Back Home (Westlife album)

Back Home is the ninth studio album by Irish boy band Westlife, released on 5 November 2007 through Syco Music, Sony Music and RCA Records, the band's ninth major album release under them as well. The album was produced by Steve Mac, Quiz & Larossi, Per Magnusson, David Kreuger and Rami Yacoub, who also produced some of the group's previous material. Back Home was the group's final album before their temporary break from music in 2008. It was also the band's fourth album to be released as a four-piece.

Back Home
Studio album by Westlife
Released	5 November 2007 (2007-11-05)
Recorded	2006–2007
Studio	London, United Kingdom Stockholm, Sweden Los Angeles, U.S.
Genre	Pop pop rock dance-pop electropop
Length	47:29
Label	Syco Sony BMG RCA
Producer	Arnthor Birgisson David Kreuger Steve Mac Per Magnusson Quiz & Larossi Rami Yacoub
Westlife chronology
The Love Album (2006) Back Home (2007) Where We Are (2009)
Singles from Back Home
"Home" Released: 29 October 2007 "Us Against the World" Released: 3 March 2008 "Something Right" Released: 4 April 2008

Back Home
Video by Westlife
Released	5 November 2007 (2007-11-05)
Genre	Pop
Label	Sony BMG
Westlife chronology
Live at Wembley (2006) Back Home (2007)
Main article: Back Home Tour

The album was preceded by the lead single "Home", a cover version of the Michael Bublé song, which was sent to radio stations in September 2007, and was eventually released as a digital download and CD single on 29 October 2007. Two more singles were released to promote the album, namely "Us Against the World" and "Something Right". A DVD also accompanied the album's release, including some of the group's recent music videos and exclusive footage of the group.

The album was met with mixed reviews, however the album was a commercial success. The album debuted atop the UK Albums Chart, selling 132,000 copies in its first week of release and remained in the top three spots for eight consecutive weeks.[1][2][3] It also spent five weeks at number two. One of those weeks have the highest sales for a number two in a week of the year 2007 in the United Kingdom. While in Ireland, this is the third best-selling album of 2007.

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[4]
Channel24	[5]
Daily Express	[6]
Digital Spy	[7]
Entertainment.ie	[8]
Galaxie Magazine Malaysia
iAfrica	[9]
Rovi	[10]
The Daily	[11]
This Is Aberdeen	(favorable)[12]

Background

The track listing for the album was released on the band's official website on 3 October 2007, with track-by-track videos by the band. The release date of the album was brought forward to 5 November 2007 from the initial 12 November 2007. The album contains a collection of brand new tracks along with a few covers. The cover songs on the album are "Have You Ever?", a Diane Warren penned ballad previously recorded by Brandy, and "I'm Already There", a song recorded by Lonestar. The first single from the album is a cover of the ballad "Home", originally by Michael Bublé, and was released on 29 October 2007[13] The song debuted at number three on the UK Singles Chart.[14] "Us Against the World", an original song dedicated to Westlife fans worldwide, was released as the band's second single on 3 March 2008 in the UK and Ireland. Meanwhile, "Something Right", which is an original up-tempo song, was released as the third single in Asia and Europe.[15] When Westlife announced the release date for the album, the Spice Girls immediately withdrew from the chart battle and delayed their Greatest Hits album release by a week to 12 November 2007. Westlife and the Spice Girls were then engaged in a war of words where each accused the other party of avoiding each other's release. The Spice Girls claimed that their album was to be released on 12 November 2007 and that this has always been the case. However, music retailers revealed that the Spice Girls' album was initially marked with a 5 November 2007 release date.[16]

An accompanying DVD was released on the week of the album's release. It featured backstage footage of the group, Up Close and Personal segments, and the music videos of "Home", "You Raise Me Up", "When You Tell Me That You Love Me", "Amazing" and "The Rose". The DVD was available exclusively at Woolworths. It charted at number one on the UK Visuals Chart and was certified Platinum.

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Home"	Amy Foster-Gillies, Michael Bublé, Alan Chang	Steve Mac	3:28
2.	"Us Against the World"	Rami, Arnthor Birgisson, Savan Kotecha	Rami & Arnthor	4:02
3.	"Something Right"	Rami, Birgisson, Kotecha	Rami & Arnthor	3:14
4.	"I'm Already There"	Richie McDonald, Gary Baker, Frank J. Myers	Quiz & Larossi	4:18
5.	"When I'm with You"	Jordan Omley, Michael Mani, Sam Watters, Louis Biancaniello	Biancaniello, Watters	4:12
6.	"Have You Ever"	Diane Warren	Mac	4:33
7.	"It's You"	Steve Mac, Wayne Hector	Mac	4:11
8.	"Catch My Breath"	Mac, Hector	Mac	3:18
9.	"The Easy Way"	Rami, Birgisson, Kotecha	Rami & Arnthor	3:35
10.	"I Do"	Mac, Hector, John Reid	Mac	4:30
11.	"Pictures in My Head"	Rami, Birgisson, Kotecha	Rami & Arnthor	4:17
12.	"You Must Have Had a Broken Heart"	Jörgen Elofsson, Nicky Chinn	Per Magnusson, David Kreuger	4:01

Back Home – Japanese edition bonus tracks

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
13.	"Home" (Soul Seekerz Remix Radio Edit)	Foster, Bublé, Chang	Mac, Soul Seekerz	3:36
14.	"Home" (Music Video)			3:28

Back Home – Australian edition bonus DVD: Live at Wembley

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Overture/Flying Without Wings"
2.	"Hit You with the Real Thing"
3.	"When You're Looking Like That"
4.	"Amazing"
5.	"She's Back/Billie Jean"
6.	"Uptown Girl"
7.	"Addicted to Love"
8.	"I Wish/Wild Wild West"
9.	"Senorita/Don't Cha"
10.	"Colour My World"
11.	"Hey Whatever"
12.	"The Dance"
13.	"Swear It Again"
14.	"Seasons in the Sun"
15.	"World of Our Own"
16.	"Mandy"
17.	"Queen of My Heart"
18.	"What Makes a Man"
19.	"You Raise Me Up"
20.	"The Love Album" (Photoshoot)
21.	"You Raise Me Up" (Music Video)
22.	"When You Tell Me That You Love Me" (Music Video)
23.	"Amazing" (Music Video)

Back Home – iTunes Store tour edition bonus tracks

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
13.	"Hard to Say I'm Sorry"	Peter Cetera, David Foster	Mac	3:56
14.	"Get Away"	Mac, Hector	Mac	3:15
15.	"Home" (Soul Seekerz Remix Radio Edit)	Bublé, Chang, Foster	Mac, Soul Seekerz	3:36
16.	"Total Eclipse of the Heart" (Sunset Strippers Remix)	Jim Steinman	Mac, Sunset Strippers	7:42
17.	"I'm Already There" (Ashanti Boyz Remix)	Baker, McDonald, Myers	Quiz & Larossi, Ashanti Boyz	4:16
18.	"Us Against the World" (The Wideboys Remix)	Birgisson, Kotecha, Yacoub	Rami & Arnthor, Wideboys	4:34

• "Something Right" is also referred to as "Something's Right".[17]
• "I'm Already There" is also referred to as "Already There".[17]
• "The Easy Way" is also referred to as "Easy Way".[17]
• "I Do" is also referred to as "I Do (The Best Is Yet to Come)".[17]

Credits

Vocals	:	Nicky Byrne, Kian Egan, Mark Feehily, Shane Filan
Executive Producers	:	Louis Walsh, Simon Cowell, Sonny Takhar, Tim Byrne
Producers	:	Steve Mac, Chris Law, Dan Pursey, Rami Yacoub, Savan Kotecha, Antour, AJ, Anders Johansson, Josef Larossi, David, Jorgen Elofsson, Louis Biancanello,, Sam Watters, Michael Mani, Jordan Omley
Photography	:	Nino Munoz
Management	:	Louis Walsh Management

Mixed By : Niklas Flyckt (2,3), Quiz (4), Josef Larossi (4), Louis Biancaniello (5), Michael Mani (5), Sam Watters (5), Jordan Omley (5), Ronny Lahti (9), Fredrik Andersson (11,12) Keyboards & Programming : Anders Johansson (4), Quiz (4), Romdhane (4), Josef Larossi (4), Per Magnusson (12), Jorgen Ingestrom (12) Pro Tools Editing : Chris Laws (1,6,7,8,10) Pro Tools Engineer : AJ Junior (2,3,9,11) Engineered By : Chris Laws (1,6,7,8,10), Daniel Pursey (1,6,7,8,10), Quiz (4), Josef Larossi (4), Tim Lewis (5), Fredrik Andersson (12) Mix Engineered By : Ren Swan (1,6,7,8,10) Strings Engineered By : Markus Bergqvist (4), Ren Swan (6,7) Choir Engineered By : Ian Agate (4) Backing Vocals Arranged By : Atlas (4), Emil Heiling (4), Quiz (4), Josef Larossi (4) Strings Arranged By : Dave Arch (1,6,7,8,10), Ulf (4,12), Henrik Janson (4,12)

Guitars : John Paracelli (1,8,10), Daniel Pursey (1), Esbjorn Ohrwall (2,3,4,9,11,12), Rami Yacoub (3,9), Paul Gendler (6,7,8), Fridrik 'Frissi' Karlsson (6,10) Bass : Steve Pearce (1,6,7,10), Rami Yacoub (2,3,11), Thomas Lindberg (4) Piano/Keyboards/Synths/Organ : Steve Mac (1,8,10), Dave Arch (1,6,7,10), Peter Ljung (4), Steve Mac (6), Per Magnusson (12), Jorgen Ingestrom (12) Drums : Neal Wilkinson (1), Chris Laws (1,6,8,10), Ian Thomas (7), Magnus Perssom (12) Strings : Stockholm Session Orchestra (4) Percussion : Frank Ricotti (1,7) Mellotron : Steve Mac (7) Choir : The Tuff Session Singers (1)

*Numbers in brackets represents the track number on the album.

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (2007) Peak position Australian Albums (ARIA)[18] 14 Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[19] 65 Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[20] 48 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[21] 45 Irish Albums (IRMA)[22] 1 Japanese Albums (Oricon)[23] 50 New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[24] 12 Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[25] 18 Scottish Albums (OCC)[26] 1 Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[27] 33 Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[28] 19 UK Albums (OCC)[29] 1

Year-end charts Chart (2007) Position Irish Albums (IRMA)[30] 3 UK Albums (OCC)[31] 5

Certifications and sales

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Ireland (IRMA)[32]	5× Platinum	75,000^^
New Zealand (RMNZ)[33]	Gold	7,500^^
Sweden (GLF)[34]	Gold	20,000^^
United Kingdom (BPI)[35]	3× Platinum	900,000^^
Summaries
Europe (IFPI)[36]	Platinum	1,000,000^*
^*sales figures based on certification alone ^^shipments figures based on certification alone

Release history

Country / Region	Date	Format	Label	Catalogue
South Africa[37]	26 October 2007	CD, digital download	RCA, Syco Music, Sony Music
Ireland	2 November 2007
Netherlands[38]
Switzerland[39]				88697176702
China[40]	5 November 2007
Hong Kong[41]				88697176702
South Korea[42]
United Kingdom[43]
Thailand[44]	6 November 2007
Europe[45]	7 November 2007			SME-8869717-6702
Finland[46]
Norway[47]
Sweden[48]
Austria[49]	9 November 2007			88697176702
Germany[50]
France[51]	21 November 2007
Japan[52]				BVCP21573
Argentina[53]	22 January 2008			7176702
Poland[54]	11 February 2008

References

1. First day sales figures Archived 1 December 2007 at the Wayback Machine
2. UK Music Charts |The Official UK Top 75 albums Archived 7 April 2007 at the Wayback Machine
3. BBC Radio 1 – Chart Show – The UK Top 40 Albums
4. Back Home at AllMusic
5. Channel24 review
6. Daily Express review
7. Digital Spy review
8. Entertainment.ie review
9. iAfrica review
11. The Daily review
12. This Is Aberdeen review
13. "Muziek downloaden: Westlife – Back Home". Archived from the original on 2 January 2013. Retrieved 13 October 2007.
14. BBC Radio 1 – The UK Top 40 Singles
15. "Something Right in Asia/Europe". Archived from the original on 8 March 2008. Retrieved 8 March 2008.
16. Tabloid Hell : Spice vs Westlife – Part II | News|NME.COM
17. ACE (25 May 2018). "ACE Repertory". Ascap.com. Retrieved 2 February 2019.
18. "Australiancharts.com – Westlife – Back Home". Hung Medien. Retrieved 3 September 2016.
19. "Austriancharts.at – Westlife – Back Home" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 3 September 2016.
20. "Dutchcharts.nl – Westlife – Back Home" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 3 September 2016.
21. "Offiziellecharts.de – Westlife – Back Home" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 3 September 2016.
22. "GFK Chart-Track Albums: Week 45, 2007". Chart-Track. IRMA. Retrieved 3 September 2016.
23. "バック・ホーム". Oricon.co.jp. Retrieved 24 May 2014.
24. "Charts.nz – Westlife – Back Home". Hung Medien. Retrieved 3 September 2016.
25. "Norwegiancharts.com – Westlife – Back Home". Hung Medien. Retrieved 3 September 2016.
26. "Scottish Albums chart (2007-11-11)". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 17 February 2013.
27. "Swedishcharts.com – Westlife – Back Home". Hung Medien. Retrieved 3 September 2016.
28. "Swisscharts.com – Westlife – Back Home". Hung Medien. Retrieved 3 September 2016.
29. "Westlife | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart. Retrieved 3 September 2016.
30. "Best of 2007 – Albums". Irish Recorded Music Association. Archived from the original on 18 December 2014. Retrieved 17 January 2015.
31. "End of Year Album Chart Top 100 – 2007". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
32. "Irish album certifications – Westlife – Back Home". Irish Recorded Music Association.
33. "New Zealand album certifications – Westlife – Back Home". Recorded Music NZ.
34. "Guld- och Platinacertifikat − År 2007" (PDF) (in Swedish). IFPI Sweden.
35. "British album certifications – Westlife – Back Home". British Phonographic Industry. Select albums in the Format field. Select Platinum in the Certification field. Type Back Home in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
36. "IFPI Platinum Europe Awards – 2007". International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.
37. "Take 2 – Westlife – Back Home (CD) – Music". Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 3 July 2010.
38. bol.com | Back Home, Westlife|Muziek
39. Westlife – Back Home – Sony Music Entertainment Switzerland GmbH Archived 2 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine
40. 回家 Back Home—SONY MUSIC CHINA
41. Westlife / Back Home – Hmv Hong Kong
42. [인터넷 교보문고] Back Home
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44. Westlife – Back Home
46. "Sivua ei löytynyt - CDON.COM". Archive.is. Archived from the original on 22 July 2011. Retrieved 2 February 2019.
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52. Back Home(CD Extra)【CD】-Westlife｜Popular Rock｜Rock & Pop｜Music｜HMV ONLINE Online Shopping & Information Site
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54. Back Home – Westlife – Płyty – Muzyka w Onet.pl Archived 15 February 2008 at the Wayback Machine