass (tracks 2, 4, 7–10) * Chuck Sabo – drums (tracks 1, 2, 4, 7, 10) * Stephen Lipson – production, programming, keyboard,
mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...
& guitar (track 2) * Peredur ap Gwynedd – guitar (tracks 2, 4, 7, 8, 10) *
Daniel Johns Daniel Paul Johns (born 22 April 1979) is an Australian musician, singer, and songwriter, best known as the Lead vocalist, frontman, guitarist, and main songwriter of the Rock music, rock band Silverchair. Johns is also one half of The Dissociat ...
– production &
backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are us ...
(tracks 3, 4), guitar (track 3) * David Kosten – production, mixing, programming, keyboard & strings (track 12) *
Ben Hillier Ben Hillier is an English songwriter and pop-rock record producer who is part of the creative team 140 dB. He produced the notable albums ''Playing the Angel'', '' Sounds of the Universe'' and ''Delta Machine'' by Depeche Mode, ''Think Tank ...
– production, mixing, piano &
dulcimer The term dulcimer refers to two families of musical string instruments. Hammered dulcimers The word ''dulcimer'' originally referred to a trapezoidal zither similar to a psaltery whose many strings are struck by handheld "hammers". Variants of ...
(track 10) * Seton Daunt – guitar (tracks 1, 5, 8) * Paul Mac – production, piano & keyboard (track 3) * Kenny Dickenson – piano (tracks 4, 9), keyboard (track 4) * John Themis – acoustic guitar (track 1), ethnic instruments (track 7) * Kim Moyes – drums &
glockenspiel The glockenspiel ( ; or , : bells and : play) or bells is a percussion instrument consisting of pitched aluminum or steel bars arranged in a Musical keyboard, keyboard layout. This makes the glockenspiel a type of metallophone, similar to the v ...
(track 3) * Geoff Dugmore – drums (tracks 5, 8) * Richard Morris – production assistance & mixing assistance (track 10) * Heff Moraes – engineering (track 2) * Rick Willson – guitar (track 2) * Anton Hagop – engineering (track 3) * James Haselwood – bass (track 3) * Julian Hamilton – keyboard (track 3) * Reece Gilmore –
Pro Tools Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed and released by Avid Technology (formerly Digidesign) for Microsoft Windows and macOS. It is used for music creation and production, sound for picture (sound design, audio post-productio ...
editing (track 3) * Chris Brown – engineering (track 4) * Izzy Dunn –
cello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...
(track 4) * Petra Jean Phillipson – backing vocals (track 4) * Katch Koffee – backing vocals (track 4) * Richard Jones – bass (track 5) * Ian Stanley – production (track 7) * Dave Bascombe – mixing (track 7) * Danton Supple – engineering (track 7) * Neil Taylor – guitar (track 7) * Alison Clark – backing vocals (track 7) * John Greswell – mandolin (track 10) * John Sundry – guitar (track 12) * Drusilla Harris –
violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...
(track 12) * Roma – art direction * Steve Stacey – design * Hugh GoldsmithA&R * Andy Stephens Management – management * Dean Freeman –
photography Photography is the visual arts, art, application, and practice of creating images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is empl ...


Charts


Weekly charts


Year-end charts


Certifications


Release history


References


External links


''Counting Down the Days'' - Press release
{{DEFAULTSORT:Counting Down The Days Natalie Imbruglia albums 2005 albums Albums produced by Stephen Lipson Albums produced by Ian Stanley