Westlife's ninth album, Where We Are, follows a yearlong sabbatical that the bandmembers took after celebrating their tenth anniversary with the concert video 10 Years of Westlife -- Live at Croke Park Stadium (2008). Where We Are was billed as a slight change in direction by the boy band, whose formula for chart-topping success had become overly predictable in recent years. In search of a fresh approach, they worked with a lot of American songwriters and producers, most notably Ryan Tedder of OneRepublic, who co-wrote and produced two of the album highlights, "Shadows" and "Where We Are." They also worked extensively with the veteran American R&B; hitmakers Louis Biancaniello and Sam Watters, who are credited with three songs ("How to Break a Heart," "Leaving," "Sound of a Broken Heart"). Another album highlight, "The Difference," comes courtesy of Anne Preven and Scott Cutler, formerly of the Los Angeles alternative rock band Ednaswap, whose song "Torn" was an international smash hit for Natalie Imbruglia in 1997. Moreover, the album's lead single, "What About Now," is a cover version of a hit single by American Idol winner Daughtry that was co-written by Evanescence bandmembers Ben Moody and David Hodges. Despite all of this American input, Where We Are sounds like any other Westlife album, in part because it's such an assembly-line effort (by one count there are 29 different songwriters and 17 different producers credited on the 13 songs). As always, the album is comprised of power ballads about love and heartbreak with soaring string arrangements and earnest vocal performances by the bandmembers. Fortunately, there are many first-rate songs here -- more or less the entire first half of the album -- and the production is polished to perfection. Fans content with more of the same should find plenty to enjoy on Where We Are, another in a long line of Westlife albums sure to generate one smash hit after another. ~ Jason Birchmeier, Rovi
Where We Are
2009 | Sony Bmg Europe
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CD
$12.99WHERE WE ARE
12/08/2009
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iTunes
Prices may vary.
Subject to availability.
Videos from Where We Are
All Music Guide Review
Where We Are Track Listing
Credits of Where We Are
- Savan Kotecha
- Composer, Producer
- Luke Potashnick
- Guitar
- Candace Johnson
- Vocals
- Iain Hill
- Engineer
- Bryn Christopher
- Producer
- Ian Pitter
- Vocals
- Nikolaj Torplarsen
- Piano, Keyboards, Arranger
- Subrina McCalla
- Vocals
- Joel Anderson
- Cover Photo
- Paul Beard
- Piano
- The Love Sponge Strings
- Strings
- Ross Parkin
- Engineer
- Quiz
- Engineer, Mixing
- Jesse Astin
- Egg Shaker
- John Reid
- Composer
- Carl Falk
- Composer, Producer
- John Garrison
- Bass
- Shelley Poole
- Producer
- Xavier Stephenson
- Assistant
- Alessandro Destefanis
- Assistant
- Bryon Jones
- Vocals
- Althea Edwards
- Vocals
- Heard But Not Seen Choir
- Choir, Chorus
- Vanessa Addo-Yeboah
- Vocals
- Alexander McLean
- Composer, Producer
- Chris Blade
- Arranger, Producer
- Candice Mimi-Appiah
- Vocals
- Bryan Christopher
- Composer
- Brian Kennedy Seals
- Composer
- Nikolaj Juel Christiansen
- Guitar
- Kevin McDaid
- Photography
- Joshua Hartzler
- Composer
- Jonathan Shorten
- Composer, Producer
- Jon Reid
- Producer
- Steven Lee Olsen
- Composer, Producer
- Rob Marks
- Engineer
- Quix
- Engineer
- Steve Anderson
- Arranger, Producer, String Arrangements, Mixing, Engineer
- Doug Petty
- Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric), Drum Programming, Keyboards, Piano, Bass, Percussion
- Steve Robson
- Producer
- Edward Shearmur
- Strings
- Phil Tan
- Mixing
- Pat Thrall
- Editing
- Greg Wells
- Producer, Instrumentation
- Neal Wilkinson
- Drums
- Kris Wilkinson
- Violin, Viola
- Simon Hale
- Strings, Arranger
- Jeremy Wheatley
- String Arrangements, Mixing
- Will Malone
- Synthesizer, String Arrangements, Programming, Keyboards
- Sam Watters
- Composer, Producer, Engineer
- Lawrence Johnson
- Vocal Arrangement
- John Parricelli
- Guitar
- Emanuel Kiriakou
- Composer, Engineer, Instrumentation, Producer, Programming
- Esbjörn Öhrwall
- Guitar
- Anne Preven
- Composer, Producer
- James Scheffer
- Composer, Producer
- Conner Reeves
- Composer, Producer
- Shaznay Lewis
- Composer, Producer
- Christian Howes
- Strings
- Neil Tucker
- Engineer
- Ian Agate
- Engineer
- Carol Riley
- Vocals
- Wayne Wilkins
- Composer, Programming, Producer, Keyboards
- Quiz
- Additional Production
- Richard Flack
- Engineer
- Martin Terefe
- Bass, Producer
- Lindy Robbins
- Composer, Producer
- Andreas "Quiz" Romdhane
- Programming, Instrumentation
- Bobby Shin
- Strings
- Noel Zancanella
- Engineer
- Vlado Meller
- Mastering
- Zac Rae
- Guitar, Programming
- Simon Petty
- Guitar (Acoustic), Producer, Composer
- Mark Feehily
- Composer, Vocals, Producer
- Jeff Rothschild
- Mixing
- Jim Jonsin
- Keyboards, Producer, Programming
- Josef Larossi
- Programming, Instrumentation
- Steve Stacey
- Design
- Andreas Olsson
- Keyboards, Programming
- Dyre Gormsen
- Engineer
- Millennia Strings
- Strings
- Ryan Tedder
- Guitar, Programming, Engineer, Producer, Composer, Piano, Strings, Arranger
- David Hodges
- Composer
- Ben Moody
- Composer
- Karl Brazil
- Drums
- Sophie Delila
- Piano, Producer, Composer
- Mark Santangelo
- Assistant
- Larossi
- Engineer, Additional Production
- Stockholm Session Strings
- Strings
- Luke Tozour
- Engineer
- Damien Lewis
- Engineer
- Kristoffer Sonne
- Drums
- Brian Kennedy
- Guitar, Programming, Producer
- David Angell
- Violin
- Louis Biancaniello
- Guitar, Engineer, Producer, Composer, Keyboards, Programming
- Steve Booker
- Bass, Composer, Keyboards, Producer, Programming
- Jeff Bova
- Strings, String Arrangements
- Chris Braide
- Composer, Producer
- John Catchings
- Cello
- Scott Cutler
- Guitar, Egg Shaker, Composer, Programming, Producer
- David Davidson
- Violin, Orchestration, String Transcription
- Andy Hill
- Producer, Additional Production
- Henrik Janson
- String Arrangements
- Priscilla Jones
- Vocals
- Jon Kelly
- Engineer
- Peter Ljung
- Piano
- The London Session Orchestra
- Strings