This Is the Life (Amy Macdonald album)


This Is the Life is the debut studio album by Scottish singer-songwriter Amy Macdonald, released on 30 July 2007 via Melodramatic and Vertigo Records. Produced by Pete Wilkinson, it spawned a total of six singles to accompany its release – "Poison Prince", "Mr Rock & Roll", "L.A.", "This Is the Life", "Run" and a re–release of "Poison Prince" in 2008. The later four singles achieved considerable commercial success across continental Europe. "Mr Rock & Roll" and "This Is the Life" were particularly successful, with the latter reaching number one in Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium and Austria.
This is the Life reached number one in the United Kingdom and in her native Scotland on 13 January 2008. It sold over 900,000 copies in the UK as of February 2017, awarding the album a certification of 3× Platinum. In the United States, it became her first, and only, studio album to date to debut within the Billboard 200; it peaked at number 92 in the chart.

Background and recording

Macdonald sent a demo CD in response to an advertisement placed in the NME by a new production company set up by songwriters Pete Wilkinson and Sarah Erasmus. Wilkinson said he was "literally aghast" at her songwriting abilities when first he heard Macdonald play the songs "This Is the Life" and "Mr Rock n Roll". He then spent around eight or nine months recording demos with Macdonald at his home studio with a view to securing a record deal for his new client. In 2007 she signed a contract with Vertigo when she was 18 years old.
She has claimed that she feels she was "in the right place at the right time" by answering the advertisement in NME, later claiming that the subsequent success she endured to be "a weird life". Macdonald has been described as "one of the last artists" to gain a recording contract by sending a demo to record companies, with Macdonald claiming it to be "mental", citing the music industry changes since 2007. Macdonald claims that "what’s funny is even then, everyone found it bizarre that I got a record deal from sending a demo, because this was when people were being discovered on MySpace — Lily Allen, Arctic Monkeys; they were all doing it that way".

Singles and other tracks

The first single from the album was "Poison Prince", a limited online release, while the debut first full single was the successful "Mr Rock & Roll", which debuted at number 12. The following singles "L.A." and "This Is the Life" were considerably less successful in the UK, although "This Is the Life" is considered her most successful song in the rest of Europe, where it peaked at number 1 in Belgium and the Netherlands, number 2 in Switzerland, number 3 in Spain, number 6 in Norway and number 8 in Denmark. It peaked at number 28 in the UK, spending 17 weeks in the top 75. After fifth single "Run", the sixth release from the album was a re-release of "Poison Prince" on 19 May 2008.
Three songs of the album are cover versions: "Caledonia", originally recorded in 1979 by Dougie MacLean, "Fairytale of New York", first performed in 1987 by The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl, written by Jem Finer and Shane MacGowan, and "Mr. Brightside", cover version of a 2004 song by The Killers, written by Brandon Flowers and Dave Keuning.
United Kingdom
Europe
  • "Mr Rock & Roll"
  • "This Is the Life"
  • "Run"
  • "Poison Prince"
Poland
  • "Poison Prince"
  • "This Is the Life"
  • "Mr Rock & Roll"
Canada and US
  • "Mr Rock & Roll"

Chart performance

The album was particularly successful in Germany, spending 57 weeks in the top 20 of the German Albums Chart, 36 weeks in the top 10 of the German albums chart and a total of 100 weeks on the entire chart; it has been certified 5× Platinum for over 1.000,000 copies sold in the country. It also spent 57 weeks in the Dutch albums chart and 53 weeks in the Swiss albums chart.
It has also been certified Gold in Sweden. It has been certified Platinum in France for over 220,000 copies sold. The album was released in the US on 19 August 2008.

Track listings

All tracks were written by Amy Macdonald except where there are clarifications in the "Writer" column.

Deluxe edition

After the major success of "This Is the Life" across Europe, near the end of 2008 a deluxe version of the album was released. The two-disc set include the standard version of the album and a bonus CD with several bonus tracks, live and acoustic versions.

Personnel

  • Amy Macdonald – Vocals, Acoustic Guitar
  • Pete Wilkinson – Producer, Manager
  • Seton Daunt – Guitar
  • Jolyon Dixon – Guitar, Mixing
  • Jamie Sefton – Bass
  • Adam Falkner – Drums, Percussion
  • Johnny Dyke – Keyboards
  • Phillip Read Mason – Bagpipes
  • Audrey Riley – Cello, Conductor
  • Richard George – Violin
  • Jonathan Hill – Violin
  • Laura Melhuish – Violin
  • Susan Dench – Viola
  • Joe Fields – Engineer
  • Paul Adam & His Mayfair Music – Executive Producer
  • Guy Katsav – Assistant Engineer
  • Bob Clearmountain – Mixing
  • Danton Supple – Mixing On Tracks 3, 4, 5
  • Valerie Phillips – Cover Design, photography