Re: Celine DionTaking Chances Full Album Zip
Niki Wienberg
Taking Chances is the twenty-third studio album and tenth English-language album by Canadian singer Celine Dion, released by Columbia Records on 7 November 2007. Dion returned to the music scene after almost five years of performing A New Day... on the Las Vegas Strip. She collaborated on Taking Chances with various rock and pop producers, including John Shanks, Linda Perry, ex-Evanescence members Ben Moody and David Hodges, Kristian Lundin, Ne-Yo, Chuck Harmony, Tricky Stewart, Eurythmics' David A. Stewart, Kara DioGuardi, Emanuel Kiriakou, Anders Bagge, Peer strm, Aldo Nova, Christopher Neil and Guy Roche.
Taking Chances sold 3.1 million copies worldwide in 2007 alone and peaked inside the top ten in various countries, including number one in Canada, Switzerland, South Africa and on the European Top 100 Albums. It has sold 1.1 million units in the United States and was certified Platinum by the RIAA. In Canada, after shipping over 400,000 copies, the album was certified four-times Platinum. The first single, "Taking Chances", was released in September 2007 and peaked inside the top ten in various European countries and in Canada. In 2008, different songs were selected as the second single for different regions: "Eyes on Me" in the United Kingdom, "A World to Believe In" in Japan and "Alone" in North America. The latter was also released as the third and final single in the United Kingdom. On 14 February 2008, Dion embarked on the year-long Taking Chances World Tour, which visited five continents and became one of the highest-grossing tours of all-time.
The album was recorded mainly over a three-week period in July 2007 at Palm Studios in Las Vegas.[9] Dion collaborated with a group of well-known songwriters and producers including: Linda Perry, Eurythmics' David A. Stewart, ex-Evanescence member Ben Moody, Ne-Yo, John Shanks, Kara DioGuardi, Kristian Lundin, Anders Bagge, Peer strm, Aldo Nova, Tricky Stewart and Christopher Neil.[9] One of Dion's favorite songs on the album is "That's Just the Woman in Me" written by Kimberley Rew, ex-member of Katrina and the Waves.[9] "That's Just the Woman in Me" was offered to Dion fifteen years ago but it wasn't until she began working on her new album that she knew the song perfectly suited this new phase of her artistic development.[9] Dion said: "I think this album represents a positive evolution in my career. As time goes by, and we have more experiences in life, it's easier to get in touch with our innermost feelings....to know more about what we really want, how we really feel".[9] Other covers on the album include: Heart's "Alone", Platinum Weird's "Taking Chances", Linda Perry's "New Dawn" and Tim Christensen's "Right Next to the Right One".[9]
The promotion in the United States started on 12 November 2007, when The Oprah Winfrey Show dedicated to Dion was broadcast on television.[19] Dion filmed it before her visit to the United Kingdom and performed "Taking Chances", "Alone" and also few of her previous hits: "My Heart Will Go On", "Because You Loved Me", "A New Day Has Come" and "I Drove All Night".[19] On 14 November 2007, Dion performed three songs on the Today, including "Taking Chances", "Alone" and "I Drove All Night".[20] On the same day, The Ellen DeGeneres Show featuring Dion was broadcast and included performances of "Taking Chances" and "Because You Loved Me".[21] Dion also sang "Taking Chances" at the American Music Awards on 18 November 2007 and on All My Children on 21 November 2007.[22][23] On 23 November 2007, she performed "Taking Chances", "Alone" and "Because You Loved Me" on The Early Show and "Taking Chances" and "Alone" on The View.[24] On 27 November 2007, Dion sang "Taking Chances" and "My Heart Will Go On" on the finale of Dancing with the Stars.[25] The next day, she performed "Taking Chances", "Alone" and "The Christmas Song" at the Annual NYC Tree Lighting Ceremony.[26] On 21 December 2007, two performances filmed during one of the last A New Day... concerts were shown on Larry King Live: "Taking Chances" and "The Christmas Song".[27]
On 14 February 2008, Dion started her Taking Chances World Tour which visited Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe and North America, and ended on 26 February 2009.[5] The tour grossed over US$279 million becoming the third highest-grossing tour of all-time by a female artist, only behind Madonna's Sticky & Sweet Tour and MDNA Tour. The tour was chronicled in the Celine: Through the Eyes of the World documentary issued on DVD and Blu-ray in April 2010. The concert itself was released on DVD and CD at the same time as Taking Chances World Tour: The Concert and Tourne mondiale Taking Chances: Le spectacle.
The first single form the album, "Taking Chances" premiered on 10 September 2007 and was sent to radio stations around the world on the same day.[5] The song was written by Kara DioGuardi and David A. Stewart, and produced by John Shanks.[5] The digital single was released on 17 September 2007 and the CD single was issued in selected countries in late October and early November 2007. The Paul Boyd-directed music video was filmed in mid-September 2007 in Las Vegas and premiered on 17 October 2007.[7][8] "Taking Chances" became a successful single in Europe peaking inside top ten in Denmark, Italy, Switzerland and France, and reaching top forty in Austria, Norway, Germany, Belgium Wallonia, Ireland and the United Kingdom. In North America, it peaked at number nine on the Canadian Hot 100 and number fifty-four on the US Billboard Hot 100. "Taking Chances" also reached number one on the US Hot Dance Club Songs and Canadian Adult Contemporary Chart. It has sold over 20,000 digital downloads in Canada receiving Gold certification and 500,000 digital copies in the United States.
In the United Kingdom, "Eyes on Me" was chosen as the second single. The song was written by Kristian Lundin, Savan Kotecha and Delta Goodrem, and produced by Lundin. The digital single was released on 4 January 2008 and the CD single was issued on 7 January 2008.[32] The song peaked at number 113 on the UK Singles Chart. The music video for "Eyes on Me" with footages from the Taking Chances World Tour was released on 5 May 2008. In Japan, "A World to Believe In" written by Tino Izzo and Rosanna Ciciola, and produced by John Shanks was selected as the second track to promote the album. However, it was re-recorded as an English-Japanese duet with Yuna Ito, titled "あなたがいる限り: A World to Believe In". The song premiered on radio on 1 December 2007 and the music video debuted two days later. The video was filmed in Las Vegas in October 2007 during the recording of the song by both singers. The CD single was issued on 16 January 2008 and peaked at number eight on the Japanese Oricon chart.[33][34][35] The music video for the second North American single, "Alone" was taken from That's Just the Woman in Me television special and released on 15 March 2008.[36] The promotional single was sent to radio stations in Canada and United States in early April 2008. This cover of Heart's hit song was produced by Ben Moody. "Alone" was also chosen as the third and final single in the United Kingdom, and digitally released on 5 May 2008. The song peaked at number fifty-seven on the Canadian Hot 100, number eighty-five on the UK Singles Chart and number twenty-four on the US Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles. "My Love", written and produced by Linda Perry, was included on Dion's next album, My Love: Essential Collection and released as a single from it in September 2008.
Taking Chances received mixed reviews from most music critics upon release. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, the album received a weighted average score of 53 based on 8 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[37]
Stephen Thomas Erlewine from AllMusic rated it 3 stars and said that Taking Chances is "an album of its time: it offers extravagance in the guise of self-help, which can be alluring in doses, especially those bizarre blues-rockers, but it's just too much of a very expensive yet not particularly tasteful thing.[39] The Billboard review said that: "Packing an emotional wallop, Chances should quash critics who insist that Dion's voice is stainless steel".[41] Bill Lamb of About.com rate the album three-stars out of five, and said: "listening to 16 consecutive songs can be an endurance test for even the most ardent Celine fan. 14 of the songs here suffer, to various degrees, from leaning to the ordinary or seeming to lack in inspired artistic fire. However, they are sandwiched by 2 brilliant tracks that, sadly, give a hint of what Taking Chances might have been".[38] Sarah Rodhman from The Boston Globe commented that: "Are chances taken? Not many, but there are rewards if you're willing to enjoy Dion's precise vocalizing and the hooky songs".[42]
The Entertainment Weekly review saw that: "It's cool that Dion can mimic everyone from Shakira to Sam Phillips...but her appalling Janis Joplin impression is a Chance too far".[43] Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine opined that: "The laborious 16-track record purportedly finds the queen of adult contemporary-turned-Vegas attraction taking chances by modernizing her treacly power ballad sound with lots of overdubbed guitars and of-the-moment collaborators".[47] The Amazon.com review was positive, saying that: "As far as standard Celine fare goes, in fact, Chances is likely her strongest non-French outing since 2002's A New Day Has Come; nobody unfolds a lyric with more care or nuance".[40] The NOW review, expressed that: "The album is also comfortably ignorant of the times. With its feathery production and common pop arrangements, it could have come out in 1996".[45] Edna Gundersen from USA Today said that: "With Chances, the diva seems to be stretching artistic muscles, yoga-style not aerobically, and seeking an escape from expectations".[49] Ashante Infantry from Toronto Star concluded that: "Taking Chances, Dion's 10th album, finds her doing just that. With an obvious reach for contemporary radio, Dion padded the efforts of longtime collaborators with in-the-now hitmakers: Ne-Yo, Linda Perry and Ben Moody, who co-wrote the self-empowering anthem "This Time" about an abused woman breaking free. The result is an edgier rock sound that won't alienate loyal fans, but may engage some new ones".[48]
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